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Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year
Posted on 9:57pm Tuesday 20th December 2011
Are you sick of it yet? Where most people have been ramping up the festivities since 1st December, I retreated into a bubble. I don't think Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
My Baby Expo: post-natal support & Mister Maker (of course!)
Posted on 11:33pm Wednesday 9th November 2011
As a new parent, I'm heading on down to Baby Expo this Sunday at the Amex Community Stadium (not only because I'm doing a spot of blogging) but to see what new things are out there to support my family life. I've been browsing down the exhibitor list on the Baby Expo website to prioritise who to visit on Sunday (yep, I'm a planner!). I was happy to see there's a great balance between innovative baby brands, ante and post-natal classes, charities and parent support groups.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Business Mums say your network creates success
Posted on 11:05pm Monday 10th October 2011
This week we said goodbye to one of business' most formidable characters, Steve Jobs. A man who became synonymous with a brand he made one of the largest on the planet. Mumpreneurs at the Business Mums Summit acknowledged that like Mr Jobs and Apple, real success comes from surrounding yourself with the right people.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Business Mums gather to inspire, network and celebrate success
Posted on 9:34pm Monday 3rd October 2011
Next week Brighton plays host to the Business Mums Summit, a networking event for parents running their own business. 'Mumpreneur' has certainly become the latest business watchword and networking events such as these are firmly fixed in the women's work calendars.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Can Elm Grove & the council find a parking solution?
Posted on 10:14am Sunday 25th September 2011
Once again parking issues in Hanover and Elm Grove have got everyone's pants in a twist. Cars parked behind yellow lines on the pavements were decorated with flyers this week. First by a pretty little yellow one from the council, with a warning stating they would receive a fixed penalty notice after 3rd October if they parked illegally. Then by the Hanover and Elm Grove Local Action Team inviting them to a meeting Monday 26th September to object.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Late arrival, speedy birth
Posted on 2:12pm Thursday 8th September 2011
After a frustrating wait nine days past my due date we finally welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world. Just when we thought we knew what we needed to know about labour, we were taken completely surprise with our birth.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Is it safe to recycle the famiily crib?
Posted on 10:55am Friday 29th July 2011
For our impending arrival, we are proud to use the crib that I slept in as a child in 1973. However, although we have slept five babies in the crib over 38 years, it could be a little naïve and risky to use family heirlooms.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
My Community Reporter Journey
Posted on 8:21pm Wednesday 6th July 2011
It's been over 18 months since Brighton & Hove Community Reporters network was set up and I've been on the ride since the beginning.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Brighton Festival: there’s an app for that
Posted on 4:41pm Friday 13th May 2011
The organisers behind the Brighton Festival, Fringe and Artist Open Houses have made it even more easier to access events program information, venue iinformation and experience sharing this year with iPhone and Android apps plus Flickr groups and Twitter #tags. Here’s the lowdown on social media and news guides to help you get the best our of festival season: Brighton Festival App: They are calling this an app but its technically a mobile site for iPhone and Android which offers really good download speed of essential information: events and venue details. As it is only a mobile site, there are no other tools e.g. saving favourites or planned events.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Open house: last chance to see...
