AFTER yesterday being told the Patterson Lakes ABC Learning Centre would be shut down, parents and staff at the centre today learned a white knight will continue its operation.

Receivers for the ABC2 Group yesterday mistakenly listed Patterson Lakes as one of the eight Victorian ABC centres that would be shut down on May 15 – an announcement that devastated the centre’s staff and parents.

Related story: Melbourne childcare centres to close

But new operator Jan Taylor last night made a mad dash to the McLeod Rd centre to tell staff the popular service would be saved.

“After several weeks of talks with ABC2, we are very happy today to be confirmed as the new operator of the Patterson Lakes Centre,’’ Mr Taylor said today.

“I was shocked yesterday while driving to the city to sign the contracts to hear on the car radio that ABC2 was closing the centre!

“As soon as the contracts were signed, I rushed back to Patterson Lakes to break the news to the staff before they finished for the day.

“I did not want them to go home thinking the centre was closing.’’

Mr Taylor said staff and parents would be given the official good news this afternoon.

Nicole Kewin-Talbot, whose two-year-old daughter attends the centre, said she was close to tears yesterday when she heard it would be closed.

But today she was crying tears of another kind.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to bits!’’ she said.

“When I found out this morning it would be staying open, I burst into tears because I was so happy.’’

The centre, which caters for 46 children, has been open for 12 years and will now be called Patterson Lakes Childcare and Kindergarten.

Mr Taylor has been the owner/operator of the Chelsea Central Child Care and Kindergarten and the Chelsea Central Early Learning Centre for the past 15 years.