Firstly may I offer my best wishes from all at NESL to you this festive season. We are now closed for our annual Christmas closure and I am feeling reflective. 2016 has been a year of considerable changes and upheaval. It has seen new beginnings and new adventures but NESL is still a large part of my life: just not the only role I now do.

This time last year we had 103 slings on loan, we had 252 slings and we made 774 hires. This year we  surpassed this once again. In March we introduced our online inventory and check out system on MyTurn. This has made checking out of slings and admin much quicker: it even sends instructions and reminder emails automatically. We now have 612 families signed up with 439 active users. This Christmas we have 137 slings on loan. We now have 372 slings and carriers too (that is an 47% increase on 2015). In MyTurn alone we have made 1448 completed loans (this does include extensions to hirsa). There were also 220 loans completed before we introduced MyTurn.

In terms of social media. I continue to use several platforms. Our Facebook Page now has 3616 likes, our group over 1300. Instagram has over 430 followers and there are 1388 on Twitter. I have written 43 blogs. I have also written guest blogs for Birth and Baby Network, Connecta Baby and Babyfoote. Our biggest achievement was probably our involvement with Which? in assisting and coordinating the NE parent test panel for their sling testing. I believe the results will be out shortly too.

We continue to charge just £8 for 4 weeks hire and have 7 sessions a month. Although this is 1 less than 2015 my return to work meant I had little choice. Thank you for your support with my return to paid employment, I know of has resulted in lots of changes and less flexibility from me. Thank you to Kelly and Madeleine who have been so amazing in running 3 of the sessions. Thank yous also go to Suzie, Kirsty, Emma and Sarah too for their help.

Overall 2016 has been a brilliant year. Unfortunately as we see the end of it we have 3 slings which are overdue and had another AWOL for 8 weeks. Please make sure if you hire a sling that it is returned on time and with all accessories. 2017 will see me needing to fake further action to get carriers back.

I look forward to seeing faces new and old in 2017. Happy Christmas and may you have a peaceful New Year. Let’s see if we can make 2017 even better!

Merry Christmas everyone and Seasons Greetings to you all.

As we are fast approaching December it is time for my annual post about changes to the library during December and Early January. Old hands will realise Christmas is the only time when I close completely every year: I don’t reply to emails, I switch off the Facebook “message” facility and I relax. This year will be no different, especially as I am a very lucky lady and have a trip to Lapland to enjoy. As such there will be changes to our sessions. I am also now almost fully booked for 1:1s and am booking for January onwards.

Sessions until 10th December will run as normal. However, the 10th December will be the only Saturday Slings Session as the other should be on Christmas Eve. I love the library but Christmas Eve means meeting family, mince pies and Mass. Two week hires will not be available.

Durham City Sling Meet and our North Shields sessions on Thursday 15th December and Wednesday 21st December will run as normal too.

We will return in January 2017 with our session’s largely running as normal but there will be no 1st Wednesday Birth and Baby session. The first one of these will be Wednesday 18th January. 

Dates for your diary

In January you can find us at:

Tesco Consett Community Room on Thursday 5th

Ace Playce on Friday 6th January 1.30-3

Miss Tina’s – Washington on Friday 13th January 1.39-2.45

Saturday Slings at Home on Saturday 14th January 2-4

Birth and Baby family drop in on Wednesday 18th January 10.39-12

Durham City Sling Meet on Thursday 19th January 10-12

Saturday Slings at Home on Saturday 29th January 2-4

Depending on when in my carrying journey people have met me will effect what sling they associate me with. I have three that are extremely close to my heart. The first is Didymos Silver Geckos which took my nearly 18 months to find in the right size. The other are Connecta Baby Carrier and finally there are the Hogs.

I first fell in love with Michael Miller Hedgehog Meadow when I was sourcing fabrics to coordinate with a custom Ocah Baby Carrier I was having made. I loved that sling, so much I ended up with toddler and standard size versions. Next came a custom change bag, change mat, and several accessories to match. The Hogs just made me smile. I was very sad when Henry and then Isaac outgrew their custom carriers.

The vibrancy of the print I have always felt would be perfect for a Connecta Baby Carrier and I have hoped that it would come true. When I was given the opportunity to place an Exclusive order I jumped at the chance. I wanted to order two prints to represent my boys but which were unisex. The Hogs was an easy choice. They are me, they are Henry. Isaac proved harder. I had seen a print while ideally browsing the Michael Miller fabric website (for curtain fabric of all things) and it was then it hit me. This would be perfect too – Bot Dogs or Isaac’s Dogs as they are now called. Isaac loves animals, he especially loves dogs. There is something about Isaac and dogs which mean they just click. One day I am sure he will be a vet.

This exclusive collection of Connecta Baby Carrier will be available only from our website. There are a mix of both designs across all the 3 sizes and including petite straps. There is also some with vanilla coloured straps to coordinate with the hogs. The library will be retaining one Henry’s Hogs in preschool and one Isaac’s Dog in standard for posterity. I hope you love these carriers as much as I do. The first batch will be available to order from Saturday evening with further stock added in the coming weeks.

Are you #henryshogs or #isaacsdogs?

 

Hi everyone. In July I wrote to say that I was off back to the world of work and as such sling library sessions would need to change a little. Well I have survived a half term. Well I survived the first half term unscathed but laryngitis has hit at the start of the second. However, work means more changes are afoot. I have been asked to do additional hours 3 afternoons per week. I am very happy to be asked to do this. I am loving my new role.

So what’s changing? Well I am going to be working all day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in addition to the 5 mornings already doing. From December the 2 sessions currently held on a Monday and Tuesday are going to be moved. The online calendar has been updated to show new dates.

Ace Playce, Killingworth will be moving to the 1st Friday of the month 130-3.

Miss Tina’s, Washington will be moving to the 2nd Friday of the month.

The remaining sessions remain unchanged. One to One appointments will now only be available on a Thursday (not 1st Thursday of month) and 3rd and 4th Friday’s of the month, and weekends/evenings by arrangement.

The cancelled Tesco Consett session has been rearranged for Thursday 10th November. Apologises for having to cancel but my voice isn’t up to talking.