I wanted to update you on some of the work that has been happening for our club charity Derby Sands.
Derby Sands is part of Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. Sands operates throughout the UK, supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby, working to improve the care bereaved parents receive, and promoting research and working closely with many different organisations to reduce the loss of babies’ lives.
Derby Sands is a volunteer-led group that works to support the charity’s vision aims in our area.
Butterfly Garden Renovation
One of the projects we are supporting this year is the renovation of the Butterfly Courtyard Garden, which is part of the Butterfly Bereavement Suite at the Royal Derby Hospital.
The funds we are raising are already being put to use in buying supplies to begin the renovations. An amazing start to this was through Paul Webster who raised over £1000 whilst completing the North Coast 500 Cycle Tour. If that wasn’t enough, Paul has also recruited some gardeners from Calke Abbey to plan and renovate the courtyard, and he’s even getting stuck in with the work himself!
The project will take several months, and work has already begun to prune the existing garden and prepare the area for new plants and features to be added. There are several logistical challenges as the team can only access the suite when it is not in use, and anytime it is in use, it provides a reminder of why this project is important – the rejuvenated garden will provide a safe and calm space for families to spend time with their baby and grieve.
I’ll provide more updates as the garden work progresses but thought it would be nice to share where our support is already having an impact.
Blankets
Sands also provides memory boxes to families. Each memory box costs £20, and includes several items for them to create memories with their baby. One of these is a blanket which they can choose to wrap their baby in. The blankets are donated by knitters and crocheters who make them in their own time.
Through my mum, who is quite involved in the knitting ‘scene’, we have enlisted some creative people who are willing to make some blankets for us to donate. I’m also going to have a go at this myself!
If we have anyone in the club who would like to make a blanket, Sands provides the patterns to enable you to do this. The instructions and patterns are available on the Knit for Sands page. Please let me know if you do and I can take the blankets to the right place.
Baby Memorial Garden
Derby Sands also supports the Baby Memorial Garden at Markeaton Crematorium. It is maintained by volunteers and I’d like to organise a gang of Striders to spend a couple of hours giving it a bit of a prune and a spruce up as this is regularly needed throughout the year. If anyone is interested in helping, please let me know and I’ll organise a date.
Support
I know baby loss is a difficult subject to talk about and there are people in the club who have been affected by it. If anyone needs any support, or would like information on how to support someone, a good first place to look is on the Sands Support webpage, there are helplines and booklets which provide lots of useful information.
The link to the club fundraising page is accessible on the club website through the Sands logo, and I’ll pop it below if anyone wants to use it for fundraising or to make a donation.
Shelton Striders Derby Sands Fundraising Page
Rob.