NHM Meet Up’s and Expo’s

I need to be the best Mum that I can be for my daughter

Posted by webmaster on in Basingstoke, Events, General, My Experience, NHM Meet Up's and Expo's, Wellbeing 12 Comments

Which is why I am cancelling the NorthHantsMum 2016 Christmas Expo.

Some of you may remember that in August last year we moved from the old WordPress site to the new NorthHantsMum.co.uk site. In May of this year my technical “person” advised me that she couldn’t support the site anymore. She left me floundering. I literally had NO IDEA what to do with the back end of the site.

I’ve spent the past six months trying to sort things out in the back end and it’s been very, very, VERY frustrating and stressful. In April of this year I was advised to switch off the old wordpress site which means that I can’t reactive it, so I can’t even go back to that.

My aim is to post every week day. You may have noticed that I have randomly stop posting every so often, in the past six months. It’s not because I don’t want too, it’s because I literally can’t post anything because something has happened in the back end site. Again.

I’ve “wasted” a lot of energy in the past six months trying to sort stuff out behind the scenes. My stress levels have rocketed. It’s affecting the most important relationships to me and it’s knocked my confidence in NHM. I want to have the energy and head space to write some more personal posts which I just don’t have the time for anymore.

When Mr NHM came up with the idea that I raise money for a bench, a safe place for Mum’s to meet in a local popular park, I was totally up for running another Expo to raise funds to this. I put out a plea asking for help and am so very grateful to all those who have volunteered.

Even with all of this help, I just can’t run the Expo this year. My sanity will not remain if I go ahead. Last year, when the electric was off until 2 minutes into the start of the Expo (1.5 hours setting up in the dark!?!?!?!), I was practically catatonic. It takes me three weeks to get over an Expo, the planning, the stress and all of the table moving and cleaning up after, when things go “well”, let alone when they don’t. My hips have never been quite the same after having to move 48 tables for the 2015 Spring Expo.

In March I did the 2016 Spring Expo whilst suffering from flu. 100 people booked tickets and 15 people turned up. I worked so hard to make it a successful event, whilst feeling dreadful, and it was so frustrating when it didn’t come together.

So, for the sake of my sanity and my family I am cancelling the Expo this Christmas.

I’m very sorry to all of those people I am disappointing but hopefully you understand why I have to do this.

Hopefully I will get the technical issues sorted out in the background and then I will be able to focus my attention on the bit I love, providing quality content and support to local Mum’s.

Thank you for your understanding. x

(I am posting this from my phone, which I’ve never done before, so not even sure if this post will work!)

Updated on Monday 17th October: Fundraising for the NorthHantsMum Bench:  gofundme.com/northhantsmums-bench-2uncp5w.

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NorthHantsMum Christmas 2015 Expo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NHM Meet Up's and Expo's 4 Comments

I’m VERY excited to officially announce the details for the NHM Christmas Expo 2015!!!?!?!? WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

NorthHantsMum Christmas 2015 Expo

The Expo will be on Tuesday 10th November from 10am to 1pm at Christchurch Chineham. This is your chance to get an early start on your Christmas present shopping, whilst supporting local Mum businesses AND letting your children play in the softplay room AND doing a good deed at the same time!

There will also be FREE taster sessions from some local classes (which you can book HERE), a pop up photography studio (which you can book HERE), a face painter and lots of yummy homemade cakes and goodies.

There will ALSO be a couple of very special guests coming along and more details will be announced nearer to the date. (I’m super excited about all the guests that we have coming along on the day!) And if that’s not enough there will be a raffle with some FANTASTIC prizes and you can find more details about the raffle prizes and how to buy tickets HERE.

All parents and children are welcome and all profits from the day will go to Piam Brown Cancer Ward for children in Southampton (so you will be doing a very good deed by attending!).

You can find out more about the event at the following Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/1631076570501521/ and I will be using this event to share details of all of the exciting stalls, taster sessions, photography slots and meet and greets in this link.

This will be a ticketed event as there are limited places. Tickets are £2.50 for the first 100 adults who register and £3 for the next 50 adults. (Tickets are limited and sold out very quickly at the Expo earlier this year so don’t hesitate to book your tickets up soon!!!) Tickets can be booked here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nhm-christmas-expo-2015-tickets-18578611126. (Please note that Eventbrite says the ticket is free but you will actually need to pay £2.50 on the day).

