Shining a light on Baby Loss Awareness Week

Hunnaball Family Funeral Group are taking part in an initiative to raise the profile of pregnancy and infant loss and to give support to grieving families.
Baby Loss Awareness Week is an annual campaign which runs from October 9 to 15. Each year sees events, including ribbon displays and sponsored walks, taking place across the country to raise awareness of the week and its messages of hope, as well as generating funds for charities including Sands – the UK’s leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity.
With branches across Essex and Suffolk, Hunnaball Family Funeral Group will be supporting the campaign, which also lobbies for more research to improve pregnancy outcomes and save babies’ lives.
The established family funeral service will be creating a special remembrance display in its Stanway branch with the window being lit up in pink and blue.
Anyone who wishes to have the name of a lost little one on a heart or ribbon to be added to the display is welcome to get in touch. Hunnaball’s team will also be on hand to listen, talk or offer a quiet moment of reflection. There will also be a display in the window in the firm’s Witham branch in association with the Little Wings of Hope charity which supports bereaved parents.
While the focus is on Baby Loss Awareness Week, the team works throughout the year to give support to grieving families.
Sarah Dewey, PR and Marketing Manager for Hunnaball Family Funeral Group, said: “Baby Loss Awareness Week is a campaign so close to our hearts. As funeral directors, we understand only too well how unbearable the pain can be when you lose someone, especially a baby or a child.
“Parents may feel overwhelmed by the decisions they have to make, especially at a time of such sorrow. Our compassionate team will guide parents through the necessary formalities and arrangements, offer information about the choices available as well as give advice on the practicalities of what must be done.
“As well as taking care of the planning process, we are also here to offer what comfort we can in this most difficult of times. Every little one that comes into our care will be accompanied by a small hand knitted teddy bear, ensuring they are never alone on their final journey and have company beside them during any moments spent away from their family.
“Many grieving parents can also find some comfort in spending time reading to their little one in the Chapel of Rest, a quiet moment of connection and peace and a small moment of normality, talking quietly to their child as you would in life. Our dedicated team provides a small basket of children’s books for families to select from, to offer words to speak aloud when it can be impossible to know what to say.”
Maria Gormley, who represents the Sands charity, commented: “It is great to have the support of Hunnaball Family Funeral Group, not just during Baby Loss Awareness Week but in the way they are supporting families devastated by the loss of a loved one.
“Through Sands, we see and feel the impact of loss on families and do everything we can to ease the pain and bring some small comfort where we can. Ribbon and window displays play their part in this, giving people the chance to share a memory of a loved one and join with others who feel the same sense of loss.”
Baby Loss Awareness Week ends with the global Wave of Light at 7pm on October 15, when people are invited to light candles in memory of babies who have died too soon. Those who wish to can join the virtual Wave of Light, sharing a photo of their candle on social media with the hashtag #WaveofLight.
Anyone struggling following the loss of a child or young person, can contact their local branch of Hunnaball Family Funeral Group for support or call on 01206 760049.
Hunnaball Family Funeral Group is grateful to team members, Stacy Sheppard who arranges the provision of book baskets, and Tania O’Keefe who hand knits the teddy bears. If you would like to support their endeavours with donations of children’s books or wool, they would be gratefully received. Please drop them off to your local branch.