F NEW YEAR 2016 R ISSUE NO. 174 E ESTABLISHED 1996 E

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NEW YEAR, NEW YOU Steps to success with The Vale Practice CREATING CONFIDENT CHILDREN Expert tips for parents WHAT’S ON Family events and half term workshops

online edition with working website links ARE YOU feeling like our front cover girl? Her big sister gave her that lovely beanie hat for Christmas and she has vowed not to take it off until the very first hint of spring. While we can sympathise, there’s school to go to, life to be lived and hey - February half term to look forward to. Local News l email your news to [email protected] Aha! - that’s caught her attention! We’re running pell-mell into 2016 with gusto and a magazine full of things to do, think about and enjoy - Happy New Year readers! Funky Monkey’s new look - and new offer! Robina Cowan, editor Funky Monkey Keyboard Classes, founded in IN THIS ISSUE 2003 by oboist and pianist Ali Edwards, keep going from strength to strength and start 2016 2-3 Local News and Views with the launch of a cheeky new logo and shiny, Outdoor challenges in Battersea Park; easy-to-use website. London theatre for less, Funky Monkey’s The group based electronic keyboard lessons new look; nursery open days; are a perfect introduction for 4-11 year old birdwatching for beginners and beginners to reading, writing and playing music Alpine holidays en famille to first grade, in such a way that children just want to keep coming back for more! As well as term time classes, Funky Monkey 4-7 Education News To celebrate the makeover, there are free trials run ‘One Hit Wonder’ workshops during school Local schools’ news, raising standards and free lessons on offer during January 2016. holidays, with the next from 15-19 February in and expectations, and independent Find a centre, read more and book your free trial, Beckenham, Herne Hill and Sydenham - see school open days in Spring at www.funkymonkey.info, or call 0800 107 7949. page 14 for details and bookings. 8-9 New Year, New You lThe Vale Practice can help you stick to those resolutions; a financial makeover; Are you looking for a nursery? and new skills for your new year Providing naturally inspiring and exceptional care and 10 Family Life education for over 20 years, Bright Horizons Day Nursery and Preschool company is holding an open week from Family law expert Mandeep Clair on the Monday 25 to Friday 29 January at their nurseries across need to be open and honest during the country. divorce court proceedings Bright Horizons understand that selecting a nursery for 11 Creating Confident your child is one of the most important decisions you will Children ever make, and is committed to continually meeting the l needs of individual families. They told Families : Parenting expert Liat Hughes Joshi “We invest our time, focus and resources into creating specially designed nurseries that provide helps parents instil confidence in rich learning and play environments, empowering children to be happy and confident with a love of children - particularly if it doesn’t come learning and ready for school. It is Bright Horizons’ mission to continue to make a positive difference naturally to them to children, families and employers, and to provide the highest quality care and early education for 12 The Book Page each child entrusted to our care.” Visit www.brighthorizons.co.uk to locate your nearest nursery, then experience first-hand how they Part blog, part book review - Justine make a difference to children and families every day. Crow greets the new year through the pages of new titles for children and lgrown ups 13 What’s New Go Ape comes to south London The first doll in space, a GP on your Set among Battersea Park’s tallest trees, Go Ape is an exciting, smartphone, swapping skills with other wobbly, high wire treetop obstacle course that is great fun for ‘helpful peeps’, and retro mittens adventurers who love an outdoor challenge. Go Ape has 28 sites across the UK with Battersea Park the 14-18 What’s On newest and highest, offering great views across London. Ages six Family events, shows, workshops and plus, admission £18 - £33, bookable online at half term holiday clubs to kickstart the www.goape.co.uk/battersea-park. new year READER OFFER: Families readers can save 10% per person on pre-booked tickets until 30 April (restrictions apply). Book l19 It Takes Two... Families online or call 0845 519 8739, and quote ‘FamBat’. Should you share a holiday with another family this year? Front cover: Girl wears Lala & Bea super-soft merino wool beanie hat. £24 from Lala and Bea, www.lalaandbea.com Next issue March issue out 25 February, deadline 5 February Families South East PO Box 11591, London SE26 6WB 020 8699 7240, www.familiesse.co.uk, [email protected] !"#$%&'(!)*$+',-$'./$-/&+'01.$ 2-3."2$'+,122$41./1.5 Families South East is part of Families Magazines Ltd a franchise company. All franchised magazines in the group are independently owned and operated under licence. Families® is a registered trademark of Families Magazines Ltd, Remenham House, Regatta Caring for babies from 3 months Place, Marlow Road, Bourne End, Bucks SL8 5TD. The contents of to children up to 5 years of age. Families South East are fully protected by copyright and none of the editorial or photographic matter may be reproduced in any form without prior consent of the publisher. We take every care preparing this magazine but the publishers and distributors cannot be held 0333 920 0411 responsible for the claims of advertisers nor for the accuracy of the brighthorizons.co.uk contents nor for any consequence. [email protected]

2 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk The Voewood in Treasures of the Blackheath Fan Museum A lovely new shop The UK’s only museum dedicated to has opened at the history of fans and craft of fan 13 Old Dover making - right here in southeast Road, Blackheath London - celebrates its twentieth fifth Standard. anniversary in 2016. The Voewood To mark the occasion, the curators stocks have delved deep into the collections, womenswear, handpicking a remarkable array of gifts and fans, featuring richly painted homeware, and mythological subjects, elaborately as owner Nicola carved and gilt rococo confections, Hibon Jackson ostrich and bird of paradise feature told Families : fans, and many more. “we also have Treasures of the Fan Museum will run from 16 January to 5 June, at 12 Crooms Hill in Greenwich, a toy corner for www.thefanmuseum.org.uk. children to play in so mums and dads with young children are most definitely welcome to come and browse.” Wear a hat for BTR Wear A Hat Day is a fun-filled, annual brain tumour awareness event helping support research. The Brain Tumour Research charity is asking families and children and Just an average school schools across the UK to sign up, don a hat and support the cause in March. day... Involving families and school children in the The average British mother leaps out of bed by London theatre - for less campaign is poignant, given that brain tumours are 06:38am in a bid to get ahead of the daily tasks Get Into London Theatre returns with incredible new the biggest cancer killer of children and adults before the rest of the family wakes, and carries out year offers on more than 40 top shows. under the age of 40. Children have lost parents, up to 59 different tasks every single school day, Participating productions ranging from plays and family members and teachers, and in many according to a new study. musicals to ballet and opera offer tickets from as classrooms there remains a tragic reminder of a Mums will nip quietly downstairs to empty the little as £10 for performances from 1 January to 12 child whose life has been lost or damaged by this dishwasher, make the first drinks of the day, pack February, giving everyone the chance to experience cruel cancer. the children's lunches for school and fill the water the magic of London theatre. Families can also take Fundraising materials including posters, bottles. Then they'll make and serve breakfast, pack advantage of the promotion with offers for Matilda leaflets, fridge magnets, pin badges, wristbands the school and work bags, remind the children to The Musical, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, quizzes and hat making instructions are wash, put on their uniform, brush their hair and The Gruffalo and The Tiger Who Came To Tea. available now to everyone who registers, teeth, go to the lavatory and leave the house - For the full list and bookings, visit and taking part is simple. To sign up, go to NOW! www.getintolondontheatre.co.uk. www.braintumourresearch.org/registration-form-hat Not to mention starting a load of washing, a spot of ironing, making the beds, tidying the house and putting out the rubbish. Following the afternoon school run, there's homework to contend with while Big Garden Birdwatch planning and serving up a nutritious meal for the Last year over half a million people took part in the RSPB’s whole family. Big Garden Birdwatch, spotting more than 8.5 million birds A spokeswoman for Simply Beef and Lamb, across the UK, and the organisers are hoping this year’s which conducted the poll said: “The results show watch will be a record-breaking event. the huge amount of work mothers put in to making The survey will take part on 30 and 31 January. To join in, sure family life runs smoothly, and the sheer number simply spend one hour counting the birds in your garden or of things they get done every day will make familiar local park, and record the highest number of each bird reading for many.” species seen at any one time. Mornings are best, when the Phew, when you break it all down, it's impressive, birds are out and about feeding after a cold winter night. Sign up for your free Big Garden Birdwatch 2016 eh? For family meal recipes, go to pack at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. www.SimplyBeefandLamb.co.uk.

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 3 leducation l news l l l l l l

Oakfield Preparatory School Bishop Challoner School Educating Boys & Girls aged 2-11 for over 125 years Shortlands A Catholic Independent School for Girls & Boys 3 -18 Years Oakfield: Where children are encouraged to be the best they can be. Register now for 2+ & 3+ 2016 entry

Welcoming All Faiths

“Children in the EYFS setting receive Nursery Open Morning an outstanding start to their school careers and the provision of children’s Wednesday 13th January 2016 well-being is outstanding” ISI Report May 2014 9.30am - 11.30am Contact us for 2+ & 3+ September 2016 entry: [email protected] DL: 0208 655 7691 [email protected] www.bishopchallonerschool.com to pre-register www.oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk/admissions

Award-winningrd-winning Maths & English tuition agesages 5 -14-14

New skills Confidence Enthusiasm Free trial session - book today!

Brixton 020 3713 9722 Greenwich 020 8166 0100 New Cross Gate 020 3714 1229 Sydenham 020 3700 2611

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4 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk llllllll Charter School East Dulwich has temporary home The Charter School East Dulwich (TCSED) has secured the use of the former Lewisham and Southwark College campus close to the redeveloped areas of Burgess Park, as a temporary building when the new school opens in September. A significant portion of the Silverthorne Building and grounds on the Southampton Way site will be TCSED’s temporary home until September 2018, when the school moves into its permanent home on the site currently occupied by Dulwich Community Addey and Stanhope sixth Hospital. formers take over Headteacher Alex Crossman said: “This is a change from our plan to develop temporary school facilities on the hospital site. We were confident we could build a great temporary school on the hospital site. Sixth form business studies students at Addey and However, we acknowledged families’ understandable concerns regarding the challenges imposed by Stanhope School in Deptford recently took time out temporary buildings and proximity to two major construction projects. We are very fortunate that a large of the classroom to run a two-day conference for fit-for-purpose site has now become available, addressing these concerns head-on.” their contemporaries. The first focused on careers The temporary site will offer more classrooms, a library, art room, assembly hall and dining spaces, in sport, arts and media, with leading actors from outdoor space for play and for outdoor learning. the National Theatre and an up-and-coming DJ/ The Charter School East Dulwich will be a co-educational, non-selective, inclusive secondary school presenter exploring the joys and tribulations of their serving all communities near the school. Read more at www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk. careers. Day two saw guest speakers address a number of life skills issues ranging from careers to personal finance. “Inspiration for our event grew out of an infamous Streatham student From Bromley High to the statement by former Fifa president Sebb Blatter back in 2004, that women’s football would be more selected for the National East End popular if players wore tighter shorts,” explained 17 Youth Orchestra A recent Bromley High School (GDST) student has year-old pupil Danielle Blake. “Such attitudes persist been cast in a starring role in EastEnders. and continue to undermine young women’s interest Streatham & Clapham High School GDST (SCHS) Accomplished actor Tilly Keeper (U6 2015), in sport and its being taken seriously.” lower-sixth music student Holly Jackson has been returned to her school in December to watch ‘High Joining her in fronting lively Q&A workshops offered a full place in the National Youth Orchestra School Musical’ with news of her leading role still were actors Madeleine Worrall and Laura (NYO), one of only sixteen cellists selected from embargoed. Tilly will play Michelle Mitchell, daughter Elphinstone, and Shahlaa Tahira, a freelance throughout the of Phil Mitchell and Lisa Fowler, and is set to make a presenter, producer and DJ known for work on UK. huge impact on the BBC’s most successful soap. the BBC, 4Music and Reprezent Radio. The NYO tutors Read more at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/eastenders. “What students were left in no doubt about was were impressed For Bromley High School news, including taster the hard work and persistence required to achieve by Holly’s playing day dates and admissions criteria, go to some success in these professions,” said Addey and ensemble www.bromleyhigh.gdst.net/fse1. and Stanhope headteacher Jan Shapiro. “And the skills during her speakers were responsible in pointing out that auditions, and to success does not equate with making fortunes but be chosen for the having the chance to do something about which finest youth you are passionate.” orchestra in the On the second day, speakers from the CBI and country is an Goldsmiths University visited the school to provide outstanding talks about careers, CV writing and personal achievement. finance. Aimed at year 12 and 13 students in As an NYO a lecture format, it was again sixth-formers who musician, Holly will become part of a tradition conceived and organised the conference, and which has included many of Britain’s greatest 100 pupils attended the presentation. instrumentalists, conductors and composers. Addey and Stanhope school is celebrating three For more Streatham & Clapham High School hundred years of quality education in Deptford for (GDST) news, and to register for open days, go to Deptford. For more school news and admissions www.schs.gdst.net. criteria, see www.as.lewisham.sch.uk.

