Helen – Guilty Mothers Club

When I first started out on this journey I had no ideas of the groups, networks and friends I was about to find. One of the first events I went to, with a sample jar and a few ideas was in a co-working space where a group of women chatted through our ideas, got advice and had some time to put plans in place. I loved it, while we were there the lady running the session, Helen Bryce told s about her new course, Game Changers, I NEEDED to do it… Except I didn’t – I had my Game Changer, I’m still gutted in a lot of ways now!

Two years later the Guilty Mothers Club, is going from strength to strength and I count Helen as a friend – and recommend her courses to everyone I meet! I’ll let Helen introduce herself as I’ve gone on long enough! Hi Helen, thanks for chatting to me today, tell us about yourself and what you do?I’m Mum of three (7, 5 and 3), soon to be four – pregnant with our fourth due in October – eeek. I’m also the founder of Guilty Mothers Club which is an online development hub and membership community for mums. I run workshops online on things like how to make a career change to find work you love around a family (Game Changers), get organised (one of my favourite topics ever) and return to work after maternity leave.

My background is in HR (training and development) and I started it nearly 4 years ago after experiencing maternity discrimination and wanting to make a change to my work / life set up (I previously had a long commute / hours in a job I didn’t enjoy) but not having any idea where to start. 

Tell us about your first date?

I’ve been with my husband since sixth form (so about 18 years…I think?!) I seem to remember we went to the cinema and Pizza Express fairly early on. We watched Bugs Life (errr, a kids film, what the hell?) I remember feeling really grown up going out for dinner to somewhere I thought was quite posh – haha.

When was your last date? 

We are normally really good at doing something monthly, it’s really important to me. However, since being pregnant this has properly slipped. A few weeks ago my sister had the kids on a Saturday morning and we went to Altrincham market for a few hours to have coffee and read the papers. I asked whether we should really chat but we both decided we just wanted to read in peace. It was excellent! 

What about the best date?

Ahhh the night we got engaged probably. In beautiful Edinburgh, gorgeous hotel, he asked me to marry him in our hotel room before dinner. It was slightly comical because the radio was on and some sort of hardcore dance tune started right at that moment in the background. Which then made it funny. But then I kept bursting into tears through dinner I was so emotional about it.

This is all confirming that I am a brilliant date…

And, the worst date you’ve ever been on? 

On the whole I hate the cinema so any of those dates (surprising considering my earlier answer). It is so loud and apparently talking is frowned upon. Though I do also remember we ended up at Royals night club in Manchester one year, I mean that was grim…and messy. 

Finally, what is your dream date? 

So you’ve probably gathered that food is quite a big part of our lives. Hence it would involve a really good meal that probably lasts for a good few hours with lots of courses and lots of wine. That’s a bit obvious I know.

And I am also slightly obsessed with lighting and atmosphere. Friends laugh at how I’ll actually take lamps or candles on holiday rather than sit with the big light on, it really bothers me, ha. So it would be dimly lit and the setting would be beautiful. We had dinner at Jamies 15 restaurant in Newquay, Watergate Bay a good few years ago now and the setting right on the beach was incredible. We watched the sun go down whilst eating beautiful food. And it would be with James McAvoy….joking. Though he is seriously hot don’t you think? It would have to be with Gazzy, he makes me laugh and wouldn’t judge me for slurping my drink or spilling food all over my face.

Pretty early on I remember him genuinely being impressed with how I could devour spare ribs. I knew then that he was a keeper 🙂

Guilty Mothers Club has a really cool Facebook group to chat about all things working motherhood and you can find Helen on Instagram too.Thanks Helen – now feet up and all the best with the new arrival xx