JenWren

In view of recent events on Twitter for us The Perryvale Bistro & Bar & The Crooked Well we have decided to support The Cybersmile Foundation until the end of the Summer Holidays: An offensive tweet was sent from an unknown phone with an IP address way out of London under our Perryvale twitter account without our authorisation. We have had local and national press picking at the story and the response on Twitter, Facebook & local forums was shocking and scary whilst people thought we were guilty. The feeling of being powerless as we watched our hard work be undone and our reputation trashed was awful. Along with a very real threat to our business and staff safety. It made me think about the power of social media and how terrifying and lonely it must be to suffer this kind of abuse, and a lot worse for a lot longer, if you feel you don't have anyone to talk to, or feel unable to cope. With a rise in depression and suicide in youngsters, with online bullying being so prevalent we figured we may as well use the attention we have received for good and support CyberSmile - a charity to raise awareness of the power of online community and offer support to victims. We have a very popular dish to share, Roast Chicken for 2, and we will be donating a ?1 from each sale across both sites until Sept when term starts again. Hopefully this can bring some more attention and cash to the vital work they do at Cybersmile.

Hi all, I'm Jen, one of the owners of The Perryvale & The Crooked Well. I will have met some of you I am sure. I'm sorry I haven't got here sooner, I spent all day yesterday on the phone and at my laptop fielding hundreds of abusive messages and speaking with Action Fraud (the cyber crime element of the police), Snarll the cat charity and a few journalists as this has made local, and national press now. I can only say that none of us know who did this. We are a small independent company: me, my husband and our business partner. We have young families, and pets, and absolutely reject ownership of this tweet and obviously do not condone the Croydon Cat Killer, or indeed think it is in the least bit amusing. Our staff are mainly students, or have young families themselves and are a lovely bunch. They also wouldn't think to do something so thoughtless and offensive, and so obviously damaging to their place of work, or us, their bosses that work the floor for hours and hours alongside them. We have a tiny team on site at the Perryvale, and on Tuesday at that time of night, 11.45pm, there was no-one there at all. A lot of people are referencing the location of the tweet being pinned at The Perryvale, you can do that from anywhere, it doesn't have to be from where you are claiming to be. We have handed this over to Action Fraud to look into. Whether it's a hack or an ex-employee with login details, this was absolutely nothing to do with us and our team. Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. I spent hours trying to protect and save our business we have worked so hard on for the last 6 years. Explaining and pleading and denying. The police tell me they'll keep an eye on the premises and we are to call 999 immediately if we experience any threatening behaviour at all. We've received unpleasant voice messages and online wishes of Karma, death, failure and suffering. For a tweet that we don't know anything about. Anyone that has met us must know that we would never condone something like the barbarous Croydon Cat Killer, or even think it was something to joke about. Since I saw the sea of tweets after dropping my daughter at Nursery at 9am, which was terrifying and shocking to me, we have worked very closely with Boudicca at Snarll. She has been great in defending us and asking for us to be left alone. We fully support the charity and over the coming days will be looking at how we can support them further with their work - perhaps using this media ?$*&storm for good to bring more attention to their case. Please don't boycott us. We have already taken a hit on facebook reviews as it is, with perfect strangers flooding our page with cat killer/boycott calls. Luckily some loyal locals have since stepped up to try to balance the damage done, but still it hurts. We are a small independent set-up in what is becoming a sea of chains/large groups and we just can't absorb this level of negativity or loss of business. When we learn more we will let people know. After the upset caused to the owners of the poor cats killed, and what I have been through yesterday and no doubt will do off and on for a while to come I fully intend to follow this through. Thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

Yes please!! Have DM

I can second the above. I had a c section and have been desperate to get back to exercise and this has been brilliant cardio for me whilst strengthening my core. When the other girls are doing abs I have some alternatives to do. Being able to bring our babies has been really great. Its such a lovely relaxed set up that it just doesn't matter of you have to tend to your baby/child. Even Simone (the teacher) has her little boy Alex there. But don't be fooled, this is not just a fluffy DanceBox thing - you learn real technique and you definitely sweat! I am so pleased I can actually get a workout now and start to feel more like me :)

Hey all. I'm due in Aug... when's the next gathering?

Hi Ladies. Are the meet ups going to be regular Sunday affairs? I'd love to join you. I work on a Sunday until 1pm so I'd head over after that... whats the plan looking like? Thanks Jen

Hi Ladies I'm new to this discussion...I'm 13+5 due August 19th and am desperate to find some decent Pregnancy Excercise classes/groups... any recommendations from anyone? Thanks so much :)

We have Boogie Mites at The Crooked Well on a Friday morning. www.boogiemites.co.uk - drop in basis, first session is frial, then ?5 after that. It's been really well received and definitely worth checking out... Also we have just a coffee morning for Mums (and Dad's too) and little ones every Tues from 10am. Soft play mats and toys are put out and you can just chill on the sofas without being disturbed by anyone else as we don't open to the public until 12.30pm. Drop me a line with any questions [email protected] Hopefully see you soon :)

Ok Babies Bazaar Attendees....Having seen how popular the Halloween Babies morning was, we have decided to make the Buy/Sell/Swap event this Tues morning a free "ticketed" event. Please email me your name and your aim (sell/swap/buy/all) and I'll drop you a line with whether you have successfully gained a spot/ticket. Those who don't, we will still be running our usual morning downstairs...Those who can, slings please :) Name and Aim to [email protected] Spread the word... Ta x

Thank you :) Ok, so... is there one? :)

Hi there, I heard there was a discussion going on here about starting a Mums and Babies meet-up in Camberwell, but I can't find it. Any pointers? (I'm terrified of the "this is for East Dulwich only" backlash that this may well induce, but I've decided to risk it...) *opens flood gates*