Among the 100 or so walkers, who followed a route around an autumnal Avenham Park, was a shimmering of rainbows - children born after baby loss.
Post walk, all participants were invited into Baby Beat’s park gazebo for refreshments, which were sponsored by Amazon UK and staffed by a team of volunteers from the company’s nearby facilities centre.
Joanna Allitt, fundraising manager for Baby Beat, said: “The walk, which we hold during Baby Loss Awareness Week and precedes our service of reflection and remembrance at Fulwood’s St Cuthbert’s Church, is really lovely.
“It’s a very uplifting event. There’s a bond among our community of walkers, which doesn’t necessarily have to be voiced but is palpable. It’s like a hug, supporting those making their walk debut as well as those returning year on year. What is especially lovely is seeing the little rainbows. We are so grateful to our Walk to Remember sponsors and all those who joined us.”
This year’s walk, together with sales of remembrance ribbons for the remembrance tree at the Royal Preston Hospital and “wave of light” candles, raised more than £1,000 for Baby Beat.
The mums and babies charity has now funded two bereavement suites at the Royal Preston Hospital’s Sharoe Green Maternity Unit plus other equipment and comforts for grieving families. It is also funding an early pregnancy loss bereavement nurse specialist to work with families, who lose their baby to miscarriage at 16 weeks or under.
In addition to supporting bereavement services, Baby Beat, which is part of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity family, funds specialist equipment, patient services and comforts, clinical care, local research and training to benefit mums and newborns from the Preston and Chorley area, who use the unit for their maternity care and delivery.
The unit is also home to Lancashire and South Cumbria’s specialist Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). NICU looks after between 400-450 premature and poorly babies from across the two counties and their families annually. For further information on Baby Beat’s work and how to support the charity, visit www.babybeat.org.uk
5. Contributed
Kirsty and Lee Rigby joined Walk to Remember in memory of their daughter Evie, who was born sleeping. They were joined by their nephew and Evie’s cousin Freddie Hurst Photo: Submitted