Cathedral to hold service to remember lost babies
LLANDAFF Cathedral in Cardiff will hold one of 20 services of remembrance being held across the UK for families, couples and individuals affected by the loss of a baby.
The service will be held on Saturday October 12 at 2.30pm.
It is for families who have suffered the loss of a baby during pregnancy, at birth or in infancy.
The ‘Saying Goodbye’ services launched in 2012, and have since been held in six countries with more than 120 services being held to date.
The service coincides with the national week of events to commemorate Baby Loss Awareness Week.
The services are organised by leading support charity, The Mariposa Trust, which provides support that reaches more than 50,000 people each week and helps people affected by baby loss, pregnancy after baby loss, fertility, adoption and more.
The charity was founded by Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates, who sadly suffered the loss of five babies.
They saw that there was an extreme lack of support available to parents like them, and so decided to start the ‘Saying Goodbye’ services. The Mariposa Trust has become the leading support charity in this field, and this led to Zoe being appointed by the Secretary of State for Health and 10 Downing Street to chair the ‘National Pregnancy Loss Review’, looking at all pre-24-week baby loss in the UK.
Sadly baby loss affects around 1 in 4 pregnancies each year in the UK, with nearly 700 babies lost each day.
When parents go through the devastating loss of a baby, whether during pregnancy, at birth or in infancy, they often feel isolated and unable to process the overwhelming grief and trauma that miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal and early years loss brings.
The services allow people to stand with others who have experienced the similar trauma of baby loss, and collectively acknowledge and remember each life lost.
The services are open to people of faith or no faith, whether people have lost recently or decades ago, and welcome not only parents, but also the extended family and friends.