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Guest Book

Ivy’s Guest Book: Nicky Woodward, Operations Manager, Enso Martial Arts

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi Shelley! My name’s Nicky and I am a mum of two toddlers, Milo (3) & Summer (1). I run a children’s martial arts company with my husband, Lee in the North West of England. Lee has studied martial arts since he was young and I have followed with his passion since we got together 22 years ago! We originally met at university in Preston where we both studied graphic design, which is our other passion.

What are your children’s favourite books?

Summer has just started to enjoy books, but at the moment she only understands the pictures and shouts out the words. She loves ‘Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars’ by Debbie Tarbett. It has raised caterpillars throughout that she likes to count and a fantastic pop-up butterfly page at the end. Milo understands a bit more now and we are starting to help him recognise the letters and words in books. His current favourite is ‘Dave’s Breakfast Blast Off!’ by Sue Hendra. The toilet humour makes him laugh every time!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Georgina Durrant, Founder, The SEN Resources Blog

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Georgina, I’m a mum of two little ones under 6 and a former teacher/Special Educational Needs Coordinator. I now run The SEN Resources Blog which is a site for parents and teachers of children with Special Educational Needs. My website provides advice, recommended resources, learning activities and (most recently) home learning videos for those who are now home schooling due to the school closures.

What are your children’s favourite books?

My eldest’s favourite book is Captain Flinn and The Pirate Dinosaurs. He mostly loves non-fiction books so we were delighted when one of his friends bought him this book and it became such a hit. It felt like when we were reading these books together that we’d suddenly made the jump from toddler books into more grown-up childrens books. He loves that they are a bit scary…and obviously that they include dinosaurs!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Kat Brown, Founder, Mama Brown & Co

Hi Kat! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Thanks for having me! I’m Kat Brown, mama to two lively but loving boys Louis (6) & Max (3) and wife to Papa Brown. Having enjoyed working in publishing for the last 12 years, I left after having my youngest son and in September I launched Mama Brown & Co. We are the online magazine and marketplace dedicated to making parenting more playful and helping you get more fun out of family life (however tired you might be!) My husband and I originally hail from Yorkshire but moved down to London to work after university and somehow never ended up leaving. We now live just outside London in Kent but often find ourselves back up in Harrogate visiting family and friends and staying in touch with our Northern roots!

What are your sons’ favourite books?

My eldest Louis’ current favourites are The Christmasaurus & The Winter Witch by Tom Fletcher (yes we are reading it in March!) and Bear Grylls Adventures. He is 6 and in the past year has found a love of chapter books, ever since we read The Famous Five together by Enid Blyton. I read a chapter a night to him at bedtime but he can’t wait until his reading is strong enough for him to read them himself!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Laura Ansbro, Freelance Writer

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi, I’m Laura, a Freelance Writer with one little boy, aged 4. We live in Wiltshire, and have a whopping book collection. Wilfie loved books from a very early age, and as a full time parent who struggled with PND, I was overjoyed when reading became our world. We would begin each week with ‘New Book Monday’, and would regularly read sixty books a day together! Now Wilfie loves to read, and will devour anything with a decent amount of pictures.

What is your son’s favourite book?

Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast – A.A. Milne

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Rebecca Stevens, Founder, Nourish and Nurture Nutrition

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Rebecca Stevens and I live with my three kids aged 5, 6 & 8 and husband in SW London. We all love reading! I recently retrained as a nutritionist after many years in the world of healthcare PR and work freelance to fit in around the needs of my family. I wrote and illustrated my own picture book a few years ago that I gave to friends and family as a gift. From this I have an appreciation of just how much time bringing a story to life takes.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Carys Worsdale, Founder, Be Kind Hypnobirthing

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi there, I’m Carys Worsdale. Originally from Aberystwyth in West Wales but now living in Hertfordshire with my family. I have a 2-year-old son, William, and an 8-year-old step son, Jacob. So the house is a loud and messy most of the time!

My background is in museum and galleries, but after having my son I retrained as a Hypnobirthing teacher.

What is your youngest son’s favourite book?

William was 2 in July so we have finally moved away from the “That’s not my…” books – hurrah!! At the moment he loves Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came To Tea. Or as he calls it “Rahhh book”. We even say “goodbye, goodbye, goodbye” every bed time just like the book.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Sarah Billingham, Co-Founder, Confident Kids

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Sarah, a special needs teacher, living in Bracknell with my husband and our 2 daughter’s Clara (5) and Alice (6 months). I grew up in South Africa and came to England looking for a bit of an adventure and the chance to travel. 15 years later it is safe to say that it became more permanent than I had planned!

What are your children’s favourite books?

Clara has returned to Julia Donaldson books over and over. As a toddler she loved The Smartest Giant in Town and as a pre-schooler she really enjoyed the Highway Rat, Jack and the Flum Flum Tree and The Troll. Clara loves books and reads new books every week (lots of library visits!) but she has returned to her Julia Donaldson favourites.  I think the rhythm and rhyme in these books is very engaging. She is now taking great pride in reading to her little sister.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Hannah O’Donoghue-Hobbs, Founder, Tilly Hobbs & Co

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name’s Hannah and my little passion project is Tilly Hobbs & Co – an insta blog where I sell Manchester themed muslin cloths and document me guessing my way through motherhood ha in our glorious city. I have one little girl called Cora, she’s my little livewire, I’m obsessed!

What is your daughter’s favourite book?

Now this does vary from day to night. Our daytime favourite has to be The President’s Cat by Peter Donnelly – it’s a lovely, lovely story about the President of Ireland leaving his cat behind when he comes home after a holiday in Kerry. Cora loves pointing out the cat on his little journey, the horse poo on one of the pages and the many, many cars and buses on a page featuring Dublin city centre. Reading that backward sounds insane, please go and read it ha! The illustrations are like food for my eyes.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Jaime Cox, Founder, Compelling Copy

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello! I’m Jaime, I’m a copywriter and editor based in Berkshire and I have three children – 12-year-old identical twin boys and a 2-year-old daughter.

What are your children’s favourite books?

All 3 of my children adore books – a huge relief as I do too! My youngest has several favourites, but the current number 1 is Cave Baby by Julia Donaldson. Mae is very much into babies at the moment, so I think that’s the main appeal of this particular book. She also loves the animals in the story – woolly mammoth and sabre-tooth tiger. She loves to roar at the moment, and this book provides the perfect opportunity 🙂

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Trine Hansen, Founder, Pickled Herring PR

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi I’m Trine. I live in Hertfordshire with my other half Andy, our busy two-year-old son Oskar and our French bulldog Alfie, three. We are raising Oskar (and Alfie) bilingual as I am originally from Denmark but have lived in the UK for 13 years. It is important to me that Oskar knows his heritage.

I run Pickled Herring PR, where I specialise in getting small to medium sized brands exposure outside of social media, print and online, to help drive credibility, exposure and a different revenue stream to your brand. I’m incredibly passionate about telling your story, to the right people, in the right places, to help you grow.

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