wonderwoman

Indeed weather wise may be as certain as here, torn between going on a package deal somewhere at least where it's dry and hot, maybe some late deals may come up

Try this quick easy recipe and adapt it using loaf tinx2 or use one twice, you can cut and assemble to a number1 shape slice in half and fill with choc fudge and cover all over with rest of choc fudge then put sprinkles and decorations of your choice over the whole thing. I did it for my son's 7th b'day, it was fab! http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6652/naughty-chocolate-fudge-cake

Hi there. Does anyone have any experience of key camp or eurocamp holidays in France, which company would you recommend? Key camp seem cheaper but would that reflect on the standards in accommodation I wonder? Was looking at the two sites in Picardy seems easy to drive to from calais, La bien assisse and Chateau de drancourt. We have 3 kids 2,5,8 and with no experience of driving in France we didn't want to venture too far. This seems to be a cheapish holiday option especially having had a look round the websites for cheap package deals in the med like turkey, most were very expensive. Ideas and recommendations greatly received.

Absolutely ridiculously poor customer service especially for the price people pay for this place, they must get so many complaints. Peckham pulse is mildly worse than dulwich I think. I called yesterday and like others here couldn't get through. Today however after about 5-10 mins someone answered, I wanted to find out about enrolling for swimming classes and was told you can only do it on Monday and there is only one class which is on weds. I was so shocked I managed to speak to someone I forgot to ask what I actually needed to enrol, but just couldn't be bothered to ring again and face the automated service waiting for someone to reply. I'll just turn up and hope for the best. Terrible isn't it to feel so desperate!

It is really sad to hear this, I wish him a speedy recovery. Whilst accidents can happen,I think we need to indeed do more to teach about road safety. I was hit by a car when I was 11 running for a bus after school and recall how it took me a good while to gain confidence again to cross a road by myself,I was so lucky I didn't get hurt. My kids are primary school age and we try to teach them to cross the road safely when we go out,stop look listen, not running around outside near traffic and use crossings to cross safely rather than shortcuts. I recall a friend saying that in Germany he was astounded to see that even when the roads are empty people still wait for lights to change before crossing the road. I know at school they do cover road safety as a topic but not enough I think. Not sure what they do in Secondary school and I think statistically teenagers are the most likely to get hit by a car I heard so surely that should encourage more to be done to target that age group as well on road safety. Hope they do put a crossing in that area though, relying on data on reported incidents as an incentive to do something doesn't sound right.

Hellosailor, I was going to tag onto the other thread and you nipped to post...so sharing all your thoughts, my babe is 19mths and has been bf, I introduced milk and other drinks along with food. It started with formula then onto cows milk, but I've always worried she never really drinks that much, not a pint a day as recommended by HV. However she is still bf in evenings a lot when I return from work (another story), eats loads and appears v.healthy and happy so not forced issue too much about milk. I try cheese with her, not keen, yoghurt is better and butter hidden in other foods. She has milk with cereal and light tea/hot chocolate...so I suppose she is getting enough calcium

I think the nursery has cctv but not sure how far that covers, certainly Sainsbury's need to consider security measures a bit more extensively.

Just a thought sorry if this is silly question but is it likely to be my email or her email account, not received any more such emails but quite often get silly stuff like inviting me to participate in business venture in Venezuela or similar, which goes into junk folder which I just ignore.

At first because of the nature of what happened to the company that owned the nursery we thought it was the owner trying her luck to contact anyone she could to get money but then we started thinking whether she actually knew anything about this at all, either way a scam is a scam I suppose, thanks for our replies

Hi just wondering if anyone has experienced this or indeed received this email. It's from someone who was the owner of a local nursery in upland road, which went bankrupt in 2008 I believe and our child went there. My email was on their mailing list at one point I guess, but today I received a strange email stating that the person, one of the co-owners was mugged in Spain and had everything taken so she wanted us to send over some money to assist her to return home. I've not responded but wondered if it was really from her or someone who's hacked into her email account? Would be interested to find out if anyone else whose children were there or on their mailing list got this email sent to them?

Ohh forgot to add that Madmi give free nursing bracelets (i.e to remind you which boob to feed from next in case you forget) with the necklaces too so don't forget to request one with your order

I never thought to use these necklaces for DS1 and 2 and they never really developed any hair pulling or scratching behaviour, but DD just loves doing it and it gets quite painful. The necklace is helpful but she still prefers my hair to it anyday! (so going bald as a result not great when I'm already experiencing the hormonal post natal hair loss as it is). Think it's to do with physical exploration combined with irritated teething and excitement, hopefully it will peak and end at some point, perhaps when some of her teeth come through (9 months and nothing so far).

