[28th February 2025] As a small, local charity, we at MumsAid are always delighted to meet a fundraiser and when they are also doing their bit to support Mums, we really can’t be more excited. So meeting Bella from the local mum’s group Twickenmums was a real treat. Bella set up Twickenmums in January of this year and is already starting to create a wonderful community of mums coming together, mostly enjoying walks in the local area. Next week, they will take on a ‘Mile for Mums’, taking donations for their walk to support MumsAid. We chatted with Bella to learn more about their group and what motivates her.
Please can you introduce yourself?
I’m Bella and I’m currently on maternity leave after having my second child. I have two boys, Buster and Bear. We recently moved back to Twickenham from Farnborough, because I grew up here and it has been lovely to be back and to realise what I had on my doorstep here. It’s nice to see the beauty of Twickenham, and I only have that perspective after moving away and then back. I love to walk – me and my husband find it easier to parent outside than we do inside! – and I have a degree in business enterprise, but I’ve never used it! Currently, I’m mumming full time.
Why did you set up Twickenmums?
I essentially just wanted to make more mum friends myself now I’m on second maternity leave! I was out on a walk one day and I saw about 4 or 5 other mums by themselves with newborns and up to, well, not yet toddle age and I just thought “I want to go up to them and just introduce myself and see if they want to hang out!” but I thought that might be a bit weird so I decided to just start the Instagram page and call it something.
What is the purpose of the group?
It’s mostly just to help mums create connections and to organise walks. Getting mums to chat freely feels great and I don’t know what it is about being outside but it just helps people loosen up and the walking helps the babies sleep most of the time. We’ve done 4 or 5 successful walks so far and hopefully they carry on. Most of the mums are local but they didn’t grow up around here so some of them aren’t always aware of the parks that I’m taking them to or where I hold the walks. I know where all the nice places are, so I feel like not only am I helping them from, like, a motherhood perspective, I’m also opening them up to areas that they might not have known. Also, it feels like everything costs money! The baby classes and those things cost money and maternity pay isn’t great so I wanted to make sure I was offering something free and that feels very important to me.
Why did you decide to fundraise for MumsAid?
So I have suffered with my own struggles with post-natal depression, which hit me much later on than is typical and I wasn’t speaking to anyone about it – it was really scary and I felt like I was just dealing with it on my own which isn’t right. But this charity is there to help and I wanted to do something for a mums charity to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Bella and the rest of the Twickenmums will be walking on Monday 3rd March in support of MumsAid. You can visit their Justgiving page here.
If you or anyone you know is struggling and needs support, you can self-refer via our website. We offer free and low cost counselling to mums in Greenwich, but we also offer private counselling to all mums nationally. These sessions are provided by specialist counsellors who are trained and experienced in working with mums struggling with a range of perinatal mental health issues including, but not limited to, postnatal depression, postnatal anxiety and postpartum psychosis.
