New dates for 2009!

Hi All,

Along with the meeting next week (12th Dec) I've booked a few meetings for the new year as follows:

Friday 9th Jan
Friday 20th Feb
Friday 20th Mar

They are all from 1-3pm at our new venue, The Kings Sure Start centre on Elm Grove (details in previous post). The meetings will all be in the 'creche' room apart from the January meeting which will be in the parents room. There is a reception where you can ask for directions to the rooms.

Change of venue

I just wanted to warn everyone that from December The PortsmouthBabywearing group will be moving to a new Sure Start centre. It is theKings Centre on Elm Grove - here's a map linkhttp://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=464380&Y=99384&A=Y&Z=1.

The address is 37 Elm Grove Southsea, PO5 1JF. Its inside the Kings church building (used to be a snooker hall a longtime ago) at the west end of Elm grove just before the shops start. It'squite easy to find and has very similar facilities to the Landportcentre. We're using a great child friendly room with lots of toys andfacilities for babies and older children, and there is a kitchen so wecan still have a cup of tea. This centre also has a little cafe if youmissed lunch before the meeting.

The december meeting will be on friday 12th from 1.00-3.00pm. And a quick reminder that the November meeting on 14th Nov 1.15-3.00pm isstill at the Landport centre.

Video of baby's perspective

Here's a video of a baby's perspective of being in a pram and being worn in a sling.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zga_mW9vqnE

It's in Norwegian, but it gets the point across.

I've booked some meetings for the group, they are on:

Friday 19th September
Friday 17th October
Friday 14th November

They are at teh slightly earlier time of 1.15-3.00pm. Again they are all at the Landport Surestart centre. The centre is fully booked for December so as yet I'm not sure if there will be a December meeting but I'll keep you posted.

Summer Sling Show 2008

Last year saw the first Summer Sling show in London. There is another this year on the 27th July if anyone is interested in going along. There will be different vendors there, opportunity to try out and see different carriers as well as a wealth of information on babywearing.

More information can be found here:

http://www.summerslingshow.co.uk/

Here's a great blog post on the safety of 'bag' style slings, well worth a look at.

http://babyslingsafety.blogspot.com/

New meeting dates and Sling Hire

So some new meetings have been set up, these are on:

Friday 20th June
Friday 18th July
Friday 15th August

These will all be at the ABC Surestart centre in Landport (opposite Asda car park) as usual.

From June there will also be a change to the price of sling hire, the deposit is still £30 but the cost of one months sling hire is rising to £10. This is so we can purchase more slings for the library and be able to provide handouts/materials for people to take away. We now also provide a hire pack when you borrow a sling which has lots of information on safety, benefits of babywearing, purchasing information, as well as instructions.

News

Well I've been busy attending a Babywearing course in London. Yes they even do babywearing courses now! It was run by the only Babywearing school in the world, Trageschule Dresden, which is based in Dresden,Germany.

I learnt a lot about how to teach slings and different carries to parents, and also the theory behing babywearing and why babies are programmed to want to be carried. So I am now a qualified 'Babywearing Consultant' with a certificate and everything, albeit in German.

It was very hard work, but I had lots of fun too! Here's a photo of a carry I've invented for those of us who are a little less photogenic!

Sling Meet Dates April & May

Sorry it's taken ages to sort this out, I've been very busy with a new job and taking a babywearing course in London. Sally is taking over organising the meets in the future, although I'll still be helping out. We've decided to stick with Fridays in the same venue. Dates for new meets are;

Fri April 18th 2008
Fri May 16th 2008

Venue is The Sure Start ABC Centre - Landport, 221 Arundel Street, Portsmouth. PO1 1NF . The Sure Start Centre is diagonally opposite the ASDA Fratton car park in Arundel Street. You can find a map is here http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Portsmouth,+PO1+1NF,+UK&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

The room we are using in Sure Start centre is purpose built for families and has plenty of toys and space for toddlers and a fenced off area outside to play in. Please remember this group was set up by Sally and I to promote babywearing. The Slings we hire out are from our own collection, therefore there are a limited amount so there is no guarantee that you will be able to hire the sling you want, when you want. We are organising a reservation/waitlist system for future and are buying more slings with the money raised so far.

Can I please ask that everyone has read the safety post here;
http://pompeybabywearer.blogspot.com/2007/09/please-remember-safety-is-paramount.html

Please e-mail sally@smashinggirl.co.uk if you require any further details.

Sling meets

Due to our having to change the day and venue for the Sling meets we haven't been able to arrange a meeting for February, but are hoping to get the meetings up and running again in March. We'll post dates, and details of the new venue once arranged.