In June 2013 Helen Hamston faced the stark reality that her newborn son would be either a) wearing dresses or b) naked unless she swapped the huge pile of girls’ clothes in her roof for some more ‘gender-appropriate’ ones. She decided to trawl the local community for people who might like to sell her their hand-me-downs and Mummy’s Gin Fund was born.

The Facebook group is now a thriving online community of over 30,000 local parents swapping clothes, toys, advice, recommendations and camaraderie. It is a closed group so all new Gin-Fans must be added by an existing member; we find it keeps the riffraff out.

If you’d like to join (dads are welcome too), simply ask around and find a friendly member to add you – we’re all over the place! 

We’ve done some incredible things: fundraised for families in need, donated gifts of furniture, clothes and toys to survivors of domestic violence, rescued strangers with screaming children in broken down cars, accompanied each other to hospital appointments and stayed up all night holding virtual hands.

Mummy’s Gin Fund Ltd invests a percentage of our profits in our community of local parents: future endeavours include a writing project named ‘Dear Neighbour’, buddying schemes and a Baby Bank. Watch this space to see how you can get involved.