St Albans mums join forces for tea towel project in aid of family charity

A group of mums have turned a self-mocking tongue-in-cheek Facebook post into a novelty tea towel to raise money for the charity Home Start.

In a jokey thread on the St Albans Mums page, entitled “I live in St Albans but I’ve never ...”, hundreds of mothers finished off the sentence with examples of clichés that they don’t partake in.

The post quickly captured the imagination of the motherhood massive – so much so, that it’s now been used to inspire a tea towel design.

Responses completing the above phrase include comments such as “been up the clock tower”, “done yoga”, “owned a four by four”.

Many relate to en masse consuming of wine, coffee, Hunter wellies, Bugaboo buggies and Ugg boots.

Trendy mid-market eateries Jamie’s Italian, The Pudding Stop and The Waffle House get a mention as they are comically recognised as typically frequented by your average St Albans mum.

Waitrose, Ocado and John Lewis also make the grade on the design of the £10, locally screen-printed tea towels. They will be 100 per cent cotton.

There’s even a special – if a little politically incorrect - mention for the infamous “hot Amazon delivery man”.

Made by local creative company, Homespun Living, £6 will go to Home Start, a charity which provides practical help to struggling families.

The cathedral city was recently reported to be the third most expensive place to live in the UK, with the average house price being £415,000, requiring an annual salary of £107K.

Karen Snook, who set up the popular Facebook page which has more than 4,500 members, said: “Let’s raise some money for charity. Between a picture, amusing Facebook post and the fast actions of local company Homespun Living, here it is. Get buying, let’s see how fast we can turn this around.”

They have been inundated with pre-orders since the project was announced, and have already hit their minimum pre-order of 70 to go ahead with a first ‘limited edition’ print run of 200.

Stockists include The Courtyard Cafe, Hatfield Road and The Calling Cobbler, in Marshalswick. But if you buy it direct, from www.homespunliving.co.uk, £6 goes to Homestart, as opposed to £1.50.