Twistin Tots began as a Tuesday afternoon session in Belper in June 2006, when Jacqui was six months pregnant with her second child. She couldn’t find any other music classes locally and as her (then) 16-month old daughter loved music and dancing, she thought she’d get something started.

Jacqui was always musical and theatrical, which combined with a background in marketing – in the education and training fields – meant she did have some idea of what she was doing! The Tuesday class was a great success and a Friday class followed a year later in October 2007, with a second Friday class – to meet demand – starting soon after in November 2007 and in a few years she was running 14 classes weekly.

In 2013, 2-hour Music & Play sessions were introduced, combining the fun of the Twistin Tots music session with an additional open play session for the same price.

In January 2014, our first new class – Twistin Tinies Adventures – for parents and carers with children under 18 months – was launched in Belper. Our new parents had been asking for their own class for a while and the time was right. We introduced our baby programme, not only to entertain our families but also form a Community where they could meet other parents with babies of a similar age and get parenting advice – something that came into its own when Covid hit!! In 2019, we bought another baby business – Baby World & Me – and combined the best elements of both programmes, making our Twistin Tinies Adventures classes even better!

In October 2017, we were awarded Gold Star Accreditation from the Children’s Activities Association (CAA). (subsequently reassessed and reawarded in 2023) which gave parents the peace of mind of knowing that all of our classes had been assessed to be of a very high standard and offering sessions which helped your children to learn and develop key skills. In 2018, we introduced our intergenerational sessions – Twistin Tots Golden – where we took our classes into Care Homes allowing our children and parents to mix with elderly residents. These sessions were proving to be a great success until Covid arrived and we have just resurrected them in June 2025.

In 2019 Twistin Tots and Twistin Tinies Adventures were nominated and became Finalists in the What’s on 4 Kids national Awards. This was been the same for the 7 consecutive years.

During Lockdown, we received the 3 Gold Kite Award from ICAP (their highest Award) and in 2021 we won 4 Awards in the Every Giggle Awards. 2024 saw us nominated in 3 categories of the local Lots for Tots Awards; in 2025, we were nominated in four categories and reached the Finals for Best Session Leader; and in 2026, we were nominated in 4 categories and reached the final for Best Toddler class.

During Lockdown Jacqui ran classes for free over Facebook for 20 weeks, 5-days a week to help keep our parents sane, plus she then developed our Private Members’ Areas which customers at our face-to-face classes would receive access to as part of their class fee. This included tips, activities, useful information and a video of one of our classes.

After 20 years, Jacqui decided to move on to pastures new, having loved every minute of running Baby and toddler classes. She says, “Running Twistin Tots for over 20 years has been such a privilege. I’ve met so many wonderful people and brought joy to literally thousands of families. I’m sad to leave, but wanted to go out on a high and 20 years seemed like the appropriate time. I wish Cat every success in continuing my legacy!!

Jacqui is not one to sit quietly, and is now retraining to be a funeral /celebration of life Celebrant. She can be contacted via Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.