All the bumpy ladies – enjoy!

AWESOME! May half-term holiday workshops at Kensington and Chiswick include ‘Bang Crash Baking’, ‘Super Street Dance’, ‘The Big Maggie & Rose Pie Off’ and ‘Inspired by Lichtenstein’ Maggie & Rose is the place to be this half term.

angels & urchins readers can get members rates on big kids workshops (4yrs+), plus a 3 for 2 offer on the half-term classes.

Know anywhere decent to spend half term?

Simply call either club (Kensington: 020 7371 2200) and (Chiswick: 020 8994 7211) to book, quoting angels & urchins.

And you can visit the Maggie & Rose website for more information.

Oxford Street goes Gatsby

Half term is looming, and it reminded me how fab London is, come rain or shine. There’s so much to do for free, and so much excitement to be found in even the most everyday places.

Take the Gatsby makeover of Oxford Circus tube station. Almost enough to make a commuter break out into a spontaneous Charleston, and definitely child-friendly (especially with goddaughters in tow on the way to TopShop).

As to more free stuff, here’s a blog post on Top 10 FREE outings for Kids in London

We’ll be back to the National Gallery this half term, and have also budgeted to splash out (no pun intended) on a trip to the fabulous Wetland Centre in Barnes.

Milly Green's Fine Bone China Tableware Set, £39.99

Every baby shower I’ve been invited to has been cancelled because the mother has gone into labour a week or so early. So I’m a bit reluctant to commit to presents pre-birth, just in case (and there are tragedies too, not that I want to introduce a sad note on this fine sunny morning). However I’m going to find it difficult not to treat the children (ok, myself) to Milly Green’s Royal Baby range. It’s adorable.

Milly Green Fine Bone China Mugs, £7.99

Rather like bacon for vegetarians, a slice of freshly baked bread slathered with butter tends to be the final temptation for Atkins addicts. As a huge (in every sense…!) bread fan I’m all over Tiptree’s new awards (open until 31 August 2013) celebrating the art of bread making.

More of a machine maker than a purist, my entry might well not be accepted, but watch this space. I’ve also got my eye on the Young Baker Grainchain.com categories (Under 12 and 12-17) because my boys are often keen to get kneading. They love the excitement of watching the dough rise, and often experiment with additions. Sunflower seeds and a spoonful of local honey tasted great, though I wasn’t convinced by their Nutella moment. 

To enter the Young Baker categories is free, and to enter the Home Baker award costs £5. Register online, then take your bread in person or have it delivered to the Worshipful Company of Bakers, 9 Harp Lane, London EC3R 6DP.

The Boy who Bakes: Edd Kimber will help judge the World Bread Awards

Judges include Phil Vickery and Edd Kimber, winner of the Great British Bake Off.

Good luck!

A future Great British Chef in training!

A new, free app from Great British Chefs is delicious and timely. Research from the School Food Trust reveals that children who can cook have both a greater understanding of healthier food, and the desire to eat it.

Great British Chefs (GBC) is an award-winning recipe site run in association with Tesco Realfood. Their new “Cooking with Kids Programme” features exclusive recipes, cookery guidelines, virtual masterclasses, chefs Q&A’s, instructional videos, and an app.

Over 100 new recipes from over 20 of Britain’s greatest chefs, including Marcus Wareing and Nathan Outlaw, will encourage children to make delicious food from scratch with their parents.  The recipes are now available at www.greatbritishchefs.com and www.realfood.tesco.com. 

A free iPhone/iPad app (“Kids Recipes”), building on the three previous award-winning apps from Great British Chefs will include additional exclusive content.

-  Each recipe can be viewed through a recipe image gallery

-  Each recipe is linked through to an aggregated shopping basket, enabling users to purchase all the related ingredients in a single click from Tesco.com

-  Intuitive navigation and search facility

-  Integrated social media functionality allowing users to share the recipes, images and shopping list across the popular social network platforms and email

-  Voice control allows people to cook without touching their iPad or iPhone

-  Comprehensive information about the chefs, their restaurants and cookbooks

-  A series of 25  “How to” films http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/how-to/kids

Aimed at children aged 5 to 12 the recipes are a take on old favourites or provide little twists that inspire.  Recipes include Rice Krispie Fish Fingers with tangy mayo, Spaghetti and meatballs with mini garlic bites, Rarebit Soldiers and one of my favourites, Andy Waters Fishy Pie.