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 5 leduclation newls lllll Inspiring English and Find a local school - Independent school maths tuition online Explore Learning centres For parents yet to make the pivotal decision of Spring open days provide maths and which primary schools to apply to for September, English tuition for 5 to 14 this year’s admissions deadline is 15 January. For more school contacts and open day updates, year olds of all abilities. Data collected by FindASchool shows that click ‘education’ at www.familiesse.co.uk The centres are open in 2014, 46% of schools in England were seven days a week to fit oversubscribed (44% secondary schools, 47% Bishop Challoner School into busy family lives. primaries) rising to 66% in London. The average Nursery open morning 13 January, As Explore members, cut-off distance for all oversubscribed schools in 11+ Taster Days 26 January and 24 February, children work with tutors England is 2.3km for primary schools and 4.8km 228 Bromley Road, Shortlands, Kent BR2 0BS, who are great educational for secondary schools, while in London there are 020 8460 3546, role models, enthusiastic catchment areas as small as 100 metres. www.bishopchallonerschool.com about learning and FindASchool is a comprehensive guide to 95% fantastic motivators. Each child has an of all state schools in the UK, showing admissions Blackheath Preparatory School individualised learning programme, and all Explore criteria, Ofsted ratings, exam results, class Regular term time open mornings, courses map to the National Curriculum in England sizes, pupil make up, whether or not they are 4 St Germans Place, Blackheath SE3 0NJ, and the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland. oversubscribed; and more. Search by area, address 020 8858 0692, Find out how your child can benefit from Explore or postcode for an overview of all your local schools, www.blackheathprepschool.com Learning membership today by booking a free trial including those you are more likely to be able to get at www.explorelearning.co.uk. into. To start your search, go to Bromley High School GDST www.192.com/schools. Regular Taster Days for ages 4+, 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+, Blackbrook Lane BR1, 020 8781 7000, www.bromleyhigh.gdst.net/fse1

Dulwich College Tours by appointment, Dulwich Common SE21 7LD, 020 8693 3601, www.dulwich.org.uk

Herne Hill School Tours by appointment, The Old Vicarage, 127 Herne Hill SE24 9LY, More ‘good’ and 020 7274 6336, ‘outstanding’ schools... www.hernehillschool.co.uk Figures published by Ofsted in December showed Oakfield Preparatory School a record 1.4 million more pupils getting the best 7 and 19 January, 10 March, plus group tours possible start in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools once a month on Tuesdays, compared to 2010. ... But tougher measures 125-128 Thurlow Park Road SE21 8HP, The overall proportion of schools rated ‘good’ 020 8670 4206, or ‘outstanding’ has risen by 16 percentage points for ‘inadequate’ www.oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk since 2010, with 84% of schools now achieving top Ofsted ratings. academies Pointer’s Preparatory School Education secretary Nicky Morgan said: “The Most UK secondary schools are academies, Visits by appointment, Stratheden Road, landscape of English education has been with more than 5000 in total. Academies are Blackheath SE3 7TH, 020 8293 1331, transformed over the past five years through raising state-funded and independent schools; however www.pointers-school.co.uk both standards and expectations. Thanks to the they receive their funding from the government hard work of teachers across the country and our which is different from local authority funded state Riverston School ambitious programme of reforms, there are now schools. Tours on Tuesday mornings by appointment, 1.4 million more pupils being taught in ‘good’ or Recently the government has assessed what Eltham Road SE12 8UF, 020 8318 4327, ‘outstanding’ schools compared to 2010.” actions are taken when academies aren’t meeting www.riverstonschool.co.uk the national standards. www.thameschristiancollege.org.uk Education secretary Nicky Rosemead Preparatory School Morgan has announced 28 January and 8 March, that the coasting schools plus Tuesday morning tours by appointment, programme will be extended Pre prep Elmcourt Road SE27, to academies. As a result, Prep department 70 Thurlow Park Road SE21, when academies receive an 020 8670 5865, inadequate rating from Ofsted www.rosemeadprepschool.org.uk they could be taken over by another academy chain in the Streatham + Clapham High School GDST bid to improve results across 1 March and 3 May, Prep school, the board. Wavertree Road SW2 3SR, 020 8674 6912. Ofsted found that 99 Senior School, 42 Abbotswood Road SW16, Smaller school. academies had dropped 020 8677 8400, Bigger opportunities. from an ‘outstanding’ to www.schs.gdst.net Personal attention. ‘good’ report meaning that Great results. intervention is needed. With Sydenham High School GDST underperformance deemed 16 March, Junior school 15 Westow Hill SE26 6BL, Affordable. unacceptable, academies will 020 8557 7000, 10 March, Scholarships available have to show that they have Senior school 19 Westow Hill SE26, the possibility to improve; or 020 8557 7000, OPEN MORNING TUESDAY 8 th MARCH 11.00-13.00 they will be moved over to www.sydenhamhighschool.gdst.net For full list of open mornings, enrolment another sponsor. The new and fee details contact 020 7228 3933 tougher measures aim to Thames Christian College Thames Christian College, London SW11 2HB. improve standards in 8 March, Wye Street SW11 2HB, 020 7228 3933, Five minutes’ walk from Clapham Junction. schools. www.thameschristiancollege.org.uk.

6 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk lllll l l l

Independent Co-educational 3-11 years. Founded 1942. ISA & IAPS

What makes School bus service from the us dierent is Dulwich/Herne the dierence Hill & Streatham/ Clapham areas we make Inspiring Brilliant Futures Open Mornings for 2017 entry Pre-Prep & Prep Open Mornings Wednesday 16 March 9.30 - 11am Senior & Sixth Form Thursday 28th January 9.30 - 11.00 !ursday 10 March 9.30 - 11am Wednesday 29 June 6.30 - 8pm ( including D’Art exhibition ) Tuesday 8th March 9.30 - 11.00 Tours of the school are held on Tuesday mornings Bursaries available Please see our website for details of further Open Events and Taster Sessions. 020-8670 5865 15 & 19 Westwood Hill, London SE26 6BL 020 8557 7004 email: [email protected] www.sydenhamhighschool.gdst.net [email protected] www.rosemeadprepschool.org.uk

Developing independent thinkers and learners

Prep School Open Days Tuesday 1 March 9 am - 10.45 am Tuesday 3 May 9 am - 10.45 am

Register for Open Days www.schs.gdst.net

Streatham & Clapham Preparatory School Nursery and Prep School (girls 3-11) Wavertree Road, SW2 3SR 020 8674 6912 [email protected]

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 7 New year – “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever” Keri Russel

Do you want a fresh start this New would not choose it.’ By changing behaviour from an unconscious action to a conscious one, people Adapt and change Year? Families asked The Vale can make better choices and choose a different Always be willing to revisit your goals and adjust Practice to share their wisdom, outcome. them if needed. This is very different from giving up on them. If your original enthusiasm to change your practical tips and suggestions to help It’s not easy to unlearn old habits of a lifetime, and they’re not going to change overnight. So life lead to biting off more than you can chew, for those resolutions stick this time recognise that what you’re undertaking may at times example by resolving to run the London marathon be difficult, and that you may experience setbacks when you haven’t run since you were a teenager, or come across obstacles along your way. But with you may be setting yourself up for defeat. But by Tips to make change stick increased awareness you can choose how best to breaking your goal down to the smallest possible The New Year brings on a sudden urge to change deal with these, in order to overcome them and pieces, choosing to tackle more manageable tasks, our lives, based solely on a date on the calendar. continue to make positives changes to your life. you’ll create a habit that sticks. We jump headlong into a new lifestyle, swearing to Amberin Fur, osteopath and founder of The Vale be healthier, fitter, eat only soups, and never go near Practice, suggests a staggered approach to chocolate/ alcohol/ cigarettes again. Or perhaps we Preparation is key building up a new exercise routine, which allows desire a better work life balance, or to spend more Devote plenty of time and energy to creating a good your body time to start conditioning without time with the family. Sadly, a couple months down plan that will set you up for success. Acknowledge straining your muscles. As you begin to feel fitter the line those resolutions are usually a distant barriers that may hinder you in the future, such and healthier you’ll look forward to achieving your memory and we begin to slide back into old as time, expense, bother and fear, and create next level of fitness. patterns and habits. strategies which you can implement, should these So what goes wrong? Change “requires deciding begin to impact on your aims. Talking to a therapist how you no longer want to be” [1] and trying to force Reward yourself or counsellor may help you recognise past yourself to change before you are ready isn’t likely stumbling blocks, and find solutions to avoid them Motivation is a key factor in successful behaviour to work. Psychologists Carlo DiClemente and James this time around. If underlying aches and pains are change and sometimes staying motivated requires O. Prochaska discovered that there are actually five holding you back from tackling a physical challenge, a bit of a helping hand. Signing up to daily blogs stages of change [2] , and the more gratifying and newsletters can keep you focused and ‘ACTION’ and ‘MAINTENANCE’ stages, which an osteopath may be able to offer advice and help with these, and a nutritionist can advise and tailor a encourage you to continue making positive changes we often jump straight into, are in fact the final two. to your life. But if you find your energy levels waning What should come first are the diet to integrate healthy food into your lifestyle, not only to lose weight (if that is your goal), but in order or you’re feeling a bit worn out, acupuncture and ‘PRECONTEMPLATION’, ‘CONTEMPLATION’ and reflexology have been shown to combat feelings of ‘PREPARATION’ phases, which are key to the to give you more energy and mental clarity for the tasks ahead. exhaustion, and an Indian head massage helps to process. Without the proper planning and release tension and restore energy levels. preparation, leaping head first into the ‘Action’ Value yourself and acknowledge why you want to make the change, prepare properly, and you’re When you achieve one of your goals, reward phase is likely to end in failure. So this year, if you’re yourself! A well-deserved relaxing or rejuvenating contemplating a change, try following this advice more likely to find success and make lasting changes. massage, a new fitness accessory or an evening out from the team at The Vale Practice to help turn your with the family is chance not only to celebrate your resolutions into reality. progress, but will also motivate you to keep working Tell someone towards your resolution. Begin at the beginning Involving friends and family in your resolution, either Happy New Year from all the team at The Vale ‘Change is about breaking the habit of your old self to join in your activities or to provide encouragement Practice, we wish you a wonderful 2016, and the and reinventing a new self’ - Dr Joe Dispenza [1] . and support, is a great source of motivation, best of luck with all your resolutions! According to Lyndall Cowie, hypnotherapist at which is essential for lasting success. Making a The Vale Practice, it’s our beliefs and thinking which commitment to improve your lifestyle along with usually keep us stuck in old patterns and habits, someone else will make you more likely to stick Find help and so that is where she starts with her clients. By with it. If you’d prefer to not involve those close to The Vale Practice therapy team includes discussing their core beliefs around an issue and you, you may find counsellors or GPs are not only counsellors, osteopaths, acupuncturists, helping them change the focus of their thoughts she a source of encouragement, but can offer advice homeopaths, NLP practitioners, hypnotherapists, helps clients understand how deeply unconscious and help along the way. behaviour patterns have become. She states that ‘if maternity specialists, chiropodists, and more. one is conscious about their behaviour, they usually Open 9am-10pm Mondays to Fridays and Be positive 9am-6pm Saturdays at 64 Grove Vale, East Dulwich SE22 8DT. Many of our resolutions state the negative, such as For a health MOT or to book an appointment, call “I will give up junk food.” Instead, try to be more Bumps,Babies & 020 8299 9798 or go to www.thevalepractice.co.uk. Beyond positive and focus on the benefits you’ll gain, by stating “I’ll eat more healthily so that I have more Effective, safe treatment and care for References you and your child, from pregnancy to energy and feel healthier.” Don’t think about what early years and onwards through life. 1. Dr Joe Dispenza. (2009) The Art of Change. you’re about to lose, but rather all that you’ll be [Online] Available from: http://drjoedispenza.com/ The Vale Practice gaining. And if you can include someone else into index.php?page_id=The-Art-of-Change. Osteopathy, Cranial Osteopathy, Acupuncture, Nutrition, your goal, so that it benefits them as well, you’ll be [Accessed 23rd November 2015]. Massage, Counselling and much more... more likely to keep to your resolutions. So, state “I’ll 64 Grove Vale, London SE22 8DT 2. DiClemente, C.C., Prochaska, J.O., 1982. T. 020 8299 9798 eat more healthily so that I’ll have more energy and Self-change and therapy change of smoking behaviour: E. [email protected] feel healthier so I can play football with my son” and a comparison of processes of change in cessation and www.thevalepractice.co.uk you’ll be even more likely to succeed. maintenance. Addictive Behaviors, 7(2): 133-42 .

