JDR

This is a duplicate of post on the wanted section but thought I'd get better veiwing on this section - apologies admin if this isn't protocol Hi I am a parent at a very small school Bellenden Primary based on Costa Street in Peckham (across from Petitou). Being so small we would really appreciate any donations of vouchers to go towards school play equipment as it is currently a bit lacking and due to the current economic climate new sources of funding are scarce.... we have a new head who is trying to improve things but we need all the help we can get Anyone out there that is happy to collect the vouchers when they are shopping and drop them into the office, (entrance through the car park entrance on Costa Street itself) this would be really appreciated by all the children, staff and parents Many thanks JDR

Just to say my husband has had one at Kings arranged by the GP. That said we were told its not reversible... though clearly we don't much care about that as we had three under three and def won't be repeating taht experience!

I appreciate the concern of residents and I also think the parking is more likely to be an issue than anything. The noise though, is probably going to be one that makes you smile as children run around nad have a good time. Its a community, we all live very close together but genuinly a nursery is one of the few things I'd love to see next to me (and mine are all in a nursery or at school so no plans to use new nursery, so no vested interst). Economically active during the day but no night tiem disturbances or weekends. Are they not the perfect neighbours?

WOuld love to help... fraid I only know of the ones with long waits. Might be worth trying them and trying to get the least popular days initially ie fridays and mondays and try and increase from there... Good luck

Get thread, especially for the woman with 4 children. T you are a legend... Parenting. Its all the cliches. Its the best (and worst) job in the world. Its harder than you imagine, dirtier, less galmourous and takes away most of the things you held dear ie money, freedom,sleep, time, an evening socail life, your pre preg body, a useful pelvic floor... But yes, more cliches. Its the best job in the world and I woudn't change it for anything (though a bit more 'me' time would be appreciated) I've had some bits easier than others. Understanding friends make a huge difference, especially ones that have the sense not to say you are right or wrong but let you just cry when you need to or laugh at your really horrifc sounding child based stories (please insert birth, post preg, poo, colic, projectile vomit, toilet training, tantrum stories here as appropriate). They;ll match you and raise you and you'll all see the funny side, at least once a glass of wine is in your hand...

Hi I have high hopes for suggestions for you savvy socailites out there... my husband is soon to be 40 and I'd like to organise a small (ish) venue. He is somewhat snobish about food, whiskey and real ale. This is just background so you might be able to point me in the right direction. I'd prefer a central london location, able to do either food or drinks in a private room off either a gastro pub/restaurant. Better if not too expensive, as he has expensive taste but not quite the money to pay for them ;-) Anyway, thanks in advance

Woops - SteveL post is mine - didn't realise it was hubbie signed in rather than me!

Oops, SteveL posting is mine, didn't realise PC was using his user name. All coments are mine!

Ok, I know I asked this already but got no reply.... what is going to happen about getting the swim schools back to Dulwich??? At the moment they are being held at Peckham with Peckham and Camberwell classes but they no longer seem to keep the children seperated, they have all merged. The staff there know nothing about what is happening (my husband asked this morning) and its two weeks until they open. PLEASE someone communicate with us

Can I just ask Julie how the repatriation of swim schools is going to be managed? (If you are who I think you are you will remember me as being a very disgruntled mum when we were moved to Peckham for childrens swim classes) It would be good if this can be managed pre emptively this time and lists of people were collated etc. Also, do you have staff for swim schools sorted and who will be in charge? Is there anyway that they can be present at Peckham on the weeks prior to move to ensure that all people are aware of dates, allocation of new classes etc? All of these things would lead to us all having a much more positive view of the delays and inconvenience of traipsing to Peckham every week for the last 15 or so months... Good luck with it all and I hope that a few of our suggestions can be put in place

We looked at lots of sites for our girls and ended up with a fairly reasonably priced short list of argos, marks and spencers and next. In the end we went for a set from next, for us partly to do with size. Have had them a year and still look great (they are metal which I wasn't keen on to start with)

I suspect the landlord went bust then as a leasehold is on the property and I can assure you, the owners of the business itself are the same as they were...

I can see both sides of this. Yes, in an ideal world your child would make it to the toilet, but in reality they announce at very short notice that they need the toilet NOW. Baring in mind that some shops won't let you use their facilities and the only 'public' conveniences are in our local parks, if you're not there, better the drain/gutter than middle of the street... I personally hate it if my children do that and the vast majority of the time have a 'potette' with me, but I am seriously fallible and have been known to forget it. One question, what did your parents do with you?