Only adults need to book a ticket. Children do not need a ticket and will be free on the day.

On the day

*Over 20 local business stalls show casing their products and services *Taster sessions *Softplay Room *Character Meet and Greet’s TBA *Face Painting *A pop up tea room with fabulous home made cakes and goodies *Photographer for family portraits *Raffle with some AMAZING prizes … Hope to see you there!!! Louise (NorthHantsMum) 

NHM Summer Expo 2015 – Total Raised for Sebastian’s Action Trust!!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NHM Meet Up's and Expo's 0 Comment

Ok, so I need to double, double check this because I have hit a bit of a wall this afternoon, but I think the final total for the money raised at the Expo was….

£793!!!?!?!??!?!

That’s after my costs of hall hire, public liability insurance, bags for the goody bags, etc.

YAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, if you add in that my Just Giving Sponsorship page is now at £110 in donations, that means my current Sky Dive total for Sebastian’s Action Trust, for NorthHantsMum, is…..

£903!!!!!!!???!?!??!

WOOOOWWW!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, soooo much to everyone who has helped me raise that amount.

I’ve really got to jump now! lol.

There is still time to sponsor me: https://www.justgiving.com/Louise-NorthHantsMum

Wouldn’t it be awesome if I made it to £1000 in sponsorship by my Sky Dive in 11 days.  😀 😀 😀

NorthHantsMum Summer Expo 2015: Tickets are now available!!!!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NHM Meet Up's and Expo's 0 Comment

Tickets are now available for booking for the NHM Summer Expo which is on Tuesday 12th May, from 9.30am to 1pm at Christchurch Chineham.

Only adults need a ticket.

Ticket prices will be £2.50 for the first 100 tickets booked and will be £3 for the last 75 tickets, so it’s in your interest to book up quickly! :-D.

You can book your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/northhantsmum-summer-expo-2015-tickets-16119585113

All money raised will go towards my Sky Dive for “The Bluebells”.

See you there!!! 😀

NHM Summer Expo

My Sky Dive and another favour… ;-)

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in My Experience, NHM Meet Up's and Expo's

In the past twelve months I’ve discovered just how powerful and far reaching NorthHantsMum really is.

The Christmas Food Box 2014 appeal really brought this home to me. I was stunned and delighted to see how the NHM Community pulled together to help those less fortunate than themselves. We helped the team at Basingstoke Voluntary Action smash their previous Christmas box collection. I’m very proud of how many NHM Readers contributed to this appeal.

The NorthHantsMum Christmas Expo was also a resounding success and it was so fantastic to see so many parents and children having a brilliant time. A highlight of that day was when we went for dinner that night with friends who were visiting from “Up North”. Miss NHM still had her face painted from the morning and the waitress asked if we had been “at the event at Playdays”. I was so excited that she knew about it, I nearly hugged her! lol.

I have also seen several local businesses thrive because their Guest Post on NorthHantsMum has been so successful.

I know it’s a huge responsibility to have the influence that NorthHantsMum has and I do my very best to use this influence wisely.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to give back more to the community and also about my “word” for 2015.

So…

My Sky Dive

This year I’ve decided to do a Sky Dive for charity.

It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time and I’m not going to put it off any more.

The charity that I will be jumping for  is the Bluebells, which is in North Waltham (next to the Wheatsheaf pub on the A30), and part of Sebastian’s Action Trust.

Sebastian’s Action Trust provides respite holidays and vital support to seriously-ill children and their families. The Bluebells is a purpose-built holiday house that was opened in 2011 and is a place of laughter, love, noise and fun.  They aim to welcome 100 families for holidays and 500 individuals on day visits each year.

I first visited The Bluebells in 2013 and it had a massive impact on me. It brought it home to me, that you never know if your children might need a place like this.

We are very lucky to have such a facility like this on our doorstep. It’s not government funded and is maintained via fundraising and public support.

Everything that I raise will go directly to helping this facility continue.

A favour

If you would like to sponsor me then this is my fundraising page:

Anything you can donate, no matter how small, will make a difference to many children and their families.

My Sky Dive is scheduled for Sunday 24th May 2015. You will probably hear a lot about it in the run up to that date ;-).

Did I mention that I’m not a big fan of heights?