Wyre Council is working with Blackpool NHS, and Blackpool and Fylde Councils to help bereaved parents cope with the loss of a baby by providing memorial Christmas trees in two of Wyre’s cemeteries.
The council has provided special memorial Christmas trees for bereaved parents at Fleetwood and Poulton cemeteries within their Baby Gardens of Remembrance with the kind sponsorship of JP Dell Funeral Service, JT Byrne Funeral Service and Moons Funeral Service.
A remembrance service will also be held on Sunday 8 December at 3pm in the Baronial Hall at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, where there will be a small candle lighting ceremony.
The decorations from the service can be placed on the tree which will also be decorated by ourselves and donations from SANDS. The bereavement services have also printed a star with each child’s name and these will be added.
Parents are invited to hang their decorations on the trees at either Fleetwood Cemetery or Poulton New Cemetery.
The trees will be in place from Friday 6 December and removed Friday 7 January. Families are welcome to add their decorations, but please note that they will need to be removed by 7 January.
Hospital bereavement nurse, Megan Murray explained: "The event at the Winter Gardens is so important to families who have suffered baby death. It channels grief into something positive, the parents are sad but they have the opportunity to be part of something united and can see that they are not on their own."
If you would like to light a candle at the remembrance service at the Baronial Hall but are unable to attend, then please send a stamped addressed envelope to:-
Megan Murray, Bereavement Support Nurse, c/o The Women’s Unit, Blackpool Victoria Hospital Whinney Heys Road, Blackpool FY3 8NR.
For more information regarding the remembrance service at the Baronial Hall, please call Blackpool Teaching Hospitals on 01253 956 877.
For information regarding the Christmas tree memorial at Wyre’s cemeteries, please contact 01253 891000.
ENDS