2:00am Wednesday 6th May 2009
By Elise Haskell
A MUM who found it a wrench going back to work after having her first child has set up a free weekend play and support group for working parents.
Kimberley Webb, 30, went to parent and children sessions at SureStart children’s centres while she was pregnant and after daughter Ellie was born.
But when she went back to work when Ellie was just three months old, Mrs Webb struggled to find any similar weekend groups that were also free to attend.
She has now set up her own weekend group for working parents at Cherrydown Children’s Centre, in Basildon.
Mrs Webb, of Crown Avenue, Pitsea, said: “SureStart has all these brilliant activities for parents with young children during the week, but parents who work full-time can’t make it to any of them.”
Her Mummas and Bubbas group was launched last week at the centre in Cherrydown West, and Mrs Webb is hoping the group will provide a place for mums and dads to go and share their experiences as working parents.
She said: “The group offers parents somewhere to go if they need advice or just want a chat. It’s somewhere you can go as a working mum or dad and talk to people who are in the same situation as you.”
Mrs Webb works as a project manager for a small business, and when her maternity pay went down to statutory levels after her initial few months off, making ends meet became a struggle.
She said: “For me, going back to work was a huge wrench. If I had a choice I would be at home with Ellie, but I had to go back to work for financial reasons.”
Mrs Webb has high hopes for the group and is confident the monthly sessions will soon become more regular.
She said: “Hopefully, it will take off. If I can help just one mum, it will be worth it.”
Cherrydown Children’s Centre co-ordinator Lesley McClellan helped Mrs Webb set up the group after they met at a SureStart event.
She added: “Kimberley approached us at one of our events and said she would like to set up this group. She had been trying to do this for some time because there aren’t groups for working parents.
“Because Cherrydown is relatively new, there is space here for what she wants to do and Kimberley is pretty much running it herself, with us supporting her work. The gap she has filled is one we have recognised ourselves because everything does tend to happen during the day. ”
Mummas and Bubbas group meetings are on the last Saturday in every month and run from 11am at Cherrydown Children’s Centre, Cherrydown West, Basildon. The next session is on Saturday, May 30.
For more information, e-mail kimberley.webb@btinternet.com
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