The National Trust

In Poland outdoor pursuits are held in high esteem; camping, hiking and nature watching in particular. The best way to enjoy these pursuits if you have a young family and live in the North East, I am finding, is to join the National Trust.   

The National Trust is a UK conservation charity which was founded in 1895. It aims to protect the nation's heritage and open spaces. It protects historic buildings, gardens, parts of the coastline, farmland, woodland, archaeological remains, nature reserves and villages of historical significance and much more. The charity’s main concerns are about the environment, food, farming, transport and heritage.

Family membership to the National Trust gives you unlimited free access to 300 historic houses and gardens, and countryside and coastline spaces.  National Trust owned estates in the North East include Gibside, Wallington, Seaton Delaval Hall and Cragside. All have fantastic play facilities for children, with large playgrounds and lots of open space for running!  Gibside has the famous ‘Strawberry Castle’ children’s space: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/home/view-page/item405111/248903/  - which is surrounded by fields and trees, and Wallington has a large playground in the woods: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington/things-to-see-and-do/for-families/ - which includes dens built from branches. Fantastic!

Also, membership to the National Trust allows you to park in any National Trust car park for free, and if you like visiting the Lake District this comes in very handy- lots of National Trust car parks there.

Family membership currently starts at £70 a year so to make it value for money go to a National Trust property (or playground! ) at least once a week. Most of the properties are well connected by public transport but check timetables especially for Sunday services which often see buses run infrequently.   

This weekend Gibside and Wallington are hosting various Jubilee related events, with lots of free activities for all the family.

For more information about the National Trust go to: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Polish Chocolate in the Newcastle

I love all chocolate, especially Polish chocolate and especially the famous Nestle Princessa bar (which is much like the Nestle Kit Kat).I usually find one of these in the bottom of my stocking at Christmas as they’re truly my favourite.  I recently heard for a friend that you can buy Polish chocolate in the Grainger Market (though have never seen it sold there myself). Meantime, if you are looking to source a good Polish chocolate bar in the North East try our local Polish shops, Małgosia’s and Groszek for example; they seem to have a good supply of Princessa: Polish Shops in the North East Link

And for those interested in learning how to appreciate a little Polish chocolate, I recommend this very enthusiast little You Tube exert: You Tube Polish Chocolate Sketch

Websites to inspire creativity

If you fancy doing some creative activities with the kids this Easter, here are two excellent websites which will help you get some ideas:

The Imagination Tree: Creative play and learning in the early years http://www.theimaginationtree.com/

Kids Activities Blog: Quirky mums kids activities blog
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/

And check out the latest edition of 2B magazine:
http://issuu.com/magazyn2b/docs/2b56

Or follow 2B magazine on Twitter: @2BNorthEast

Family Friendly Swimming in the North East

Swimming makes a fantastic family activity and here in the North East of England there are many incentives to help families swim for free, if not, for a very low cost.

If you live on the Newcastle side of the river, make sure you get a Fusion Card: http://www.activenewcastle.co.uk/fusion-scheme/ to take advantage of discounted swims.

If you’re living in or around Gateshead, get the Active Card: http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/sports1/prices/activecard.aspx
for cheap family swims.

For those serious about their swimming, Swim North East is a listing site about all swim related fixtures in the North East of England, including information about awards and coaching children:
http://www.swimnortheast.org.uk/

Here are some swimming pools I would recommend for family friendly swimming in this region:

Gateshead Swimming Pool, Bensham
http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/sports1/facilities/GLC/home.aspx
The facilities include three pools, including the 25m main pool, a sauna and a steam room. Children seem very welcome at the pool and staff kindly open the small pool for little swimmers, even when it’s very quiet.

Gosforth Swimming Pool, Gosforth
http://www.activenewcastle.co.uk/venue-results/view/gosforth-pool/
Two large pools, including warm children’s pool with inflatable session on Saturdays. Despite a recent overhaul the changing facilities are still a bit basic.

The Lakeside Leisure Centre, Killingworth
http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse.shtml?p_subjectCategory=1224
Which includes a good 25 metre pool with 6 lanes. The water is chlorine-free and ozone sanitized. There is also a 13m x 7m, 30ºC learner pool.

Research Findings: Identity in Newcastle

Here's an Imap view of my image based research findings.
The project sought to locate expressions of identity in Newcastle city centre.
I hope you find it interesting,
Rachel

British children’s books, Polish illustrator: Pieńkowski

The bestselling Meg and Mog stories, first published in the 1970s and still a mainstay of British children’s literature today, were illustrated by Polish born Jan Pieńkowski. Pieńkowski came to live the UK in 1946 settling in Herefordshire. Design appears to have been in Pieńkowski’s blood as he comes from a family of artists and architects, and he showed a talent for poster and stage design when reading Classics and English at Cambridge. This inspirational Polish migrant helped pioneer the modern children’s pop-up book and will be remembered for his cult illustrations in the fantastically titled classic Meg’s Eggs (witches and dinosaurs, what more can a child want?!). I enjoyed Pieńkowski’s fabulous stories as a child and my son now reads them again, and again and again today. To find out more about Pieńkowski’s work visit the Jan Pieńkowski website: http://www.janpienkowski.com/home.htm where you can download a selection of his books and play some Meg and Mog themed games.

