What Late Create Actually Looks Like (And Why Mums Especially Need One)

There’s a moment, sometime around 10.45am on a Thursday morning, when I’m sitting around a table at the Brewhouse with Jess and a room full of new mums at Brew & Do, that I think: this is one of the best hours of the week.

Not because it’s polished or perfect, but because it isn’t. There are babies being fed, nappy bags, mashed up strawberries, someone’s little one has just discovered they can make a very loud sound with their mouth and is absolutely delighted about it. In the middle of all of that, the mums are painting, really talking, about sleep (or the lack of it), about how strange it feels to suddenly not recognise yourself, about how much they love their babies and how much they miss their brains.

I know that feeling. I’ve sat in rooms like that, which is exactly why I started Late Create.

But here’s the thing about that particular kind of exhaustion, it doesn’t only live in the newborn stage. It shape-shifts. The babies grow into toddlers, the toddlers grow into school children, and the mums just quietly keep putting themselves last. The names of the things they’re tired of change, but the underlying feeling doesn’t.

Which is why, when I’m setting out tables at Trull Community Centre for a Late Create, I always think about both ends of the spectrum.

So what actually happens at a Late Create evening?

You arrive at Trull Community Centre, there’s free parking nearby, and I’ll be at the door to greet you and sign in. It’s already warm and smells faintly of whatever I’ve found growing in my garden that I can put in a vase and homemade cakes. The tables are set up with materials in the separate workshop rooms, and we all gather in the central cafe area to meet each other and get a cup of something. There are small groups of people settling in, some people on their own and the workshop leaders are there to welcome you too. You don’t need to know anyone, because plenty of people come alone.

For the Spring event on Friday 17 April, doors open at 6.15pm and you’ve picked two workshops from the four on offer when you booked. This time round that’s hand-stamped bracelets with jewellery designer Charlotte of Agalia, printed bunting with illustrator Alex Williams, watercolour florals with Caroline Merrett, and heat transfer vinyl pouches with Ali. Each workshop runs for an hour in a small group, so it genuinely feels personal, with time to ask questions, make mistakes, and start again if you want to.

In the break between workshops, if you’ve pre-ordered, a fresh pizza from Sara’s Kitchen right here in Trull arrives at your table, which is one of those small details that turns a nice evening into a really good one.

Everything else is included in the £37 ticket: all materials, tea and coffee, and homemade cake. No kit to buy, nothing to prepare, no skill level required.

People who come alone almost always end up in conversation with someone by the end of the first hour. You leave at a reasonable time, because going home at midnight when you’ve got an early start with children is not a treat, it’s a punishment. You’ll be clutching two things you’ve made and usually a sense of having actually exhaled for the first time in a while.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, 15 March. If you’re thinking about what to gift a mum in your life, a ticket to Late Create is a lovely option, as there’s a gift card available on the website. But honestly, what I’d love even more is for the mums reading this to book it for themselves.

Not as a reward. Not because they’ve earned it. Just because an evening of making something with your hands, in good company, in a room where nobody needs anything from you for two hours, is a genuinely lovely thing.

Brew & Do on a Thursday morning at the Brewhouse is one kind of support, and Late Create on a Friday evening in April is another. Both have their place, and both are, at heart, about the same thing: women showing up for themselves and finding other women there when they do.