I've used this nursery (forest hill road) for several years and have mixed feelings. Staff - brilliant. Owners - dubious. Thet have not gone bust but was probably a close run thing as they failed 4 ofsteds in a row and were temporarily withdrawn form the list the council give out due to this. Now MUCH better, but believe due to the fact that manager is lovely and patient and persistent, plus southwark early years did loads of work with them... owners good at agreeing but slow on actions. I've sent mine there for baby room only, moved after age two. This only applies to Excel NOT excel II. Good luck with your decision. Unfortunatley alibo is right ?215 is very cheap for area. PS on costs check out childcare vouchers for yourself and partner. If your workplace supports them you can save ?160-?200/month (this is a salalry sacrifice scheme, not benefits)

can second galzer delmar

The rumours were true for us too... also costs more than you probably think too. My best recommendation is ofr the Villa on Lyndhurst in SE15. My two elder daughters have been there and the youngest is due to start soon, however they only take children from two. Babies age range is very poorly covered in the area so depending on your own preference sign to nurseries now, find a nanny/share or look for a child minder closer to the time Most importantly, good luck. And look araound several places because if you're like I was, I had no idea what I was looking for. It takes practice Regarding costs, check of you/partner are eligible through work for 'childcare vouchers' which mean you pay for upto ?243(?)/month pre-tax that gets apid to Ofsted registered childcarers. Standard rate tax payers save approx ?80/month, higher rate approx ?100/month. If both of you then upto ?200/month saved. Also at age 3 they get 5 free 2.5 hours so also will decrease the bills later on xx

Pickle - waht time is it where you are??? Hope you're havig a great time

great to hear... good to know that feedback in media/technology intensive times can ellicit a postive response. Bless him for sending it on a saturday night, thought there was only me sad enough to be checking emails at this time...

I can only agree with most of the previous posters... have three children and the first always seemed to get 'tired' with finger food, as if her jaw got fatigue and I'd always end up pureeing the last bit. Second one better and fully weaned by 10/11 months. third, never been a great eater but BLW was assisted by her sisters secretly feeding her sweets (if that had happened with my first I'd have had a heart attack) so I'm not actually sure the age she first got chocolate as when first foudn her eldest sister said they fed her some everytime they got some - eek! She gave up puree at 8 months over christmas (a bit annoying as I'd planned a lazy christmas and spent a small fortune on pureed packs so I didn't have to be arsed). Her cure was being fed chipolatas on christmas day - again eek! After that she refused anything that was different to her sisters So the upshot is, all my children are similar now with their eating, all did it waening differently and its made not one jot of difference. my only regret is that I didn't introduce 'spicy' food to out eldest soner as she is SOOOOO picky

Just to add supprt to localmama and other breasfeeding mums. I've just sent my email to the exec and requested that they make an obviously positive statement regarding breastfeeding, whilst directing them to this thread. I did point out that the forum does have some media savvy users and that there are serious risks regardign this being picked up natioanlly if people use their contacts... I will be boycotting the store and using other charity shops until I feel they have made appropriate changes to their stance. Very disappointed in them but much joyed by collective response so far. Just one note, can't remember who said about getting negative responses re BF in public. The only negative comments were from my dad!! In public I only ever seem to get positive comments so PLEASE no one stop because of others ignorance. It makes me smile every time I see it, a truly beautiful thing to do for your child

I have been on training just this week for the system that will eventually support this. To say that there are checks to find out who is looking at records is an understatement. Baring in mind that health care professionals will be able to access a shortened version of your files and there will be a record of who has viewed them, it seems to be very robust as a system (annoyingly time consuming from my perspective. Deleting records for those already on a very les detailed version of this is already something that only a very few poeple can do. There will be regional and national 'spines' and changes to these very often have to go through other departments of you wish to change info. Very thorough from what I've seen, and most details held will not be available to all, just the pertinent info that genuinely needs to be shared ie medical history, allergies etc I'm happy to have it done for me, I guess thats the best recommendation i can give

I've no experience of the Albany midwifes but have only heard positive comments from friends that have. I fully hope that you are successful in getting them reinstated. Perhaps they could come under the PCT rather than KCH. And unfortunately as an NHS worker, yes, hospitals are a business :-(

I'm an orthopaedic physio and this still made me feel queasy. Poor you (both). Don't blame yourself though. You wouldn't have done it if you'd even vaguely known it was possible. It has to be said that at Peckham they don't allow poeple in without socks either for this exact reason

Not at all affected and agree school drops difficult but the agreement may be fine amongst parents but THEY ARE MAD if they think they can have a go at you... Bless them, PTA's can be influential but not aware they can add driving restrictions!

Good for pizza/beer/wine/young vibe/music is the Gowlett pub. Quite noisy (in a good way) and always busy. On the corner of Gowlett and Amott Road. Also show most matches during tournaments