Classes for babies and young children

In the UK you can expect to find classes or groups for parents and carers of babies and young children taking place on most days of the week in your local area. Such groups are usually hosted in church halls or at community centres. Here’s some ideas of classes you might try and that are popular in the UK; please note that these are just the big franchise companies of the baby and children’s activities world, you’ll find details about groups more specific to your area in your nearest supermarket (on the community notice boards), from your local SureStart centre (they’ll give you a leaflet about what’s on near you) or at the Netmums North East website: http://www.netmums.com/home/global-homepage-map-page-1/netmums-in-the-north-east

Baby Massage Classes:
International Association for infant Massage:
http://www.iaimbabymassage.co.uk/baby-massage-classes.html

Music groups and classes:
Jo Jingles: http://www.jojingles.com/
Music Bugs: http://www.musicbugs.co.uk/
Piccolo Music: http://www.piccolomusic.co.uk/

Dance, Gym and Movement classes:
Tumble Tots: http://www.tumbletots.co.uk/
Jittabugs: http://www.jittabugs.com/

Sensory Groups and Classes:
Baby Sensory: http://www.babysensory.com/
Messy Monkeys (this is specific to the North East):
http://messy-monkeys.com/

Sports Classes:
Little Kickers (football): http://www.littlekickers.co.uk/

Baby and Toddler signing classes:
Tiny Talk: http://www.tinytalk.co.uk/
Sing and Sign: http://www.singandsign.com/

Swimming classes:
Water Babies: http://www.waterbabies.co.uk/
Puddle Ducks: http://www.puddleducks.com/

Let me know what sort of groups and classes you might expect to find in Poland by posting a comment or emailing me at the usual address, Thanks! Rachel

https://twitter.com/PolishNewcastle

It’s bitter at the Baltic

I was down on the Quayside last week, taking a trip to see the Turner prize hosted at the Baltic Art Gallery and it was freezing by the river! We had both children wrapped up in hats and gloves and winter coats despite their protests. This made me remember one of my interviews with a Polish mum; she had been astounded at how local children are dressed in the cold weather here. I think the cold weather does take us by surprise in the UK, and we’re not as prepared as Poles for subzero temperatures, as was the case last year.

As a mum I’ve actually found it really hard to find good winter clothing in Newcastle for my boys. After a lot of looking I managed to find pram suits (for babies) (kombinezon zimowy) in Mothercare and John Lewis this year, but they weren’t really up to much against the Geordie chill. For older children thick duffle coats (budrysówka) could be found in Marks and Spencer and Next, and there were some bright raincoats (płaszcz przeciwdeszczowy) in Primark and H & M.

In the end I gave up looking on the highstreet and found this website: (Little Trekkers) http://www.littletrekkers.co.uk/ who sell expensive but high quality winter outdoor wear for children (na przykład kombinezon narciarski, odzież nieprzemakalna i odzież termoaktywna). I’ve found their delivery to be excellent, and the brands Columbia and Spotty Otter (pram suits and all-in-one snowsuits for toddlers) to be especially good. Like I say, they are quite expensive so try looking on Ebay for second hand versions of these brands first.

https://twitter.com/PolishNewcastle

Letters to Santa

For free personalised letters from Santa (listy do Świętego Mikołaja) I can thoroughly recommend using the Royal Mail’s ‘letters to Santa’ service. My little boy received his response from Santa today and was thrilled that it mentioned him by name.
Just get your child to write a letter (which should include your home address and the child’s name) and put it in an envelope with a second or first class stamp attached to it. The envelope should be addressed:

Święty Mikołaj
(aka Father Christmas)

Santa’s Grotto,

Reindeerland,

SAN TA1

For more details go to: http://www.royalmail.com/letters-to-santa

My second recommendation is for the website Portable North Pole TV (go to: http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home) where you can get a free personalised video message from Santa sent to your inbox. Just follow the simple guidelines selecting who the message is intended for and suggesting a few photos and ideas Santa might like to use in his message.

Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego

Rachel X

Popular Polish / English Baby Names

While trying to decide on baby names for my forthcoming arrival and I came across this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_given_names

According to the list these were the most popular boy names given in the UK and Poland in 2010:

Most popular boys names in the UK 2010

Oliver
Jack
Harry
Charlie
Alfie
Thomas
Joshua
William
Daniel
James

Most popular boys names in Poland 2010
Jakub
Szymon
Kacper
Filip
Michał
Mateusz
Bartosz
Wojciech
Adam
Wiktor


Most popular girls names in the UK 2010
Olivia
Sophie
Lily
Emily
Ruby
Jessica
Chloe
Ava
Grace
Amelia

Most popular girls names in Poland 2010
Julia
Maja
Zuzanna
Lena
Wiktoria
Amelia
Oliwia
Aleksandra
Natalia
Zofia

Names I especially like which work well in both Polish and English (names which retain the same spelling and where pronunciation differs only slightly) include:

Boys: Albert, Bernard, Edward, Edmund, Gabriel and Sebastian
Girls: Barbara, Isabella, Joanna, Julia, Pauline and Sabina

At the moment frontrunners for me are Otto (if my baby is a boy) and Klementyna (Clementine) (if the baby is a girl).