History of Fife Sands
Fife Sands was first set up in 1993 to provide support to bereaved parents locally. By 1998 the group began to develop its services and work on new projects.
The Next Pregnancy Support Group was set up to support mums through their next pregnancy following the loss of a baby. This is a time when extra support and reassurance is needed, and the group is attended by a midwife to answer any medical queries the mums may have. Fife also hosted their first Befriender Training Day which was open to groups throughout Scotland. We have, on average, hosted a training day every 2 years since.
The first two Baby Memorial Gardens were created in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Crematoria, providing somewhere for parents to go to remember their babies.
Fundraising events were held to support a number of projects, and some of the money raised was used to help refurbish a room in Queen Margaret Hospital Ante Natal Clinic. This room was created to provide somewhere private to talk to parents when they have received bad news about their pregnancy. The room also holds the Remembrance Books. Two pagers were donated to Forth Park Special Care Baby Unit to enable parents with premature or sick babies to leave the unit knowing they could be summonsed if needed.
In 1999 our first Christmas Family service was held to compliment the April and August Services of Remembrance. The Christmas service involves siblings and everyone is invited to hang a bauble on the Christmas tree in remembrance of their baby.
2000 was a busy year which saw the opening of our office within Forth Park Hospital, and the creation of a “Comfort” room, called the Snowdrop Room. Two more baby gardens were recognised in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Cemeteries.
There followed a quiet period due to a number of key people leaving the committee, and for a short while we were without a chairperson.
In 2005 the baby gardens had new signs erected to clearly mark their relevance. The idea for a baby garden in St Andrews was raised and the project was started, with a 2 year projected timescale and a £5000 target set.
Sands Scottish Network was established, which involves a conference call approx every 2 months with representatives from each of the main groups in Scotland to discuss relevant issues and exchange ideas.
We have purchased a new digital camera with photo printer to be placed in the Snowdrop Room for parents to use themselves if they wish. This replaced the digital camera which had been donated in 2000 - it used floppy discs instead of memory cards, and only held 5 pictures – not a lot when it is almost all you have to remind you of your baby. With the new equipment, parents can have unlimited prints, and these are also stored on memory sticks – a joint initiative between ourselves and the Fetal Medicine Team.
2006 saw our first ever Balloon release to coincide with National Sands Awareness Week.