8 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk – New you Babysitting Improve your and Flexible Childcare

S financial condition 100% DB D CHECKE By Michelle Debono CARERS CHILD NEW- dow nload our free ba bysitting app! When considering new year resolutions, have you considered your financial health? • Babysitting Do you have excess disposable income gathering in your low interest rate bank account or, even worse, are • Flexible Daytime Childcare you frittering it all away each month? There are easy steps you can take to overhaul your finances and create a • Temporary Nannies notable lump sum over the medium to long term. • Part Time Nannies 1. Become reacquainted with your finances. Understanding what you have and what you owe is crucial to • PHeorlmidaanye Nnat nNnainens ies identifying your financial priorities. 2. Pay off debts and build an emergency fund. If your investment makes you 9% a year but your debt is 0844 879 7189 www.likeminders.co.uk costing you 19%, the debt should clearly take priority. 3. Set a specific goal. When we decide to ‘save’ without a goal it is easy to become sidetracked. Instead of “save more money,” your goal should be aligned with something you are trying to achieve and should have specific actions aligned to it. 4. Determine how you will invest for each goal. What is the time frame you are investing over? Are you able to utilise tax allowances? How will you ensure your investments keep pace with inflation? 5. Calculate how much you can afford to assign to each goal on a monthly basis. Regular reviews with a Wealth Manager can help to decide when to increase or decrease contributions. 6. Automate important payments. This will ensure you do not incur late payment penalties or, even worse, Your Own Creative Franchise Work Life Balance damage your credit rating. Secondly it will ensure you are actually doing what you set out to do. Fantastic opportunity for mothers and other professionals to own their own business working with children through movement, Michelle is offering Families readers a complimentary and confidential financial review. story telling and imagination. Email: [email protected] or telephone: 0795 762 3762 to arrange. Provides full training, on-going support and a positive financial reward. Special New Year’s Offer 1. January - 28. February http://www.creativemovements.co.uk [email protected] 07894 0333 24 Learn a new skill, from home Have you ever wished you could act or write for stage or screen, take amazing photographs, perform a pop song live, be a stand up comic or set up a successful eBay business? Pingbeam College offers experienced professionals who teach their craft on a one to one basis through live online tutorials, backed up with handpicked resource materials. You can learn at your own pace at home with your own mentor, saving time and money, and finish with new confidence and a certificate of achievement to add to your CV. Courses cover music, performing arts, photography, business and beauty treatments, and are aimed at beginners, improvers or advanced students, with taster lessons available. Read more at www.pingbeamcollege.com or see the Pingbeam College Facebook page.

First aid for life Make this the year you learn first aid and you could make a real difference in a case of emergency. Balham-based First Aid for Life is an award winning and fully regulated first aid training provider and the leading supplier of exemplary first aid training in Greater London. The organisation offers approved EFAW full day courses and short courses for Emergency First Aid and babies and children; intensive one day Paediatric First Aid training to meet Ofsted requirements; as well as specific courses for schools, nurseries, sports organisations and carers of adults and teenagers. The courses use varied and practical teaching, illustrated with real-life examples to equip participants with the skills and confidence to know what to do should the unexpected happen. See more at www.firstaidforlife.org.uk.

Streatham & Clapham at Streatham O N & Clapham TJunioTr SSch oOol TUESDAY Prep School

s a great place to meet other parents and carers s a fun time for babies and toddlers (up to 4 years) s an opportunity to socialise and share ideas and support s a stimulating and safe environment s stay and play while enjoying a coffee (or tea!)

Tots on Tuesday takes place at 10 am until 12 noon every Tuesday morning during term time.

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familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 9 lfamilly life llllll When to unravel the web of deceit in divorce By Mandeep Clair

Unhappy ex-spouses hoping to get their divorce what each declared to be a full and accurate list of discovered that he intended to float his company, settlements reviewed following a landmark their assets and liabilities at that point, and will be making his shares much more valuable. For Varsha judgement last month are being urged to check the basis for seeing whether either party has tried to Gohil, she had thought her husband was concealing their facts first. make themselves appear less well off. It won’t be his assets, but lacking the necessary evidence It was predicted that the Supreme Court rulings enough for an unhappy ex-spouse to point to an agreed a divorce settlement. When he was later in the cases of Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil improved financial position without evidence. convicted of money laundering, the true picture would open the floodgates to thousands of She added: “An example could be where the came to light, and although some of the material couples wanting to revisit agreements made under value of property or a company has increased obtained in the criminal case was ruled inadmissible a financial consent order, where one party had significantly. In many cases, it can be very hard evidence in the divorce, there was sufficient enough deliberately concealed their true financial worth to pinpoint whether this was due to deliberate to support the finding of non-disclosure. during divorce proceedings. misrepresentation or is simply the result of an In terms of procedure, both judgements strongly In both cases - Sharland v Sharland and Gohil v unexpectedly good performance on the part of the suggest that applications to reopen divorce Gohil - the Supreme Court gave the former wives asset. Demonstrating fraudulent intent will be clearer settlements on grounds of fraud should be made the right to re-open their divorce settlements on the cut if someone denied owning a particular asset at to the family court, which has power to set aside grounds of fraud, which the two women claimed the time, or had received an inheritance which they its own financial orders - and not by appeal, or by had led them to accept far lower financial didn’t declare. commencing a new action. settlements than they otherwise would have done. “Whether or not Mrs Sharland and Mrs Gohil There is no substitute for good quality legal Explained family law expert Mandeep Clair of reach a different financial settlement is difficult to advice at all stages of a marriage break-up. Grant Saw solicitors: “The message from the predict, but what is clear is that in cases of fraud For advice and help with any family law matter, Sharland and Gohil judgements is the fundamental such as this, an agreed financial settlement will be contact Mandeep on 020 8305 4235 or email her: principle that ‘fraud unravels all’, but before anyone set aside. Full financial disclosure is a duty to the [email protected]. rushes to take their former spouse back to court, Court and the message to anyone currently facing they need to be sure as to whether they have just divorce is to recognise that you must be open Grant Saw Solicitors offer a first fixed fee a grumbling dissatisfaction or legitimate grounds.” and honest. You otherwise risk having the case appointment of up to one hour for £100 + VAT to Critical to proving misrepresentation will be reopened in future and if that were to happen, you all clients in respect of relationship breakdown and/ showing that the ex-spouse lied or deliberately would be the one bearing the costs.” or issues concerning children. Read more at distorted their position when they made the original In the case of Alison Sharland, she agreed a www.grantsaw.com. financial disclosure. This statement will have set out divorce settlement with her husband but later

10 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk llllllll Creating confident children By Liat Hughes Joshi

breathing. But if you tell them everything they do is Don’t force them into wonderful all the time, positivity loses power. Keep situations they aren’t praise for when it’s truly warranted and focus on effort rather than just results. This way, when they comfortable with do do something amazing, your comments will have In most scenarios, one of the worst things you can more impact. do for a young child who’s unsure is to push them in at the deep end with something when they aren’t Find their forte and allow ready. They need to trust you when taking on new experiences and doing this damages that trust. it to flourish If your child doesn’t do so well in academic work, Confidence is just as important in life Take small steps to or the usual extra-curricular activities at school, - if not more so - than a brace of A this can make their self-esteem fragile. Seek grades or endless extra-curricular encourage confidence opportunities for them to try other, more unusual skills. It’s vital to emotional wellbeing Find opportunities to stretch just a bit beyond what activities out of school and highlight positive personality traits such as being especially kind and something most of us hope our your son or daughter is comfortable with at a time. So that could be going to their friend’s house with or a good organiser. children will develop. them initially, then you just staying for a little while Confidence is about being at the start, then next time, they might be happy Step back sometimes and comfortable with who you are, willing to go alone. to give things a go - even if you’re not let them ‘have a go’ - land sure you’ll succeed - and trusting Work out what their that helicopter! your own abilities and judgement. fear is Helicopter parenting - hovering over your child, stepping in to resolve the slightest issue or But how can we instil this feeling in Often a child will have niggling worries holding them preventing them from failing - is a barrier to building our children, particularly if it doesn’t back in a specific situation. So perhaps “If I put my confidence. Children need to find their own hand up in class, I might get the answer wrong and come naturally to them? solutions, attempt things their way sometimes and the other children will laugh at me.” Pin down their take sensible risks. Sure, you can guide and advise concern - although preschool children might but try not to jump in and take over too quickly. Accept your child’s struggle to articulate their fear. Whether it’s allowing your three-year-old to Address their concern and provide plenty of choose her own outfit or your ten-year-old to walk to starting point reassurance that they will be okay, that what others the post box alone, letting go is a crucial confidence Not all children - or adults - are confident by nature think doesn’t really matter and that you’re there builder. (wouldn’t life be boring if we were all the same?) and for them. whilst we can encourage self-belief, transforming a Talk about similar situations you experienced shy or anxious child into a ‘life and soul of the party’ as a child, when you were afraid of something, About the author type, is probably an unrealistic aim. and how it worked out for you. Liat Hughes Joshi is a parenting journalist and the Try to avoid making comments to your child such author of four books including New Old-Fashioned as how you wish they were more confident, or less Parenting and How to Unplug Your Child (both shy because, in effect, you’re saying you don’t value Keep praise special published by Summersdale) and Raising Children: them as they are - a real confidence crusher. These days, there’s a tendency to be super-positive The Primary Years (Pearson). Liat is on Twitter Accept your child’s personality and ‘starting and heap on the “fabulous, you’re the best child @liathughesjoshi. point’; it might be different from yours, their sibling’s, ever!” comments every other second - sometimes it friends’ or classmates’ and that’s absolutely fine. feels like we should be praising our kids simply for

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familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 11 The Bookseller Crow is a fantastic, volume stuffed shop run by some of the most knowledgeable bookworms in the business. Call in for the feel of a real bookshop, or if you’re too busy, pick up the phone or point your mouse at their website for a fast mailorder service. Justine Crow recommends this month’s best titles.

