A Hull mum-of-three’s experiences of “lifeline” baby classes have prompted her to set up new sensory adventure sessions for little ones to enjoy.
Mandi Hatton, whose sons are aged between five months and three, has bought the Glow Bambino franchise for the local area and will basing her first sessions, from September, in the east of the city. Glow Bambino was first developed in Scotland by a mum-of-four who used her own life experience, combined with knowledge of theatre and work in children and youth services to create the “Glow world of wonder, joy, fun and development”.
Mandi, who grew up on Ark Royal, Bilton, and now lives in Sutton, is mum to Cooper-Jay, three; Parker-Reid, 22 months and Hudson-Ray, five months. She is excited about sharing the immersive sessions that use unique lighting and sensory toys, theatre techniques, puppets, storytelling, music and rhythm, with local parents and their offspring - the sessions, designed for babies aged eight weeks to 14 months, or at Mandi’s and each caregiver’s discretion, will start on September 16.
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Mandi said: “I am so grateful for the classes I went to; they were a real lifeline. I cried at many a class when I’d had a sleepless night.
“I’m an older mum – I’m 38 in January – and all my friends had had children ten or more years ago. Without the baby classes I would have felt on my own. I’ve made new friendships with mums of children who are around the same age as mine.”
Mandi was first inspired by Glow Bambino after some in-depth reading up about baby sessions when Cooper-Jay was a newborn. She said: “I was a new first-time mum and was looking at Hull and the surrounding area for classes to attend.
“To my great disappointment the closest class to us was a three-hour drive away. If you wanted to go to a class like this, the next nearest would be Derby or Penrith,” said Mandi, who has decided to invest and bring the world of Glow Bambino much closer to home.
Glow Bambino offers a magical theatrical experience following Woo Woo the Glow Worm on his adventures. Babies will be enthralled by imaginary worlds taking them deep under the sea or up among the stars, with rainbow lighting creating different moods and helping babies to focus on the toys and neon moving objects.
Mandi will start off with sessions at Bilton Village Hall and Victoria Dock. “I’ve chosen Bilton because, for places like Withernsea or Hedon, there is no or very limited baby sensory offering. East Hull has not had anything for a very, very long time – and I think people from west Hull won’t mind travelling to Victoria Dock.”
She has also decided to put on some Saturday morning classes at Garden Village Tearoom, in Elm Avenue, Garden Village, also in east Hull. “I’ve bought up most of the HU postcodes; eventually I’d like to buy two more franchises and have two people running these for me, expanding over the bridge into the DN postcodes and up towards York in the YO postcodes.
“Bookings are going well so far. I opened them three days ago offering 70 places across six classes a week and I’ve got 30 booked already.”
Mandi will be at Asda Bilton on Saturday, September 7, with a display in the foyer about Glow Bambino. It is her aim to run Glow Bambino parties and also eventually to develop other strands of the business, including baby massage and sleep training.
For more information, find Glow Bambino Hull on Facebook and Instagram. You can also email Glowandgrowwithglowbambino@gmail.com or call 07977 343203.
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