TOWN HALL LIGHTS UP FOR BABY LOSS AWARENESS WEEK
THSH collaborated with the Lily Mae Foundation to support Baby Loss Awareness Week by lighting Town Hall pink and blue as part of the Global Wave of Light on 15 October.Each year, the 9th to the 15th of October is Baby Loss Awareness Week and throughout the week bereaved parents, family members and friends can commemorate the all-too-brief lives of their babies, knowing that thousands of other families elsewhere in the world will be doing the same.Baby Loss Awareness Week finishes each year on October 15 with the global ‘Wave of Light’.“As Birmingham’s first concert hall, making noise is something Town Hall is more than equipped to do – when the Lily Mae Foundation explained that they wanted our support to break the silence around baby death in support of those Parents, Families and Friends who have sadly lost their babies to stillbirth or Neonatal Death, we knew we could assist,” said Nick Reed, Chief Executive Officer for THSH.Sunday 15 October is not the first time Town Hall has been lit-up. On 9 August 1902, Town Hall was illuminated in celebration of the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. It was illuminated again on 22 June 1911 for the coronation of King George V.Ryan Jackson, Founder and Managing Director of The Lily Mae Foundation said “We are delighted to have the support of THSH Birmingham. The support THSH Birmingham are providing is fantastic and thoroughly appreciated. Baby Loss Awareness Week is an opportunity for bereaved parents, and their families and friends, to unite with others across the world to remember their babies, to raise awareness about the issues surrounding pregnancy and baby loss in the UK, and push for tangible improvements in services, support or policy around bereavement support to let the public and key stakeholders know what charities and other supportive organisations are doing about bereavement support around pregnancy and baby loss.Baby Loss Awareness Week helps raise awareness of how pregnancy and baby loss affects thousands of families each year across the UK. It is a unique opportunity to help families remember their babies, whether it be in public or private, and feel less isolated and alone by giving them the opportunity to join with others”.The percentage of pregnancies that end in stillbirth has remained largely unchanged in the UK for the past 15 years. The Lily Mae Foundation supports Parents and Families who have tragically and traumatically lost a baby to Stillbirth or to Neonatal Death. Despite its frequency, there is very little public perception of the devastating impact of Stillbirth and Neonatal Death on Parents and their Families.The Lily Mae Foundation is part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Babyloss and is an active member of the Baby Loss Awareness stakeholder group that is run by several baby loss Charities in the UK.The Charities leading Baby Loss Awareness Week provide support to anyone affected by pregnancy loss and the death of a baby, and work with health professionals and services to improve care. Together they are committed to raising awareness of pregnancy and baby loss which affects up to one in five families in the UK.As well as the Birmingham Town Hall, The Library of Birmingham also lit up in Pink and Blue in support of Bereaved Parents their Families and Friends.