Although we haven't officially met since June, we have had a great summer. The South London Lesbian Mums Group was out in force for the London Pride Parade!!!  Big thanks to Caia for sorting out our lovely banner which we all marched under with the greatest of pride!  Mums and kids alike were fantastic. We all know what a big effort it can be to get little ones sorted for a day out - never mind a day out involving parading and being watched by 000s of people!!  The kids rose to the occasion too and kept on marching and waving and smiling the whole way to Whitehall.  We were a little stunned when we hit Regents Street and realised that people were watching us - but we soon got into being cheered and supported along our merry way.  It was great to see some familiar faces in the crowd too!  Thank you so much to everyone who took part.  It was all very emotional and I think everyone felt great at the end.  Next year, we've vowed to rehearse a dance routine to entertain the crowds!!

Our Annual Picnic was also a success with a number of new members joining in with the fun on Peckham Rye. The Picnic Area there is great providing a shady and poo-free space - with added picnic tables!


We also hosted the SLLMG Inaugural Camping Trip!!!  10 families headed off to Forgewood Campsite in Eridge, Sussex at the start of the summer holidays for a weekend of fun and frolics in the lovely countryside and surrounding woodland.  We had so much fun that we plan to do it all again next year. We all had a blast and it was great to spend so much time together.

We're now all ready for the first meeting of the new term this Sunday 11 September when we are encouraging adults and children to share information about places they have stayed and visited and top activities they have engaged in over the holiday period.

Today we have been preparing for Pride by painting a banner for our group to march behind on Saturday 2nd July.  Children and adults alike joined in and the result is colourful and pretty darn good I'd say!  Check out info about the Pride march and festivities here

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog front of late but they certainly haven't been for our group!  In May we we celebrated our 5th birthday with a pot-luck party and children's entertainer Reeta of Babble Parade. Kids and adults alike thought Reeta was great and really enjoyed her circus themed activities.

Plans are afoot for our summer camping trip and annual picnic - both in July. Although today's weather has not really provided any inspiration for outdoor activities - let's hope it perks up soon. Brrr!

Sadly I was unable to attend this month's meeting.   Jessica reports that it went well with a lot of takers for our invitation to swap and share books in recognition of World Book Day.   People brought adult and children's books to swap and there was a table of really useful alternative family books to browse.  Lots of catching up and a great opportunity to meet new people - some of whom stretched the definition of South London from Essex and Kent all the way up to Enfield apparently! It just shows the need for this kind of group. . For those people who didn’t get a chance to look at the books you’ll find many of them at www.letterboxlibrary.com  Looking forward to seeing you all again in April when we will be celebrating the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival with a Family Film Quiz!

Today we hosted our first meeting of 2011, having taken a break in January.  I knew that we might have some new potential members coming along to check us out as I have been very busy over the past few weeks responding to enquiries about the group.  I wasn't expecting so many though and it was lovely to have such a mix of new mums, soon-to-be mums and prospective mums - as well as some mums with older kids who've been looking for a group like ours for some time.  Feedback was really positive about how friendly and welcoming the group is and everyone took membership forms with the intention of joining us.  What a really healthy start to the year!

On Sunday 12 December the South London Lesbian Mums Group held its annual Xmas Party and our second ever Annual General Meeting.  The event was very well-attended and included a number of families new to the Group.  We were also pleased to welcome a number of prospective parents.

Our meeting in October was a jam-packed one with presentations galore focussed on the experiences of the children of lesbian and gay parents.

We were very pleased to welcome members of Out for Our Children to our meeting to talk to us about their new video project and invite us to participate.   The aim of the project is to produce a short animated film about what starting and being in primary school is like for lesbian and gay families. The film will be used as a resource for schools to train teachers. We were very pleased to see the initial work that has been done and to hear about the plans for involving children in creating the animation.


We were equally delighted to welcome researchers and staff from Stonewall to present evidence from their project Different Families looking at the experiences of children of lesbian and gay parents. You can download a copy of the publication here.  Helen Statham and Sarah Jennings of the Family Research Unit at Cambridge University presented very positive findings that suggest that overall and in their words "The kids are alright!".


The meeting was very well attended and we hope to arrange more speakers for future meetings.