Blossom & Bloom and Multiply help parents make most of their money
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai Multiply and mother-and-baby charity Blossom and Bloom host free courses to develop parents’ budgeting and number skills
Parents have been learning about managing their money thanks to the Multiply project, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai and mother-and-baby charity Blossom & Bloom.
The Numeracy for Living - Multiply project helps adults improve their confidence with numbers in everyday life, offering easy access to a wide range of FREE maths courses across Gwynedd, Môn, Conwy and Denbighshire.
From April to June this year, Blossom & Bloom hosted Multiply’s ‘Money, Numbers and Maths’ course at its well-being hub in Rhyl.
The 10-week course, which the charity is set to host again from September, included:
- Introduction to budgeting
- Maximising your income
- Reducing your expenditure
- Creating your own budgeting plan
- Improving your basic maths skills
- Progression to a maths qualification
Blossom & Bloom is also hosting the following courses: Help your Child with Maths (Primary School) on August 15, Improving Your Confidence with Maths: Basic Skills Refresher (September 5) and Mindful Making (September 19).
Vicky Welsman-Millard, founder of Blossom & Bloom, said: “We’ve been working alongside Multiply, and we’re doing really well in our partnership together supporting our mums.
“Initially we created a wellbeing course, and one of the elements of that course is around money management and me.
“So we delivered that course together with Multiply, and it looks at maximising income, reducing expenditure and creating a budgeting plan.
“Since we’ve opened our new development hub we’ve expanded that course with Multiply.
“The first three weeks are the key things for what mums and babies need, well in fact anybody needs, which is all around the money management, but then we’ve expanded that into money, numbers and maths.
“It’s giving people a potential to look at where their skillset is with maths, just looking at basic managing money, but then also looking at their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and then potentially looking at continuing to a maths qualification, maybe at GCSE level.
“It’s open not just to mums and babies - we’ve seen people from all walks of life come in to access. We’ve had two young new mums, we’ve got another couple of mums who are in a different stage in life, perhaps left education maybe 10 years ago.
“We’ve had dads in, and then we’ve got another lady who’s not a mum, who’s just been past and wants to brush up on her skills with managing her money.
“It’s really great, the course that’s being offered in the community here, and we’re thankful for Multiply.”
Sarah Jones-Wallace, a learner on the Money, Numbers and Maths course, said: “I don’t think anyone can ever prepare you for the huge change a little one will bring to your life, and one of the big changes is obviously money. Children are very expensive, and there’s nothing you can do to escape that expense, unfortunately.
“Being off work, being on maternity pay, and coming to a course like this really helps me to understand how I can make the most out of that money, what are the important things that I need to be spending my money on, but also how I can save for the future.”
Jemma Francis, who also did the course, said: “We all come together as parents so we can give each other ideas. A lot of us can be in the same sort of situation, and here I feel a bit more like I can openly discuss my debts and what I need real help with.”
Multiply tutor Samantha Hunt said: “With the Blossom and Bloom sessions, we’ve been looking at budgeting and money matters and the sessions are very practical.
“There’s lots of audience participation and involvement, lots of chances for discussion, and I always try and make sure there’s lots of practical games and activities.
“It’s lovely when you get a learner who says ‘I was really nervous about coming to the session, but I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m going to come back next week. I feel that my confidence has improved just through attending the session’.
“And then as the weeks go on and you do see learners who’ve been struggling, maybe with something that they now understand and they’ve got to grips with, that’s the best feeling in the world. It’s massively rewarding, and probably the main reason why I do the job that I do.”
Blossom & Bloom was founded in 2020 to address the impact of isolation when caring for young children, by providing emotional and practical help through events and structured education.
Alex Carter, Denbighshire’s Engagement Coordinator for Multiply, said: “I think our relationship with Blossom & Bloom encapsulates everything the Multiply project is trying to achieve.
“That’s working with those wonderful charities and organisations who operate in the hearts of communities, and working out how our bespoke numeracy courses can develop the skills of the people they work with.”
Multiply is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Grŵp Llandrillo Menai leads on the Multiply project in Gwynedd, Môn, Conwy and Denbighshire.
To be eligible for Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s free Multiply courses, you must be 19 years or over, and live within the counties of Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Conwy or Môn. For more information click here. To apply, email multiply@gllm.ac.uk, call 01492 542 338, or complete this online form.
The Multiply project has worked with a broad range of organisations across North Wales, helping to improve the numeracy confidence of the people they work with. For more on how Multiply could benefit your business or organisation, click here.