On the 21^st July at 7:20pm the first guests at the Crawley NCT (National Childbirth Trust) event ‘The Do!’ began to queue outside Club 7878 in Horley.  They had been told that the first 50 guests through the door at 8pm would receive a gorgeous goodie bag (some of the details of which had been posted on the events Facebook page over the last few weeks).  The first people admitted were greeted by the branch co-chairs – Alexis Ozmen and Clare Hoggan who presented them with their much anticipated bags.  The club was decked out in balloons in NCT colours, there were cupcakes and nibbles for all to enjoy as they dipped into their goodie bags to discover the treats within and sipped their first drink.  They were also treated to some close up magic by magicians Rob Sharp and Simon Archer.

While the DJ played some excellent party tunes, the guests continued to arrive before they were welcomed by the Co-Chairs, followed by an address  by Member of Parliament for Crawley Henry Smith who shared his experience with the NCT having attended Ante Natal Classes in the Branch.  After the final speaker Jules Jones who spoke about being a parent and volunteering with the NCT Henry Smith pulled the first 3 prizes in the fabulous prize draw then the lights were dimmed and the music cranked up and everyone concentrated on enjoying themselves.

MP Henry Smith helps pick the lucky winners of the raffle

The NCT is the UK’s largest parenting charity providing support in pregnancy with our excellent antenatal classes, supporting post-natally with breastfeeding support and early years classes all held locally within branches.  Crawley branch have a weekly drop in – Bumps, Babes and Tiddlypeeps (Held on a Tuesday morning at Furnace Green Community Centre, Ashburnham Drive 10– 11:30am – everyone is welcome for a suggested donation of £1 to assist with hire costs) and hold Nearly New Sales twice yearly (in March and November) where anyone can buy and sell good quality pregnancy, baby and child related items.  As well as these regular events there are also ad hoc social events for parents and their children (for example a Teddy Bears picnic and Christmas party as well as coffee mornings and soft play gatherings) and evening events for the hard working parents such as pamper evenings and fashion shows.

The night was danced away

In order to put on all these great events the branch is in need of volunteers.  Volunteering is great fun and does not need to be time consuming – there are roles to suit everyone, committee posts which are a regular role as well as the smaller one off things like hosting a social event (large or small) and helping out at our nearly new sales.  Whatever role a person takes on they can rely on the fact that they will be part of a fantastic team, have great fun meeting new people and will receive full support in their role.  To find out more about the branch visit the facebook page by clicking here,  email the chairs chair@nctcrawley.org.uk or call our branch enquiries line 08442436098.

Shelley interview Clare Hoggan & Alexis Ozmen

‘The Do!’ is the first event of its kind and was an enormous success.  Its purpose was to thank all the volunteers of the branch past, present and future and everyone enjoyed themselves, lots of guests won prizes in the draw which were all donated by local businesses and the goodie bags were very well received.  Alexis and Clare would like to thank Ian Metcalfe of Club 7878 (and Bar 429) for the use of the venue which was perfect, Sabine Edwards of Pendleton Events who donated her time and ensured the event ran smoothly, all the donors to the prize draw and goodie bags, Rob and Simon for wowing people with card tricks and the sponsors of the cupcakes and nibbles.

A great night was had by all and everyone is now crying out for more!

Source: Clare Hoggan, Crawley NCT Branch Co-Chair

We would like to thank Sabina and Clare for the great hospitality and the invite to this fab event