Posted on 1:59pm Wednesday 11th May 2011
This week is the last chance to see ‘Home Is Where the Art Is’ at the Fishing Quarter Gallery, the latest instalment in the I Love Art Brighton story, curated by Sarah Gillings.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Pregancy Yoga: connect with your mind, body and baby
Posted on 1:10pm Wednesday 27th April 2011
Many women during pregnancy experience problems with their core stability, back pain and sciatica. Yoga can not only help cope with these issues but also prepare your body for childbirth.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Mum's Day? Nope, it's Me Day
Posted on 11:21am Sunday 3rd April 2011
Are we supposed to be mums on Mothering Sunday or are can we do as we damn well please? What I really crave is to spend the morning in the bathroom with the iPlayer, a bath, a face pack and plenty of child-free time to let my nails dry.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
A century of International Women’s Day
Posted on 11:24am Saturday 5th March 2011
This Tuesday is the centenary of International Women's Day. The event was initially started in 1911 to campaign for equal workers rights, be trained, hold public office and most notably have the vote. We have seen the role of women in society change dramatically since then through two world wars, creation of the women's movement and evolution of technology and telecommunications. The fact this day has been observed for 100 years had a profound effect on me. I tried to imagine what life would have been like for me in 1911. I decided to examine the generations of women in my family over the last century and map their path to me. One thing they had all in common is they took advantage of the opportunities laid out to them, led the desire to increase their earning potential. On both sides of my parents family, our roots are firmly in working classes. My maternal grandmother left school at 14 like many of her contemporaries and began an apprenticeship with a confectioners, which she didn’t like and left after a year. Before the Second World War broke out she had the opportunity to go to night school, free of charge, to learn shorthand and typing. August 1939 she turned 17 and the family had moved from Liverpool to Halifax, West Yorkshire. Women were enlisted to work in factories for the war effort, usually if they had no dependents, making parts that they understood (but never knew exactly) to be used by the Navy. Women were needed to fill the gap left by men serving in the armed forces but despite this, were still paid less than their male counterparts. 1943 After the war, she married and started a family but continued to work. Nana explains to me, ’We wanted to boost our income, to buy appliances such as washing machines and televisions.’. She went back to night school in the 1960’s which allowed her access to office work and eventually the civil service, who didn‘t usually take on married women but opportunities had changed since the war. My paternal grandmother was the daughter of a carpenter. Despite having already started a family before the war, she helped out at her husbands family business running a grocers shop, as well has raising her son, while he was away serving in the army. After the war, she went on to work at Alders department store earning an apprenticeship and eventually becoming supervisor of the ladies fashion department. She also continued to work while raising my father who was a baby boom child, 10 years younger than his brother born just before WW2. As a child she’d show me the clothes she had bought with her staff discount at the time of her working there, all kept neatly in their original cellophane packaging. Her taste was impeccable. They were equally both proud of having paid off their mortgage by retirement, owning a home outright was a big achievement for their generation and it was down to their dual income that made it possible. For very similar reasons, my mother pushed herself up the promotion ladder to earn a better living. The swinging sixties wasn’t completely revolutionary for women depending on where you lived or your social background. The likelihood was you wanted to leave school as early as possible and earn money to buy the latest fashions, Rolling Stones records and have a fairly decent social life. My mother’s family had relocated from south London to near Gatwick airport for her father’s work. The growth of the airport presented more job opportunities in the area plus the perks of foreign travel which she made the most of before married life and children. Even though she worked part-time jobs when my sister and I were at school, it wasn’t until we were in our teens and could fendr for ourselves after school (and Saturday jobs of our own) did she start a career culminating in becoming Studio Manager for Filofax, co-ordinating the print production and content of diary inserts. It was her extra salary that enabled me to go to University in 1992 and I was the first girl on both sides of my immediate parents family to go. Although going on to further education was symbolic for my parents and grandparents generation, in 1992 it didn’t and still doesn’t necessarily guarantee social and economic mobility for women. We can’t deny that more women are moving into typical male dominated professions and more women are having careers and starting their own businesses. It seems to all fall down when women want to start a family, the environment for maintaining a career and bringing up a family becomes more challenging either through lack of support from employers or simply the nature of the jobs themselves. In my view, there is some way to go for complete gender equality in the workplace and across many communities all over the world which is why as well as celebrating our achievements on Tuesday, it will be a time to reflect and discuss what more can be done. Especially the difference we can make for our children.
Claire Banks - Contented Mummy »
Grunge saves the day
Posted on 9:34pm Tuesday 22nd February 2011
Spending roughly 80 minutes a day commuting by car, I usually fill the time with Radio 4; the Today programme in the morning, Eddie Mair and the PM team on the way home. However, being hormonal is the perfect time to listen to music. I find I’m so more connected emotionally to sound, feeling it in all over my body, in my stomach and my heart. So I traded in my obsession for news to listen to proper CDs and a back catalogue worth running up a credit card bill and student loan for.
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