Hi, I ordered my necklace from http://www.madnmi.co.uk/ also has site on ebay. Loads of styles to choose from and you get bells and customised name free, all for about ?10, really lovely

I definitely recommend mattressonline website, we ordered a mattress for baby no.3 and she slept so well on it from the 1st night onwards, spring mattress with microclimate cover which is washable and free removable/adjustable mattress protector cover (wish my bed was as nice!). Much better than foam mattress I got from Mothercare for DS1, which turned out to be quite noisy (from shifting around on the waterproof cover when sleeping)and uncomfortable after a year of sleeping on it. Also echo what others say about paying for a decent quality mattress

hi mumtobe88 I've just pm'd you

I agree with what lorraineliyanage said, as the nursery is part of the Bright Horizon's groups there's less chances of the problems experienced at Bojangles. My eldest went to Bojangles so I can see the difference! Shelley seems to be settling in well and standards appear to be well maintained. She would be supported by Linda and Sarah who are the area managers. Obviously she would not be as experienced as Linda or Sarah but it will take time for her to take on board her role. She only started a few months ago. Staff movements are inevitable in the nursery/care industry and I think you'll find that in many places pay is not always great, so especially for younger staff members they will leave when greater career opportunities arise or if they go onto further education. Although the changes may concern me at times, my son who is there (he's 2 and in the Main room) is unphased by it. He is flourishing, loves the staff and friends, eats well, learns loads and is cared for really well by the staff who are really helpful and kind.

Dps, if you paid by visa debit card you may be able to get money back under s.75 rule, where your bank approaches their bank directly to get money. I used my visa debit card earlier in the year to order a tv online, the company went into liquidation and I waited a few months but Barclays was able to get my money back. However it's better to use credit card these days than debit card especially when paying large amounts. At the time I was told by the adminstrators and trading standards that I stood no chance of getting anything back but luckily Barclays proved them wrong. Its not worth going to court individually I think, when I checked it out at the time it was costly and no guarantee that the other party would turn up. However you might be able to gain some headway by taking legal action as a group. It is a sad situation to be in at the moment I can sympathise with all of the parents involved.

I must say that I've not had any good experiences with Lib/Dem councillors. I contacted Mr Barber and Mr Thomas over two issues on the past, neither replied nor even bothered to acknowledge my emails (could even set an autoreply wouldn't hurt!). I'm bit loathe to say this as both me and my family have been staunch labour supporters, but Kim Humphreys (Tory Councillor) has been more helpful than any of them certainly in the Dulwich area.

Ludoscotts, we got doodles from Clarks in Peckham (a few doors away from Primark), there were loads last time we were there, I think we paid about ?12 for my son's ones. He's given them a good bashing, we've put them in the washing machine twice and they're still going strong! Give it a try (cheaper than ordering from website)

This was bound to happen at some stage. Husband was on way out and saw one of the 12 bendy buses crashed into a parked vehicle on etherow street whilst it was trying to turn round the corner. Police already at scene of accident but no one thought of diverting the top of Friern road, Lordship Lane. End result...road block! Don't think anyone was in the car but it's pushed up onto the pavement.

Hi, my son used to be at Bojangles, left last November. We were never that happy with Bojangles especially the way it was run and how they dealt with situations but kept our son there as he seemed to enjoy it and made friends. To be honest when I heard about the problems it didn't suprise me at all. Myself and other parents experienced many problems over the years with them. Often invoicing problems were blamed on Southwark not working out the MFE properly, delays due to finance software problems. When we gave them notice that my son was leaving they did not return our deposit and it took over 2 months or so to get it back (which I later heard was also what other parents experienced). In the end my husband had to go down to the nursery several times (even then the directors were giving excuses for delays and blaming each other!). He had to literally demand for the deposit back. I later emailed one of the parents reps and raised concerns that there may be financial problems with Bojangles given what had happened, and asked for her to fore warn the other parents this may happen to them too. So really it seems like the meltdown was happening a long time before it was announced and they were obviously trying to hide the problems (as with other companies under the same circumstances would). I feel sorry for you all, and I know it's not much help knowing this. Looking back I should have moved my son a long time ago and if faced with the current set of circumstances I would be very hesitant to return to the nursery even if they changed the company name.

Hi, my son's been there 3 days a week since beginning of June, they were really flexible even though he was not 2 yet and the vacancy was in the toddler section they were willing to accommodate. I was little concerned too about management and staff leaving. But I heard staff were redeployed, also the one's I met had been there for about two years or more. The manager was on maternity leave (her own elder daughter used to go to the nursery) and they had a lovely manager covering temporarily. Due to wanting to go part time and child care she decided to not return and they are now looking to recruit someone permanent. But the area managers of Bright horizons have been doing a fantastic job in filling in. We get invoiced regularly, get daily feedback sheets, my son has really flourished since being there. The room is great size and activities are well organised, the staff really care and his keyworker (also the room leader) is very attentive. He's really flourished and enjoys it a lot there. We get emailed weekly memos which helps give us a picture of what's going on and activities for the children the following week, so we can get prepared. They were also holding monthly parent partnership meetings which were good forums to raise general issues and meet other parents. I really would recommend give them a try. We had a terrible time with Bojangles where my older child was and found the place caotic, unorganised, and never got invoiced correctly. Staff are much more focussed at Dulwich Nursery and the standards are significantly higher than that and a few other nurseries in the area. But that's my own personal experience