West London Sands Funds Sofa-beds for Hillingdon Hospital and Northwick Park Hospital 

West London Sands recently funded smart new sofa-beds for Hillingdon and Northwick Park Hospitals – thanks to the fund-raising efforts of our parents.

Here is the sofa-bed for Hillingdon’s delivery room:

 

And here is the Northwick Park sofa-bed, a vibrant colour specially chosen as the room is very dark:

 

There is no dedicated bereavement room at either of these hospitals, but we are working with staff to improve the rooms that are used for the birth of precious stillborn babies. Dads, or other friends or family, are now be able to stay overnight in comfort.

 

WLS Parent runs London Marathon for Sands

A huge congratulations to one of our WLS parents Nick who has run the 2017 London Marathon for Sands in a very impressive time of 4 hours 6 minutes. Nick ran the marathon in honour of his daughter Ella, who was very sadly stillborn at full term on 10th September 2015.

Nick has raised a staggering £50,000 making him the events second biggest fundraiser.

Here are some photos of Nick, his wife Laura and their family and friends on the big day:

 

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West London Sands has dedicated a leaf on the memorial tree at Mortlake Crematorium to remember all the babies of our West London Sands parents.

 

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 West London Sands Fund Quiet Room for Hillingdon Hospital

West London Sands would like to thank parents for their fundraising and donations. Your kind donations have gone towards funding a quiet room for families in the antenatal clinic at Hillingdon Hospital.

Here are some photos of the newly decorated room and our chairwoman Lynn officially opening it.

 

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West London Sands Receives Sizeable Donation from Mortlake Crematorium

West London Sands (WLS), part of the national Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity, has received a generous donation of £4,444 from Mortlake Crematorium.

WLS helps bereaved parents in the West London area, their families and their friends. They have trained volunteer Befrienders who can offer support over the phone and online, and through monthly group meetings. They also work closely with local hospitals, providing both specialised bereavement training and financial help to improve maternity facilities.

Mortlake Crematorium is very supportive of the work done by West London Sands and has also developed a lovely new children’s garden on site, which is where representatives of both organisations met for the celebratory handing over of the cheque

“We are extremely grateful to the Mortlake Crematorium for making this generous donation to West London Sands,” said Lynn Lacey, Chair, WLS. “It will help us to continue our work of helping bereaved parents, promoting staff training and supporting our local hospitals.”

“We have been aware for some time of the great work that WLS do in helping families who have suffered the loss of a baby,” said Natasha Bradshaw, Superintendent and Registrar at Mortlake. “We were keen to donate to a local charity and it was particularly fitting to hand over the cheque in our new children’s garden.”

The Waterbugs and Dragonflies Babies and Children’s Memorial Garden at Mortlake was completed in November 2015 and is dedicated to the memory of babies and children. The garden is based on the children’s story “Water bugs and Dragonflies” by Doris Stickley. WLS parent, Candace Moses, said: “The garden is a lovely tranquil space for bereaved parents.” There is a sculptured memorial tree where a leaf can be dedicated to remember a baby or child.

From left Karen, Paula, Candace, Natasha, Ruth and Lynn – all WLS committee members, apart from Natasha (Mortlake) and Candace, who is a WLS parent.

 

The Waterbugs and Dragonflies Babies and Children’s Memorial Garden

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West London Sands are proud to sponsor the Mama Wellbeing Wallets for the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust.

MAMA Academy is positive about pregnancy and committed to raising awareness of what can be done to help save babies’ lives. The wallets are printed front and back with key health messages to help promote safer pregnancies.

To learn more about MAMA Academy please visit: www.mamaacademy.org.uk

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Sands Awareness Month 2016

June is Sands Awareness Month, when we all work hard to increase awareness of stillbirth and neonatal death and the everlasting impact experienced when a precious baby dies during pregnancy, at birth or shortly afterwards.  While many more people are aware of the pain of baby loss because of the work of Sands and others, many people still have no idea and it remains a taboo subject.  More recently we’ve all made a lot of progress in breaking the silence, but there is a long way to go. This is a chance for us all to do our bit, no matter how small, to make people listen; to highlight the fact that over 100 babies will die each week during the month of June and to raise vital funds so that Sands can continue to support, research, and improve.

This year will see the launch of our Walk a Mile in My Shoes event, as well as continuing with the Sands orange themed events including our Orange Fridays and Orange Challenge Events, as well as Bake4Sands.

More information on events can be found here: www.uk-sands.org/get-involved

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5 for 5 challenge

A brilliant, yet simple idea by Mum, Aoife, in honour of the year her first son should have turned five years old.

“The 5 for 5 Challenge is a completely personalised event. We want you to complete a challenge over the course of 2016 that will benefit you at the same time as benefiting our chosen charities, Sands and Tommy’s. Simply choose a challenge around the theme of FIVE!”

Simply decide how you’re going to challenge yourself – it could be by running your first 5k, or by knitting 5 sets of mittens – anything goes! If you can raise funds through sponsorship of your challenge, please create your own JustGiving page, linking it to the 5 for 5 Challengers team page. You will be able to track your progress individually as well as the team’s £5000 target.

If you’re stuck for ideas, take a look at Aoife’s ideas page for inspiration.

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