Childcare

Health & Wellbeing Welcome to LaLa’s House with Lara Chaplin, Children’s Behaviour and Sleep Coach.

Happy New Year. 2021 brings with it some more difficulties but with promise of a return to some form of normality come Summer. Lockdown brings with it so many challenges. Home schooling, Working from Home, maintaining your home, keeping in touch with Friends and Family, getting enough exercise, getting enough sleep! We are all trying to do it all, with little relief. As human beings we have 3 fundamental needs Food, Water & Sleep! Our amazing supermarket key workers have your food needs sorted, whilst our Thames Water Keyworker are keeping our water supplies flowing, let me help you with those sleep needs! To be able to function at our best we need a certain amount of sleep. The total amount of hours we need in a 24hr period reduces as we age, but without that bare minimum we are all like bears with sore heads! Having children in the house shouldn’t mean that sleep is a thing of the past. I hear so often that ‘being tired is just part of being a parent’ or ‘they are children! Of course they don’t sleep!’ BUT! they are children, this means they sleep more, not less! Witch craft?? Far from it! When we understand the need for sleep and how our children need to spread it out we are more able to get the amount of sleep we need too! Our sleep needs go from Babies needing a minimum of 14hrs to our toddlers ranging from 11 - 14 hours in a 24 hour period. How your child spreads that in the day is really down to your lifestyle, but mostly their needs. There is a really bad rep associated with “Sleep Training”. It is expected that you are asked to leave our children to cry for hours without any interaction until they “just give up on you coming back” This is not sleep training! Sleep training is helping your child understand how to self settle, with your help and guidance. Sleep Training, is teaching your children the importance of sleep in enabling them to get the best out of their days, with your help and guidance. One of our biggest sleep regression triggers is change! Our children are going through so much change at the moment, so if you’re struggling with sleep this is likely why and you are unlikely to be alone! I want the very last thing you worry about to be sleep! Bedtime should be a calm time, a chance to really spend some time with your kids without fighting them, it is possible! I promise! With sleep we are calmer, more willing, gentle and less frustrated with our children and our children feel it too! Get in touch and I will make all your sleep worries disappear. Stay Home, Stay Safe! With much Love, Lara x

Lalas House - Childminder/Children’s Sleep and Behaviour Coach W: www.lalashouse.com | M: 07787 823768 Insta: @lalashousesleep | Facebook: Lala’s House

www.lalashouse.com 07787 823768

larachaplin1985@gmail.com

Sleep Training (the basics) Masterclass

4-day course - understand your child’s need for sleep and how they are able to achieve it! GET YOUR EVENINGS BACK!

Day 1: Why your child doesnt sleep Day 2: Regression: Why & How to manage it Day 3: Your child’s sleep needs Day 4: The benefits of routine & independence

Each participant to complete the course will receive 20% off my Bronze Package Sleep Training service and one lucky winner will receive 2 weeks free support. Course suitable for children 2 years and above

Soundof Music

Welcome to our February music page. Here you will find information on local musical events, upcoming concerts and where to find the best music tuition in the area. Thame has a variety of fantastic opportunities for budding musicians who wish to join together with other like-minded people. From bands to choirs to bell ringing! We also host a huge variety of annual musical events. We hope to bring you further information regarding the events which are able to go ahead this year very soon! Thame Music Academy Thame Music Academy pride themselves in offering professional, creative and fun tuition in a large variety of instruments for both children and adults alike! Based in the centre of Thame, in their purposebuilt teaching premises, they have 3 large professional and well equipped teaching rooms, a comfortable waiting area and the usual amenities. The Academy is within easy reach of the town centre with free parking directly across the road. You can find the academy at: 37 Upper High St, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 2DN. TMA provide lessons in; Guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Bass Guitar, Singing, Ukulele, Drums, Percussion, Strings, Woodwind and more! Their team of highly qualified tutors individual to ensure the best musical education is given to all. Alongside this the academy also run regular group sessions, ensembles, baby & toddler groups and holiday workshops and courses. With the local community at the very heart of the academy’s values, they are also heavily involved in numerous local events and endeavour to provide performance opportunities for their students on a regular basis. During the current lockdown TMA has temporarily closed its teaching premises due to government guidance, however they are providing online lessons in all of the instruments the offer and with all of their fantastic tutors! Please use the contact details at the end of this article for more information. Online Guitar Groups Sessions - Thame Music Academy will be providing online beginner guitar courses throughout the lockdown period (8 week course, 30 mins per week). There will be a children’s group and an adults group. This is a wonderful way of connecting and learning with like minded people. Please contact TMA for further details. Musical Mayhem - is an awardwinning live music experience giving babies and toddlers in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire a lively introduction to traditional, modern and original