Congratulations everyone, we made it to the other side and now find ourselves wears gingham suspenders and a straw hat) Miss Adelaide in looking down one end of a shiny new year and all that implies - insert resolutions what is already one of the best musical performances of 2016, here, here and here. Thank heck cheques are a rarity these days because for me, the and the clocks haven’t even gone forward yet. Well somehow, date change takes a bit of bedding in. It won’t be until about April that I fully believe in in between learning her lines, gargling the vocals and practising 2016 - like freshly bought shoes, it won’t feel comfortable until her million costume changes, the brilliant actress who plays her I’ve had a couple of months walking around, getting used to also wrote a cracking debut novel for young readers about a the squeaks and my heels have stopped rubbing. As for the lad who can converse with animals. I’m speechless. world of books, well like an elderly dormouse, the publishing SUPERHERO STREET by Phil Earle - Orion rrp £6.99. world takes a bit of prodding before it opens its eyes to spring But not for long. Another for February and another for the but here are a few choice items you should expect to see in the shops once our beloved industry has found its feet again. growing reader, late of this parish (whispers: now residing HOW TO FIND GOLD by Viviane Schwarz - Walker rrp £11.99. in the East Dulwich of Yorkshire - aka Hebden Bridge - From the immensely talented author and illustrator of There those lucky Northerners), Mister Earl tells a terrific tale of Are Cats in This Book and its follow up - er - There Are No an accidental superhero whose initial acts of imaginative Cats in This Book , this time the action takes place on a derring-do include suggesting that his new triplet baby brothers voyage when a small girl and a crocodile practise their - yep, his dad cried so hard at the news that ma was expecting secret-keeping faces before setting off to find treasure. And three, they had to sandbag the front step - be named Bat, there’s nothing quite like a quest to start the year off, eh? In my Spider and Super. But there is something even more terrifying case, it isn’t so much as seeking a cache of gold as tracking than a treble buggy round the corner of Storey Street... down my best grey cardi. How sad is that. JUICEMAN by Andrew Cooper - Michael Joseph rrp £16.99. STANLEY THE AMAZING KNITTING CAT by Emily McKenzie This sounds like a fictional character from the motley crowd of - Bloomsbury rrp £6.99. Maybe I could get Stanley to knit me curious fellow villain catchers in the adventure above and, truth another one. No, seriously. All knitting is alchemy to me and my be told, judging by his appearances on breakfast telly, he’d cack-hands being what they are, you will definitely get a better look very good in tights and a lycra leotard, but the man in the result from a pair of number 10s if you give them to the family title is indeed on a real life mission for the good of mankind. We mouser. My late mum was an ace knitter and my little sister don’t do new year diets or spiritually bendy things in our house Crustie, like the eponymous pet here, can knock up mittens, scarves, anything at the drop of a bobble-hat. The only problem but our best purchases ever was a smoothie maker and with is, unlike the technicolour magic woven in this yarn (s’cuse the recipes like Green Ninja Juice and the Recovery Shake - as pun), my sister bought a job lot of sludge coloured wool about I mentioned before, I got the gin gene not the knitting one - 20 years ago and uses it for all garments. Recently I dropped there’s something here for all the family. one of the gloves she’d made me in a muddy field and I Annabel Karmel’s BUSY MUM’S COOKBOOK - Ebury rrp £20 . couldn’t find that again either. Due late Feb, at this price, you better hope it does what it says BAXTER’S BOOK by Hrefna Bragadottir - Nosy Crow rrp £6.99 . on the packet - “fuss free” cooking for “time-strapped” Coming in February, Baxter the big furry, um, blue thing loves mothers. When I look at images of our Annabel, she looks so tales about scary wolves and cuddly bunny rabbits and would perfect, so finished, I can’t quite imagine her grating carrots love to star in his own story - wouldn’t we all, darling - but the with a foot of newborn posset down her back whilst judges at the audition (do keep up) decide he looks, well, a bit simultaneously preventing murder between toddler siblings at weird and dash his dreams. But hold on, what is that up there the table and kicking the cat out of the clean laundry basket on the shelf? Could it be his own story after all? Now, I know before rushing off to pick up the car from its MOT but, ho hum, I’m a broken record blah blah but just you try transferring the I’m sure she does it all the time... concept of a page-turning story-within-a story to an e-reader or THE CALM AND HAPPY TODDLER by Dr Rebecca Chicot - tablet without your brain blurring and your eyes glazing over. Vermilion rrp £12.99. There’s a whole section here on sharing Proper books like this are so important. HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG & MORE LOST and how to encourage turn-taking and also stuff on fibbing, STORIES - Harper Collins rrp £12.99. MAJOR PUBLISHING aggression and risk-taking but, importantly, it passes one EVENT ALERT KLAXON (that woke ‘em up): newly discovered significant test for this erstwhile owner of toddlers - the bite Dr Seuss - it doesn’t get much better than that, no? With test. You’d be amazed how few so-called ‘complete’ guides to appearances from our favourite hippy elephant (sorry, but he parenting actually include any advice whatsoever on what to was there in the ‘50s, long before Elmer, the trippy pachyderm do when your smallest gnome consistently communicates with from near to Beckenham Tescos) and the dear Grinch, this is a his chompers. I was forever apologising at nursery pick-up after stash of yet more stuff from the good doctor, previously being shown still fresh indentations in a tiny arm. Meanwhile, unavailable in standard book form. Apparently the original my son had decided that the ‘thinking chair,’ where he was artwork is kept in the Mandeville Collections Library in San exiled to each time he got his teeth out at ‘carpet time,’ was a Diego, a building that looks like Seuss built it himself. No really. fabulous place to sit and much more comfy than a bony old You have my permission to google it. Wow! rug on the floor with the others. BEAR AND HARE - MINE! by Emily Gravett - Macmillan rrp That same child does all his thinking on the sofa now, a set £5.99. New from the queen of the board book (that’s serious of headphones jammed on his loaf and an X-Box controller to royalty in our trade), a battle ensues between best friends as hand. He doesn’t bite people any more, not unless they they go for a stroll and silly Hare has no intention of sharing support Man Utd. Meanwhile, Trasha has a significant birthday any of the delights they encounter on the way, including an ice-cream. My two youngest always shared between to celebrate this spring and she has chosen her bestest mum themselves - thumps, pinches, bites. In equal portions. to share it with her so I must have done something correct in ZOO BOY by Sophie Thompson - Faber rrp £5.99 . If you get the parenting dept. Yep, rather than cause an argument the opportunity to escape the children, put on an unstained between her and her sister and brother, I alone will accompany frock and go see the stupendous production of Guys & Dolls Trasha in the footsteps of the original hoofing Miss Adelaide, at the Savoy (surely the most beautiful theatre in as previously mentioned, as we head off to Noo Yoik. I’m not London) before it finishes in March because you will come one for rocking the boat, me! Hey, suddenly I’m getting used away thrilled and exhausted by the barnstorming (yes, she to the idea of 2016 pretty quickly afterall.

The Bookseller Crow, 50 Westow St. Crystal Palace, London SE19 3AF Telephone: 020 8771 8831 email: [email protected] www.booksellercrow.co.uk

12 families south eafsatm - jnaionlvuieaemrysb /es fre e/b d.ruecacoreym. 2ub0e1k r6 2015 fami - october 2015 - families south east 12 What ’sNew Doctor on call Working parents lose an average of three hours a month taking children to medical appointments or staying at home to look after a sick child. Sixty seven per cent of parents have taken a day off work in the last 12 months, with the burden still falling mainly on women - 72% were most likely to take time off work to look after ill offspring, and 59% of parents struggled to make last minute childcare arrangements when an illness occurred. The research was carried out by PushDoctor.co.uk, Europe’s leading on-demand video GP appointment service. CEO and founder Eren Ozagir said: “Concerned parents often lose a proportion of their working week trying to meet inconvenient daytime doctor’s appointments, or taking time off to look after them. The last thing parents need when a child falls ill is the worry and stress of work commitments and keeping up appearances.” PushDoctor is an NHS-commissioned online service connecting patients with friendly and highly skilled, GMC-registered UK General Practitioners wherever they are. Via secure video consultations, GPs are able to conduct examinations and provide medical expertise on a wide range of health concerns. For more information and to book an online consultation, visit www.PushDoctor.co.uk or visit the App Store.

The first doll in space Stargazer Lottie is very special - she is the first doll to visit the International Space Station, joining British astronaut Tim Peake when he took off in December. Lottie was designed by six year-old Abigail, a space-loving Canadian who had the idea of an astronomy themed doll to help other children learn about space. Created as a special edition by London-based toy company Arklu in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the doll was winner of the space.com ‘Little Scientist’ Space Age Award at the New York Toy Fair 2015. Charming! You can see Abigail and Lottie’s story by typing ‘Stargazer Lottie Doll in Space’ into Youtube, and buy your own, rrp £19.99 from independent toy stores, Debenhams, Ocado and Amazon.

£ 1 SESSIPE 0 Knitted mitts R

O Oh these take us back - perfect knitted mittens, just like nanna used to N make, complete with detachable ‘through the sleeves’ ribbon so they don’t get lost! RUGBY PLAY SESSIONS FOR KIDS These are fleece lined as well to keep tiny fingers cosy in winter, AGE 2 - 7 YRS OLD IN DULWICH and have contrasting thumbs, just for fun. Multi stripe knitted mittens in sizes small to extra large, £12.99 from Toby Tiger, 01903 766 777, www.tobytiger.co.uk.

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Patchwork floors Are you planning a house makeover this spring? If so, how about turning your floor into a talking piece. Tiny Tots Little Aces Junior Champs Grand Slammers Alhambra Tiles imports niche decorative tiles and marble from Spain, age 2.5-3 age 3-4 age 5-7 age 8-11 including encaustic tiles, patterned porcelain tiles, handpainted terracotta tiles, fun filled tennis games and activities indoors and other wonderful options. Choose from pastel patchworks, black and white with sponge balls and mini tennis rackets options (geometric or floral), pinky patchworks and yellow ones. They make FREE introductory session lovely kitchen splashbacks, or singly as coasters, too. Alhambra Home & Garden has a shop at 148 High Street Buildings, phone 07877 391005 Kirkdale, Sydenham SE26, and is also online at www.alhambrahome.co.uk. www.tennis-4-kids.com email: [email protected]

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 13 THE BABY SHOW YOGA AT THE SHARD SPARK4KIDS CODING WORKSHOPS BANK OF ENGL

THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM HORNIMAN MUSEUM and gardens, 100 London Road, Forest Hill SE23, 020 8699 1872, www.horniman.ac.uk Museum open 10.30am-5.30pm daily, general admission free, charges What ’sOn apply for special exhibitions and the aquarium. The museum’s music gallery and hands-on base, regular weekend and holiday drop-ins and workshops allow family visitors to explore the collection through arts and crafts, music, stories and hands-on sessions. All this within 16 acres of Diary Dates for Grownups beautiful green space which has the oldest nature trail in London, an animal corner and a Farmers’ Market every Saturday. THE BABY SHOW FIRST AID FOR LIFE DINOSAURS: MONSTER FAMILIES, from 13 February. A captivating 19-21 February, EXCEL LONDON, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western 15, 23 and 27 January, 13 + 26 February in Balham and Westminster, experience for all the family, this new exhibition examines how dinosaurs Gateway E16 1XL, 0871 231 0844, www.thebabyshow.co.uk www.firstaidforlife.org.uk cared for their eggs, nests and babies. Step back in time and meet “Baby Louie”, the near-complete skeleton of a dinosaur embryo; dig in The UK’s leading parenting event for bump, baby and beyond will be A three-hour course covering care of the unconscious baby and child as home to over 200 exhibitors showcasing the very best baby and infant the discovery pit; touch a real dinosaur leg bone; view an amazing essentials, with show discounts and free Emma’s Diary Shop & Drop well as most commonly occurring injuries and illnesses such as choking, collection of fossils including the longest dinosaur eggs ever discovered; services. Parenting experts will share their tips on all aspects of life after bleeding, breaks, bleeds, burns, head injury and febrile convulsions. and come face-to-face with T-Rex’s relative - a life-size Tarbosaurus baby, there’ll be fashion shows, demonstrations and entertainment for all 9.30am-12.30pm, £60. skeleton cast. Dinosaurs will ‘fill’ the exhibition in vivid illustrations by the family. Open 9.30am-5.30pm daily, admission £20 on the day, or less artist Luis V Rey, and stunning photographs show some of the world’s when booked ahead. Babies and under 12s go free. YOGA AT THE SHARD renowned dinosaur hunters and their discoveries. Saturdays, THE VIEW FROM THE SHARD, Joiner Street, London Bridge, ANIMAL KINGDOM, until 6 March. Natural History images by artist Jim Naughten are brought to three-dimensional life through stereoscopic VALENTINE’S DAY London, SE1 9RN, 0844 4997111, photography. The display features 11 pairs of striking photographs of 14 February, your house www.yogasphere.eu mounted skeletons and wet specimens including a Great Indian Hornbill, Rekindle the romance with a candlelit supper once the children have While yogis of past have tried to levitate to higher spheres, Yogasphere an Atlantic White Spotted Octopus, a Red Faced Spider Monkey and a gone to bed and remind each other where it all started. (Just don’t forget are literally bringing the highest weekly yoga classes in the world to the Transparent Chameleon. there’s a school run the next morning...) top of The Shard at London Bridge. 8.30am start, £40, book first. LONDON SEALIFE AQUARIUM SEA LIFE London Aquarium, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7PB, 0871 663 1678, www.visitsealife.com/london Events and Attractions See thousands of sea creatures in over two million litres of water, living in over 65 displays over three floors. Brave the Shark Reef Encounter, join BANK OF ENGLAND MUSEUM CHURCHILL WAR ROOMS in with public feeding sessions and watch the diving displays. There are real penguins too! Open from 10am daily, admission from £19.98 adults, BANK OF ENGLAND MUSEUM, Threadneedle Street, London EC2R, CHURCHILL WAR ROOMS, Clive Steps, King Charles Street SW1A, £14.41 children. 020 7601 5545, www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum www.iwm.org.uk The Bank of England Museum tells the story of the Bank of England from The Churchill War Rooms were originally the Cabinet War Rooms, its foundation in 1694 to its role today as the UK’s central bank. Examine created in 1938 as underground storage areas for the Office of Works NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM intricately-designed banknotes, feel the weight of a genuine gold bar and NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, Cromwell Road SW7 5BD, 020 7942 Building in Whitehall. They were soon converted to house the central see the pikes and muskets that were once used to defend the Bank. 5000, www.nhm.ac.uk core of government and to become a temporary military information Children’s activity sheets provide fun for younger visitors. Open 10am- Dinosaurs, volcanoes, precious gems and creepy crawlies - discover 5pm Mondays to Fridays, admission free. centre serving the Prime Minister and the Chiefs of Staff of the air, naval the diversity of the natural world through the nation’s finest collection and land forces. Visitors can hear the first-hand personal accounts of THE BATTLE FOR TOAD HALL, 15-19 February. Mr Toad and his of natural history specimens. Fascinating exhibitions display up to 70 friends Ratty, Mole and Badger, crept slowly through the secret tunnel those who worked in the Cabinet War Rooms during the war. Learn million plants, animals, fossils, rocks and minerals, with a hands-on into Toad Hall, ready to commence battle and claim back Toad’s home what life and conditions were like underground and experiencing the education centre where you can meet real scientists at work. Museum from those pesky weasels - will they be triumphant? A costumed authenticity and emotional resonance of walking through the corridors open 10am-5.50pm, admission free. storyteller will bring to life the classic stories from ‘The Wind in the where Churchill made history. Open 9.30am-6pm, admission free for DINO SNORES, 8 January, 19 February, 19 March. Discover what really Willows’ in these interactive and fun sessions. under 16s, £15.95 adults. happens at the museum when the staff and visitors have gone home. Children aged 7-11 years, from 7pm to 9.50am the following day. Tickets £60. WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR, from 7 January. Visit the The Small Ads museum’s world-renowned annual exhibition to see the best wildlife photographs on the planet. 10am to 5.30pm, admission from £6.75. Half Term Workshops Adult & Children’s Entertainer Magic, Plate Spinning FUNKY MONKEY NIMBLE ARTS HOLIDAY Balloon Modelling KEYBOARD’S ‘ONE HIT CLUBS Interactive Games WONDER’ HOLIDAY 15-19 February in EAST DULWICH SE22, Karaoke, Mini Disco WORKSHOPS www.nimblearts.co.uk 15-19 February in BECKENHAM, HERNE HILL & Start the week working in the Nimble TV studio, fill Tel: 020 8480 8176 SYDENHAM, 0800 107 7949, www.funkymonkey.info www.amigosmagic.co.uk your brand new artist’s sketchbook working with Learn how to write and play notes C-G and try some professional artists, set sail on a Viking Voyage, meet famous tunes in small groups of up to 10 children. the eccentric owner of the Toy Factory to design your Introduction to theory, keyboard games, quizzes and PAINTING & art activities all based around music. 10am-2pm for own toys, and finally sign up for Sleuth School and DECORATING complete beginners 4-8 years or very basic music solve the crime of the century! Interior / Exterior knowledge. £40 per pupil, £5 sibling discount. Price Workshops for 5-11 year-olds run from 9.30am- Experienced, Reliable, Clean includes all equipment and mid morning snack - 4pm with free wrap-around childcare available from bring your own packed lunch. Fully Guaranteed / Insured 37 8am - 5pm and an option to extend to 6pm. For FREE ADVICE AND QUOTE 4 year-olds choose from two slots 9am-1pm or 1-5pm. As an Ofsted Registered organisation Nimble John:- James & Lamont SPARK4KIDS CODING Arts accept childcare vouchers and are staffed by 020 8462 4646 - 07802 535695 France with the Family WORKSHOPS very experience DBS checked childcare experts, February Half-Term & Easter Holiday coding Justine’s family friendly house in workshops in DULWICH, 020 8090 1444, teachers and teaching assistants and working arts rural Normandy is available to rent. www.spark4kids.com professionals. From £40 a day, plus sibling discounts available. Sleeps 6+, fully equipped, Spark4Kids February half-term and Easter holiday Handyman workshops are designed to teach robotics, coding, For all your household repairs and odd jobs. beautiful location I offer a professional and courteous service electronics, games development, touch-typing as www.shaunthehandyman.co.uk Contact [email protected] well as Minecraft in a fun, engaging environment. thenormandienest.wordpress.com Ages 8+. Term-time classes are also available - 020 8249 3264 or 07913 656 502 see website for details.

14 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk diddi nce® da s hool dance classe funky presc boys for girls and

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LAND MUSEUM THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM THE FAN MUSEUM, GREENWICH

l origina sic 16 danc fun and mu e s LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM SCIENCE MUSEUM relaxed tyles LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM, 39 Wellington Street, Covent Garden SCIENCE MUSEUM, Exhibition Road SW7 2DD, 0870 870 4868, WC2E 7BB, 020 7379 6433, www.ltmuseum.co.uk www.sciencemuseum.org.uk classes across Let your children’s imaginations run wild as they are transported back in Aiming to be the best place in the world for people to enjoy science, the South East London time at the historical and interactive London Transport Museum. Filled with Science Museum makes sense of the science that shapes our lives, SE1 - SE18 call Anne-Marie: 07973 982790 buses, trains, and taxis they can take the wheel, try their hand as a tube sparking curiosity, releasing creativity and changing the future by engaging SE19 - SE27 call Nicola: 07832 913282 conductor or bump around with the other passengers in the back, as they people of all generations and backgrounds in science, engineering, explore the vehicles of London’s past and present. Museum open 10am- medicine, technology, design and enterprise. Open daily 10am-6pm. ww w.di dd i d a n ce. com 6pm Mondays to Thursdays and weekends, from 11am Fridays. Admission LAUNCHPAD SCIENCE SHOWS. The largest free interactive science free for under 17s, £16 adults. Tickets are valid for 12 months’ unlimited gallery in the UK is packed with exhibits which allow visitors to launch a admission. rocket, turn their head into a sound box and control a magnetic cloud. ALL ABOARD. In the museum’s playzone, under 7s can get into the Ages 8-14, free. driver’s seat of a real bus, repair a mini Tube train and play in the ‘Lost COSMONAUTS, BIRTH OF THE SPACE AGE, until 13 March. In 1957 Property’ office. They can also enjoy ‘sailing’ the Thames Nipper, serve Russia launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space and passengers in the Nipper Cafe, fly the Emirates Air Line cable car, make just four years later sent the first ever human - Yuri Gagarin. Discover the driver announcements and help customers at the mini information desk dramatic story of how Russia turned the dream of space travel into a reality using a magnetic message board, maps and clocks. and became the first nation to explore space in this once-in-a-lifetime THE FAMILY STATION. Visit the Family Station, pick up a coin bag and exhibition. Tickets £14, concessions available. choose some activities to do as you explore the museum. Whether you fold your own bus and drive it between the vehicles, design your own THE MECHANICS OF GENIUS, From 10 February. Predominantly poster-postcards or take photos through flickr frames, there is something recognised as one of history’s greatest painters, Leonardo da Vinci here for families with children of all ages. Open weekends and school was also a uniquely gifted scientist and engineer. This major interactive holidays, suitable for families with 3-12 year-olds. exhibition brings to life the intricate mechanical concepts of this restless and curious mind. Entry £10.

GAMBADO PLAYCENTRE NATWEST SPORTS GROUND, Copers Cope Road, Beckenham, HMS BELFAST Kent BR3 1NZ, 020 8662 6910, www.gambado.com/clubs/beckenham On the THAMES at The Queen’s Walk by Morgans Lane, Tooley Street SE1 2JH, www.iwm.org.uk Gambado Beckenham boasts one of the largest indoor play frames in greater London, plus special dodgems and a carousel. Children can Discover the exciting stories of those who served HMS Belfast; exploring play, learn, explore and party in a healthy, fun and safe environment the nine decks where sailors once hurried up and down its ladders, or take while parents can kick back in the cafe bar. Open 9.30am-6.30pm daily, a look at the mess desk where her 950-strong crew ate and slept. Open admission from £6.60 children, £2.95 adults plus a registration fee of £5.50 10am-5pm, admission £16 adults, children £8, family tickets from £28. on your first visit. GUN TURRET EXPERIENCE. Immerse yourself in the Gun Turret Experience, a chance to see what fighting at sea would have really been like. Overlooking the front of the ship, or Fo’c’sle, is the forward most of TREASURES OF THE FAN MUSEUM HMS Belfast’s Triple Gun Turrets. Lights, audio, videos and projections 16 January - 5 June, THE FAN MUSEUM, 12 Crooms Hill, Greenwich will recreate the experience, highlighting the hectic and cramped conditions SE10 8ER, 020 8305 1441, www.thefanmuseum.org.uk that would have seen twenty-six men in this confined space at any one The UK’s only museum dedicated to the history of fans and craft of fan time. Entry included in general admission price. making celebrates its twentieth fifth anniversary in 2016, and is celebrating CRACKING CODES, 9+10 January. Intercept messages, map hazards with a curators’ hand-picked collection of eye-poppingly beautiful carved, on a sea chart and make up your own secret code. Learn about the skills painted, lacquered, gilt and feather fans dating back hundreds of years. intelligence officers had to have as well as some of the dangers that MICROSPORT Open 11am-5pm Tuesdays to Saturdays, noon-5pm Sundays, Admission surrounded HMS Belfast at sea. 11am-12.30pm and 2-4pm. £4 adults, £3 children. -real sport for DARNING AND YARNING, 13-21 February, All sailors past and present have needed to know how to sew, from repairing sails to their own socks. under 5 s THE FOUNDLING MUSEUM Climb aboard HMS Belfast to create a new sailors’ cross stitch work and 40 Brunswick Square, Camden Town WC1N 1AZ, 020 7841 3600, find out more about the Royal Navy and life on board ship. CELEBRATING 24 YEARS! www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk A fun & educational introduction to ball sports: Britain’s first home for abandoned children and London’s first public art soccer, tennis, hockey, cricket, rugby & more. gallery, The Foundling Museum reveals the stories of the Foundling IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM Hospital’s founder Thomas Coram, the artist William Hogarth and IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, Lambeth Road, London SE1, 020 7416 5000, Trained adult coaches & lots of classes. composer George Frideric Handel. It houses significant collections of www.iwm.org.uk AGES 2,3 & 4 (& up to 7yrs in our eighteenth-century art, interiors, social history and music. Open 10am-5pm IWM London tells the story of wars through the recollection of people who Beckenham After School Sportsclub) Tuesdays to Saturdays and from 11am Sundays. Admission free for under lived through them, both fighting the cause and at home. Family-friendly 16s, £8.25 adults. attractions a recreated Family in Wartime house, and creative and object For classes in Bromley, Beckenham & BigginHill: TANGLEFIELDS CIRCUS, 23 January. Inspired by Nick Sharratt’s discovery sessions for families on Sundays. Open 10am-6pm daily except angela@micro -sport.co.uk 01689 600992 illustrations for Hetty Feather in the museum’s exhibition Drawing on 24-26 December, admission free. Childhood, artist Shelly Wain leads this hands-on family workshop to create Tanglefields circus featuring Hetty, Diamond, Madame Adeline, PROTEST & SURVIVE, 13-21 February. Join celebrated political artist For classes in Sevenoaks, Pembury, Orpington, Elijah and friends. 10.30am - 4.30pm. Peter Kennard and develop your own Unofficial War Art collages and Dunton Green, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells: TREASURE BOXES, 16 February. Led by artist Isobel Manning, explore drawings on the subject of protest, linked to the current retrospective of his jnoble@micro -sport.co.uk 07863 330200 the tokens left by mothers when their babies were admitted to the work at IWM London. Peter Kennard will be on hand to talk about his work Foundling Hospital. Create your own special token to share with a loved and provide tips on creating collages and drawings during this free, drop-in www.micro -sport.co.uk one, and make a keepsake treasure box in which to hide it. 11am-4pm. family workshop. 2-4pm. PETER PAN SHADOW PUPPET THEATRE, 27 February. Make your own SECRET WAR. From the development of MI5 and MI6 before the First shadow puppet theatre to take home in this family workshop led by artist World War, to Cold War intelligence-gathering and the contemporary use Davina Drummond. Explore Peter Pan’s theatrical beginnings, and help of highly-trained elite forces, the exhibition examines the facts behind the Peter and the Lost Boys find their shadows. 10.30am, 1 and 2.30pm. secrecy and why the need for secret agencies remains a subject of continued debate today. CHILDREN AT THE V&A V&A MUSEUM, Cromwell Road SW7 2RL, 020 7942 2000, GEFFRYE MUSEUM www.vam.ac.uk/families GEFFRYE MUSEUM, Kingsland Road E2 8EA, 020 7739 9893, Pick up a family trail from the Information Desk and explore the museum www.geffrye-museum.org.uk through puzzles, drawing and observation. Suitable for 7-12 year-olds. Special workshops and quizzes inspire creativity and provide There are also hundreds of exciting hands-on exhibits containing plenty amusement for accompanied 5-11 year-olds on the first Saturday of each to touch and try out. Museum open 10am-5.45pm daily, admission free. month and during school holidays. Places allocated 30 minutes BACK-PACKS, Saturdays . Pick up a back pack and explore the museum in advance of each workshop. Museum open 10am-5pm Tuesdays to with fantastic jigsaws, stories, puzzles and games. 10.30am-5pm. Saturdays, from noon Sundays.

