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I’m looking forward to this evening’s performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Wigmore Hall.  The programme is Mozart’s String Quintet in B flat, Ireland’s Sextet for clarinet, horn and string quartet  and Brahms String Sextet in G.    Youth is the theme of the concert by the young musicians of the Foyle Future Firsts programme.

I’m pleased to be supporting young people as they make their way in any arena and The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts annual development programme  bridges the transition between college  and the professional platform for outstanding young musicians.

According to The Guardian, Jacqui Dankworth is considered to be one of the classiest acts in British jazz singing and she is performing at the Michael Croft Theatre on Wednesday 19th June.  Her performance is due to draw on a wide range of classic and contemporary songs by writers such as James Taylor, Michel Le Grand, George Gershwin, Donny Hathaway and Oscar Hammerstein and she’ll be performing some songs from her new album which is out in September.

In the meantime I recommend her album It Happens Slowly or you can get tickets for her performance next week at www.michaelcrofttheatre.org.uk
 

Swallows and Amazons feels about as far away from family life in London as it’s possible to be.   Perhaps that’s the irresistible pull of it.   If you are constantly being asked if they can watch TV, play on the laptop or download a new app for their iTouch then perhaps this is the film for them.

Swallows and Amazons is based on Arthur Ransome’s book which was published in 1930.  On holiday with their mother in the Lake District, four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon and the scene is set for serious rivalry.

What better film for a Sunday afternoon and hopefully it will inspire them to spend a little less time indoors.

Dulwich Film: Swallows and Amazons

4pm, Sunday 3rd March

www.michaelcroftheatre.org.uk

Michael Croft Theatre, Townley Road, Dulwich, SE22 8SU

There are some places which are a must when you live in London with young children.  Natural History Museum, Science Museum, London Wetland Centre and London Zoo.   We hadn’t been for years but went with a group of bloggers to London Zoo last Sunday.

There were some great firsts for Little T as it was his first time to a zoo.   The gorilla kingdom, the impossibly tall giraffes, the lions lazily watching the crowds and the penguins which are his favourite animals.   There really is lots to see and they are also building a new tiger enclosure which looks great.

It is a great day out and sure to be a complete hit with the family but there are a few things that are holding it back from being a brilliant day out.    The first has the be the cost.    £21.50 for an adult and £16 for a child.    For a special family treat I think that is OK until you head to the cafe to get lunch.  A burger cost over £10 which is expensive but I think you expect to pay over the odds to a meal at a place like London Zoo.   If the meal is expensive then I think you can expect good food and I have to say that the cafe is probably the worst cafe I have ever been to.

So the over all verdict is that London Zoo is a great place to take young children.  It may be a bit run down but the children don’t notice as they are so engrossed by the animals.   Just remember to take a picnic.

For more information on London Zoo

We went to London Zoo with Virgin Money –  family annual travel insurance

So what is the right work-life balance?  When I think of all the mums that I know everyone seems to be on a different spot on the line between full time mum and working full time.  There are a couple of things that are certain.  Firstly that life with a newborn is pretty all consuming.  Those first few weeks and months when you find night is day, and actually day is day, with a newborn I’m not sure that your brain is much good at anything else when all you can think about is sleep.    The other thing that is certain is that your children won’t want you around when they reach a certain age and what are you going to do then?

I don’t think there’s ever the perfect spot on the work/life balance line.  It’s a tightrope; it’s messy and it’s full of guilt.    If you work full time, there is lots to miss out on but equally if you are at home full time, perhaps you might miss out on part of you.   My eldest is now 10 and I’ve been at all stages along the line.   I loved being a new mum.  I was as fulfilled as I could be and immersed in NCT, baby yoga, baby massage, playgroups and tea groups.   After 5 months my maternity leave was over and it was time for me to go back to work in a corporate PR agency.   Part time didn’t exist and I took Fridays off as holiday as I tried to negotiate.    Luckily a client wanted a 3 day a week secondment and I went to do that.   It was a brilliant job, managing a huge communications programme that covered media, internal comms, advertising, live events and stakeholder briefings.   It was the perfect job as a new mum; challenging, yet three days a week and the atmosphere client side was fun, challenging and supportive.

The project came to an end and I was due to go on maternity leave with my second baby.   I had done a great job for the client but I think having a mum who wanted to work part time was too difficult for the agency so I was asked to take redundancy.    I had baby number two but although we needed two incomes I didn’t have a job to go back to.    I knew I was capable of doing a good job but it wasn’t possible to get a job as I didn’t want to work full time with very little children as I felt I needed to be at home for some of the week.   I had one great client, and although I was doing work that I could do with my eyes shut, I worked with some lovely people and the work was fun.

