New ventures at The Honeycomb Hub

The Honeycomb Hub is still so new, not quite 2 months old, and we are still finding our feet in Gaborone yet have already met so many wonderful people. Recently we have had many people stop in saying ‘we have heard about you but weren’t quite sure what you were’ – and the gratifying thing is that once they have come in for a look around, they come back with their children! So I thought I would write a little update on what is happening at our family centre. 

What is there at the Honeycomb Hub?

The Honeycomb Hub: a hive of activity nurturing the community, a place where everyone is welcome and no-one feels alone. A brief overview is that we are a family centre founded by 2 sisters (a primary school teacher and a personal trainer) comprising of the Hub, Tiny Town and the Studio. If you would like more detailed information on these areas please read this earlier blog post http://abeehoneycomb.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-is-honeycomb-hub.html

As a family centre, we want to be a hub for the community and so we aim to be adaptable so we can meet the needs of the community. We opened just before Christmas and had planned to close over the holidays as we had been told that ‘everyone leaves Gabs for the Christmas period.’ But it turns out not everyone does! We were asked if we could open … and so we did and met some lovely families coming to visit us! 

This week we hosted a ‘pop-up pamper day’ which was great fun giving Mums (and Dads – we had one manly pedicure and 2 massages for male visitors) an opportunity to get their nails done or have a massage while their children played. It was a lovely day and please check our noticeboard at the Honeycomb Hub for the details of Connie and Thato, our masseuse and beautician.

What’s new at The Honeycomb Hub?

Fitness Classes

The Lovely Louisa in PT

 Louisa's son plays downstairs while his
Mother exercises

Many parents have commented on how great it is to be able to exercise and bring their children to play at the same time – a win-win situation!

We have a wide range of fitness classes run by our Fitness Director between 7am-7pm throughout the week covering HiiT (http://abeehoneycomb.blogspot.com/2018/01/why-hiit.html ) Bodyweight fitness and Stretch and Breathe (there will be a future blog post about the benefits of the hypopressive breathing technique taught in this class.) These classes are great for any standard of fitness, male or female, age (our youngest participant has been 15 years so far) and our fitness director specialises in pre and post-natal fitness – we really do try and cater for everyone and we are still adding to our timetable thanks to your suggestions.

The inspiration for Funky Fit

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* After a very enthusiastic group of children at one of our activity clubs we have devised a Funky Fit session starting this Tuesday at 4pm for children aged 5+, and their parents and carers may attend the class too – fun for the whole family!

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   We had a number of people ask about Yoga classes and so we now have the wonderful Kirsty offering yoga classes for adults and ‘yogabees’ for children (aged 3-5yrs and 4-7yrs) throughout the week (https://www.facebook.com/yogakirstydowney/ ).

Yogabees

      Ballet has been another popular request and so we are very pleased to be welcoming Kelly from La Danse Panier DANCE Studio (https://www.facebook.com/La-Danse-Panier-DANCE-Studio-240815332663862/?fref=mentions ) every term-time Saturday with ballet classes for 3-12 years olds (we are making  special exception for ballet shoes in our barefoot studio!!). We will also hold a baby ballet class for 6 months-3 years on a Wednesday morning.

·  Monkeynastix will also be starting their term at 10:30am on Thursday 25^th January for walking-5 years olds. https://www.facebook.com/MonkeynastixBotswana/ 

·         Coming soon we hope to add street dance classes for children and some for adults too but are in the process of confirming times and start dates.

Also in the Studio

We are continuing to host a number of groups and classes for pre-primary and primary aged children led by our teacher / Managing Director. These include:

* Mamas and Babas for ages 0-1 years on Tuesdays at 9am

* Loose Parts & Messy Play for ages 0-5 years on Wednesdays at 10am

*Honeycomb Playgroup for ages 0-5 years on Fridays at 9am

* STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) on Tuesdays, 2pm for ages 5-8 years and 3pm for ages 9-12 years,

* Homework Club (including fitness session & Relaxation) Wednesdays 2-4pm for ages 7-12 years.

Throughout the holidays we also offer some additional clubs but aim to keep all our regular sessions going too. And of course, siblings can always play in Tiny Town while their brothers or sisters attend a class!