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 15 V&A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD THE BRITISH MUSEUM ROYAL ALBERT HALL ROYAL OPERA HOUSE More What ’sOn Find even more activities: www.familiesse.co.uk then click What's On

FULHAM PALACE V&A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD THE BRITISH MUSEUM Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green E2 9PA, 020 8983 5200, BRITISH MUSEUM, Great Russell Street WC1B 3DG, 020 7323 8181, TOWER BRIDGE EXHIBITION www.museumofchildhood.org.uk www.britishmuseum.org TOWER BRIDGE, Tower Bridge Road SE1 2UP, 020 7403 3761, www.towerbridge.org.uk This gem of a museum houses dolls, dolls’ houses, puppets, teddy The British Museum was founded in 1753, the first national public bears, games, childcare, clothing, furniture and art and photography. museum in the world. Each year nearly 6 million visitors pour through the Tower Bridge houses four unique venues; the award-winning high level Everyday drop-in activities include storytelling, arts and crafts, and trails. doors to see the museum’s collection of ancient and historical artefacts Walkways, the small luxurious North Tower Lounge, the majestic Victorian There’s dressing-up, role play and an under 3’s area, an indoor sandpit, including the ever-popular Egyptian mummies, or to take in the latest Engine Rooms and the charming Bridge Master’s Dining Room. Enjoy and regular special events. Open 10am-5.45pm daily, admission free. block-buster exhibition. Open 10am-5.30pm daily, admission free, stunning London views from over the Thames and continue to the charge for some exhibitions. Victorian Engine Rooms to learn about the inner workings of the most IT’S A HARD WORLD FOR LITTLE THINGS, 9 January - 17 July. famous bridge in the World. Tower Bridge still lifts to enable large ships Children Carrying Heavy Objects is a series of six large-scale drawings DIGITAL DISCOVERY CENTRE, weekends. Learn, discover and create to pass through - check the website before your visit to add to the that depict children and the burdens that they carry. The graphite in the Museum’s digital centre. Free activities and workshops using the excitement. There’s a free app, where you can play games and learn drawings by C A Halpin show children carrying physical, societal and latest Samsung digital equipment, enabling children to bring the world’s more about the iconic landmark before your visit. Open 10am-6pm April - political loads such as: water; a blackboard; each other; in grief and history and cultures to life through advanced technology. September, 9.30am-5.30pm October - March. Admission £3.40 children, love, or in the loneliness of a runaway boy. The images explore children’s DESIGN YOUR OWN CARD GAME, 31 January. Learn about card £8 adults, family tickets from £12.50. absolute will to survive in a sometimes-hostile adult world and reflects games from around the world, and work with a professional games the plight of children on a global and domestic scale; the show features designer to create your own personalised Top Trumps-style cards to local children and others from around the world. take home. Ages 7+, 11am-1pm and 2-4pm. FULHAM PALACE SHADOW PUPPET WORKSHOP, 7 February. Discover the ancient FULHAM PALACE, Bishop’s Avenue, Fulham SW6 6EA, 020 7736 3233, www.fulhampalace.org ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH tradition of shadow-puppetry in Java and then decorate your own beautiful puppets. Use voice recording software and video cameras to The Museum of Fulham Palace charts the long history of the palace site, National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House, Royal Observatory and then bring your characters to life through film. Ages 7+, 11am-4pm. from Prehistoric times and Roman settlement, through Medieval, Tudor, Cutty Sark, Greenwich SE10, 020 8858 4422, www.rmg.co.uk Georgian and Victorian bishops to the present day. The museum Royal Museums Greenwich holds the world’s largest maritime collection. collection includes paintings, archaeology and artefacts. Open It is housed in historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich FIREPOWER - THE ROYAL ARTILLERY noon-4pm Sundays, 12.30-3.30pm Mondays to Thursdays, World Heritage Site and incorporates the Royal Observatory Greenwich, MUSEUM admission free. the 17th-century Queen’s House, and Cutty Sark. The Museums works ROYAL ARSENAL, Woolwich SE18 6ST, 020 8855 7755, STONE AGE DROP-IN, 31 January. Try on period costume, handle to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the www.firepower.org.uk artefacts and learn about the history of Fulham Palace. 2-3.30pm, free. stars and their relationship with people, and is also a major centre of education and research. On Saturdays and Sundays free performances Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich tells the powerful and dramatic story of artillery, scientific discoveries made through warfare and workshops entertain family visitors, while on Tuesdays preschoolers WINTER AT IGHTHAM MOTE can make music and play with parents and carers. Open 10am-5pm and human stories of courage and endeavour. The ‘ground shaking’ Field of Fire audio-visual show puts you in the midst of battle as shells IGHTHAM MOTE, Mote Road, Ivy Hatch, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0NT, daily. General admission is free; some buildings, special exhibitions and 01732 810378, events have an admission fee. whizz overhead and guns roar. Open 10am-5pm Tuesdays to Saturdays. Admission £2.50 children, £5.30 adults, £12.50 families. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ightham-mote SAMUEL PEPYS, PLAGUE, FIRE, REVOLUTION, until 28 March. LONDON CHILDREN’S BOOK SWAP, 13 February. Once again Enjoy a gentle stroll around the hard path gardens or take in a longer Pepys, one of the most colourful characters of the 17th century, walk on the ancient estate and enjoy the beauty of the Kent countryside. witnessed many of the great events that shaped Stuart Britain, Firepower and The Heritage Centre will be a host site for the London bringing them brilliantly to life in his famous and candid diary. The Children’s Book Swap. Come along with your old books and swap them HALF TERM, 13-21 February. A chance for the children to have fun exhibition has 200 objects from museums, galleries and private for some you have not read yet. It’s great fun and you do your bit for the outside with a winter activity pack and then some craft activities inside collections. 10am-5pm, tickets £12 adults, £6 children. environment. 10am-4pm, free. to warm up.

CUTTY SARK Theatre, Shows and Music CUTTY SARK, King William Walk, Greenwich SE10 9HT, 020 8858 2698, www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark The world famous 19th century tea clipper offers visitors four levels to MACBETH ALADDIN explore. Take in the views from the main deck and steer at the ship’s 27 January - 21 February, BROADWAY THEATRE, Catford Broadway, Weekends from 7-24 January, THE COLOUR HOUSE THEATRE, wheel, meet the crew who worked on board, explore the various cargoes Watermill Way, London, SW19 2RD, 020 8542 5511, from wool to whiskey, and see how tea was loaded on board through London, SE6 4RU, 020 8690 0002, www.broadwaytheatre.org.uk interactive displays, props, information boards and animations. Family One of his darkest and most powerful tragedies, Shakespeare www.colourhousetheatre.co.uk friendly events run at weekends and during school holidays. Open dramatises the psychological and political impact of when evil is Poor Aladdin is tricked by his evil ‘uncle’ to enter a dangerous cave and 10am-5pm Tuesdays to Sundays, admission £7 children, £13.50 adults, chosen to satisfy the ambition for power. look for a magic lamp. Soon he is trapped inside. Will Aladdin find what from £24 families. Bundled tickets are available with the other Royal he needs to escape, find love and make his fortune? Find out in this Museum Greenwich attractions. hilarious musical pantomime, starring CBBC and Blue Peter’s Barney TEA TASTING, 6 February. Sample some of Twining’s finest blends of ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Harwood in an interactive film performance. Tickets £12 adults, £10 tea and discover the story of the ancient Chinese drink underneath Cutty ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, Bow Street, London WC2E 9D, 07304 4000, children. Sark’s beautiful hull. 11am-1pm and 2-4pm, free with admission price. www.roh.org.uk THE MAGIC PAINTBRUSH, 7 February. Delivered in partnership with FAMILY SUNDAYS, Last Sunday of each month. Explore the Royal ANNIE Story Spinner, join Sailor Sam on a journey across the seas with a Opera House, its artists and the world of opera and ballet. Sundays are 25-30 January, ORCHARD THEATRE, precious cargo of tea and an exotic tale of magic. 11am, 12noon, packed full of creative and practical activities for all the family including 1.30 and 2.30pm, free with admission price. Home Gardens, Dartford, Kent, DA1 1ED, 01322 220000, informal performances from Royal Ballet dancers, plus interactive singing www.orchardtheatre.co.uk MISCHIEVOUS MONKEYS, 6+7 February. Which Chinese zodiac and dance activities. Ages 6+, 12-4pm, £5 adults, £3 children. animal are you? To celebrate Chinese New Year, make an animal The world’s favourite family musical comes to Dartford for one week only, mask or a mischievous paper monkey and see if you can spot any FIRST OPERA: WELCOME PERFORMANCES. Welcome starring Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph as the tyrannical Miss monkeys on board the ship. 11.30am-1.30pm and 2-4pm, free with Performances are for families who have never been to a ballet or opera Hannigan, and the unforgettable songs Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, admission price. at the Royal Opera House before. You don’t need to know anything I Don’t Need Anything But You, and Tomorrow. Tickets from £22. SEA SIGNS, 13 February. A day of programmed events for deaf and about either - just come along and give it a try. Tickets £5-£20. hearing families, including crafts and storytelling. Events are led by deaf presenters using BSL and accompanied by voice-over interpreters, or STORY DAYS AT THE GLOBE delivered by spoken facilitators and supported by BSL interpreters. AT THE END OF EVERYTHING ELSE Sackler Studios, SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE, 21 New Globe Walk SE1 11am-3.30pm, free with admission price. 18-20 February, BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE, Lavender Hill SW11 5TN, 9DT, 020 7401 9919, www.shakespearesglobe.com/education FOLD IT! 15, 16 and 19 February. Put your origami skills to the test and www.bac.org.uk Dynamic and unforgettable retellings of Shakespeare’s stories by Globe make a mini ship to sail home with you. 11.30am-1.30pm and 2-4pm, When her best friend goes missing, Icka puts her inventive mind to the Education story tellers, suitable for the whole family. Ages 6+. 11am and free with admission price. test and sets off to save him. Ages 6+, tickets from £9. 2pm start. Tickets £15 for one adult and one child.

