Slough had always been that place on the train line just before London. I never really thought about it until I became a huge fan of The Office and in my mind it was a grey place on the way to London.
After I got married my husband and I faced the fact that if we ever wanted to buy a house, we would have to leave London behind. We decided we would like to be able to commute to London and be nearer our families who live in Oxfordshire. So, when we looked at a map the Slough area seemed to be a
good option for us. Good friends of ours had moved to the area the year before, not to Slough though, but between “Windsor and Maidenhead, definitely not Slough”.
We moved in the winter and commuted into London daily, barely seeing the area in daylight until the spring. By that time, I was expecting our first child and wondering what life would be like, living in an
area where I hardly knew anyone.
Slough is the place I became a mother and found a new part of myself. The part of myself that felt so strongly that I could not go back to work teaching English in London. I became a stay-at-home mum. My daughter and I went to every single baby group going within a 30 minutes’ walk. I was amazed to discover how much choice there was; church toddler groups, library groups, children’s centres, music groups, … we were spoilt for choice and out every single day.
We soon had a great network of friends, I bonded with the other sleep-deprived mothers, many who had also recently moved to the area. I ran a reusable party kit side hussle and people from all over the area came to borrow boxes of colourful and reusable cups and plates for their kids parties in exchange for donation to a local charity, The Baby Bank. Slough quickly became a place of, playdates, toddler groups and kids’ parties.
When my second baby was 15 months old the whole country went into Lockdown. Our “social life” of playdates abruptly ended and so did the party kits. Yikes all that time at home with two kids! What would we do without the toddler groups and our friends?! Funnily enough this was the time I felt more connected to the community than ever! I soon became part of the Haymill Volunteer Group and baked cakes for Slough Outreach to distribute. My street started a WhatsApp group and we all got to know each other, supported each other with shopping and clapped every Thursday together. Two years running a neighbour organised a Street Advent calendar for the kids at Christmas. Slough became a place of community, support and kindness.
I have been here 9 years now. The children are now at school. I’m teaching English in Slough, meeting people from all over the world who have all found themselves in this area for a myriad of reasons. We spend a lot of time in class discussing the area.
The positives always outweigh the negatives. It is no longer the grey place on the way to London. It is a place of opportunity where new friendships and connections are made, community thrives and it is becoming more colourful every day.
