We celebrated my 21 years of singing with babies and their parents on March 12th 2009. The BBC South Today team were there and put us on the television that night. I was also interviewed by Radio  Solent. I'm thrilled that so much interest is being shown in Mumbaba, and sincerely hope that this coverage will encourage more mums to bring their young babies to Mumbaba to ''get out of the house'; Mumbaba is really an uplifting group to go to with a young baby.
I still feel that Mumbaba is a terrific job if you like to organise singing in a group.  Although I have been singing with babies on their parent/carers laps for 21 years, I still really get a thrill out of seeing babies and toddlers spellbound by the sound of us all singing together.
  The traditional nursery rhymes that we sing always sound so fantastic that even 'cry babies'  forget to cry! I am delighted that so many groups enjoy the songs that I have put together for Mumbaba. I am always being thanked for encouraging little ones to enjoy music and I have heard a great many stories of how Mumbaba has boosted the confidence of children so that they have been able to shake off their shyness and join in happily.
How  my career with Mumbaba started
My singing with mums and babies started in Abingdon Baptist toddler group. It was here that, using my skills from primary school teaching, I started to devise a series of fun sing-along songs suitable to hold the attention of young children and their parents. 
 When I moved to Emsworth in 1988, I started a singing group in my dining room. A few friends came round and we sang nursery rhymes for the children, with Linda Hume on her guitar. Soon we had 20 mums coming round, so we moved to a hall. After a while we had 40 families and outgrew the hall. We moved to a bigger hall and soon had so many families that we had to run 2 groups. People were coming from as far away as Guildford, Southampton and Bognor, to sing with us. By 1994 we regularly saw 120 families in  2 groups of  60 families every Friday; the sound of 60 people singing together was fantastic! The children loved it too and were spellbound.
From this beginning I set up groups in Denmead, Chichester and Havant with similar success. In 1995 I called  my groups Mumbaba; in 2000 I was helped by a local businessman and became Mumbaba Ltd. We have gone from strength to strength from then.
I recorded the very successful  'Hop Little Rabbits' CD and tape in 1998 with a local sound engineer.  I was suprised that my initial run of 500 ran out in the first few weeks. I am pleased to say that I have sold them at a steady rate ever since. The combination of my solo voice and the tunes and lyrics of traditional nursery rhymes has a very soothing effect on young children.It soon becomes a great favourite for children in the car and at bedtime. Countless parents tell me how their little ones demand to hear it played. I am also very pleased that parents of hearing impaired children tell me how their children love it because it is such a clear recording.
Recently Mumbaba has sent copies of 'Hop Little Rabbits' recordings out to child centred charities in Rwanda, Johannesburg and Uganda, I was delighted to be able to give some means of enjoyment to these neglected children, as well as being useful to those learning English.
The Hop Little Rabbits CD is also being used as a language teaching aid for infants in China.
After 21 years I still love to sing with mums and babies and cannot think of a more rewarding and satisfying job.

By Christine Strode B.Ed
Founder and Director of Mumbaba Ltd
Present Mumbaba leader at Hook, Chandlers ford, Emsworth, and Whiteley.

Why I love being a Mumbaba Leader! 
By Alison Stickland

I became a Mumbaba Leader in June 2004 after leaving a career in the Pensions Industry.  I was looking for a new direction work-wise and saw the advert for new leaders in my local National Childbirth Trust (NCT) magazine.  I called the number and the rest is history – I run very successful groups in Alton and anfd Hook and I love every moment of my  mornings singing to around 50 mums and babies/toddlers, then making drinks for them and having a chat while admiring how clever their children are.

The Mumbaba set-up is so successful because Chris has so much experience, having run the groups from scratch for so many years.  She has perfected the methods and song patterns that work with the singing, and besides having fun, I thrive on the thought that we are doing much to assist sound development of early years skills, including memory, attention and concentration.  I love to see mums arrive with their tiny babies who are so attentive and mesmerized by the singing, knowing that as they keep coming and singing with their babies, it won’t be long before they start to make their attempts at joining in with the actions.  Parents are really complimentary about Mumbaba and how it encourages their children to enjoy music and singing.  When we get the toys out at the end, the children are also learning how to join in and socialise with other children.  For the parents the after-singing chat and coffee is a chance to see their friends, make new friends and for some may be the only adult contact they have from week to week (with the added bonus of having a hot drink made for them!  And chocolate biscuits!).

In my case I am lucky that Mumbaba is promoted by the Health Professionals in my area.  I know some of them through my own children and the NCT.  My good relationship with them means that they refer new mums and new-to-the-area mums to my group.  As leaders, we are encouraged to go and do ‘Mini-Mumbaba’ post-natal sessions with Chris’s support if required, so that we can encourage new mums to our groups.  This is a great way of advertising your group and in my experience always reaps rewards.

Running your first session is, of course, rather daunting.  However, you are trained beforehand and there is lots of support before, during and after.  My first session was the fastest 30 minutes of my life and although I was nervous, it was fantastic!  The mums and babies had a great time and couldn’t wait for the next session.  I started with one group of 26 and soon had to split my morning into 2 groups to accommodate the demand.  As I said at the beginning, the rest is history!

So, if you are reading this and wondering whether you should apply, I would really encourage you to take the plunge and find out more.

By Alison Stickland, successful leader of Alton Mumbaba groups.