mothergoose

Hi Celia I'll look into that for you. Glad you liked the look of it!

A couple of local dads are launching a new food service delivering freshly prepared healthy dinners which you just need to finish off in under 10 minutes. 11 years ago my husband co-founded www.chopd.co.uk, London's leading salad bar chain. This year he co-founded www.tritto.com delivering delicious meals to your door. Trite is currently piloting in the wider East Dulwich area. Do please join the pilot to try a free sample meal and to give much appreciated feedback. Register at www.tritto.com. Thanks!

Thanks Hex. I remember it was really worth while, and I'm so glad it is still running. The woods are magical. On another note I remember skiing down Cox's Walk as a kid!

I remember going to a few lovely Thursday morning sessions a few years back when a group of mums would meet up with their pre schoolers/home schooled children who would then have great fun in the woods rooting around and getting mucky. Is this group still running? I would love details for a friend of mine as my kids are all at school. Thanks

Well it isn't in East Dulwich, but it has been set up by an East Dulwich emigre (me) and Penge is only down the road and on the 176! Peckham's finest Electric Pedals and Friends of Penge Green are putting on a free screening of Ghostbusters at 6.30 in Penge Recreation Ground, off Penge High Street SE20 8HU. Local gourmet burgers, pumpkin soup, fancy dress, pedal powered music from 5.30. Hope to see some of you there.

Glad to see there's some interest (Lizzichu) in Penge Rec. PM me once you are settled and I'll count you in. Good luck with it all!

Welcome Newcomers! I moved here from ED nearly 4 years ago. I'm still regularly back there but now only have one child left at school in ED as the others are all at local schools here. It really isn't very far away at least not in distance... The best forums are Virtual Norwood and Crystal Palace life which both have threads on Penge. http://www.virtualnorwood.com/forum/forum/1-news-and-local-issues/ http://www.crystalpalacelife.com/index.php/kunena/index (the local chat one has a specific Penge section) If you are wanting to be involved in something local, I'm about to start up a Friends of Penge Rec group with the help of Penge Parks. It is a great space just off the high street used by lots of children but could do with a little TLC. My first mission is to rename it. Penge Rec hardly sounds enticing even on a sunny day! Penge Greene seemed to go down well at the Penge Parks meeting on Monday so it should be possible. Penge needs a few more brave traders. It was great that the Blue Mountain Caf? opened up, and hopefully more businesses will follow. Although the High Street is really useful there are quite a few empty units, and Maple Road is crying out for some independent shops. There is loads of potential here.

Help for not so aged parents please! Having grown up in East Dulwich as well as moved back to have a family, I personally think ED would be a great place to retire. Great shops and restaurants as well as a social life on tap as and the big bonus of having local family. Plus all the culture of the centre such a short journey away. My parents are recently retired and are wanting to downsize from their large ED house. But where to? Should they move out of London and release capital, if so where, or what about a retirement pied a terre locally? I am not much help on areas outside this part of SE London but it does seem as though you don't get a lot more for your money in reachable distance of London without compromising on location.

Hi I have water potentially backing up from what I think is a soakaway right by the back door. Can any body recommend someone who could stick a camera down and tell me what is going on? Thanks

I'm so impressed with the GP centres as the Beckenham Beacon. Having a GP 7 days a week makes such a difference and I've found it so easy to get appointments. The receptionists are always helpful too. It is a much better system than the one I had in ED. I also find blood tests/x rays etc in situ so much easier than queueing forever at Kings. Having said that in a real emergency I'd probably drive back to Kings as the A&E at Farnborough just seems scarily far. Beagle feel free to PM me for info on nurseries but if I were you I'd get you child registered asap to guarantee a place.

I haven't looked back either! As for preschools, my youngest is at Holy Trinity on Lennard Road which she absolutely loves. There is also Cator Park Montessori which is meant to be great too.

We moved from East Dulwich to Penge 2 years ago to get loads more space for our big family. It is not quite Beckenham but there is still the very reassuring 176 or 197 back to East Dulwich, as well as really good trains. We love it here and it is really good value although a little pride was swallowed it has to be said. I still favour ED over Beckenham any day for shops/restaurants etc but there is no denying that Beckenham has got great houses. We moved one child to Alexandra Junior School despite ropey SATS and Ofsted. It is a fabulous school with acres of grounds and music teaching and a really caring feel and my daughter has been making loads of progress. We still have a child in a very popular ED primary and will be moving him there hopefully. The infants is Outstanding but the catchment is shrinking alarmingly, so you would have to look at houses within 1/3rd of a mile to guarantee a place for reception. I think the Infants is technically in Beckenham whereas the Junior is Sydenham. I would love Langley for secondary schools but it is just too expensive. Where we are secondaries remain a gamble but not any more than East Dulwich. We are in the catchment for the Bromley grammars which would be a long shot, likewise Harris Crystal Palace. I'm still investigating...

am moving your way(ish) on Friday and would love to arrange a date to check out the park/one o'clock club next week. I've got a 4 year old boy, a 17 month year old girl as well as two others...

Still not sure how they work out admissions with a pan london catchment area when it is oversubscribed. Surely it will be extra hard for local kids to get into their improving neighbourhood school. I got so excited about the school, but by the time my 6 year old is doing secondary applications it might well be impossible!

My ones have had good experiences of language schools at Morley College, Southwark College (to get Cambridge first certificate or something), and Bromley Adult Education College which had more students from around the area. These colleges are much better value than the private schools and my au pairs have typically done two mornings of school a week.

We've had au pairs on and off for the last 6 years and on the whole have had a really positive experience. I'm definitely getting better at managing them as time goes by, and 'what I've learnt' has included: 1. be very specific about the hours they work/what you expect them to do 2. pay them to work a little longer than you actually need so that they don't get annoyed about being half an hour late every now and again. 3. be very honest with the job description: I always make clear that a fair amount of time is spent on donkey work like cleaning, tidying etc as well as playing with the kids 4. help them to get a social life when they arrive by introducing them to other local au pairs 5. correct their english lots! My au pairs always seem grateful as they are generally here to learn how to speak the language. I'm sure there's lots more I could add, but that's all I've time for now.

How funny. I used to do a bit of cleaning for Cinderella agency when I was on holiday from university decades ago. Didn't know it was still around! I have emailed the Finnish church to see what comes up, and will then try Gumtree. Thanks for ideas.

Does anyone have suggestions of the best way of getting an au pair QUICK?! Our lovely au pair is leaving in 4 weeks which is a bit of a surprise. I found her on 'au pair world' but to be honest it took absolutely ages to decide as there was way too much choice and I'm not sure I can face trawling through it again. Previous au pairs mostly were friends of aupairs which worked really well, but I am drawing a blank there as they are all a bit older now.

Has anyone noticed the Heber children heading off to swimming lessons at Alleyn's this week? Bet they are pleased to be able to use the facilities now that Alleyn's has broken up.