6 February was our twentieth year anniversary of Cuddles Childcare Centres. What started as one childcare centre in the Perth suburb of Cloverdale would eventually swell to sixteen childcare centres in the Perth area before we changed to a business model that would better serve children and their parents.
Today, we have three Cuddles Childcare Centre locations: St James, Bertram and Carlisle. They represent the “cream of the crop” and we look forward to serving children and their parents in the Perth area for the next twenty years as well. But first: a look back at how we started.
The Carver Family Business
In November 1993, after 22 years of living in the Perth area, Carver family members had divergent occupations, jobs and businesses. Lina owned a real estate company, Cliff had a freight forwarding agency and Bryan had a naturopathic clinic. All were looking for new businesses to add to the family legacy.
Due to exhaustive research, feedback and considerable insight, they decided that child care would be a valuable service to provide. They decided to investigate further and did their “due diligence.” They decided to “go for it” and found an old house in Cloverdale at the beginning of 1994.
It took them one year to renovate the old home and turn it into a child care centre. The entire family participated in the transformation. At a weekly family dinner, they realised that they needed a name. Lina “dug up” an old French children’s comic book and decided that “Smurfs” would be a great name.
On 6 February 1995, Smurfs Childcare Centre would officially open. Soon, there would be sixteen. We were eventually informed that “Smurfs” constituted a copyright violation and that we would have to change the name. At another weekly family dinner, they came up with the name, “Cuddles.”
We look forward to the next twenty years and would like to thank all of the employees, children and parents who have helped us become the best child care centre providers in the Perth area.