I could see ahead that my children were growing up and although Little T is only 5, his older sisters are becoming much more independent.   In August last year, quite by fluke, I managed to get a 3 day a week job as maternity cover for a really great company.    It has been a complete revelation.   Having spent 7 years working hard to stand still, as budgets were so small, I am now client side.   I am working hard and juggling like mad to learn all you need to do when you start a new job, rushing home for bedtime stories, managing childcare, school obligations and the rest of life with 3 children.   It has been a fantastic 6 months and I’m about to go full time.

I can’t deny I’ve felt guilty from time to time.  During term time it works well as my work is pretty flexible.  I do the school run 4 days a week and then start work.  Probably twice a week I can work from home which means I can do the school run and then work later into the evening.   So it’s only three days a week that the children come out of school at 4.30 and I’m home by 6.30-7pm in time to give them a bath, read stories and put them to bed.   The summer holidays are going to be more challenging but I think I’ll take each week at a time.   At the moment I’m loving the work and family life seems to be OK.   I think I’m setting a good example for my daughters by having a great job and I hope that they will do the same when the time comes for them.   Grandparents are coming in to their own as well and have stepped in to help and I’m very grateful for their support.

Every mum’s experience of the work life balance is different and I thought that I’d explore this area more to find out how it works for them.  How do you find the right spot between personal fulfilment and the job of being a mum?    The mums that I know have learnt so many new skills since they became a parent but why is it so hard to get a job?   I spoke to a mum of two yesterday who is looking for an admin job and she has applied for tens of jobs over the past six months.  When she gets to interview stage, once the employer finds out she is a mum and wants to work part time, the employer looses interest.   I know her to be very hardworking and dedicated but she has now stopped looking for work and is trying to set up a e commerce business on her own.   I wish her all the luck and hope that her talent finds a home.

I firmly believe that necessity is the mother of invention and indeed you might say that mother is the necessity of invention.  You can see this as so many entrepreneurs are mothers.   In my view this is mainly because it is almost impossible to get an interesting job that fits around family life.   If you look around the social networks there are so many mums who have set up on their own.    They are evolving and adapting to their lifestyle; building on their experiences of work in their twenties and the necessity to juggle, prioritise and adapt as they go into motherhood.   Some have set up blogs as a creative output and to earn a little money on the side and others are using social media in a way to rival the best London creative digital agencies.  I hope that other companies start to wake up to the fact that mums are a great asset to a workforce.   A mum might not be able to work 8-6 in the office but in return for flexibility you will get a dedicated and adaptable employee who is can juggle and prioritise better than anyone.

My one piece of advice:  Think ahead.  How do you see yourself when your children have left home?  Remember that your children are only lent to you and that it’s important to keep an identity of your own.   This is likely to be work, but doesn’t have to be.  If you’ve been out of the workforce totally for 5 years, it is very difficult to get back in.   Keep you hand in; go back part time if you can and never give up that great job or you’ll spend 7 years trying to get it back!

I’m going to start a series of profiles of working mothers to understand what makes them tick, how they have set up their business or job their job and more importantly how do they manage their life around their work.  How do they get the support they need and what is their one piece of advice for women as they become mothers.   They can work full or part time, for themselves as entrepreneurs or within a business.  Please email your suggestions for profiles.

In December Lambeth council set up shop in an empty unit on the high street with their ‘Work Shop’ initiative (www.theworkshop.so) designed so the local community can all talk more directly about how residents,  the council, and its partners might work together in new ways. They have invited local residents to take over the shop with Pop up ideas for the month of January so Rachel saw this as a great chance to see if there were other mums who felt the same way about a need for a child friendly cafe/play space in the area.

With her brother’s help (he owns a creperie, runs a market stall and caters for events) Rachel is opening “Evie’s” for one day only, tomorrow, on 1 Feb, 10am-5pm. There will be great coffee and cake and snacks and juices for children and she will be decamping all of her daughter’s toys into the shop for the day too!

“In the future I would love to look at opening a Soft Play cafe in West Norwood so this is a great starting point and a chance to meet local mums and test the water”, continues Rachel.

I wish you all the success for your cafe.   Do let me know how it goes.

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Are we all feeling festive?

This year I seem to be even busier than usual and I realised I can either sink under all the expections of making Christmas perfect or I can admit that I can’t do everything and do what I can with a smile.   It’s too easy to try to do something nice and festive for the family and for you to end up like a ball of stress without anyone enjoying themselves.

