T Wells and Mumsnet Newbie

[AimiC]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site so hope I am posting in the right place!

I recently moved to T Wells with my partner and 14 month old son and we're expecting number two in March. We don't really know anyone locally and my little boy is dying for some little friends ... almost as much as I am dying for some adult conversation :)

We live in the St. James area and would be very interested in playdates/coffees/park trips or joining some toddler groups that people can recommend. I have googled groups but am a bit lost as to which ones are goodies as there seem to be so many listings.

I'd also be interested in knowing if there are any good antenatal classes locally ... preferrably with a creche or that you can take tearaway toddlers to!

Hope to hear from some mummies soon :)

Aimi x

Hi Aimi - congratulations on your move! We've been in Tunbridge Wells for just over a year now with DS who is 19 months and it has been so lovely. Best move we've made I think!

I am not in St James area but just wanted to let you know about a couple of the things we get up to:

Wednesday Mornings (9.45-11ish) there is a soft play session at the sports centre on St John's Road. This is absolutely brilliant - bouncy castle, climbing frames and slides etc ball pit, all aimed at little ones and usually not too many loopy big ones tearing about so a great place to let your 14mo burn off some energy! It is in one of their big sports halls so hey have so much space to range about. There are lots of parents there with one toddler running about and a newborn snoozing in the pram/carseat at the edge so you would be in fine company when your next little one arrives :)

Most of the churches do a playgroup - over your end of town I have heard good things about the "bikes and slides" group at St Barnabus church. Most of these are fairly low-key religious so if you aren't a regular churchgoer you shouldn't feel uncomfortable!

Other than that St James' Park is brilliant and usually packed with mummies and toddlers so I am sure you will find some friendly faces there. Dunorlan Park is also lovely and the Grove in town is great too.

I feel like a bit of a MN traitor saying this but the Tunbridge Wells Netmums group does a meet up every wednesday at different locations, this is how I met most of my friends here, they are so good (you get a name badge and everything and they are so welcoming! Have a look at their facebook page here

NCT runs a "bumps and babies" group at the Camden Centre in town on a Tuesday afternoon, but I think that is for littler ones than yours - it is an excellent place for information and a cup of tea and a chat though and they do loads of taster sessions from the local music groups etc.

I wasn't in TW when I had DS but I hear that there is a brilliant ante-natal yoga group run at the Camden Centre. Also lucky you - the new hospital at Pembury looks like an amazing place to have a baby (if you are opting for hospital that is...)

Sorry this turned into a bit of a rambling message, hope you enjoy your new home

Ahh thank you so much for your message and I'm sorry it has taken me quite so long to reply ... I thought I had set my notifications to let me know if I had a reply to this thread but obviously not

That is such great info though, thank you. I had read good things about the soft play at the sports centre when googling and will definitely try to make a trip down there. We always seem to be battling against naptimes at the moment, my LO has a mammoth sleep in the middle of the day which often means we miss various timeslots for groups etc. But the 9:45 start could work for us.

I have just requested to join the Netmums Facebook page so thank you ... especially as you had to betray your allegiances . Would be good to join a gropup that meet regularly and are welcoming to newcomers :)

I must google and find St James park, I didn't know about that one and I am definitely interested in going to one of the church toddler groups so thank you for that recommendation. There seem to be so many!

Thank you for taking the time so give me so much info though ... I know how precious (and elusive) time is. I agree with you and hope that moving here will also turn out to be one of our better decisions. Have also heard great things about Pembury so fingers crossed :)

xxxx

You are very welcome, I know how daunting it is when you move to a new place and have to wade through all of the information that Google helpfully provides

Hope you are settling in well - best of luck