Welcome to Minor Matters, the Cheddington Baby and Toddler Group newsletter. We hope this will keep you up to date with what we’re doing and planning as well as provide you with useful information. If you have any questions or comments please contact Chris Kelly on 01525 229042 or Sarah Sykes on 01525 222521 or visit our website at www.cheddingtontoddlers.org.uk

Entrance Fees: £2.00 per child (£2.30 for two or more children). To help clarify things, we charge for the second child, once they are crawling/about 9 months old. We think this is fair, as they start to actually play at the group from about this age.

NEWS

We would like to congratulate Chris Kelly on her recent nuptials! She and her fiancée Aldo tied the knot on Friday, 28th May at Slapton village church. The weather really smiled on them with a beautiful sunny day to remember.

EVENTS

11th June – Forget Me-Nots Pre-School

Staff will be with us to talk to anyone who wants about this Tring based pre-school. You will also be able to pick up a prospectus and register your child.

25th June – Becky the hairdresser

Becky cuts children’s hair for £5, although she charges less if it just the fringe and £15 for adults. Becky visits the group every four weeks.

25th June – Cheddington Pre-School

Kim Goldhagen, Manager of Cheddington Pre-School will be with us to talk to anyone who wants about pre-school. You will also be able to pick up a prospectus and register your child.

2nd July – Teddy Bears Picnic

This is a special themed Teddy Bear session. Sing-a-long Helen will be with us from 10-10.30am and there will be a treat for the children. Bring a Teddy.

9th July – Windmill Pre-School

Chair of the Management Committee Katrina Blunt and Acting Pre-school Leader Joe Coleman will be available to talk informally to anyone with an interest in the Pitstone setting. You will also be able to pick up information and register your child.

10th July – AGM

This year’s AGM will be held at the Methodist Church Hall, Cheddington, 8pm. Everyone is welcome.

NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS REQUIRED

We are looking for new parents and carers to join our team of dedicated committee members. We are a friendly and fun group of parents that meet on a monthly basis (often in the pub!) to ensure that the group is able to run efficiently. If you would like to find out more or join the team, please speak to Sarah Sykes or Chris Kelly. The current committee members are:

  • Sarah Sykes (co-chair)

  • Chris Kelly (co-chair)

  • Catherine Glover (crafts)

  • Kerry Storey (treasurer)

  • Lisa McCarthy

  • Nina Tomlin

  • Elke Hegarty

  • Barbra Ruperto

  • Sonya Aris

  • Eloise Clarke

FUNDRAISING

On April 23rd, we held a sponsored ‘Bunny Hop’ in aid of Sports Relief. We raised a fantastic £102 and all money raised has been donated to this incredibly worthwhile cause. We would like to thank everyone that gave so generously and to those that hopped with Sarah and Chris!

REGULARS

Suggestion Book

The Suggestion Book is on the table by the notice board and is your opportunity to put forward any suggestions/ideas/changes you would like to see. The Committee always discusses any suggestions in the book, so please use it!

Toy Hire

Toys used at the Group are available for hire – great for birthday parties and other occasions. Do spread the word on this one – you can hire the toys from just £10 – which is excellent value for money! For more details please contact Chris Kelly on 01525 229042.

Craft Sessions

Thank you to Catherine for continuing to organize a themed craft table at every toddler session. If you have any suggestions for future crafts, please give her a shout.

Chocolate Biscuits/Cakes

Drinks are included in your entrance fee however please remember to put your donation for any chocolate biscuits or cakes on the counter.

Donate a Toy

Please think of us when you are clearing out toys or books etc. We are happy to receive any donations, provided toys are safe and in good condition. Contact any member of the Committee if you can help.

Clearing up

At 11.10am, before we have singing with Sarah in the side room, we have introduced a five-minute group clear up where everyone helps to clear all the toys away and move as much as possible down to the front of the stage area. This has helped to cut down the amount of time it takes the committee and rota’d volunteers to put the toys away under the stage area at the end of each session.

Snack time

You may have noticed that we have recently changed the way in which we serve up the snacks. Because we are so short of volunteers each week, we have needed to reduce the amount of washing up by using two large bowls that the toddlers can help themselves from instead of having a large number of small individual servings to clear up. This seems to be working well.

Opening & Closing Rota

In order to keep the Baby & Toddler Group running we need everyone who attends sessions regularly to open or close at least once a month (unless you are pregnant or have recently had a baby). If you are able to help please contact Chris Kelly or Sarah Sykes. In the meantime, the committee would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been on and is still on the rota, the group couldn’t run without you!

We apologise to anyone that turned up on 28th May to find that the group was not running. This was because we did not have enough volunteers to run the session. We sent out an email to everyone that we currently hold addresses for, but if you did not receive it, please make sure that you give your email address to one of the committee members when you next come to the group.

Reminders

  • DON’T LEAVE HOT DRINKS ON THE FLOOR Please avoid leaving your teas and coffees in easy reach of the little ones or where they can easily get knocked over by energetic toddlers.

  • KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR CHILDREN Please keep an eye on your children and remember it is an unsupervised group. It is down to us as parents and carers to watch the children.

  • KEEP THE GATE SHUT Make sure you don’t leave the gate open, and don’t let anyone else’s children through without their parent/carer. This is especially important when it’s opening or closing time as parent/carers may be under the stage or washing up in the kitchen.

  • Please close the entrance door during sessions to prevent any children leaving the hall unattended.

  • Please try and keep your toddlers/older children out of the baby area.

  • Please remember to keep all adult possessions out of reach of the babies and toddlers.

  • Please try to keep the flasks of hot water and any hot drinks well away from the edge of the counter.

  • Please help us to prevent any spills at juice time, by encouraging your children to sit on the mat.