The Fishy Pie isn’t something I’d be able to leave my children to concoct on their own – my oldest is 8 – but they’d all have a lot of fun making the fish shape, pressing a knife into the pastry to make the scales, and brushing the pastry with egg wash.

Great British Chefs' Andy Waters Fishy Pie

Marcus Wareing, one of the chefs involved, said “For me, cooking is one of the most important life skills, teaching provenance, nutrition, organisation, budgeting and timekeeping. Getting my children involved in the cooking process means they are so much more enthusiastic about trying new foods in the dishes they’ve created.   That’s why I’ve developed a selection of innovative recipes for children to cook that use different ingredients and varying technical skills for Great British Chefs. 

The Cooking with Kids initiative launches this Spring and the Great British Chefs Kids Recipes App is available for free for iPad and iPhone from today, 1 May http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/kids-recipes for more information.

Printed skinny jeans, iconic wrap dresses (you’ll have to order these in from the US) and adorable swimsuits. It’s all there, and it’s all gorgeous.

DVF printed skinny jeans, £27.95, as seen on an unbearably lucky child on a high street near you

We want it all. Now. Stamps foot, slams door, and remembers a childhood being forced into jumbo cord trousers and nylon blouses. Not fair!

Grab now before it sells out and you have to buy it for double the price on eBay.

“IMAGINE IF WE ALL DID “JUST ONE THING” FOR THOSE CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY – WHAT A DIFFERENCE WE COULD MAKE!”
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company

It’s taken me a week or so since finding out about this initiative to actually post something about it. Applauding and recommending are very different to actually ‘doing’, and I was reluctant to pass on information that I had no intention of following up myself.

Since then I’ve logged on to the Just One Thing initiative website, got some ideas, and realised there’s something any of us can do. I’ve looked at the Donate section, and realised that instead of squirrelling away my ‘Buy One Get One Free’ groceries, I can donate them instead.

Beyond the School Run and Kids Company are inviting everyone to be part of “Just one thing” – a new initiative supported by Laura Bailey.  It’s simple: they’re asking parents to offer just one thing to help children suffering from neglect, abuse and deprivation in the UK, whether that’s a skill, a gift, an idea or time.

If every parent offered just one thing, the combined impact could make all the difference.  Not only that – if you are looking for an opportunity to return to the wider world following those all-consuming early years of parenting – then this may just be the step you are looking for.

So here’s the issue. There are staggering 3.6 million children living in poverty in the UK, 1.6 million of whom live in extreme poverty. These exceptionally vulnerable children not only negotiate significant challenges in their family homes, they also face immense threat within their neighbourhoods. The positive news is that Kids Company has proven children CAN be helped and nurtured to find their true talents and aspire to achieve. So let’s use our talents, passions and skills to start to make a difference – it may be as little as just one thing!

And this is how it works. Log on to www.beyondtheschoolrun.com/just-one-thing and enter your pledge of help.  There will be a list of ideas and suggestions on the website should you need it.  You may be:

• A budding artist and can create a painting for a child’s bedroom
• A trained lawyer and can offer  your time to help a child in trouble
• An employee of an organization that could offer training for mothers or young people
• An entrepreneur who may come up with an idea which may help address the issues associated with UK poverty

So why not grab a coffee after school drop off and take a moment to ponder your talents or if you find inspiration in a group why not gather a few mums at the school gates and start a discussion?   Whatever you can offer, we will endeavor to turn your ‘Just One Thing’ pledge into reality. Over the course of a year we hope to see hundreds of Kids Company children helped by parents from across the UK. 

Laura Bailey, model, writer & cultural ambassador for the British Fashion Council “The ‘Just one thing’ campaign created by Kids Company and www.beyondtheschoolrun.com is a truly inspired concept.  As a mother and passionate supporter of Kids Company, I love the idea that as parents we can come together to use our skills, creativity & compassion to make a difference to the lives of those children who are in such need of our help right now.   The combined impact of each of our offerings, however big or small, really could make all the difference!”  

Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company says; ‘”Often, people think what they have to offer is too insignificant, and will not transform damaged lives.  What they don’t realise is that, in the exchange of kindness, something big and beautiful happens. A child who has lost dignity will regain it in the knowledge that you cared. Give yourself a gift – be transformative!”

Louise Webster, Founder of Beyondtheschoolrun.com says; “The ‘Just One Thing’ campaign is about recognizing that there is a large part of society – parents – who have a range of skills and talents that when utilized could collectively make a difference to theirs and the lives of others.  I think this is an opportunity for parents to show what they are made of and together face the huge issue of poverty affecting so many families and children across the UK.  I believe if we each do one thing, however small, we can make a significant difference.”

A drawerful of irreplaceable photos which could do with The Album People treatment

Don’t lose a lifetime of memories!

angels & urchins writer Suzie Skipper wrote a brilliant piece for the magazine about preserving precious memories. You can read it here, and if you’re anything like me it will jog your memory about the precarious state of your own photographs. Suzie’s piece gives information on digitally storing photographs and mini movies, and has lots of other information about albums, frames and other ways of storing images.

Our wedding album is still only half finished, and we got married over 11 years ago. In mitigation, we weren’t that pleased with the photos, not least because my new husband and I looked blurred in most of them. “Oh, I think my auto-focus was playing up”, explained the photographer, which wasn’t an entirely convincing explanation given that we thought we were paying someone who knew how to use a camera lens. Compared to most of our own childhoods, when parents would take a few photographs and hope for the best when they were developed, most families now have hundreds of photos to choose from. But quantity is no match for actually having photographs where you can actually access them.

We recently discovered The Album People, professional London-based archiving service that specialises in digitising and curating family photos and videos. 

Unlike other conversion labs that scan photos and videos to a CD, The Album People believe in using fully digital formats, which means that your memories can be stored in online galleries such as Flickr or Picasa, or kept in a memory vault such as a USB stick or hardrive. The Album People also add personalised metadata (digital tags and keywords) for easy browsing, retrieval and preservation of the unique information each photo carries.

The home service means that pictures never have to leave your sight because portable scanning equipment is used. 

Once a collection has been digitised, the possibilities are endless. The Album People also specialise in creating digital products from your collections, such as slideshows and montages.  

www.thealbumpeople.com

info@thealbumpeople.com

020 8292 0424 

Follow The Album People on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thealbumpeople

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thealbumpeople

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/thealbumpeople

We’ve been asked to join #LuxVox chat on Twitter.

The first #LuxVox chat talked about Women’s Wellness, with questions posed on Twitter to a panel of experts.

This time it’s the turn of Family Travel. 

@angelsurchins will be joining luxury travel experts @SmithHotels and their family friendly website Smith and Family @SmithandFamily, as well as leading luxury hotel brand@FourSeasons.

 The time? April 11 at 1pm GMT.
Where? TWITTER
Hash tag? #LuxVox

Travelling with a family can be stressful. What country should you go to? What age is appropriate to venture on a family adventure? Is it best to go self-catered or stay at a resort? All these questions can leave parents confused about where to stay to cater to all the family’s needs.

Your idea of holiday heaven? Kid's Club at Shanti Maurice, Mauritius

Smith and Family understand that family holidays should be an escape from the stresses of everyday life – which is only possible if you’re confident you can switch off and unwind. As parents themselves, they know that travelling with children can be an adventure (to put it mildly); Travelling and catering for the needs of babies, toddlers and teens are very different. Thankfully, their new site Smith & Family does all the hard work for you. Their collection is a handpicked assortment of the world’s very best child-friendly hotels and family stays, which are all anonymously reviewed by one of their selected and approved parents. You are in good hands with the team at Smith & Family, and can be rest assured that each property has been given the thumbs-up from their team of seasoned family experts.

Get your questions ready for a unique way to get some in-depth knowledge from a bunch of travel insiders. We’ll be joining @PRCoUk, @SmithandFamily, @FourSeasons and other luxury family travel enthusiasts for the #LuxVox Twitter chat this April 11 at 1pm GMT.