A NEW club just for mums has launched in Basingstoke offering social events that puts mums first.
The nationwide company The Mum Club has been set up in the town by Hannah Chow, who has already held several popular events.
Mum-of-two Hannah, from Bramley, decided to take on the franchise this year after moving to the area from Bristol in 2018, a year before her first child was born.
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She said: “Most baby groups are all about the babies but The Mum Club is about the mums. If you want to bring your baby you can, but you’re not obligated to.
“I moved here from Bristol and after having my first baby I found it so hard to make mum friends, and then we had Covid.
"You go to these baby groups but you can’t have a chat when you’re doing baby massage, and while you do meet other mums, the whole point is you’re doing something with the baby. Whereas with The Mum Club, you meet other mums, have some nice food and a chat.”
The 31-year-old, who used to work for Vodafone, said the Basingstoke events have so far proved popular, adding: “Basingstoke needed it. Basingstoke misses out on a lot because things are either in Reading or further up the motorway, but there are a lot of mums here.”
So far, Hannah has held events at Cote in Festival Place and Indigo Bakes in the Courtyard in Lychpit, with further events planned for The Gabardine Bar and Willow’s Coffee House, both in the town centre.
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Events are organised as either a brunch, held once a month, or coffee club.
“You pre-order your brunch and come along and the mums are given a goody bag with Mum Club merchandise,” explained Hannah.
“It’s a treat. It’s not every week. I don’t have any family near me so mum friends are really important and it’s something I would have liked to have done when mine were a baby.”
The Mum Club was founded by Lauren Webber and Jessica Lawes who wanted to create events for mums to socialise with each other.
Lauren said: “Good mum friends are essential when you have a baby, but sometimes it’s hard to find them.
"The reason we created The Mum Club was that after we had children, we’d go to baby classes, and while they were entertaining for the children, we’d leave having spoken to no one and feeling emptier in a way.
"This experience drove us to create The Mum Club because we didn’t want anyone to ever feel like that.”
For more information follow themumclubbasingstoke or visit themumclub.com/events.
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