children’s songs. The groups is now back for wonderful and creative online sessions! They are providing regular weekly musical sessions via their YouTube channel with a different theme every week! Children are encouraged to sing along at home and also use their own shakers, drums and percussion instruments whilst joining in! The online sessions are free of charge and a wonderful resource for budding young musicians. They are called Musical Mayhem for a reason - embracing the chaos that comes with little people! The children don’t have to sit still on your lap - let them wriggle, dance and express themselves and the session teachers do love a bit of cheeky heckling from the audience. The classes are suitable from birth up to school age and are highly interactive with colourful props, hand puppets, masks, scarves and parachute games to bring the songs to life. There is also a sprinkling of computer magic so make sure you look out for that! As well as stimulating the cognitive development of babies and young children, they aim to make Musical Mayhem a special, shared experience for you and your little ones that will inspire in them a lifelong love of music and give you many happy memories of singing together. For further information on current classes and to catch up on all of the recent online musical fun please search ‘Musical Mayhem’ on YouTube to find their channel.

Regular local live music? We are sure that 2021 will eventually bring back all the wonderful local and regular live music events which we all really enjoy, but in the meantime don’t forget these brilliant online sessions so you can get your musical fix..! The first Thursday Music Club Unfortunately at the current time there can be no live music events taking place within venues. However, the it is providing fantastic online live sets from some of the countries best musicians, whether local or from further afield! This totally free service can be found via the FTMC Facebook page where regular virtual events are added. Open Micsolate! - With all of us forced to socially distance ourselves from each other, and with possibly a little more time on our hands, a group of open mic fanatics wondered if any friends or friends several times removed might like to post a video of them having a bash at a song/ performance open mic style! Any style, any standard! Be brave! Feel free to invite anyone you think may enjoy or contribute. Kind comments only, if you hear anything you don’t like, skip on! All copyrights belong to original artists. The group started in March 2020 on Facebook and since then has grown to almost 6500 members with people from around the world sharing their musical talents. It has also given a chance for people to collaborate online and create some truly stunning music together! The group is a must for any performer who is missing their local music scene. It is all totally free of course and you can join them by searching ‘Open Micsolate’ via Facebook! They are also now running ‘Open Micsolate Live!’ once a month, this gives performers the opportunity to sign up for an online slot and perform live in the comfort of their own homes! Along with appreciating a whole array of fantastic artists at the same time.

This feature is brought to you by Simon Markland of Thame Music Academy Tel: 07743 032292 Email: info@thamemusicacademy.com Web page: www.thamemusicacademy.com

NEWS & EVENTS in our region

Hike for your hospice...

Three siblings are encouraging Buckinghamshire residents to join them in an 80-mile hike across the Chilterns to remember loved ones and raise much needed funds for Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity.

By walking from Swindon to Aylesbury, Adam Dalwood and his family will be taking literally thousands of steps to remember their father who died at Florence Nightingale Hospice in 2018. Adam, sisters Kelly and Hannah, and one of their partners David, will be undertaking the four-day guided hike along The Ridgeway, Britain’s oldest road, on behalf of the Hospice, where their father Robin was cared for before he passed away. Such was the compassion and care of hospice staff that the family are calling on fellow residents of the county to take part, whether that is to remember a loved one, raise much needed funds for a great cause, or just as a way to overcome the lockdown blues.

Robin spent his last two weeks at the Hospice and, thanks to the staff, he received an incredible level of care and compassion, even managing to marry his long-term partner. Robin and Kim Dalwood had been together for over 25 years but had just never gotten around to tying the knot. Adam said: “I think they just forgot to do so.” But after losing a battle against pancreatic cancer, nurses and staff at the Hospice helped organise the most important item on their bucket list. In a room bedecked with fairy lights and ornaments brought in from home by staff, Robin reaffirmed the love he had shared with his beloved Kim. “When my father was admitted to the Hospice, it was a shock and, at the time I was just so angry, as that was when we understood he was close to the end of his battle,” Adam explained. “However, I couldn’t be angry with the nurses, I will never forget what they did for my father. For the two weeks he was at the Hospice, they went beyond out of their way. We will be eternally grateful and taking part in the Ridgeway Hike is something positive to do to remember our dad and a small way to support the Hospice to provide such an amazing service to anyone who needs it.” Adam and his family are encouraging others to join the Florence Nightingale Hospice Ridgeway Hike on 3rd – 6th June 2021.

Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity has been badly affected by the pandemic and, with the announcement of further restrictions at the start of the year, has closed all its shops again and most fundraising activities have come to a halt. However, the Hospice is continuing to provide high quality end-of-life care and support to patients and their families, either in the In-Patient Unit or at home.

For more information about the Hike visit www.fnhospice.org.uk/ridgewayhike or email: fundraising@fnhospice.org.uk with any questions.

Starting now – a ten-year plan for a cleaner, greener Thame by 2030. Healthier lifestyles, more green spaces and more connected communities – these are just some of the outcomes that the Thame Green Living Plan is aiming to achieve for the Thame community.

