Comedy duo The Scummy Mummies bring unique show to Ely

Mothers gathered from all over in a church in Ely to hear the gods of honest parenting, and praise the book of the Scummy Mummies.

Comedy duo Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn, the self-titled Scummy Mummies, brought their unique show to St Peter’s Church in Ely on Thursday (June 22) as part of their nationwide book tour.

Dressed in their trademark gold catsuits, describing themselves as “fat Oscars”, the Scummy Mummies were on riotous form, delivering their honest parenting sermon with huge wit and warmth.

Their first book, published in March, is described by Helen as a “big mixture of our personal stories of motherhood, top tips from a few experts and scummy mummy confessions from our live shows and podcasts”.

“We didn’t want to write a book that told you how to do parenthood, because there’s enough of those out there – and Ellie and I know nothing – I think 99 per cent of us just get through it. The main thing is that you realise you’re not alone, that’s what we wanted the end result to be. That you’re not alone in this, in this crazy, wonderful, love and gin-fuelled adventure,” Helen added.

And this is at the heart of the Scummy Mummies podcast, show and book; that the love you have for your children and the pressure to be perfect sometimes has hilarious results, despite our best efforts.

These parenting mishaps were at the heart of the show; such was the openness and camaraderie that Helen and Ellie generated through their own candour, we all wrote our very own scummy mummy confessions.

Mine was that my 21-month-old sings Cbeebies theme tunes rather than nursery rhymes – and the winning confession, as decided by the congregation, was from a mum who passed on nits to all of her friends at a hen do.

Being a scummy mummy doesn’t mean you are in fact scummy, it just means that you are less-than-perfect.

Helen says she doesn’t feel the need to hide anything, that so often she writes or says something that is met with the response “thank god it’s not just me”.

“Recently I posted a picture of myself after a run and I have stretch marks almost up to my boobs and someone said I didn’t think anyone else had stretch marks like that, you’ve made me feel better. So I think there’s such power in sharing things, all those things that a lot of us have felt shame about or have hang-ups about or felt like we weren’t good enough, I think it’s really important to discuss that because it can be really debilitating and really hard,” Helen said.

And as the book advises, “most of all let’s have a good laugh” – something which the Scummy Mummies deliver wholeheartedly.

From group pelvic floor exercises to admitting that sometimes the best thing about motherhood is bedtime, Helen and Ellie captured the audience from the minute they strolled down the aisle in a rush of golden energy.

The show ended with their lively song ‘School PTA’ to the tune of YMCA, advising mums to stay away from the school PTA because “they will make you bake cakes, they will make you run stalls, you’ll be climbing the playground walls”. Advice heeded.

The Scummy Mummies show was brought to Ely by the booksellers, Topping and Company.

For a full list of their events, visit toppingbooks.co.uk.