We feel that parents, especially parents of newborns and toddlers, really gain from socialising with other recent parents, because parenthood can be mentally exhausting.Young children also gain from socialising, albeit often via ‘parallel play’.

We are therefore proposing that we don’t run Sunbeams exactly as it was. However, we are proposing that we do run a version of Sunbeams this autumn. This is where we would really appreciate your feedback.

Our proposal is that each week, people are pre-booked for Sunbeams, i.e. carer plus child/ children. There would be a maximum for this, possibly those coming six households; typically about six adults and ten children.

We then wouldn’t require 2 metres social distancing within the hall. So while we would discourage shaking hands/ dangling other people’s babies on your knee etc., we wouldn’t expect your children to stay 2 metres apart from each other, and we wouldn’t require 2 metres distancing between each adult. We would consider also offering refreshments. There wouldn’t be singing, but there could be lots of other playing.

There might be two or three bubbles going and your bubble might only meet once every two or three weeks. So while a version of Sunbeams would run each week, you might only get to come once every three weeks. Unfortunately, while we have hitherto been able to welcome people ‘on the day’, we would have to turn aside newcomers until a new term or until a new bubble can be developed.

This is where we would really appreciate your feedback.

At its simplest, is this the sort of thing you would value and would like to be part of?

Beyond that, how could we improve the idea or should we consider doing something completely different?

Please email [email protected] with your feedback on this proposal for Sunbeams meeting at St Mark's Hall.  

lots of love The Sunbeams Team