National Breastfeeding Picnics, Monday 19th July

[pookamoo]

Following on from my plug on the GMTV site I thought there should be a separate thread about the picnics.

These are happening nationally on Monday 19th July, to promote the campaign for legislation to protect breastfeeding mothers and babies/children.

In Scotland there is a Breastfeeding Act, which has made it a criminal offence to stop someone from feeding a hungry child in public. If you are hassled, you can call the police who will come and deal the hassler a hefty fine.
In the rest of the UK, you would have to leave the premises if asked, then find and sue the owner at a later date. This is NOT FAIR [grr]

There is some protection from current and proposed legislation, but this does not go far enough. How many will really go the whole hog and sue? Far easier to get on the phone and call the police, as you could in Scotland, non?

The more the merrier... find your local picnic, come along on Monday, and then speak to your MP / local paper / aunt's cousin's dog etc to spread the word and back the campaign!

Oh, and there is a map of the picnics here

and a facebook group here.

anything in durham?
Anyone want to arrange one?

YES Stealth there is one in Durham! Not sure where but I will ask and find out.

ooh please - couldn't see one on the map

I will hvae a million tiny sandwiches and nowhere to eat them (it;s DD's christening the day before)

and promotion of breastfeeding etc etc

I'm organising Brighton as of ten minutes ago Anyone fancy coming along?

That's great, SirBoobaLot!
Let's see if this thread can be in active convos over the weekend to drum up a few more picnickers!

Stealth, no response on Durham so far... why don't you get together and have your own with a few friends?

I'd happily go along to one in the east Anglia region if anyone interested? No point telling me to grap a few friends to do one because I don't know a single other person who breastfeeds!!! well I do...but not nearby.

will post on our meet up thread - can I do it as an informal thing or do I need to do risk assessments and notifications etc?

I can't access google maps to find out where my nearest one is .

Maybe post in AIBU to try and drum up support????

Like "AIBU to ask you all, breastfeeding or not to come to the breastfeeding picnics on Monday 19th?"

is there one in leeds? Yorkshire even? Couldn't get the map to work. Made my phone crash

I'll come to the Durham one! Me, me, me!

Don't forget to put them on your MN local, everyone - then it should appear in the sidebar for everyone who is signed up to their local mumsnet.

Moonfacemama I'd be interested in joining you for a picnic (will hold my tongue if that lady comes who b/f her 10 & 11 yr olds in public! (guessing ages as the boy looked a little younger than my nephew and the girl the same age)). Where in Leeds are you?

I wasn't able to b/f my 20 month old DS due to medical reasons but am hoping to get lots of advice on b/fing my next DC. Great idea.

Roundhay Park in Leeds may be a great idea if not one already in the area. If my back's better by then and there's one arranged I'd LOVE to go.

Hope lots of people turn up and it's a huge success.

What do we do to make it a breastfeeding picnic as opposed to a picnic?
(don't say "breastfeed" )

MummywithA1family i am definatly up for that! Roundhay would be great. Maybe at the bandstand incase it's raining, also i think it has seats in...i've got a bad back at the moment too!

Does this make us a guerilla bf picnic. Actually grassroots sounds less aggressive!have to walk the dog. Back shortly.

There is no need to make anything official, it's all totally informal, and about raising awareness. If you can get your local paper / radio interested, so much the better, but just getting out there and doing some bf in public will help to make it part of normal life!

The picnics already planned are:

Birmingham: St Philip's Cathederal
Nottingham: Arboretum Street
Liverpool: Chavasse Park
London: Victoria Tower Gardens
Bournemouth: Bournemouth Gardens, West Hill Road
Stroud (Glos): Stratford Park (bandstand area)
Wrexham: Next to the Library and Arts Centre

If anyone else wants to put theirs up on this thread, please feel free! The more the merrier!

They are all over lunch time, but the times vary from place to place I think.

And it doesn't matter if you aren't bfing, it's all about raising awareness and having some fun. You can send pics to your paper afterwards, and write to your MP...

OK, mummywithA1family shall we say 12.30ish? I will invite a few more people I know...

pookamoo glad to hear that we won't need balaclavas! Is there any gumph I can print out? Re the legislation etc? If not I might just c&p wht you've written

Any one else in the Leeds area want to join us?

Are there any in Wales we have low rates and need all the help we can get.

ditto slushy- are there any in Northern Ireland?

Right! Have posted on the leeds mn page, though tbh it's a bit of a graveyard!

Have also sent a couple of texts so hope that 12.30 is ok for you mummywithA1family just thougt I'd better get the ball rolling!

Am in Leeds and would love to join in but will be in the city centre around lunchtime on monday. If there's any one else around maybe we could meet in St paul's square! If no-one else around will bf in starbucks instead ;)