Get the lowdown on what happened at our annual conference, babble live! this year.
On Saturday 8 October, around 500 NCT volunteers, practitioners, staff and board members gathered together at our annual conference, babble live!, in Birmingham.
2016 marks NCT’s 60th anniversary so the theme this year was ‘Diamond celebrations, platinum aspirations’. The conference opened with some inspiring speakers sharing their NCT story.
I’m a better parent because of NCT.
Jonathan Calow, NCT member and volunteer, told us how he inherited knowledge and enthusiasm about – and for – NCT from his parents who did NCT classes when they were expecting him.
“I’m a better parent because of NCT,” he told us.
He shared a lovely sentiment about the role that NCT can play through branch support and friendships: “Every little hand needs a big hand to hold.”
In particular, Jonathan was enthused by one of the charity’s core goals to broaden our reach to support more parents.
Bronwen Rashad, an NCT antenatal teacher, shared her NCT story and touched on some difficult subjects, including the trauma of her mother losing her first child to cot death at just 10 weeks old. “It was her NCT friends that helped her through; they were non-judgemental and gave her a safe space to breathe,” said Bronwen.
Bronwen’s journey as an NCT antenatal teacher began when she heard an old university friend had taken her life as a result of suffering from postpartum psychosis after the birth of her child. “In that moment, I knew I had to do something – be active.”
She is passionate about the role NCT has today. “At a time when breastfeeding support is being cut, maternity services funding squeezed, and children’s centres continue to close; it’s even more important for NCT to be here supporting parents through the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood.”
Jenny McLeish, a friend of NCT, spoke honestly about her first pregnancy, of being “young and prejudiced” and believing that NCT wasn’t for “my kind of people”.
But she then told us how her opinion of NCT changed as she saw how “we could support parents in unique ways”.
She highlighted, for example, our Birth and Beyond Community Peer Supporter scheme, which provides support for families living in difficult social circumstances.
This has helped us establish our Maternity Champions project, which is making a real difference to families in Queen’s Park, London.
NCT is built out of people power.
“NCT is built out of people power. It connects parents and creates space for relationships to blossom,” Jenny said.
And that has always been – and always will be – one of the greatest strengths of NCT.
Last year, almost 100,000 people attended an NCT course. Take a look at some of the wonderful stories members have shared about their NCT friends.
Nick Wilkie, our CEO, outlined NCT’s goals over the next 60 years. These include strengthening our work in antenatal education and expanding the support we provide to parents postnatally. You can read more about them here.
Most importantly, Nick affirmed that “Ours is a vision where no parent is isolated.”
The day was also packed with a wide range of stimulating workshops and networking opportunities for staff, volunteers and practitioners to build skills, knowledge and relationships. A definite highlight were the regional celebrations.
“The regional sessions are an opportunity to network and share successes. The regional presentations capture information like the amount fundraised for NCT, numbers of courses taken and parents reached,” explained Melissa Gough-Rundle, the Region Team Facilitator for East Midlands, South Central, South West and Channel Islands. “This year, we also talked about our new national Parents in Mind project.”
She added: “It’s a great way to show everyone how amazing the regions are; it’s one of the best parts of my job when I press go on the slideshow at babble live!”
Not only do our volunteers support parents; they also do an amazing amount of fundraising.
Last year, our volunteers held 546 Nearly New Sales raising over £860,000 for the charity.
We’re really proud of our branch network, which is powered 100% by volunteers. Mums and dads who give up their time and energy to support local parents through branch activities – from ‘Bumps & babies’ groups to Cheeky Monkey Tea parties.
We have 5,686 volunteers spread over 315 branches. Find out what’s happening at your local branch.
We are incredibly grateful for the work all of our volunteers do. They’re so fab one of our Regional Team Facilitators coined the hashtag – #NCTVolunteersRock – and they do!
Our AGM was held at babble live! where we approved the previous year’s minutes, recapped on our recent achievements and accounts, and provided a forum for members to put questions to trustees.
Many thanks to everyone who voted in this year’s trustee election. We were delighted to announce the election of our new trustee, Jessica Figueras. She is an NCT breastfeeding counsellor and longstanding volunteer, and lives in London with my husband, two daughters and a couple of hamsters!
Our President, Seána Talbot, ended the day with a whistlestop review of NCT’s achievements from the last 60 years.
From campaigning to make sure dads were present in the delivery room for the birth of their baby, to our lobbying work to ensure government hears and respects the voice of parents – “NCT is making a difference. We are changing things,” she said.
NCT is making a difference. We are changing things.
But what lies ahead? Our CEO Nick admitted that the challenges facing NCT and parents today “weren’t created yesterday and they won’t be solved tomorrow”.
As a charity with the interests of parents and their families at our heart, we will continue to tackle those challenges so that every parent has a happy and positive experience of pregnancy and early parenthood.
As a parent and a member, you are part of our movement and everything we do. We hope that you have found the support and knowledge you needed through NCT.
And we thank you for your support, which enables us to continue to provide services and information for parents across the UK.
Find out more about our vision and goals and what we do for parents.
Read the #myNCTstory section on our website to see the different ways NCT has supported and touched the lives of so many parents. Get in touch if you’d like to share your story: email mailto:nctmatterseditor@nct.org.uk.