So what if the Christmas cards don’t make the post because you can’t watch the subtitles on The Killing III as well as write your cards, or that you haven’t got time to make and decorate biscuits for the tree.   If we think back to when we were young, of course we wanted the house to be decorated, for us to have Christmas treats and traditions but above all we wanted a happy family experience at Christmas.    Perhaps this is getting a bit heavy but my point is to seek out a few fun and easy ways to build on the excitement of Christmas.    Going to a Christmas show is one of those.

A couple of weeks ago we kicked off the festive season with a visit to see Stick Man at the Leicester Square Theatre.   I really recommend that if you can still get tickets.    This Saturday I’m taking Little T to see Charlie Bear at The Ambassador’s Theatre.  Tickets are £5-15.

On Sunday the whole family is coming to see Sing Along Oliver at the Michael Croft Theatre in Dulwich this Sunday.  Dressing up is optional and there will be an interval with festive refreshments and lots of singing.  If that doesn’t get you in the festive spirit, nothing will!

Sing Along Oliver, Sunday 9th December, 4pm.  Tickets are £4-5.

There is always so much on offer in London for children in the run up to Christmas.     Last December we went to see the brilliant Matilda, Snow Queen and The Snowman.  It’s the perfect way to get in the Christmas mood especially if you get the opportunity to take in the Christmas lights whilst ensuring you don’t get caught in the crowds doing their last minute shopping.

Our Christmas show season has started early for us this year with a trip to see the brilliantly irresistible Stickman at the Leicester Square Theatre.  It’s performed by Scamp Theatre who put on a run of Tiddler and Other Teriffic Tales at the Southbanks’s Udderbelly.     If you have young children (between the ages of 4-7) then I really recommend The Stickman.

In case you are a grandparent or someone who is in charge of booking a Christmas Show but isn’t that familiar with contemporary children’s books, Stickman is the festive offering from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.  As well as Stickman the pair have collaborated to write and illustrate some of the best picture books including The Gruffalo, The Snail and the Whale, ZOG and my favourite, Room on the Broom.

 We all know there are big changes ahead for the NHS with each borough now responsible for buying services for local areas.  Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) made up of GP Practice Leads in each borough will now be responsible for buying services for local areas which was previously done by  managers at Primary Care Trusts(PCTs). They will be supported by Business Support Units and CCGs will need to be in place by April 2013

A National Commissioning Board (NCB) has been set up to oversee all the CCGs, allocate resources and provide guidance. They replace the previous Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) Monitor, the body that currently regulates NHS Foundation Trusts will now oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS.

There was an important announcement this Monday from the NHS Office of Trust Adminstrator on South London Healthcare NHS Trust which is overspending by £1million each week.

The report stated that whilst the issues start with the Trust, there is a challenge across the system meaning the solutions cannot come just from within South London Healthcare NHS Trust but that the solutions need to be developed with health and social care partners in the wider system.   The following changes were recommended:

There should be changes in the way services are provided in south east London. Specifically, changes are recommended in relation to community-based care and emergency, maternity and elective services:

• Community Based Care – The Community Based Care strategy for south east London should be implemented to deliver improved primary care and community services in line with the aspirations in the strategy. This will enable patients to receive care in the most appropriate location, much of which will be closer to, or in, their home.

• Emergency care – Emergency care for the most critically unwell patients should be provided from four sites – King’s College Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital. Alongside this, services at University Hospital Lewisham, Guy’s Hospital and Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup will provide urgent care for those that do not need to be admitted to hospital. Emergency care for those patients suffering from a major trauma (provided at King’s College Hospital), stroke (provided at King’s College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital), heart attack (provided at St Thomas’ Hospital and King’s College Hospital) and vascular problems (provided at St Thomas’ Hospital) will not change from the current arrangements.

 • Maternity care – There are two options under consideration to ensure that a high quality of care is provided for women needing to be in hospital during pregnancy and for women when giving birth. Obstetric-led deliveries could be centralised in line with critical emergency care across King’s College Hospital, St Thomas’s Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital; alternatively, there could also be a ‘stand-alone’ obstetric-led delivery unit at University Hospital Lewisham. All other maternity care will continue to be provided in a range of locations across south east London.

• Elective care – An elective centre for non-complex inpatient procedures (such as hip and knee replacements) should be developed at University Hospital Lewisham to serve the whole population of south east London. Alongside this elective day cases procedures should continue to be provided at all seven main hospitals in south east London; complex procedures should continue to be delivered at Kings’ College Hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital, and specialist procedures at Guy’s Hospital, King’s College Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital. Outpatient services should be delivered from a range of local locations.

