Evesham Breastfeeding Mothers (EBM) is celebrating 20 years of supporting families in the Evesham area with a bring and share lunch next weekend.

The group, which runs every Friday from noon until 2pm in the town's Baptist Church in Cowl Street, started out in 1999 as a joint initiative of health visitors, midwives and National Childbirth Trust breastfeeding counsellors keen to increase breastfeeding rates and to help women who want to breastfeed to overcome any early difficulties that they might experience.

NCT breastfeeding counsellor Jane Watson-Davis said: "The group is primarily known for its warm welcome, greatly enhanced by a cup of tea and a choice of home-made cakes.

"For some women, it is the first place that they breastfeed outside the privacy of their own home and the safety of the group enables them to build the confidence to feed out and about in the course of everyday life.

"Firm friendships have been forged over the years between new mums at the group who often have no local network of family and friends.

"This is especially true for the many women from overseas who have been welcomed by the group from countries as diverse as Russia, the United States, Costa Rica and Nigeria.

"The group’s longevity owes a great deal to the generosity of the Baptist Church which has offered the use of the hall free of charge for all these years."

The event takes place at noon on Saturday, November 30.

Jane said: "At the bring and share lunch we hope to welcome both current and former members of the group with their babies/toddlers/children and, who knows, even their teenagers and twentysomethings!"

Further information is available on the Evesham Breastfeeding Mothers facebook page.