Double trouble? Not for these parents of twins as Fareham play group saved by charity

Fareham and Gosport Twin Club, based in Oak Meadow Children's Centre, Tewkesbury Avenue, closed more than four months ago after the co-ordinating parents were no longer able to keep it running.

But now the group has been relaunched, as a playgroup for twins from birth to four years old, supported by the charity Southampton Twins, in Kings Community Church, Hedge End.

For Jane Young, who had travelled from Eastleigh to attend the opening with her four-year-old twins Oli and Jake, the groups are ‘a lifeline’ for her and other parents.

She said: ‘I wouldn’t have survived without this group. It would have been too much.

‘My boys were born 28 weeks premature. It’s fairly common for twins to be born premature, and it means so much to be with other parents who have gone through the same experiences.’

There is ‘not enough support out there’ for the parent’s of twins, according to Jane.

She said: ‘Everyone jokes about buy-one-get-one-free offers, and getting two for the price of one. But the reality is that life can be more expensive when you have twins. You have to sterilize twice as many bottles for example, and not everything is discounted. Services that are one-to-one, like baby massages, mean you cannot do it if you have twins.’

Southampton Twins is planning to launch a Southsea group later in year, with all the groups catering for triplets and quadruplets.

Jane added: ‘The group would be much needed – if you google ‘Portsmouth twins’, at the moment you get a load of websites for a Chinese restaurant.’

Southampton Twins has given more than £750 in charitable donations to parents in need over the last three years.

Emily Gillett, chairwoman of the group, said: ‘We have helped a woman buy a triple buggy for her children. One lady has two sets of twins and she has terminal cancer – so we helped pay for a trip to Disneyland Pairs for Christmas.’

The Fareham play group will run every fortnight on a Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Attendance is £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members.