In the Hub

In the book corner we offer storytelling every day at 11am read by our story wizard who has a special story reading hat. The wonder of this is that anyone can become the story wizard simply by donning the hat which means we have great opportunities for guest readers including local authors reading their own books! If you would like to be a guest reader please do come on down and have a chat – no experience necessary just a love of books and an ability to read or re-tell a story you know by heart – we will find a way around a sticking point if we can!

A chance meeting

One of the most exciting things that we are starting in a couple of weeks came about through a chance meeting at a drinks party. Just before Christmas we met the children’s author Alexandra  Orford (Xandi) and discovered that together we come up with awesome ideas! Xandi has just published her 3^rd children’s book only this one is a little different as she had co-authors and illustrators: her nephew Harry Wilson aged six and her niece Eliza Wilson aged four! (Please check out their lovely book here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leo-Nat-Extraordinary-Friendship-between-ebook/dp/B078V6R5GW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515859510&sr=8-1&keywords=alexandra+orford )

For a teacher who loves teaching writing this sparked an idea that was mirrored in Xandi’s thoughts. Let’s start a writing group for children where, over the course of a term, they write, illustrate, edit, publish and (hopefully) sell their books! Together with Xandi’s friend and local children’s author Dabilo M Mokobi (https://www.waterstones.com/book/hodder-african-readers-madulo-and-co/dabilo-m-mokobi/9780340984185 ) we have formed The Honeycomb-Kalahwood Writers Collective! Through this we now offer:

*Children’s Writing Club on a Monday afternoon. 2pm for ages 5-7 years and 3pm for ages 8-12 years starting 5^th February, booking essential.

*Teenagers Writing Group consisting of a writing gym (short writing exercises) and discussion. Thursdays at 5pm ages 13+

*Monthly Writing Group for ‘Grown-ups’ (ages 16+ welcome) – a short writing gym followed by discussion of the exercises, the opportunity to share thoughts, ideas or just chat with fellow writers. All writers welcome whether published authors, bloggers (whew!) diarists or those shopping list writers who desperately wish for a little time to get the opportunity to write! Entry price includes a drink and piece of cake/biscuit on arrival and we shall provide a jotter for the writing exercises. Every third Thursday (where possible) at 6:30pm starting this Thursday 18^th January (please feel free to arrive earlier for an opportunity to write.)

*Monthly Book Group every first Thursday (ages 16+ welcome). No formal reading of the same book but an opportunity to share, discuss and recommend books we have enjoyed, borrow or swap from our book box or just get out of the house for Literary chat and the drink and piece of cake included in the entry price.  

* Zine Club – coming soon on a Friday afternoon (time and start date tbc) we shall start a Zine Club for all ages. Zines are small, self-published books/comics/magazines and can cover any topic. We shall release more information on this club very soon. 

Other things you may not know

Saturday Openings: As of Saturday 20^th January we shall be open 9am-12pm every Saturday. It is something we have been thinking about a lot and has probably been our biggest request, particularly from busy working parents! As we are opening the studio for ballet it makes sense to open the rest of The Honeycomb Hub at the same time. The added bonus is that it will also give waiting parents of ballet students somewhere comfortable for a drink and somewhere for siblings to play.

Parties: We have a range of packages for hiring the Honeycomb Hub for birthday parties, baby showers and other special events.

We also run Rugbees, a 30 minute structure play session for boys and girls combining co-ordination, ball skills and teamwork. Every Saturday (term time) at Action Sports at The Bull & Bush. 8:30am ages 18 months-3 years. 9:00am ages 3-5 years.

What’s next?

We are so new and yet have so many ideas, we do sometimes have to reign each other in and shelve some projects for a later date! However, we are in discussions with other fitness professionals, a midwife and a local support group for parents of children with special needs, to see what else we can offer. If you have any thoughts, ideas or queries please do get in touch!

So what are we?

We are an evolving family centre, a hive of activity, nurturing the community. We are a place where everybody is welcome and we try to offer what people want and need.

A few quotes we have had from visitors include: “this is amazing” “it has to be seen to be believed and “this is exactly what Gabs needed”, which make us feel relieved that we are on the right track! If you have not visited us yet, please do pop in, our urn is always on!

 There is more information on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WebstersHoneycomb/ or please get in contact with us by phone: 75935900 or email: thehoneycombhub@outlook.com

We look forward to seeing you soon 😊