Join us on Thursday 12 November, 6–9.30pm at The Green Table, for an Festive Auction and Raffle celebrating 25 years of supporting families. Entry is free.

We started 25 years ago in Foxhole, on the Dartington Estate. We were called Kith & Kin then. In our light and spacious room we held groups, one-to-one sessions and meetings. It was an exciting time! Many practitioners were involved, all specialising in pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. What united us was a simple belief: every family deserves to be held through the changes and challenges of pregnancy, birth and becoming a parent, yet this important transition isn't given the space and support it needs.

Through most of this time our work has been offered on a donation basis, with the community involved and supporting us. It was crucial for us that everyone was welcome, whatever their means. That principle has not changed, even when it made things hard.

Over the years the project has included therapists and practitioners who gave their time freely because they could see what a difference it made, volunteers who held babies and made the tea and toast, and a wider community that carried it along. We are so grateful for all the support everyone gave. At its fullest we were running two days a week, with mothers and toddlers too.

The hardest part was always funding: getting enough to keep even the basic structure going and to pay the very minimum to the people holding space. Eventually we had to take the project back into our homes and offer only what was manageable: simple small groups and healing touch. These days were more intimate and, in their own way, precious. It was a joy to see mothers relaxing together while their babies were held, savouring the toast with peanut butter and honey that we became famous for.

Our first lottery grant was a game changer. It made it possible to expand our work again and eventually to come back to the Estate in 2022, to offer our new donation-based counselling and therapeutic services for the pre- and perinatal period. After over 20 years of working with families through this delicate transition, we could see a gap in affordable specialised support for issues increasingly being seen: high stress and anxiety in pregnancy, birth trauma, postpartum depression and parenting challenges. This service, alongside our groups, home visits, breastfeeding support and community days, added so much to the web of support we had been creating, and we were able to bring our impact to a new level.

It's wonderful to be back on the Estate. Clients are able to walk in the beautiful grounds and have a coffee after their session, giving themselves time to process.

This work is a labour of love and the need keeps growing. Stress, isolation and a culture that too often leaves parents unsupported mean that our yearly lottery funding for therapeutic services has been spent in less than half the year. We now need support from the community to keep going.

Come and celebrate our 25 years and help us raise much-needed funding here on the Estate, where we started.

Festive Auction and Raffle

Thursday 12 November, 6–9.30pm, The Green Table, Dartington Estate

Entry is free but registration is required. Please reserve your place using this link: https://tinyurl.com/hzcxwx45

The Green Table has kindly offered to host the evening, and the community has been really generous in its giving. Local people and businesses have offered over £9,000 worth of time, skills and experiences to be auctioned and raffled on the night.

There will be a lovely warm atmosphere, with the unique Jackie Juno as our compère and poet, alongside Ceri Baker, Grand Bard of Exeter. It will feel less like an auction and more like a celebration of 25 years, and of everyone who has been part of this journey.

By coming and bidding you'll be supporting the wellbeing of families across our community, while enjoying a great evening. The money raised will fund our therapeutic services as well as our latest projects: a new weekly feeding support group and some winter meet-up and support days for lone parents.

A taste of what you can bid on:

• A solstice three-day break for 14 at the Eden Rise retreat centre

• A special Dartington Hall experience

• A one-hour photoshoot, for family photos or headshots

• An amazing pregnancy package

• A postpartum care package

Raffle prizes include Afternoon Tea Royale for four at Dart Marina, Spa pass for two at the Harbour Beach Club Spa, a meal for two at The Cott Inn, and an Indian head massage with sound bath. Raffle tickets are available from various outlets and online.

You can see the full auction catalogue at https://www.radiantmama.co.uk/catalogue and the raffle at https://www.radiantmama.co.uk/raffle. If you can’t join us on the day, submit your maximum bid in advance and one of our proxy bidders will bid for you in the room.

We really hope you will come and celebrate with us. See you there!