It began with a few new mums and their babies meeting up in the corner of a Lindley pub.
Today, just over two years later, Motherhub, as it is now known, is a fully-fledged organisation providing support – both on-line and face-to-face – for families with young children.
Its founder, Katy Livings, is so pleased with its success she has hopes that one day her brainchild will go national, with groups in other towns and cities.
The 34-year-old launched Motherhub after moving into the Nightingale pub on Acre Street with her fiance Chris Baird, who is the licensee.
“We came here when our daughter Molly was two weeks old,” said Katy, who is originally from Golcar. “I didn’t know anybody here and was feeling quite isolated so I suggested to a group of friends – from all over Huddersfield – that we could meet up in the pub for a chat.
“From that we thought ‘why not make it a weekly thing and advertise it in the pub’. We thought it would be good to get other mums and their children together.”
This small germ of an idea has now grown and up to 30 mums and their offspring meet regularly in a specially-renovated upstairs room at the pub. Motherhub hosts three sessions a week plus craft evenings and fundraising events. The organisation’s online community – www.motherhub.org.uk – numbers more than 500.
Katy believes the reason the group has reached so many so quickly is that it offers peer support on a wide range of parenting issues – from post-natal depression, of which she was a sufferer herself, to returning to work. Motherhub’s work has already been recognised with Lottery funding of £10,000, which was used to create and furnish the meeting room or ‘hub’.
“We realised early on that we all had some sort of issue and we could help each other,” said Katy. “I have suffered from depression since I was a teenager and it got much worse after I had Molly. There are members with financial issues and there’s the whole question of careers and business.
“We set up a Facebook group (search for the Huddersfield Motherhub Crew), which is private and on which you can ask questions. There is always somebody on there who you can ‘talk’ to, even if you are up in the middle of the night with a baby there will be another mum logged on and it can help to get you through a difficult night.”
She likens her organisation to the on-line community Mumsnet, which also grew from small beginnings, but says: “We also meet up in person.”
After giving birth to Molly, now two-and-a-half, Katy says she felt down and in need of support. It was also a frantically busy time as she and Chris renovated the pub themselves in a matter of weeks.
“I was struggling to breast feed and when I stopped I had a lot of guilt associated with that,” said Katy, who is a qualified nursery nurse. “I also found it hard to bond with Molly. Meeting other mums going through the same experiences helped me massively. Having these friendships has been very important.”
Alicia Rome, a supply teaching assistant from Lindley, who has a 13-month-old son Joshua, joined the group when she was still pregnant. “I wanted to meet new mums and wasn’t sure how to do it. I had no friends with babies,” she said. Membership of the group also helped her through the tragic loss of her mum last year. “It was a very difficult time but I have had a lot of support. I don’t know how I would have coped without it.”
Lou Cain, from Marsh, a full-time mum of twins Quila and Koyah, 21 months, says socialising with other mums helps her to “find out what’s normal and what’s not,” a common feeling among the members.
“It’s also support for the insanity that is parenthood!” she added.
Canadian-born Josee Dyer, from Crosland Moor, found out about Motherhub when she saw a leaflet advertising the group.
“I don’t have any family or friends here and didn’t know any other mothers so I came to a ‘mums and bumps’ meeting here while I was pregnant,” she said. Her daughter Olivia is now 17 weeks old.
“It’s good to have other mums to talk to because I get a bit lonely. I have found the online forum quite helpful as I’m on maternity leave and planning to go back to my job as a customer service advisor and there’s a thread about childcare and nurseries,” added Josee.
Single mum Leia Watson, from Mirfield, has also found Motherhub to be a useful resource. “I have never encountered benefits before,” she said. “And I hadn’t got a clue about what help I could get. But there are people online from every kind of background and you can find out everything you need to know.”
Leia, whose son Oscar is now 10 months old, plans to return to work as a drug worker in a rehabilitation centre.
She added: “I come from Cambridgeshire so I have no family here but a friend told me about Motherhub when I was pregnant. I also like the fact that it has craft groups because I’m a keen knitter.”
Motherhub has members aged between 17 and 40 plus and from all walks of life. It meets on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and sessions are open to all mums.
Mumsnet, the internet organisation founded over a decade ago, claims to be the country’s highest profile online voice for women. It provides forums on women’s issues, relationships, fashion, childbearing and child rearing as well as campaigning on everything from improved care for bereaved mothers to the way the media portray women.
It attracts 25,000 postings and a million hits a day.One of its original founders, Justine Roberts, now its chairman, started the business in a spare bedroom with a group of friends. Her inspiration was dissatisfaction over a ‘family-friendly’ holiday with her twins that turned out to be anything but family-friendly.
Mumsnet is now a force to be reckoned with and even politicians sit up and take notice when it speaks out.
