Latest Brockley Society Newsletter Available Online

The Brockley Society summer newsletter is now available to download on their website; those living in the conservation area should get one through their door at some time soon before Hilly Fields Fayre. Lots of interesting info in it, including news of a new group for Dads at Ladywell Early Years Centre:

"Dads’ Group opens in Ladywell
Are you a stay at home dad? or Do you work part time and help look after the children? Stuck for ideas and wanting to meet other dads?

A new Dads’ group has opened at the Ladywell Early Childhood Centre. Come along with your child/children for a cuppa and a chat and let the children enjoy a variety of activities.
The idea behind the Dad's Group is to show that men care about more than sports and video games. Men care about their families and want to love, nurture & share the wonderful experience of parenting with the mums. The Dad's role in the family is very important. Children
need to see both mum and dad taking active roles in their lives.

These groups are obviously about being a dad so there is a lot of parent/child play sessions, but some of the sessions will be about men's health etc so there will be a creche available for these. Men have added masculinity when it comes to speaking out, and we would rather deal with any problems or situations on our own and deal with the consequences but parenthood can be made a little easier knowing that other like minded men are going through the same thing. Once a month we can arrange a group outing maybe to a museum, swimming, or even camping!

The Dads’ group is held at the Ladywell Early Childhood Centre, 30 Rushey Mead, Brockley, SE4 1JJ. For more information contact: Mike Acord."

Real Nappies Teddy Bears' Picnic

Further to my post last week, I went along to a very well-attended and enjoyable nappucino/Teddy Bear's Picnic at Ladywell Children's Centre on Tuesday. I had the great honour of awarding the prizes for the best dressed teddy bear in a cloth nappy! Lots of mums and mums-to-be there, some of whom had children in cloth nappies, some who were contemplating it. For more info about Lewisham's Real Nappies voucher scheme see here. For further information about the excellent Ladywell Children's Centre, see here.

(I believe I got the permission of all the mums to put this photo on my blog, but if anyone has any objections, just let me know.)

Teddy Bears' Picnic and Real Nappies!

Real Nappies Week is next week (21-27 April) and there are a variety of events on in the borough to promote real nappies, including a 'Teddy Bears' Picnic Nappucino' at Ladywell Childrens' Centre:

Teddy Bears Picnic Nappuccino
Tuesday 22 April, 10am-midday, Ladywell Children's Centre, 30 Rushey Mead, London, SE4 1JJ. Come along to find out more about Real Nappies over coffee and cake. All ages welcome. 'Best Real Nappy Dressed Teddybear' prize! If you would like to attend contact Lewisham's Real Nappy Officer Vivienne Thomson .

Real Nappy Stall

Friday 25 April
Womens' Health Centre, Lewisham Hospital
10am onwards

Greenwich Market Real Nappy Event
Saturday 26 April
Greenwich Market, London SE10 9HZ
10am onwards

The Real Nappies for London scheme has run in Lewisham since 2007, when the Mayor accepted the Green Party's proposal to take part in and help fund the scheme. The service was threatened by council cuts this year, but Greens managed to secure further funding for 2008/09, despite the Lib Dems proposal to scrap the scheme (funny that, when the Lib Dems up in Camden were outraged when Barnet Tories tried to do the same, but I digress).

Lewisham offers a £30 voucher to parents towards the costs of buying real nappies, as incentive to encourage their use over disposables and to and reduce the amount of money the Council has to spend collecting and incinerating disposable nappies.

Last time I blogged about Real Nappies, there was a heated debate over on Brockley Central about whether the Council should be signed up to the scheme, but the latest figures have shown that Lewisham is one of London's most enthusiastic boroughs for 'real nappies', with parents' take-up of the vouchers' scheme being the third highest in London.

Yes, the scheme costs money to run, and at the moment it costs more than it saves in waste disposal costs, but longer-term, as more parents take up the voucher offer, this won't necessarily be the case. There is also a wider issue about waste reduction, reducing carbon emissions by transporting less waste around the borough and raising awareness of environmental issues. It also costs more to collect and process recycling than sending all our waste to the incinerator, but I think most people would agree that we shouldn't scrap our recycling service.

It costs the Council £52.31 per household per year to collect domestic waste and municipal waste disposal costs per tonne are £40.60. Disposable nappies comprise 4% of the waste stream in Lewisham, and for a family with a child in disposable nappies, they can comprise as much as 50% of the waste in their wheelie bin. So, giving families a £30 voucher to reduce their waste by half for approx 2 years (more if they go on to have more than one child) can save £52.31 in waste disposal costs. The more people who join the scheme, the more cost-efficient it becomes once administration costs are factored in.

Parents are estimated to save as much as £500 per child by using real nappies. To kit out a baby in real nappies can cost under £50. The same amount of money would only buy seven weeks of disposables. And of course the savings are greater for any subsequent children you may have.

Official Opening of the Ladywell Early Childhood Centre

On Friday I went along to the official launch and opening of Ladywell Early Childhood Centre in Rushey Mead. Since Romayne and I went there a few weeks ago, the staff had put in a huge amount of effort to get everything ready for the grand opening. Wonderful facilities and I would encourage anyone with under-fives to go along and see how they can make use of them. There are also computers with internet access for public use. I was chatting to Heather Watkinson, the Real Nappies officer, whose mind was clearly working overtime when she saw the laundry room and the potential for real nappies there. A ‘stakeholders group’ is being set up soon and one of the things it will look at is how the local community wants to use the facility and how, for example, it could be used at weekends.

Ladywell Children's Centre

Romayne and I had a tour around Ladywell Children's Centre yesterday. This is in Rushey Mead (next to Ladywell Day Centre and between Slagrove Place and Dressington Avenue), on the Ladywell Pre-School site. The pre-school building has been retained and a large extension added, provide a range of extra facilities. The new centre is partially open now, in that the nursery and pre-school are back on site, but it will be officially opened on October 19th.
Facilities will include:

• pre-school group for under 5s
• nursery for under 5s (from 3 months old)
• Rooms for health visitors/social workers/speech therapist etc to meet with children and parents
• computers with internet access for the use of the local community
• colour therapy room and extensive facilities for children with special needs
• large room with sofas for parents and childminders to drop in for a coffee and meet other parents and children

The centre will be consulting local residents and stakeholders soon to find out more about how they would like to use the building, so the exact activities and facilities at the centre, will depend on what people think would be useful (eg toy library visits, midwifery services etc).

I was very impressed by the facilities there, particularly the outside play space and gardens for the children and think it will be a great community asset. Some poor person has a huge amount of flat pack furniture to assemble over the next month before the grand opening though!