Valleys memorial garden opens
A GARDEN for grieving parents and families who have lost infants and children has opened in the Cynon Valley after a huge community fundraising effort.
The Baby Memorial Garden has officially opened at Llwydcoed Crematorium after more than £12,000 was raised to install a statue, benches and shrubbery where families can reflect and grieve young loved ones.
The huge amount was raised in just six months after a group of bereaved parents, family, and midwives came together to raise awareness.
Various fundraising efforts were held including cake sales, fun days, sponsored runs and raffles from the Cynon Valley community, and help from stillbirth and neonatal death charity, Sands.
Mountain Ash-based Rebecca Walker, whose son Oliver lived for just 25 days, played her part in making the garden a reality.
She said: “We just want to thank the community for raising all this money and although the garden is still being developed, it is a beautiful place. It’s a space where people can go and scatter ashes, where they can sit and reflect.
“It’s devastating when a baby dies but things like this, people coming together, is really fantastic. We hope lots of people will gain comfort from the memorial garden, it’s the most beautiful place. We hope to plan annual events in the garden as a way of remembrance.”
She said the garden was a “perfect example” of how amazing communities pulling together can be, adding: “Thanks to the staff at Llwydcoed Crematorium who have gone above and beyond, and the most amazing stone masons Heritage Stone Masons, who have exceeded all our expectations and dreams.”
It officially opened with an event back in December, but Rebecca said the garden was a “working project”.
It will continue to develop further over the coming months and years, including more plants, shrubs and benches to be added, she said.
The opening came after Sands provided half of the £12,000 needed for the main statue, which bears the words “forever in our hearts if not in our arms”. The community provided the other half through various fundraising events.
Rebecca added: “Merthyr and RCT councils have also been a great help, and the money is still coming in, believe it or not.
“There’s been lots of lovely feedback since. We’d like to thank so many people but cannot name everybody as the list would be endless.
“Once it’s established, any money left over will be used for bereavement charities.”
Rebecca is just one of dozens who helped make the garden a reality. She gave birth to son Oliver – weighing 2lb 3oz – on June 14, 2015, 26 weeks and three days into her pregnancy.
Oliver was being cared for at the St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, London, after Rebecca gave birth while on holiday in Wimbledon. Her son tragically died in hospital on July 8.
Following Oliver’s death, various fundraising events followed, and the community helped raise £8,550 for a new machine for the hospital where he was cared for.