New to SE11 and feeling lost!

[Needle]

Hello!

DH's job has just moved us here from North London to Vauxhall.
I have a six week old baby girl, and would love to meet other mums in the area, but so far reliable local information has been hard to find- I was wondering if there are any local mumsnetters who might have some tips?

Thank you!
Needle.

Hello - congratulations on the birth of your little girl, and welcome to s London!

I am NOT who you need, as the parent of a school-age child and in a differnet part of the borough, but might have some ideas to get you started.

I don't know if you ever did the NCT thing, but the Southwark and Lambeth branch is very active and has loads of 'tea groups' - your baby is of an ideal age for you to join a new tea group, and I am still good friends with people I met for the first time at a tea group. I know they are planning an NCT 'nearly new' sale on Oct 2nd - maybe you could go as a volunteer? (although not sure how easy it is to talk to people under those circumstances!) But truly, the one thing I would do is jpin a tea group - everyone is meeting f the first time, everyone is finding thier feet on maternity leave (as most are 'fist baby' Mums), and you bond very quickly.

Have a look on the various websites and see if there are any Children's centres near you, and whether they have activity groups or drop-ins. Further south in the borough (but v easily accessible fom Vauxhall) there are mother and baby activity groups run by Whippersnappers at Brockwell lido.

It can't be easy - hopefully there will be some local MN mothers looking for people to pop to the Vauxhall City Farm with

That's really helpful, thank you!
Do you know the City Farm at all? We're opening a tea house just across the park.

Are you? How fantastic! Advertise a special tea session for mums and babies and you'll have millions of friends in no time! I used to take DS to the city farm all the time, it's great!
Are you connected to Tea House Theatre, recently arrived in Vauxhall?
I know there are loads of S London Lambeth / Southwark Mumsnetters, so keep posting and buping this thread.

When your child is a little older, they do great family and children's events at Gasworks Studios and Gallery, sort of behind the cricket ground. And I think St Peter's Church and Heritage centre (almost next to the Farm) functions as a community centre and may host baby-related activities - I may be wrong, but check out the notice board.

We are Tea House Theatre! How on Earth did you find out about us? It's my husband's company. Did we meet you at the Lambeth Fair in July?

I think Jane Ruby still does Ruby Rhymes baby/toddler singing sessions at Vauxhall City Farm - look into it because it's a great way to meet people and get out of the house.

Clapham NCT is just about to split and create the new Riverside NCT (1st October, so it's not on the NCT national website at the moment), which I think will include you. Do look into it, because if you can find a local coffee morning group then it's a really easy way to meet people. If you're Southwark and Lambeth then you won't be so well covered, because their focus is further south.

Hi Needle, I'm in SE11 - there are lots of things to do here. Kennington Park Children's Centre has excellent drop in groups - I think the one for very little babies is on Tuesday mornings. I would definitely drop in there and pick up a leaflet.

Ethelred Children's Centre has things for that age group too I think. My DS is 3.7 now so I haven't done baby things for a while, but I am due another baby in five weeks and will be around to meet up while I'm on maternity leave

Your Tea House Theatre sounds interesting - I love that sort of thing. There used to be a tea group run by someone in one of the Buddhist centres near here - I was back at work when it got going, but it was definitely very active for a while. I think the woman who ran it moved away, but if you did want to start something I think you would get a good response

Ah, thank you. I did email the tea group lady from Southwark and Lambeth, but I've not heard back yet- I think they've got a North and South division too.

Anything at the farm is handy, because it's so close to our house!

If you just want to get out of the house then the Watch With Baby sessions at Clapham Picture House and Brixton Ritzy are great (and really good for breastfeeding because you are forced to just sit and feed). But they're not a good way to meet people, by their nature - a good thing to go to with existing friends, or alone, rather than meet new ones.

Do pick up a copy of Families magazine from your local library, it may give you some ideas, and will have adverts for baby massage classes etc.

.... can't add much, except to say that Lambeth libraries also run baby and toddler sessions. Their notice boards are also a good way of picking up information about what's on locally.

tattycoram- thank you! I don't know my way around yet at all; It's strange being so close to the centre after having been so far north for the last year!
The Tea House wont be open until next April (it was a strip club until last month and is still fitted out as such, and our appartments above are filthy, it'll take me months to make it clean enough to allow a pregnant woman anywhere near it!) But if you'd like to meet up elsewhere before your new little one comes along, please do let me know. Do you know whether you're having a girl or a boy?

DilysPrice and ASmallBunchOfFlowers thank you both for your advice- this thread is far more active than the Haringey one was!

Oh good - have you got CAT (contact another mumsnetter)? No, no idea what I'm having - getting excited now tho

Kennington library has a couple of great baby / toddler groups - story-telling / music-type things, run by the wonderful Hilary.

Oh and there's a group at Montgomery Hall, next to the Oval cricket ground which is quite good - always very friendly when I used to go.

And the playground / cafe in Kennington park, during the week, was always a great place to meet people, if you're not too shy!

tattycoram- I'm not sure what CAT is! I vaguely remember paying £5 for something like that, way back when I signed up, but I don't remember what it was!

RabbitAndCo - thank you! what i really need is a big map so that i can work out where everything is!