16 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk THE BOY WHO NEVER GREW UP THE CURIOUS ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO GOODNIGHT MR TOM HANDA'S HEN MINOTAUR

ALBANY THEATRE SOUTHBANK ROYAL ALBERT HALL ALBANY THEATRE, Douglas Way, Deptford SE8 4AG, 020 8692 4446, SOUTHBANK CENTRE, Belvedere Road SE1 8PX, 0844 847 9944, The ROYAL ALBERT HALL, Kensington Gore SW7 2AP, 0845 401 5045, www.thealbany.org.uk www.southbankcentre.co.uk www.royalalberthall.com DISCO KIDS: DINO DANCE PARTY, 7 February. A prehistoric IMAGINE CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL, 10-21 February. A packed AMALUNA, from 16 January. Cirque du Soleil returns to the Hall with boogie-fest awaits your little ones as the Albany becomes a terrific T-rex programme of events spans theatre, dance, music and installations one of its newest touring shows. Amaluna has never been seen in the UK adventure playground. A wraparound experience for tiny pterodactyls alongside readings and workshops with some of the UK’s top children’s and will mark Cirque du Soleil’s 20th year at the stunning, world-famous with video, music, dancers and more. Under 7 year-olds, 2-5pm, family authors. Over half of the Imagine festival programme is free and there venue. ticket £10. is a huge range of activities for children of all ages and their families. NICK COPE’S FAMILY SONGBOOK, 17 February. Professional THE BOY WHO NEVER GREW UP, 14 February. Inspired by Children are at the heart of Imagine and this year’s festival will see singer and songwriter Nick Cope made the international charts as J.M. Barrie’s classic tale, welcome to a world where happy thoughts the first year of the Mini Festival Makers, a group of fifty primary The Candyskins’ lead singer in the 1990s. Now he writes, records take you flying high, where pirates roam the seas and where magic and schoolchildren who have helped to programme, promote and produce and performs music for children and has established a strong following of little and not-so-little people all over the world. 11am and 2pm, adventure is impossible to hide from. Ages 4+, 1pm and 3pm family key events throughout the festival. For full details, see tickets £7.75. tickets £24. www.southbankcentre.co.uk/imagine. PLAY DOUGH, 16+17 February. Join Unlimited Theatre for the game THE WONDERCRUMP WORLD OF ROALD DAHL, 10 February - show where you can play with 10,000 real pound coins. Queenie and 3 July. Did you know that Roald Dahl used to be a spy? And also a GOODNIGHT MR TOM TooMuch will lead your team through a series of high-energy games fighter pilot, inventor and historian of chocolate? Learn about Roald Until 20 February, DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE, St Martin’s Lane, while telling you their story, and everything they know about how money London WC2N 4BG, 0844 871 7623, www.atgtickets.com really works. Ages 7+, 11am and 2pm, tickets £10, families £32. Dahl’s extraordinary life and the surprising inspiration for his most famous characters and stories. The tour features unique items from Michelle Magorian’s wonderfully uplifting tale is brought gloriously to ORION AND THE DARK, 21 February. Orion is scared of everything. the Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre archives. Ages 8-12, £10 adult, life in this magical stage adaptation by David Wood. Set during the He’s terrified of wasps and monsters, afraid of sheds and storms, £8 child. dangerous build up to the Second World War, Goodnight Mister Tom panicked by spiders and heights but there is one thing that scares him follows young William Beech, who is evacuated to the idyllic English more than anything else - the dark! Join Orion in a heart-warming tale DRAGON BABIES, 12-19 February. It’s time to shake, rattle and gong! countryside and forges a remarkable and heart-warming friendship with of friendship, adventure and overcoming your fears. Ages 3+, 1pm and Introduce the beautiful sound of gamelan to your 3-5 year-old. 11am the elderly recluse, Tom Oakley, played by David Troughton. All is perfect 3pm, tickets £7, families £24. start, £5 for one adult + child. until William is suddenly summoned by his mother back to London. THE CURIOUS ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO , 28 February. JUDITH KERR, 13 February. Judith Kerr is the author of The Tiger Who Tickets from £15. Crickets, cats, foxes and, of course, the world-famous puppet will spring Came to Tea and Mog. Mister Cleghorn’s Seal is her new book. Written out of dusty, old, magic books to bring you the true story of Pinocchio, and illustrated to Judith’s customarily exquisite standards, it is set to BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL told by Cbeebies’ Patrick Lynch. Ages 4+, 1pm and 3pm, tickets £7, delight readers young and old. Judith Kerr joins Ian Craig in family tickets £24. VICTORIA PALACE THEATRE, Victoria Street SW1E 5EA, 0844 248 5000, conversation, followed by a Q&A. Adults £10, children £5. www.billyelliotthemusical.com THE PARTY, 6 March. A circus show for all the family that humorously FAMILY GAMELAN TASTER SESSION, 13-20 February. Regarded as explores difficult topics such as sharing, social exclusion and not always Set against the background of the 1984/85 miners’ strike, Billy Elliot the one instrument played by lots of people, the gamelan generates rich, Musical is the inspirational story of one boy’s struggle to realise his getting what you want. Ages 3+, 1pm and 3pm, tickets £7, families £24. sonorous and mesmerising sounds. Learn to play music and out about dream to dance against the odds. Featuring a timeless score by Elton the stories attached to it. Ages 6+, £10 adults, £5 child. John, sensational dance and a powerful story, Billy Elliot is an uplifting THE GIANT STORYTELLING BED, 13-21 February. Listen to a story and spectacular theatrical experience that will stay with you forever. GANGSTA GRANNY Tickets from £29.50, family tickets from £105. 7-24 January, BLOOMSBURY THEATRE, 15 Gordon Street WC1H 0AH, on an enormous bed. Get comfy and lie back as a storyteller fills your 020 7388 8822, www.thebloomsbury.com imagination with magical tales. Ages 5-8, tickets £5. The world premiere of David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny is coming to the FUNHARMONICS: THE BFG, 20 February. Are you ready to take on CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE stage in a national tour running throughout 2016. It is being staged by the ghastly Fleshlumpeater and his terrible giant friends to stop them FACTORY the Birmingham Stage Company, the acclaimed producers of Horrible guzzling human beans? Join the BFG and his sidekick Sophie as they THEATRE ROYAL, Drury Lane, Covent Garden WC2B 5JF, Histories. concoct a marvellous plan to stop the giants from galloping all over the 020 7850 8790, www.reallyuseful.com/theatres/theatre-royal-drury-lane world to gobble up humans as they sleep. 10am-2pm, tickets from £10 Roald Dahl’s deliciously dark tale of young Charlie Bucket and the GREENWICH THEATRE adults, £5 children. mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka†comes to life in an action packed GREENWICH THEATRE, Crooms Hill, Greenwich SE10 8ES, 020 8858 West End musical directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes. 7755, www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk LYRIC HAMMERSMITH Tickets from £16.50. HANDA’S HEN, 16 January. When Handa and her friend Akeyo go LYRIC HAMMERSMITH, Lyric Square, Kings Street, London, W6 0QL looking for Grandma’s black hen Mondi, they find two fluttery butterflies 020 8741 6850, www.lyric.co.uk THE FAIRFIELD round the hen house, three stripy mice under the grain store, four little GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, 23 January. Beware! In a cave under FAIRFIELD HALLS, Park Lane, Croydon CR9 1DG, 020 8688 9291, lizards behind the pots - but where is Mondi? Ages 2-5, tickets £10 the castle lurks a fiery dragon waiting to devour monks, knights, sheep, www.fairfield.co.uk adults, children £7.50. and princesses! Will George be bold enough to challenge it - or will he THE GRUFFALO’S CHILD, 29-31 January. One wild and windy night THE LOST THINGS, 13+14 February. A boy falls and finds himself in run away? Ages 5+, 11am and 1pm, tickets £8. the Gruffalo’s child ignores her father’s warning and tiptoes out into the a dark and terrifying new world. It’s a world of lost things: car keys, snow. After all, the Big Bad Mouse doesn’t really exist... does he? Tall wedding rings, dads, and a mysterious girl who is building an amazing FREYA - A VIKING SAGE, 30 January. Viking Freya is about to become Stories Theatre Company returns, bringing Julia Donaldson and Axel machine. The Lost Things is about losing things and finding things you a giant’s dinner. She must use all her wits to escape and prove human Scheffler’s award-winning sequel to life in this magical, musical didn’t even know you were looking for: a dark fairytale set in a fantastical friendship is stronger than the strength of a giant and more powerful than adaptation. Tickets £13.50. world, where nothing is quite as it seems. Tickets £11. the magic of the gods. Ages 4-8, 11am and 1pm, tickets £8. HORRIBLE HISTORIES: GROOVY GREEKS, 16-21 February. From RAPUNZEL, 18-21 February. A familiar tale with a fantastic new spin, TADPOLES, 6 February. A tadpole-catching competition challenges a savage Sparta to angry Athens, discover the truth about growing up in this has all the charm you’d expect from the minds that have been superhero duo to overcome rivalry and harness their strengths. Working Greece. Take on the Trojans and pummel the Persians! Compete in the making the world laugh non-stop for more than two decades - the Emmy as team, can they save the world together? Ages 5+, 11am and 1pm. first ever Olympic Games and appear in the very first play. Meet your match with the Minotaur and be zapped by Zeus! Ages 7+, tickets from Award-winning team behind the mega-hit television series Friends. RUMPLESTILTSKIN, 13 February. Auntie spins as hard as she can to £12. Adults £13, children £8.50. make the wool for the King’s special jumper. But the royals are out of cash, the girl who is helping is useless at spinning and the Prince just HORRIBLE HISTORIES: INCREDIBLE INVADERS, 17-21 February. wants to be a shepherd. Everyone gets their threads in a twist and then The Celts are crunched when the Ruthless Romans invade Britain. Can UNICORN THEATRE crazy Caractacus save the nation? Hide behind Hadrian’s Wall. See the Rumpel-you-know-who steps in. Spinning, weaving, lively puppetry, UNICORN THEATRE, 147 Tooley Street SE1 2HZ, 020 7645 0560, Savage Saxons smash their way in. Find out who’s at Sutton Hoo. Will www.unicorntheatre.com music and storytelling for ages 3-8. 11am and 1pm. you survive the Vicious Vikings as they sail into the audience? Stop King MINOTAUR, 24 January - 2 April. In Crete, in an impossible labyrinth, SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, 16-20 February. Magic comes to life for Alfred burning his buns! Ages 7+, tickets from £12. lives a fearsome and lonely beast with the head of a bull and the body February half term in Sorcerer’s Apprentice in a production created by of a man. Only his sister Ariadne cares for him, and she dreams of the acclaimed company behind Dotty the Dragon and My Pet Monster DR. SEUSS’S THE LORAX setting them both free from the rule of their selfish father, the King. and Me. 11am and 1pm, tickets £8. This playful, clever retelling of the well known Greek myth is an Until 16 January, THE OLD VIC, The Cut, London SE1 8NB, action-packed treat. Ages 8+, tickets from £10. 0844 871 7628, www.oldvictheatre.com BARBICAN CENTRE “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees!” Inspired by Dr. Seuss’s classic JERAMEE, HARTLEBY AND OOOGLEMORE, 6 February - 20 March. BARBICAN CENTRE, Silk Street EC2Y 8DS, 0845 120 7511, Where is Jeramee? Who is making that noise? What is under the sheet tale, The Lorax tells of a moustachioed and cantankerous critter who’s www.barbican.org.uk on a mission to protect the earth from the greedy, tree-chopping, and why does it keep moving? Delivered with wit, impeccable timing LONDON INTERNATIONAL MIME FESTIVAL, 9 January - 6 February. Thneed-knitting businessman known only as The Once-ler. and plenty of clowning around, this show is a surprising and surreal A celebration of epic, physical and visual theatre, films, workshops and encounter with three people who have a lot to say - and only three words Adapted by David Greig and brought to the stage by acclaimed discussions, featuring productions from Australia, Belgium, France, director Max Webster (James And The Giant Peach, To Kill A with which to say it. Ages 3+, tickets £10 children, £16 adults. Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Mockingbird, Twelfth Night), The Lorax blends theatrical invention, UP CLUB, Saturdays. Join the Unicorn play club every Saturday. Take A NIGHT WITH BOY BLUE, 27+28 February. One of the UK’s most songs and zany humour in a vibrant show with a message for all the part in free activities from rocket building to portrait painting, giant Jenga sought-after hip-hop dance companies presents an energy-fuelled family. Ages 6+, tickets from £12, with 50% off some tickets for ages tournaments, cake decorating and lots more. 12noon-1.30pm. showcase of astonishing moves and urban music. 14 and under.

