Baby Loss Awareness Week 2020 marked in Clacton with special remembrance ribbon display

It's the second year the display has been put on to give families the chance to remember their little-ones.

Author: Arlen JamesPublished 14th Oct 2020

If you've visited the Memorial Gardens in Clacton this week you would have noticed pink, blue and white ribbons along the railings with touching messages on them.

They've been placed there to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, with every ribbon representing a baby who has lost their lives.

It's the second year it's been marked at the Memorial Gardens, and was organised by Maria Gormley who works for Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity.

Maria, who lost her daughter Laura to stillbirth, told Greatest Hits Radio it has a personal meaning for her.

She said: "I was only 18 when I lost her and things were so different back then, you didn't get a chance to make memories, I didn't even see her as she was wisped away from me. I've only got one polaroid photo of her, so it has a really deep meaning to me and that's why I wanted to do the ribbon display."

Written on the ribbons are messages from bereaved parents and their family members sending love to the children they weren't able to see grow up.

Maria continued: "It's somewhere for people to come along and remember their babies. On all the little ribbons you can write your baby's name, there's teddies on there, people have left flowers. It's just something people can do to remember their little-ones."

Maria chose to hold it at the Memorial Gardens as it was the perfect place for families to pay their respects, with a statue of an angel looking out to sea and a wishing well, which she said people usually relate with loss.

It's a touching display that has the full support of Tendring District Council, who has granted permission for the location to be used for Baby Awareness Week every year.

While there are countless ribbons tied to the railings, it only represents a fraction of baby's who have lost their lives.

Maria said: "I just cannot believe there are so many and that's obviously not all of them, it's just the people who have contacted me and asked to put a ribbon on. It's my way, I think, of giving something back to Laura because she's not here, so it's something I can do in her memory.

"It's just a lovely way to remember."

She's encouraging people who need support with baby loss to contact Sands, you can also donate to the charity via Maria's JustGiving page.