Families’ lost babies remembered with Oban wave of light
Candles representing bereaved Argyll families have been lit in Oban as part of a global wave of light remembering lost babies.
The Wave of Light and Love is an international event where families in every time zone around the world on October 15 at 7pm lit a candle to honour the memory of their babies.
As a member of Baby Loss Awareness UK Alliance, Appin-based child loss charity Anam Cara Fasgadh’s founder Susan Simpson said it was an honour to organise the ceremony attended by parents, grandparents and siblings.
Candles on the night at Oban Commercial Lodge in Albany Street were lit to represent 15 families from Argyll and a special heart shaped candle was lit on behalf of the those who had lost babies years and decades ago from an era when babies were taken away immediately and families would not know where they were buried.
One of Anam Cara Fasgadh’s Youth Champions, Mrs Simpson’s daughter Charis, 14, lit candles at the ceremony in memory of her sisters Alex and Eilidh Beth.
Mrs Simpson said: ‘We have been organising Wave of Light events since 2011, when we lived in Inverness, but the first Wave of Light we took part in was a mere eight days after Eilidh Beth’s funeral in October 2010. We were all staying in a cottage in Craignure, on the Isle of Mull, with my mum and dad, still very raw and trying to come to terms with her death. I can still see that single candle, lit on the windowsill of the cottage, overlooking the bay at Craignure – as the light shone out into the darkness we all drew such comfort knowing that at that very moment, around the world in this very time zone, countless other families were doing the very same thing – sending out waves of love and light for the babies they so wished they were reading a bedtime story to.’
It was two bereaved mums in America who originally started the Wave of Light and in 2002 it was introduced in the UK when British mum Marion Currie, and others she had met through the death of her daughter and son, decided to join the American families they had met online.
Mrs Currie was invited to Anam Cara Fasgadh’s welcome event at the Scottish Parliament last month where she invited the charity to join the alliance of 60 charities for Baby Loss Awareness UK. As part of that alliance, campaigners are calling for parents who experience pregnancy or baby loss to get specialist psychological support at a time and place that is right for them when they need it, free of charge, wherever they live.
To give families in this area a chance to enjoy the outdoors and be with others who understand the grief of losing a baby, child or young person, regular ‘Walk and Talk’ get-togethers are in the pipeline.
Anyone interested can either call Mrs Simpson on 07771 358382 or email her at susan.simpson@anamcarafasgadh.org