Adopted unanimously by Thame Town Council in July 2020, the Green Living Plan is a ten-year plan for a cleaner, greener Thame. It has been developed to protect and enhance quality of life for everyone locally in the things that really matter – our air, our water, our overall wellbeing, and the natural world that surrounds us. It has benefited from the contributions of many individuals and local groups. While concentrating on Thame, the plan explicitly recognises the vital importance of the town’s links with its surrounding communities and countryside. Actions and projects The plan recommends a series of actions and projects across five focus areas – green spaces and biodiversity, clean air, water, energy and waste – that involve and benefit the whole community. The actions can be taken by individuals, businesses and community groups, plus longer-term infrastructure changes are included. And all with the support of a new community organisation, proposed to be called Thame Green Living (TGL). One of the projects that is already getting off the ground is working with Thame Town Council to improve signage and information boards on existing – and new – walking and cycling routes around the town and extending this more widely. Another project is how to help households improve their energy efficiency, including supporting a ‘Solar Streets’ project initiative in Thame – more news on this later in October.

Get Involved! Charles Boundy, who led the development of the plan through RSA Thame Group, is clear: “This plan is just the start. Without everyone in Thame getting involved, it will remain simply a set of ideas. But by working together we can make the changes we need. Whether you’re a resident, business, part of the council or community group, we’ve set out some easy steps that everyone can take straight away.” The first of those steps is to discover more, by reading the full Green Living Plan on the TGL website, and follow TGL on Facebook and Instagram. Charles continues: “Going forward, we have seen from other community schemes how local, personal and community efforts and success will inspire others to take action. People often respond to cues from others before they change their behaviour, and so we urge everyone to get involved!” Website: www.thamegreenliving.org.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThameGreenLiving Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thamegreenliving Contact: info@thamegreenliving.org.uk

Look locally over the garden gate with Lucie Giselle Ponsford

Hello February; cold and faithful as bulb tips muster on, determined winds blow and rains whip around our ears. Yet the prospect of Spring brings hope eternal! On quieter days where frost stills us, the winter scented plants have their moment and for those who see no rewards in venturing out of doors to your gardens in this season why not invest in a few of the best shrubs performing with beautiful bouquets.

I for one cannot resist: Sarcococca confusa, the Christmas Box dark evergreen leaves perfect to mark a door or entrance as it is compact and stately and the smell hits you like a wave! Lonicera purpusii the Woody Honeysuckle. Unexceptional at other times of the year this municipal plant is in its element now. Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ with pink flower clusters and statuesque habit, Chimonathus praecox is a beautiful waxy & delicate flower, Mahonias’ too, M. x media’ Winter Sun’ look like fireworks and smells divine. Stachyrus praecox is quite the performer with long drooping racemes you just have to seek out. Some of the scented prowess is reserved for the acid dwelling plants such as Witch Hazel Hammemelis. But there are also Winter Stocks, now with perennial staying power: Erysiums in purples, orange and yellow. I have Narcissus’Thalia’ planted throughout the border to bring a waft of delicious freshness as you walk alongside, a desperate bid to recreate the bedding display of one Winter at RHS Wisley. Then there is Winter Jasmine, the divine cottage door surround, cheering and fresh and then Forsythia beckons. A top tip with Forsythia is to bring in stems now and watch them open early in a vase with the jolly yellow flowers and scent on demand from the comfort of a cosy room. Although there is no doubt, I assure you that the scent is better in the crisp morning cold.

For more top tips on planting and flowering or for other garden services see my Facebook page Mimosa Design, email me on info.mimosadesign@gmail.com or call 07737 286784.

With love, Lucie, Mimosa Design

Property Care, Home Improvements & Maintenance By Paul Costin

Kitchens | Bathrooms | Plumbing Electrical | Plastering | Brickwork Roofs & Guttering | Flooring Decking | Fencing | Paving Painting | Conservatories Extensions | Double Glazing

Property Care, Home Improvements & **** Established Since 1981 Maintenance By Paul Costin

References available upon request ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ City and Guilds Qualified Public Liability Insurance Property Care, Home Improvements & Maintenance By Paul Costin Established Since 1981 References available upon request City and Guilds Qualified Public Liability Insurance For a free quote contact Paul Telephone: 07860 400960 Email: pcostinbuilder40@yahoo.co.uk ✓ Checkatrade Approved

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ For a free quote contact Established Since 1981 References available upon request City and Guilds Qualified Public Liability Insurance Checkatrade Approved For a free quote contact Paul Telephone: 07860 400960 Email: pcostinbuilder40@yahoo.co.uk *Kitchens *Bathrooms *Plumbing *Electrical *Plastering *Brickwork M: 07860 400960 *Kitchens *Bathrooms *Plumbing *Electrical *Plastering *Brickwork *Roofs & Guttering *Flooring *Decking *Fencing *Paving *Painting E: pcostinbuilder40@yahoo.co.uk *Roofs & Guttering *Flooring *Decking *Fencing *Paving *Painting *Conservatories *Extensions *Conservatories *Extensions *Double Glazing *Double Glazing