Not a daft question at all. Our kids are our most treasured possession. I've never been in this position myself, but I would certainly go with a babysitting firm that is well established. I would also like to know as much as possible about the babysitter eg. how long she's worked there, possibly see copies of references etc. Don't be afraid to ask questions. It's pointless going out if you can't relax enough to enjoy. You don't say how old your child is. Would she be comfortable with a stranger?

Thanks for the reply. She is 13 months now so will be 18 months when we're away. Hopefully she would be asleep all the time. At the moment she sleeps from 7pm onwards and won't wake till morning, but then Sods Law applies whenever there are babysitters around!

I know that this is rather like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it's the best thing I can suggest .............. and I know it will be pricey ...

What about making contact with the Norland Nursery Nurses training college and seeing if one of their graduates living locally might be able to help, or even someone from the College itself?

Might the hotel in which you are staying have a trained nursery nurse available on the hotel staff or someone who can be employed on an irregular basis but has been background checked by the hotel?

Sorry that my suggestion is a bit but I can understand the difficult you are facing and that's the only thing I can think of at the moment. Good luck and hope that you DO find someone suitable, AND that you enjoy your concert!!

Hi

quite a lot of hotels in Poole offer Babysitting services..........and there's no shortage of good hotels to choose from. This one for instance

http://www.fjbhotels.co.uk/our-hotels/harbour-heights/general-info/

quotes:

kev

Gemma, you might want to have a look at these 2 websites:

http://www.sitters.co.uk/home.aspx

http://www.hopesanddreams.co.uk/index.asp?pageId=17

In my dim and distant youth I used to work for a babysitting agency in London. Well I did ironing too ..but I digress. It's not cheap but the sitter comes to you.

There might be info of some use here?
http://www.askyourneighbour.co.uk/lalist.php?tid=11719&cid=0&jid=227

I'm assuming that if you use an agency of some sort then they ought to have run checks upon the sitters? Also registered childminders are subject to a range of checks (but I think that's for operating from their own home, and many don't offer overnight care). It might be worth speaking to the Council?
http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/Learning/Under5s/ChildMinders/le-ec-rc-whyregisteredchildminder.htm

Obviously you'll want to be satisfied that you can check out whoever you want to use.