People who have lost babies are being invited to light a candle or leave a message at St Peter’s Church, Harrogate next week.
Baby Loss Awareness Week, which runs from October 9 to 15, is an awareness and support campaign around pregnancy and baby loss.
One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage and 250 babies are stillborn every day in the UK.
Reflect, a pregnancy loss support charity, will be holding a Light a Candle remembrance event from 12.45pm to 2pm on Tuesday at St Peter’s Church. People will be able to light a candle or leave a message in remembrance of their loss.
Baby Loss Awareness Week, now in its 20th year, enables those affected to come together to remember and commemorate lost children.
The week also provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the impact of pregnancy and baby loss and the importance of bereavement support.
Tanya Allen from Reflect charity said:
“We hope that our Light a Candle event will provide an opportunity for local bereaved parents and families to remember their precious babies. We also would like anyone dealing with the pain of pregnancy and baby loss to know that there is support available; at Reflect we provide free one-to-one support for individuals and couples.”
Baby Loss Awareness Week is observed internationally and culminates with the Wave of Light on October 15, when people across the world light a candle at 7pm local time and leave it burning to remember all babies that have died too soon.
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Light a candle for lost babies, urges Harrogate charity
The Harrogate branch of the pregnancy crisis support charity Reflect is asking people to light candles next week to remember babies that died during pregnancy.
The candles will form a virtual wave of life during Baby Loss Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow.
The week raises awareness of pregnancy and baby death in the UK.
This year will focus on the isolation many people experience after pregnancy and baby loss – women, partners, other family members and friends, especially since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
To get involved, Reflect is asking people to light a candle at 7pm on October 15 and share a photo of it online, accompanied by the hashtag #WaveofLight.
Landmarks across the UK will light up blue and pink, and virtual services will be held as part of the week-long activities.
Tanya Allen, manager of Reflect Harrogate said:
“We hope that Baby Loss Awareness Week will spark conversations about baby loss and give local bereaved parents and families an opportunity to talk about their precious babies.
“For some people Covid has meant that they have felt more isolated in their loss, and for others the slowdown has caused the past pain of loss to surface, which they may now need to process.”
Tanya Allen, manager of Reflect
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Reflect provides free and confidential support services for individuals and couples to help them cope with their bereavement.
For further information about Baby Loss Awareness Week visit: www.babyloss-awareness.org