2025 has been a busy year so far for our Essex team! Read on to find out what they've been up to...
January
January 2025 was off to a busy, positive start with a Lullaby Project taster session at Northlands Park Family Hub, this was run by Sarah our Basildon Project Manager. She was joined by representatives from our partners on the project - Maz from Live Music Now, and Nicole and Tobi from B3-Bumps, Birth and Belonging. It was a fantastic session where parents and babies got involved making some music and singing!
Following that class, Emma our Tendring Project Manager hosted another lively taster session run by our musicians Seth and Zoe at the St James Delivery Site in Claction. Filled with enthusiasm, great singing voices and happy babies the session ended with the participants writing a simple but personal song for their little one – how lovely!
Thanks to Emma and Sarah's hard work, both projects signed up full cohorts for their first project sessions which took place at the end of January.
February
From the end of February, Walkie Talkies started up again with a new Stanford Le Hope location added and at the first meet up, 9 parents attended!
Kirsty and Sarah had great turnouts for their coffee mornings in Colchester and at Stifford Family Hub. Later in the month, Julie and Terina hosted a stand in Rayleigh, and Sarah and volunteer Tracy had a table at a winter warmer pop-up event at the family hub in Clacton.
March
Our Peer Support Worker Stacey held some Coffee Connections sessions with some great turnouts at some local family hubs in Thurrock. These used to be held at a coffee shop, but the decision was made to move these to the hubs, so it gave a chance for the older babies to walk/crawl around and play! This proved to be a popular decision as they had their largest attendance of 11 parents – 2 pregnant parents and 9 with babies. As it was safer sleep week, Stacey incorporated lots of sleep information within the session.
Stacey provided us with a heart-warming update from the event: “We had parents that we support/supported 1-2-1, parents from previous antenatal sessions and parents from Walkie Talkies, all come together. Some of the regular parents that come to the coffee connections met at antenatal classes in 2024 and their babies are all coming up 1 year now.
It's been fantastic to see the journey from anxious pregnant 1st time parents to confident parents that chat regularly and meet up outside of the group. 2 parents that were in the maternity ward together are now planning a joint 1st birthday party!”
We are so proud of all the work that has been done so far in the community and are so excited to see what is to come throughout the rest of the year! Thank you to all our staff for your hard work and dedication, it doesn’t go unnoticed!