The TPPSG was set up in 1978/79 by a small group of Tufnell Park mothers who found there was
little to do locally with their small children. It is now made up of around 400 local families.
The majority are in Tufnell Park, but members come from Whitehall Park in the north down to
the bottom of Kentish Town; from Dartmouth Park in the west over
to Hornsey Road in the east.
We welcome families from all social, religious and
ethnic backgrounds.
Our aim is to provide friendship and support to parents – when you have a baby it
becomes essential to have local friends within pram-pushing distance. We also aim to keep members
informed about about new developments and what's available in our area. We keep an eye on our environment and do
our best to influence decisions that
affect us.
We attract membership mainly from families with children under five, though people often
remain members after their children have started school and no longer go to the Tuesday and
Friday morning tea and play sessions because the TPPSG keeps people plugged into the neighbourhood.
The membership includes people with expertise and knowledge in almost everything (lawyers,
tree surgeons, internet experts, exercise teachers...), enabling members to appeal for
help and advice from within the group.
Our chief activities centre on tea mornings held in members' homes twice a week. Usually about 4-6 people
and their child(ren) will attend. People often go regularly and friendships lasting many years
are often forged at these events. We also hold summer and Christmas parties, with entertainers
for the children and communal buffet tables of contributions made by those attending.
Four newsletters are published every year, to which TPPSG members are invited to contribute.
The newsletter always has a wide range of interesting articles as well as useful information –
the trades list is where members find reliable 'people-who-do' recommended by other members
from whom they can get a reference; a register of members offering their skills and services;
a list of recommended babysitters; a Monday-Friday diary of regular drop-in groups
and classes for little children.
The fortnightly group email is for more immediate information. It is where everything
is bought, sold and traded, with baby and child kit rehomed in a flash. This is also
how members find others living nearby with whom to share child-care arrangements, or can
post a child care wanted notice. Domestic help is offered by members' cleaners and au-pairs
with time to spare and requested by those needing it.
The maternity clothes bank is unique to the TPPSG. No money changes hands. We have an
astoundingly enormous collection of clothes donated by members never wanting to use them
again, available to borrow for as long as others need them – after which they return them.
From posh Formes trousers to useful plain T-shirts. It has saved thousands of pounds.
All this for £10 a year.
All positions in the organization are voluntary and carried out by TPPSG members who offer their services alongside
parenting and working full or part time. Below is an alphabetical list of the most obvious roles but there are also highly
valued contributions from others (for example, the newsletter delivery "fairies", and helpers
at specific events), so if these include you, please consider yourself much appreciated too!
Advertising – Judy Smith
Babysitter list – Martha Finlay
Co-chairs – Lucy Baron Thomson and Becky Wright
Distribution – Clare Devane, Aliette Fenton-Sharp, Tamsin and Miles Ogilvie
Group Emails – Rebecca Morgan
Membership Database & Maternity Clothes Bank – Amy Silverston
Newsletter Editor – Lucy Bridgers
Tea List & Website – Jojo Mehta
Treasurer – Madeline Moncrieff
What's On – Katie Skea
tppsg
About TPPSG