As a parent who raised her child in Halton, I always keep abreast (pardon the pun) of the growing services on offer to those with children and new babies. When I became a Mum the local Children's Centre's were a godsend. Baby weigh-ins at Kingsway Library. Stay and play music sessions at Warrington Road Children's centre, fundays at Ditton Community Centre- I signed up to as many as I could, finding having a focus for the week and a steady flow of reasons to leave the house kept me from feeling isolated and helped me build a network of parents going through the same things at the same time.

In spring 2025 I was contacted by Halton Family Hubs (who now run the children's centre offerings in Halton) who were running a programme of creative writing workshops in Runcorn and Widnes, led by writer Rachel New. These sessions offered local women a space to reflect on and share their personal stories of breastfeeding and motherhood.

The Hub wanted images that not only celebrated these women's breastfeeding journeys, but images that were also recognisably Halton- shot on location out and about in Runcorn and Widnes in iconic locations, to help remove the stigma of breastfeeding and show that you can literally feed anywhere you feel comfortable to do so. They were keen to include partners and siblings to show how breastfeeding fits in with everyday family life too.

I attended the workshop and saw first hand the safe space that had been created for these amazing women to share and create together. I was so pleased at the enthusiasm for the opportunity to have their breastfeeding portraits created by me, and the trust they gave me to do this for them in a natural, beautiful and considered way.

Some of the women taking part were confident feeders, having breastfed several of their children over the years, and some had literally never fed in public before, but through the workshops had grown in confidence and were keen to take part.

Every single one of these women felt that Rachel's workshops had been like therapy for them. They had processed emotions, they had challenged deep rooted beliefs and most of all they had found friendship and support, growing their own little village of Mum's who held each other up and celebrated each and every ones strength.

Locations included

Pex Hill, Victoria Park, Spike Island, Halton Castle, Daresbury Firs, Runcorn Town Hall, Runcorn Hill Park, Norton Priory, Wigg Island

Real life

As well as shooting in nature, we decided it would also be good to include images of breastfeeding in real life situations- Esposito's Cafe in Victoria Park welcomed us in, as did Kingsway Library and the iconic Widnes Train station was an ideal location to show how feeding is convenient on the fly!

Celebration Event & Exhibition

In the summer, Halton Family Hubs held a wonderful Breast Feeding Celebration at the Victoria Park Glass house in Widnes, with plenty of activities, music and an exhibition of my images alongside the poems and creative works of the Mums who took part. Many of the inspiring Mums who took part read their poems and it was a great opportunity for other local parents to learn about the workshops, services the hub provide and to get a copy of the poems and portraits booklet to take home. I was lucky enough to be asked to attend and photograph the event- it felt like a full circle moment!

Life goes on...

As 2026 begins, I'm continuing to support Halton Family Hubs, photographing their workshops, drop in sessions and more "real life" in home sessions to illustrate the beauty and simplicity of breastfeeding and how it can seamlessly fit in to your life, without stigma.

Halton Family Hubs ambition was - and still is - for breastfeeding to become the “norm” in Halton, an area with traditionally lower breastfeeding rates than average in the UK, and what better way to initiate this than through images of everyday families living their lives.

READ THE "BETWEEN US" POEMS HERE