In order to deliver this transformation programme, the recommendation is that South London Healthcare NHS Trust be dissolved and other organisations should take over the management and delivery of the NHS services it currently provides. In addition to the proposals for Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup outlined above:
• The Queen Elizabeth Hospital site should come together with Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust to create a new organisation focused on the provision of care for the communities of Greenwich and Lewisham.

• There are two options for Princess Royal University Hospital. The first is an acquisition by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which would
enable the delivery of service change, enhance the services offered at the site and strengthen the capacity of the site to deliver the necessary operational improvements. This is the preferred option at this stage. However, an alternative option is to run a procurement process that would allow any provider from the NHS or independent sector to bid to run services on the site.

The report also recommends that the Department of Health writes off the debt associated with the accumulation of deficits at South London Healthcare NHS Trust. By 31 March 2013, this is estimated to be £207m.

The consultation process starts on 2nd November so do make your comments known.

I understand that things can’t stay as they are with the Trust loosing £1m per week.   With any change that is driven by cost cutting comes the worry about which services will be cut and how the funds are prioritised.   I also worry what the recommended acquisition of Princess Royal University Hospital by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will do to investment projects at King’s and it is important that money isn’t caught up in this acquisition leaving them unable to invest and improve the services at King’s in the future.   

With the rising birth rate at King’s there are huge pressures on the maternity services there and they often close their doors to anyone outside of their catchment area.  Centralising obstetric-led deliveries in line with critical emergency care across King’s College Hospital, St Thomas’s Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital will put increasing pressure on these hospitals when there is already is a huge pressure on space already.  For maternity services, as well as the proposed stand-alone’ obstetric-led delivery unit at University Hospital Lewisham perhaps part of the solution is for a stand alone midwife led unit in the Dulwich area to relieve some of the pressure on maternity services in SE London.

You will be able find details of how to have your say when the public consultation begins on 2 November at www.tsa.nhs.uk

I love the new sense of pride that seems to have come to Herne Hill.   The regeneration of the entrance to Brockwell Park, the wonderful new playground in Brockwell Park and the weekly market on the pedestrianised area near the station are all reasons to celebrate.    Our great transport links are another reason why Herne Hill is a great place to live and I can be at work near Oxford Circus within 40 minutes of leaving the house.

The Herne Hill Forum is celebrating Herne Hill Station’s 150th Birthday there is a free outdoor screening of Buster Keaton’s 1926 classic silent movie

The General

With piano accompaniment by Neil Brand

Sat 8th September

8.00 pm onwards

outside Herne Hill station

Bring yourselves and your chairs and join The Herne Hill Forum in commemorating Herne Hill Station’s 150th birthday.  For more information vist www.hernehillforum.org.uk

Le Ballon Rouge

and if you love cinema, there is a screening of the children’s French classic, Le Balloon Rouge, on Sunday 9th September at 4.30pm at the Michael Croft Theatre at Alleyn’s School on Townley Road in Dulwich.   The film will end with a balloon release which should be great fun.   You can book tickets at www.michaelcrofttheatre.org.uk

The Olympic Torch will be coming through Southwark on Thursday 26th July on it’s final route to the Olympic Park for the start of the Olympics.

In the hands of 15 Torchbearers it will travel across the Millennium Bridge, past Shakespeare’s Globe and through the Old Kent Road before stopping for lunch at Harris Academy in Peckham before continuing on through Camberwell.

I hadn’t really got into the Olympic spirit before now.    We hadn’t got any tickets in the ballot so I think that was probably why I wasn’t looking forward to it but a friend has offered to take 9yo and 7yo as guests so that puts a whole new perspective on it!  That and the fact that we’ll all see Andy Murray at Wimbledon again after his fantastic match yesterday which has been my sporting highlight of the year.

I’ve seen that Southwark Council has put out a call for up to 100 volunteer stewards to come forward to help ensure the event runs smoothly.   The selected volunteers will receive training in dealing with the public, crowd management, identifying hazards and responding to them. All Olympic torch stewards will be required to attend a training session on Thursday 19 July between 5pm and 6.30pm at 160 Tooley Street and must be available from 8am to 1.30pm on Thursday 26 July.  Prospective volunteers should apply online before 9am on Monday 16 July.

So I think we should come out and cheer on the torchbearers as the torch makes its final approach to the start of the Games.

I was lucky enough to see the torch when I was in Edinburgh for work last month and I think it does help to actually make a personal connection with the Games in some way if you can.

2012 banners are going up alongside the route and across many high streets.    I think it’s nearly time to get festive and get out the bunting!

For all the latest information on the Games, please go to the London2012 website.