Matthew Gee
Oxford Meeting’s new drop-in group for babies and toddlers, and their parents, grandparents or carers, was launched on 17 January. This is planned to be a regular, weekly group every Tuesday from 10:00-12:00. It is similar to the successful Quaker parent and baby group that ran from 2018 to 2020, but this time it is also being advertised to people in the local community who might otherwise not have any other connection with Quakers. It is hoped that Tea Cake and Play will provide:
Inreach: New parents in our meeting, who may have a change in their pastoral care needs following becoming a parent, may appreciate the peer support and new connections that this group might bring. It can sometimes be difficult to attend meeting regularly as a new parent, and this group will help parents of small children to keep in touch and feel part of the meeting’s community.
Outreach: Other parents in our local community, who will hopefully experience the meeting as being welcoming to children and families and may engage a different group of people from those whom other outreach activities we offer might interest.
Service: Significant funding cuts meant Oxfordshire County Council closed their Children’s Centres in 2017, and the disruption of COVID has led to some other long-standing low-cost baby and toddler groups in Oxford closing. A free, inclusive space for parents and their children to meet, play and get mutual support is a vital resource for a diverse group of families across the city.
If you would be able to volunteer to help with Tea, Cake and Play — whether by chatting, playing, or providing a welcoming presence; setting up or clearing away; baking a cake; or helping in some other way, please get in touch with Julia Dover (JuliaD@quaker.org.uk).
Volunteers who work directly with children will need to have a DBS check and references, which is a straightforward process that we can facilitate.
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 526 • February 2023
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
Copyright 2023, Oxford Quakers