StoryShed @ North Somerset Museum

We hadn't been to North Somerset Museum in Burlington Street since their highly successful arts and crafts sessions with Helen and the Punch & Judy shows by Professor Walton during the summer holidays, so after Bargains 4 Babies and Toddlers at Victoria Methodist Church on Saturday, we decided to pop in for an hour.

The women on reception kindly let me put my shopping bags behind the desk and we entered the courtyard to a new but temporary structure - StoryShed! This turned out to be a locally recycled wooden hut decorated with all manner of sparkly and interesting items, each one relating to one of the stories that you can listen to on the laptop inside.

My 4 year-old, attracted initially by the fairy lights overhead, made a bee-line for the computer and clicked randomly. The first story we listened to (and that she wanted to hear 3 times!) was called "Dancing at the Hippodrome," all about Jasmine's experience of going to the Bristol theatre, a venue we could both relate to. Hearing another child's voice kept mine transfixed and she listened intently. An accompanying logbook assigns each story a set of keywords that can be used as an educational extension and you can search for the related objects dotted around. We looked for an item or two on display that might be connected to the story and we found a pair of ballet shoes.

Produced by Theatre Orchard, StoryShed brings together pupils from our local Priory Community School and adults from Somerset Racial Equality Council's Friendship Group, who, between them, have documented their personal experiences and diverse cultural backgrounds. It's a good example of how interactivity can really work in a museum setting, relying on visual, audio and kinesthetic stimulus.

It kept us occupied for a good 10 minutes and then she was off to dress up as a ladybird, torment Mr Punch, decorate a paper vase with coloured pencils and set up an imaginary picnic for both of us.

Storyshed closes on October 22nd.

The week that was

Well, it's been a lively week!  Since the creation of our on-line Community last Wednesday, over 45 local members have joined, we've had a well attended play date and a Mums' night out.

The site is attracting not only Mums from Weston but aunties, grandmothers, mums-to-be and today, our very first Dad joined the ranks!  And we've expanded a little southwards with a member from Burnham-on-Sea.  Via the forum, our members have discussed places to go in the local area, the swine flu vacination, the 2010 school intake, holidays and work, among some other 11 topics.  They've set up groups dedicated to food, mums-to-be, twins and multiple births and single parents.  Members are also invited to share those things they love about Weston-super-Mare and have debated what's missing from the town.  Hhm, a central swimming pool seems to be quite a talking point.  Funny that!  There is now a group for Mumpreneurs and a place you can go for a good old rant when you've had one of those days.

Karen Blake is in the midst of creating a much needed database of places to visit with children in Weston so that parents can find a suitable group to attend at a glance.   Please help Karen to achieve this by sending her information about activities in the area (see our forum).

Debbie Smith wrote her very first blog, wittily chronicling her family's joy at her eldest's daughter's school allocation by North Somerset Council.  Furthermore, Debbie has bravely volunteered to set up and help run some of our play-dates.

And Clare Kingsbury-Bell's amazing IT skills have been most welcome.

Thank you to every single person who has joined Our Community and a special thanks to all of you who have contibuted to the discussion and group wall - MUA!!


Around 15 of us (plus kids) met at the Purple Sheep Cafe in the H Church in Hughenden Road yesterday.  Quite a turn out!  And, oh, how the children old enough to bonce bounced!  MANIC.  Thanks to Shane, Lorraine and Chris for making us so welcome.  We will be writing about this in the Weston Mercury very soon.

Last night (yes it was a busy day!), five of us enjoyed a gorgeous meal of 7 small courses plus wine/cider/peppermint tea at The Alasia restaurant in West Street (opposite The Playhouse).  Outstanding food and excellent service, revealing chats and some whirring heads.  A couple of us carried it on in the pubs across the road.  Thank you to Michaela and Charlie at The Alasia.


And the future?

On Tuesday, Rebecca Condron is attending a meeting for professionals who work with parents, which is being held at the Central Weston Children's Centre.  It's a chance to promote our Community and to find out more about what going on for parents in Weston. 

We're currently organising a shopping trip to Bristol, brain-child of Emma Tait, while the indefatiguable Debbie Smith is getting us together for an evening of pubbery at the Old Manor Inn in Worle on Feb 18th.

Join us if you can ....


:-)

Starting From Scratch

Change is afoot.

This is a brand new blog that will chart our new Community of Mums in Weston-super-Mare: Weston-super-Mum with a clean twitter account,

Weston-super-Mum is an organisation that welcomes all mothers in this area of North Somerset.  Our social network was set up earlier this week and is attracting new members - it is a joint effort and therefore is not personalised (Anyone wishing to follow Rebecca can now find her own blog at Celestial Motherhood and on twitter). The blogposts here will now be written by a collective of Mums who are coming together to share information about life in Weston.

We hope you enjoy it :-)