About Us
A nest for every family
Hello!
The Bird Box was founded in 2023 by two mothers, Natasha Kurth and Amy Glenister-Marshall.
They recognised a very real need in South Manchester: the creation of a safe, welcoming, and genuinely inclusive space where families with young children could come together to play, connect, and grow.
Rooted in Whalley Range, The Bird Box was designed from the ground up to reflect and serve all the families who call this area home.
We offer a progressive programme of baby classes and toddler sessions, a weekly Toddler Café, community partnerships, and a growing community garden - all shaped around what local families truly need.
There is no one-size-fits-all here. Every session, every meal, every project is created with care and intention.
Run by Volunteers
With co-founder Natasha Kurth at the helm, the Bird Box is run by a small collective of volunteers made up of local parents.
Each volunteer has a different role to play, from trained facilitators in the baby and toddler classes and chefs in the cafe, to marketing support, local artists and trained gardeners who share their skills.
Natasha Kurth
Who are we for?
Our sessions are open to anybody who wants to spend quality, uninterrupted time with their child in a supportive environment.
It is for adults who wish to deepen their relationship and understanding of their unique child through observation and child led play.
We also welcome people with an interest in learning the basics of Montessori philosophy.
Our History
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The Bird Box was founded in 2023 by Natasha Kurth and Amy Glenister-Marshall.
Drawing upon the richness of their backgrounds in education, the creative industries and new motherhood, they created The Bird Box, offering calm, creative and nurturing play spaces to support young families at what can often be an isolating time.
The ambition was to create thoughtfully-designed and sensitively-facilitated sessions to support both children and adults simultaneously; deepening child-parent relationships and understanding each unique child through observation and child led play!
And so The Bird Box began as a Montessori-inspired play space for toddlers and their grown-ups. We ran a once a week ‘pop-up session’ from its first home; St Werburghs Church Hall in Chorlton.
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In 2024 The Bird Box partnered with Longsight Family Hubs. We designed and developed an outreach programme working in Gorton Mount Road and Ardwick Children’s centres.
During this time both Amy and Natasha also welcomed their third children into the world!
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In 2025 The Bird Box moved to its current home in Whalley Range, a former caretaker's cottage on the Manley Park Infant School site.
Since moving in, we’ve made low budget improvements to the space, ran a range of community consultation events and piloted our new programme.
In September 2025 we launched our extended programme, supporting families all the way from birth to preschool.
We also secured funding to run two fully funded projects:
Toddler Soup - toddler cooking sessions
MAKE Space - A creative arts project for new mums
Lastly, we launched Manchester’s First Toddler Cafe - a weekly drop in space for young families during term time.
St Werberghs
Longsight Family Hubs
Whalley Range
Breastfeeding Friendly
The Bird Box are proud to have joined the Breastfeeding Network (BfN) Breastfeeding Friendly scheme to show our commitment in supporting breastfeeding families in our premises and beyond.
The aims of the BfN Breastfeeding Friendly scheme are to:
Support and empower families to feel confident breastfeeding out and about, as is their legal right
Offer a way for businesses to show that they are working towards welcoming and supporting
breastfeedingRaise awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding and of the barriers parents may face
The scheme is not an official endorsement from The Breastfeeding Network but an acknowledgement that we have made a commitment to welcome and support breastfeeding.
Your right to breastfeed in public places is protected by law. For breastfeeding support call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212
For more information about the work of The Breastfeeding Network charity and their Breastfeeding Friendly Scheme please visit https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/
Community Interest Company
The Bird Box is a Community Interest Company (CIC) - a non-profit structure that means every penny generated goes back into supporting families.
We work in partnership with schools, health services, charities, and cultural organisations across South Manchester to ensure we remain connected to what families actually need.
Why ‘The Bird Box’?
In the early days of The Bird Box, Natasha and Amy would travel from site to site by bike, with a box each full of toys and resources strapped to the back.
With their children named after types of birds, thus 'the ‘Bird Box’ was born!