The Downing Tweet Party
Last Friday MumsRock went to the Downing Tweet Christmas Party. The party was in support of the Million Mums Campaign which we organised a jolly tweet-a-thon for, back in October. And we did wonder whether writing about it would be really, like soooo uncool. But we decided to heck with that. It was way too exciting to keep to ourselves. So here's what happened the night we went to number 10.
Many of the tweeters there were long time supporters of the Million Mums Campaign. but this was no charity clique, there were techies, mummy bloggers, celebs, politicos, musos...well you get the picture. The Muffia was out there in force (by whom I mean those witty, thought-provoking female writers in the broadsheets) so it was a thrill to meet many of them in person. Emma Freud was just gorgeous, India Knight was thrifty and fabulous, and Alphamummy's Caitlin Moran was just as funny in person as she is in web-print. Especially considering as she said, she was so festive that she was already, '98% mincemeat.'
Walking up those famous stairs we were passed by a galloping PM who paused long enough to say hello and wish us all a good evening. Gordon even popped back in later on, having a long conversaton with among others, mummy blogger @SandyCalico (although she claims she can't remember a word of what was said. Pull the other one Sandy, it's got sleigh bells on!)
MumsRock also met the lovely Carrie from MumsNet who shared our lament over the lack of career opportunites for forty-something mothers, despite their experience. And gobby Richard Bacon made us a solomn promise to join the Million Mums Campaign as soon as he got home. Tick tock Richard - we're waiting!
Soul diva Beverley Knight wowed the crowd with a couple of songs casually belted out by a beautifully baubled Christmas Tree, accompanied by a man on a Hammond Organ. It was like Bing Crosby only much cooler ,and with less knitwear. And the twits and tweeters mingled and muddled together with no silly VIP ropes to spoil the fun. Bloggers, net-geeks, journos, DJ's and the President of the WI face-to-face-twittered happily, united simply through the curious power that is Twitter.
And that was the most mesmerising aspect of the evening. That this odd little social media tool could bring together such a wildly disparate group of good (and often rather brilliant) people was a revelation. One woman was invited purely for having being Sarah's 1,000th follower. At one point she was stood next to the X Factor's Brian Friedmann and Location x 3's Kirstie Allsop, probably wondering which particular rabbit hole she had in fact fallen down. Best of all Sarah said a few words reminding everyone of the importance of the Million Mums Campaign. And whatever you think of Gordon's politics, and whether Labour has lost it's way, blah blah blah. Sarah is clearly one of us. She's one of the 'good guys'.
One final reminiscence from the night, which may not, admittedly, show us in the best light, although we are convinced it was more a result of faulty acoustics than anything else. On being introduced to a tweeter who ran a website for 'label supporters' we enquired why he felt 'labels' needed extra support, since when we last checked Gucci and Prada were riding the recession well. No, the site is for Labour Supporters he told us. Although he did add that he liked what we'd done with our outfit. So it wasn't all bad.
So now we've shared the gossip - we'd like you to click on the link below and join the campaign. It's free and will help raise awareness on the issue of Maternal Mortality. So that one day we don't have to face the awful statistic that betrays the lack of basic healthcare in many countries for girls and women. Half a million of them die in pregnancy or childbirth every year. That's a massive loss of life and of course the reprecussions for their children and families are often as depressing.
Click here and do a good thing. And exercise that good old power of 'mum'. Sarah Brown's blog post on the night which was published on the excellent Huffington Post can be viewed here.
Finally, if you fancy a spot of video about it - this has just posted on the White House Correspondents Weekend Insider website by the very lovely Gretel Truong .
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