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 17 ANNIE GANGSTA GRANNY BILLY ELLIOT CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY BEAUTY AND THE BEAST More What ’sOn Find even more activities: www.familiesse.co.uk then click What's On

POLKA THEATRE CHURCHILL THEATRE BROMLEY POLKA THEATRE, 240 Broadway, Wimbledon SW19 1SB, CHURCHILL THEATRE, High Street, Bromley BR1 1HA, 0844 871 7620, 020 8543 4888, www.polkatheatre.com www.atgtickets.com BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, until 7 February. Brimming with magic, THE SNOW MAIDEN, 13 January. Based on a traditional folk-tale, this music and mystery, join Belle on a courageous journey to the Beast’s sparkler from the Russian State Ballet of Siberia follows the Snow Maiden mysterious castle where she must overcome her fears and discover the as she dances into the human world. Captivated by the colourful village true meaning of beauty. But can a single kiss set her prince free? Ages 6- and the people who live there, she ventures too far and is swept up by 12, tickets £18, concessions £11.50. feelings of love, temptation and betrayal. When finally she surrenders herself completely and warms to love, her heart melts in a tragic THE PAPER DOLLS, 8 January - 13 March. When a little girl makes a embrace. Tickets from £19.40. string of paper dolls, she takes them by the hand on a fantastical adventure. Whirling through their home and garden they fly through JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT, the air, dodging the clutches of a toy dinosaur, a snapping oven-glove 1-5 March. Retelling the Biblical story of Joseph, Joe McElderry dons the crocodile and a very real pair of scissors. A lyrical tale from the coat of many colours in a magical musical full of unforgettable songs award-winning author of The Gruffalo. Tickets £12. including Those Canaan Days, Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door To Me. Tickets from £12. THE GRUFFALO’S CHILD NOT NOW, BERNARD, 12-21 February. David McKee’s much-loved Not Now, Bernard is joined by two of his other wonderfully funny (and not too scary) monster stories, The Two Monsters and The Monster and The Teddy Bear, in this fast-paced show about growing up and learning how to deal with change. Ages 3-8, tickets £13.50. THE TIGER’S BONES, 25-28 February. From a cautionary tale about eating the wrong person’s stew to a wild retelling of the nativity, these imaginative and funny stories by Ted Hughes take you to a timeless world of folklore, fable, mischief and mayhem. Ages 7-11, tickets £13.50. DOGS DON’T DO BALLET, 2-6 March. Join Ballet Black for a magical performance based on the best-selling book by Anna Kemp and choreographed by Christopher Marney, full of fun, magic and one very special dog! Tickets £13.50. DR. SEUSS’S THE LORAX

Art Activities DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY THE WALLACE COLLECTION DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY, Gallery Road, Dulwich Village SE21 7AD, THE WALLACE COLLECTION, Hertford House, Manchester Square W1U 020 8693 5254, www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk 3BN, 020 7563 9500, www.wallacecollection.org Museum open 10am-5pm Tuesdays to Fridays, from 11am weekends and bank holidays. Admission free for accompanied children, £6 adults. The Wallace Collection displays wonderful works of art collected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the first four Marquesses of Listed activities free for families with a gallery ticket or £3 per child. AMAZING WORLD OF M.C. ESCHER THE AMAZING WORLD OF M.C. ESCHER, until 17 January. Escher Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess, in their was one of the most popular artists of the 20th century, renowned for main London townhouse. Family multi-media tours and trails bring the his woodcuts, lithographs, drawings and mezzotints. This exhibition exhibits to life for younger visitors. Open 10am-5pm daily, admission showcases nearly 100 works from the collection of the free. THE NATIONAL GALLERY Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands. £14 adults, THE LITTLE DRAW, 7 February. Meet Millie Nice - an artist and TRAFALGAR SQUARE WC2N 5DN, 020 7747 2885, www.nationalgallery.org.uk children free, concessions available. illustrator with a playful approach to history of art and an interest in I AM VAN DYCK, 12 January - 24 April. Van Dyck’s final self-portrait of museum spaces. 1.30-4.30pm. Open daily 10am-6pm, Fridays to 9pm, admission free. c.1640, newly acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, will hang beside SNAKES GALORE, 15 February. Visit the three bronze snakes that have With over 2,300 paintings in the collection, there are hundreds of reasons self-portraits by renowned contemporary artist Mark Wallinger, to explore to visit the gallery, along with free hands-on art workshops for families at different notions of self-portraiture. The display will also reveal new just come out of hiding. Scour the collection for slippery serpents. On weekends and during school holidays. No need to book, but places are information on the Gallery’s best-known Van Dycks through X-ray your way sketch patterns to use when you help create a giant 3D snake. limited and allocated on arrival up to one hour before the start. Make a mini one to take home too. Free drop-in for age 5+, 11am-1pm. technology. THE TONE ZONE, 17 January. Explore National Gallery paintings as ARTPLAY, first and last Sunday of each month. Creative drop-in POP OUT FURNITURE! 19 February. Join artist Jenny Parker on a inspiration for your art. Discover how tonal drawings help artists to paint workshops for adults and children, with a different activity each session. journey through different styles of furniture. Draw your favourite patterns their wonderful paintings. 11am-12.20pm and 2-3.20pm. Make anything and everything from bunting to block printing and all and designs before decorating your own suite of miniature pop-out CHINESE NEW YEAR FAMILY FESTIVAL DAY, 6 February. Events things in between. 2-3.45pm. laser cut furniture. include a printed trail, stories and sound workshops, magic monkey FREE FAMILY TRAIL. Ask a gallery assistant or stop by at the Gallery carpet, nursery rhymes in Mandarin, and mask making. Most events Friends desk for a free trail; updated frequently and available for the taking place between 10am-12noon. permanent and temporary exhibitions. ART AT SIR JOHN SOANE’S HOUSE ARTIST APPRENTICE WORKSHOP, 16+17 February. Create a replica of the National Gallery with marble columns, domes and patterned SOMERSET HOUSE FAMILY EVENTS SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields WC2A 3PB, SOMERSET HOUSE, Strand WC2, 020 7845 4600, floors. Ages 7-12, 11am - 3.30pm, £10. www.somersethouse.org.uk 020 7440 4263, www.soane.org Free family workshops run on Saturdays from 2-3.30pm. Tickets Tucked away in Lincoln’s Inn Fields at the heart of London, this magical, FAMILIES AT THE TATE available from 1pm from the information desk. Children aged 6-12 years mysterious museum encourages young visitors to explore Soane’s TATE BRITAIN, Millbank SW1, 020 7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk/britain must be accompanied by an adult. treasures and develop new skills with specialist guidance. Sir John Open daily 10am-5.50pm, and until 10pm the first Friday of the month. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Soane (1753- 1737) was an inveterate collector, filling every nook and Family trails are available daily from the Information Desks and are free NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, St Martin’s Place WC2H 0HE, cranny of his beautiful home with items that fascinated him. From fossils for 5yrs and under. Go on a journey around Tate Britain and post your 020 7306 0055, www.npg.org.uk to classical fragments from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and from discoveries into your ‘Post it’ box as you go. When you get home, open The gallery features thousands of portraits of the most famous people in contemporary paintings to architectural models, drawings and literature, up the box and show your friends what you found. Or you could follow British history, from the 16th century to the present day. Open 10am-6pm the ‘Join up’ trail: play the listening game, search for shapes, patterns daily. he intended that after his death both his house and its extraordinary and talking hands, and make your own sculptures. contents should be used to educate and inspire. Free drop-in activities DROP IN FAMILY SUNDAYS . On the third Sunday of every month, Every weekend the free Art Trolley encourages children to imagine and families are invited to drop-in with children aged 3+ to take part in run on the third Saturday of every month, with activities for all ages create, make colourful collages, style a wonderful sculpture or perhaps portrait-related events. and families can take part together from 1.30-4.40pm. make a sketchbook and fill it with great ideas.

18 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk ‘Home from home’ with Chilly Powder

Are you dreaming ahead to your next winter holiday? Chilly Powder is worth a look. Francesca, Paul and their three children - Ben, Eloise & Jamie Eyre - live in Morzine in France all year round and have a good knowledge of Alpine traditions and the Morzine people. Having adapted their chalet holiday style over the years to suit the tastes of their regular guests, they offer the perfect ski holiday for families, couples or mixed groups in relaxing luxury, with fantastic food and outstanding facilities. Chilly Powder have been operating catered chalet ski holidays since 1996. The genuine ski to the door location of their three luxury catered ski chalets with unrivalled in-house childcare facilities sets them apart from other ski chalets in Morzine, France. families with children or babies. With excellent food, friendly staff and All bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms, there is an outdoor hot tub, sauna relaxing atmosphere of their chalets make it the perfect winter holiday and massage room and in-house childcare is provided in their own crèche. destination. For many returning guests Chilly Powder it is considered a real Their ski chalets are unique in Morzine for small or large groups or for individual home from home. Read more at www.chillypowder.com.

Us-time It takes two... families As there are other grown-ups with you, this would be an ideal opportunity to have some time alone with your partner. Suggest that you take it in turns to - should you share a holiday with look after all the children, for an afternoon or an evening, so that each couple can have some another family? personal space. By Sally J Hall A room of one’s own Speaking of space, when choosing a holiday house, It seems like a great idea when you make sure there is enough room for you all to have and a friend are sharing a coffee, Set the rules some personal space. Even the best of friends can daydreaming about your next holiday Before embarking on the trip, decide on some end up getting on each others’ nerves at times, so if and it turns out you both want to hire a ground rules. You will need to set a budget and there is room for you all to find a corner, either in gite in France, a cottage in Cornwall or decide how you are going to share the price of the your bedroom or a living room, tensions should be a villa in Tuscany. So you decide that it house but you will also have to decide on how to averted. Letting the kids all sleep in the same room might be fun to go away with both your share costs once you are away. If you are self may backfire too, as they will be so excited that they families and share the cost of the catering, it’s best to share everything equally (easy may not get to sleep before the small hours. holiday. We’ve come up with some tips if your families are the same size, otherwise work it to make this a holiday to remember - not out proportionately). If one person wants something So while there may be some things to consider a nightmare. more expensive, however, that only they will use or eat - for example some special wine or food - before you embark on a holiday with friends, there suggest that they pay for that themselves. Talk this are many advantages. You can afford somewhere A little knowledge is a all through before you go, as the last thing you want much nicer than you might otherwise have done, is an argument at the supermarket check-out! you can share chores and babysitting and you can dangerous thing... forge lifelong friendships between both the adults The first thing to consider is how well you know the and the children. With a little forethought, this will other family. Whilst it might seem that you have lots Doing the housework truly be a holiday to remember! in common with another person when you first meet The chores will also have to be shared equally, so them, you may find that actually, the things you that nobody has to do all the cooking or all the enjoy are superficial and there are areas of their life washing up. It’s probably best if you decide to take you find difficult to cope with. Have you been to it in turns and perhaps eat out a couple of times each others’ houses? If you’re a neat freak and they during the holiday so that you all get a break. are the kind to ignore mould on the milk bottle - or the other way around - you’re probably not going to get along with each others’ standards of house - keeping. Do you know what their politics are? This can be very devisive if you find each others’ opinions difficult to swallow. And do your children get along? It would be terrible if all they do is argue while you’re away and you’ll end up taking sides and possibly falling out with the other parents. All good friends Another very important thing is that your partners need to get on. And you need to get on as a four - some too, especially if it comes down to a dispute when the children are falling out or want to do different things. You’ll all, as grown-ups, need to be united and not cause more difficulties when deciding how to arrange your time. So decide to spend some time together in the run-up to the holiday - perhaps a whole day on a Saturday or a Sunday - and have the children on a sleepover at each others’ houses to iron out problems before you go.

familiesse.co.uk january / february 2016 - families south east 19 The Battle for Toad Hall 15–19 February 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:00pm and 4:00pm

Free admission

Mr Toad and his friends Ratty, Mole and Badger, crept slowly through the secret tunnel into Toad Hall, ready to commence battle and claim back Toad’s home from those pesky weasels…but will they be triumphant? A costumed storyteller will m

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20 families south east - january / february 2016 familiesse.co.uk