Welcome to South London! I moved here before my first child and never realised how baby-friendly it is! There is so much to do around here. As suggested, Kennington Park Children's Centre is a great place to go to classes and meet other mums. Also, on Thursday and Friday there is a playgroup run by the NCT and by volunteers at St. Stephens Church. Stockwell Children's Centre is a bit further away, but also has some nice classes. Pimlico Library across the bridge also does a really great music session on Monday mornings. Coin Street Children's Centre in Waterloo again has even more classes. There is so much to do, I was never bored on maternity leave! Exciting to hear about a new cafe opening. Can't wait until April. Will it be where the Queen Anne was?

Yep, The Queen Anne is no more (we've been turning disgruntled punters away for weeks) The building isn't going to change much, although the awful orange is going asap!

I will definitely try kennington park children's centre, as a few people (including the vicar) have recommended it. Also Durning Library on a Wednesday morning, which apparently has a session run by "Veronique the glamourous french lady" (Also the vicar!)

I've never been shy, but I suddenly find myself feeling really self conscious about meeting people.

Ahoy hoy, Needle!

I'm noticing that this thread has pretty much bitten the dust (along with the vast majority of the others on the Lambeth boards by the looks of it!) but I was wondering how your search went? Are you feeling more settled now?

I'm near the Tulse Hill/Streatham Hill area at the minute, and I've only been here for the last few weeks, so I'm still pretty new to the area, I guess! It's difficult to meet other womenfolk, especially those in the same boat as me, i.e. up the duffer, when I haven't got a clue where I'm going or what I'm doing! Nappy brain-a-mondo.

Tea House Theatre looks wicked, by the way! I may have to come and check it out (especially since my brain has started melting - I need some stimulation, damnit!)

Hope all is well with you, DH and the little one! :)

Well hi! It's weird isn't it- the local boards are never that active, i think people tend to use Netmums for local stuff.

Congrats on le bun- how far along are you? I found it so hard when I was pregnant, I was living in North London and didn't know a soul, but I started going to an aquanatal class and met some really lovely women through that, I've no idea if there's anything like that on this side of the river, but if you can find it, I'd completely recommend it. I think there's a fairly active NCT in your neck of the woods too.

In the end, I defected to the other side of the river as all the baby groups in South London seemed so far away, and I've met a really lovely group of women in Pimlico, but I'm still keen to meet some women closer to home. THT is due to open in April, so I might actually set one up. I'm planning to open a needlework studio too, for dressmaking, knitting, crochet, that kind of thing, for anyone who's interested.
You should definitely come and check us out though- do you come up to Vauxhall at all?

Ahh, Netmums - Hadn't heard of that one, but I'll definitely check it out, lest I go stir crazy and drive my boyfriend to distraction in the process. He's contracted to work from home for the next 3 months anyway, so he can't even get away, the poor sod. Haha.

Thanks for the congrats! I'm 18 weeks along now, and yup, it really is difficult to find other ladies who are in roughly the same boat.

Not only is it hard to find women who are pregnant and looking to socialise, but to find one who is around your age or with similar interests is even more of a needle in a haystack situation.

It would be nice to have something more in common than just the fact that we are pregnant and or mommas (read: milfs, it's much more flattering. Sort of.)

I haven't really been around Vauxhall area, but there is a bus that runs straight there, a few minutes from my flat. Is there much to do around your area? I'm assuming not since you're travelling further afield to socialise!

Also, I'm definitely excited about the needlework studio idea - I'm obsessed with it at the moment. I work with felt/material and hand stitching mostly. I make a lot of little kitsch keyrings, brooches, iphone 'socks' needlebooks, mini plush animals/monsters etc. The list goes on! My boyfriend is going to end up a needle widow, poor thing! We should consider starting up some sort of a crafty mum get together? Would be much more fun than the typical 'lets have cups of tea and talk about children' meet ups :)

Well, I'm 24 years old- 23 when I got knocked up and DH and I married in true shotgun style in February. We'd only been together for four months when we found out about the baby, but we're deliriously happy now and she's a gorgeous little thing.

Vauxhall isn't very exciting, i have to admit, but there are tolerably interesting places nearby. We're opening a theatre in April- you can have a look at us on www.teahousetheatre.co.uk if you like, we're in the process of converting an old strip club.
Do you knit? There's an amazing knitting shop at Waterloo which is walking distance from my house, they do late night openings and have a liquor license so you can go along and knit and chat and drink.

Crafty mums groups are exactly what I had in mind, something that's during the day, so that you can bring children along and they can be kept amused while mums get on with things. At the moment I'm doing more knitting and crochet because it's smaller and easier to pick up and put down, but I do a lot of embroidery too and before I get pregnant I was a dressmaker and theatre costumer- vintage stuff mostly.

My DH works from home too. I love having him around but I ahve to admit, by about 10am I want him upstairs, in his office out of the way!

Is there any other way of getting in touch other than this message board? Perhaps you'd like to meet up sometime? x

Tell you what, drop me a line at [email protected] if you like x

hi there
i live in Stockwell/oval. Happy to meet up one day in Vauxhall Park cafe and chat about what there is to do round here. i have 2 kids - one is 18 months and a baby who is 9 weeks old.

Lucy x

hi Lucy, that sounds good- I keep meaning to check out Vauxhall park and somehow never get round to it. is that where the 1o clock club is, or is that kennington?

Yes, Ruby rhymes is back at Vauxhall City Farm but there is also a singing group at the Ethelred Children's Centre at the same time (both 10:30ish on a Friday morning). We went to Ruby Rhymes last week for the first time and it was OK but a fiver, which was a lot for what it was. Roo does love the animals at VCF but we can get that for free...;D