Oban has a new bereavement support group for people touched by the loss of a child.
The Forget-Me-Not group will meet at 7pm on the last Monday of each month at the Rockfield Centre.
Anyone wanting to find out more can call Tracey France on 07920 032398 or email info@anamcarafasgadh.org
The group was co-set up by Tracey and Susan Simpson who are both trustees of Anam Cara Fasgadh, a charity founded to support families bereaved through the death of a baby, child or young person.
Tracey’s stillborn son Adam would have been 16 in September.
“The pain of losing a child never goes away but life does go on, although it is never the same again,” said Tracey, who hopes to support as many bereaved parents as need her help.
“After Adam, I had no one outside my family to talk to about it. There were groups in Glasgow who were kind but I wasn’t up to travelling all that way. Those who have gone through the same situation, know how you are feeling,” she added.
Eventually Tracey got in contact with a baby loss charity called SiMBA and met Susan, who was a facilitator for it. As time went on, Tracey also trained as a facilitator and held a support group in Lochgilphead until Covid struck and the group, like many others, came to a halt.
Now she is getting ready, with Susan, for the first meeting of their new Forget-Me-Not group which will be next month.
Earlier this month, Anam Cara Fasgadh brought families together for a special service at McCaig’s Tower to remember their babies gone too soon.
As part of Baby Loss Awareness Week, more than 25 people gathered at the iconic spot on the last day of the annual awareness campaign, taking part in a global Wave of Light.
The action around the world sees bereaved families light a candle at 7pm in their own time zone to honour the memory of the children they could not watch grow up – the wave of light burns brightly for 24 hours.
Anam Cara Fasgadh chose McCaig’s Tower for its event after Oban family Liam MacLean and Louise Stewart got Bid4Oban’s help to light it up for the poignant awareness week. Liam and Louise lost their daughter Elsie earlier this year.
The service was hosted by Susan Simpson, with Ruby Howard giving a beautiful rendition of Eva Cassidy’s Fields of Gold.
Anam Cara Fasgadh chairman Andrew Simpson read the poem Just For Today, by Vicki Tushingham, and ahead of the lighting of candles, Charis Simpson, who is youth champion for the charity, read Wave of Light, by Clark-Coates & Fosberry.
As the gathering approached 7pm the names of children being remembered were read out. The service closed with Ruby singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.