Northumbria Healthcare’s charity funds Christmas parties for new mums and their babies
Parents and their babies attended a festive celebration with Santa at Ashington Leisure Centre with support from Northumbria Healthcare’s Bright charity.
The event, created by the Northumbria Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership, was an opportunity for mums to connect and for babies to socialise with each other.
Bright thought it was important to support the wellbeing of new mums and their families and to spread some Christmas joy. They provided additional funding to cover the cost of room hire, and for a special surprise guest.
The surprise guest was Santa himself, who gifted books to the children.
Santa, played by Richard Gamlin – whose typical day involves meeting and greeting visitors at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington as part of Bright’s Northumbria Volunteer Service (NVS), was delighted to be involved.
Rae Lowe, lead for the Northumbria Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership, said: “We’ve got lots of really quite small babies, which is lovely. It’s an opportunity to celebrate and listen to their [families’] experiences and ask them to give us some feedback on the things that went well and the things that could be improved, and what the next steps for the service should be.
“It’s a lovely opportunity to get people together from lots of different communities so we’re here in Ashington and we’re holding other Christmas parties throughout the Northumbria region to do the same again.”
Around 20 mums, babies, and their siblings came along to enjoy the party – having a drink, some mince pies, and catching up with other mums.
Carla Anderson, Northumbria Healthcare’s public health lead midwife, said: “We know how important it is for emotional wellbeing to encourage mums to get together and share their experiences in a safe environment.
“Some of the stories we heard have already set new services into action such as plans for a postnatal group for new mums.
“It was great to have our MNVP chair present who could talk to the families and discuss experiences, both positive and negative, which gives the service an opportunity to develop and improve to meet the needs of our families.”
