simonethebeaver

I went through a religious period in my teens, and certainly would have said as a child that I believed in God. My (non-believing) parents sent me to Sunday School. I'm rather glad I had that experience as it was interesting to be part of a faith community. But I escaped any form of guilt and it was very happy clappy religion. I mostly enjoyed the singing.

Daniel is great, and kept me sane in my first pregnancy. It's a bit late now at 37 weeks sadly but for others reading, there is a SPECIALIST women's Physio service at Tommy's that your GP can refer you to. A friend told me about it and I was shocked that my Kings midwives had never heard of it. They are superb and will be extremely proactive. They will do hands on work, hydrotherapy etc. The physios at Kings are excellent in general but not specialist. Having said that, they really should have given you a support belt. There is an osteopath in Tunbridge Wells called Quentin Shaw who is the sort of national expert in PGP issues. I saw him after my first baby was born and he helped a lot. http://www.osteopath-tunbridge-wells.co.uk/ Also look at this site for other ideas. They are very sympathetic on the phone too. http://www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk/

Sorry, have been asked which class is the East Dulwich one. The Honor Oak Road class, opposite Fairlawn school, is the closest.

Science is a wonderful thing. But people have found great comfort in faith for millennia and as long as they respect my right not to believe in any supernatural beings, I will respect their faith. I wish there wasn't state funding however for schools that choose only or mostly to take on the basis of religion. 60-120 of the nearest school places are lost to my children this way.

Oakwood definitely operate a waiting list for non-FHR patients. I assume the others do similar. I don't know whether the waiting list is done on first come, first served or on the basis of specific need though.

We are not religious and parking the spectre of being forced to use one of the local Catholic schools aside it's not something that causes any problem. Our two year old has been learning about Eid celebrations at nursery recently. We are going to take her to a crib service at Christmas so she can learn about the Christmas story. But it's all cultural, and the culture of religion is a useful and relevant thing to know, for tolerance, to understand lots of literature, for travel etc. But faith schools are something else...

Congratulations, Shona and the team! Just checked the results and see you've won! I hope you're feeling rightly proud of having created such a valued resource for our community.

I hate it too. It ruins the look of the whole parade. Also you often see things that really shouldn't be sitting around on pallets waiting to be unpacked.

Does this mean that parents with children are now allowed in the House of Tippler? I thought there was a ban?

It struck me that it's been ages since anyone mentioned lovely Baby Sensory. I've just started going for the second time and I'd forgotten how much fun it is. I spend an hour doing things with my baby that I just would never think of, having a stunted imagination, and I've met brilliant people each time. There's so much going on in ED that I wanted to say how much I enjoy this, despite it being a bit more expensive than some other stuff. This is me being genuinely enthusiastic by the way, rather than some dressed up advertising. http://www.babysensory.com/en/ClassDetails/dulwich

I once had very rude service at Roullier White. Completely unecessary rudeness. Happened to a friend of mine too. But in general the shops I visit on Lordship Lane tend to be very friendly. I don't spend a lot of time in 'saw you coming' type places though.

We gave several bags of clothes to the refuge on Barry Road, again many unworn or barely worn, and they were very, very gratefully received. They are particularly in need of warm clothes, and clothes for men and children. Baby stuff is always wanted.

Done. Pleased to support the gang at Dish and Spoon.

I don't know if she specialises but Anna Cannon is amazing. Hopefully her number can be found on here through a search. But I am surprised that Kings is offering no help. Clare Kedves gets lots of praise on here but I've not seen her personally. I know St George's has a specialist lactation consultant working in the NICU who would have specialist knowledge. Her name is Lyndsey and her site is: http://www.dreamfeeds.co.uk/about

First birth was very, very long - I had painful contractions for four dats. Although it was a home birth and I avoided induction, it wasn't the water birth I'd really wanted, and I had a painful tear. Second time round, I only had about five hours of painful contractions, no pain relief for various reasons (I did really, really WANT gas and air!) and the baby was born in the pool without tearing. From waters breaking to birth was 20 minutes!

There are areas of Crystal Palace/Norwood/Penge/Beckenham etc where your only choice of secondary is a Harris School now. They are taking over everywhere.

Outside London doesn't have to equal countryside/suburbs! We're thinking Oxford. If we move and our outgoings can shrink, only one of us would commute. The other (me!) could give up the job I hate and do something else. But obviously there's no denying the commute isn't much fun, and family life can suffer. (Three kids to consider.)

Sydenham not that cheap any more! Hillyfields very reasonable though. Basically we've worked out we could be more or less mortgage free outside London, given this ridiculous bubble we're in right now. And have more space. That's the dilemma.

Do we stay here or go elsewhere where we'd have more cash and house but longer commute and not our lovely local friends? Deleted rest as it sounded like a massive stealth boast. Subject has been done to death on here I know. Feel free to ignore.

In my experience, the Evelina loses out in the publicity stakes to GOSH. But you're not entirely right. The two hospitals send patients between them for various specialities, so Evelina kids go to GOSH on occasion and vice versa.

Really interesting updated, thanks. I'm intrigued. I know someone 70m from Eliot Bank who didn't get in, but the distance there is over 400m.

One was. Not only that, but when we chased the cat and writhing rat out again, a bloody fox appeared by our back door to try to snatch the rat. It was Beatrix Potter gone wrong in our garden.

The problem with doing secondaries is that all Southwark, and a fair proportion of Lewisham and Lambeth, secondaries are academies with variously quirky admission arrangements, so the map would be a bit less illustrative. Still give a rough idea of catchments though.

Lewisham schools are Horniman, Fairlawn, Eliot Bank, Kelvingrove, and Dalmain, in Forest Hill/Sydenham/Honor Oak. Stillness possibly but after that it's getting a bit too far out. I don't know about the ones bordering Nunhead I'm afraid.

That's fantastic, thanks. What would make it even better, for those of us hovering on the edge of the borough, would be the Lewisham schools too, at least near the border.