Whilst sorting through some old papers I came across a Sands Newsletter from 2003 and read it with interest. It struck me how far we have progressed in the last eight years. One thing hasn’t changed though, the words jumping off the pages of the old newsletter were full of commitment, compassion and a desire to make a difference to support and help others. As always there were immensely moving personal experiences, including one written by old friends from Birmingham. I was transported straight back to a Birmingham Sands meeting in Edgbaston in the early 2000s watching the bereaved Mom who had written her story, walking into the room for the first time.

It reinforced for me the fantastic work that Groups and Befrienders have done over the years since our charity was first formed over 30 years ago. The work of Groups continues to grow and broaden with fantastic support, increased collaborative work with hospitals and health professionals and greater involvement in our third aim to promote and fund research. In addition to this the amount of fundraising carried out by Groups is staggering.

I believe that the continuing commitment and passion of the hundreds of Sands
volunteers involved in running the Groups is what makes our charity unique as we work to fulfill our three core aims.

Steve Hale
Chair

As I entered the Cardiff Millennium Stadium for our AGM and Members’ Conference on the morning of Saturday 25th September the main thought on my mind was what I was going to say in my speech at the start of the day. As I walked into the President’s Suite I was handed a professional looking document with a picture of a baby’s feet on the front.

I was told in no uncertain terms by an impassioned member of the staff team
“You have got to read this!” She was right.

Encapsulated in a dozen or so pages of our annual review entitled, ...every baby deserves the chance to take their first steps was the essence of our charity. The tragedy, the support, the caring, the passion and the overwhelming desire to make a difference. Thoughts of my speech were far from my mind as I contemplated the effect that our annual review had had
on me.

The report had taken me on my own personal fifteen year journey in ten
minutes. So I stood on my own behind the PowerPoint screen at the back of the room and thought, I’d better find the Gents, I’m sure the Chair isn’t supposed to be in tears before the conference has even started. And the speech…it never got written which is probably no surprise to those that heard my ramblings 20 minutes later.

A massive thank you to everyone involved with ...every baby deserves the chance to take their first steps, I know how much work went into producing the review against incredibly tight time scales. It was worth it.

My advice to everyone and anyone involved in Sands is, if you haven’t seen or read it, get hold of it now! Read it and use it to inform others of what our charity is about. I, for one carry copies of the review with me everywhere and whenever anyone asks me about Sands or “What is the charity you are involved in?” I simply give them a copy and tell them about
my son Matthew. A copy of the review is included with this issue of Footprints,
should you require additional copies please contact the office.

To finish, one of our Trustees, Andrew Scott, has recently stepped down from the Board for personal reasons. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew for his excellent service to Sands. Over a number of years, he has served as a Trustee, Chair of his local group, Tayside Sands and has been an eloquent ambassador and activist for Sands in Scotland. We wish him well.

Steve Hale

It doesn’t seem that long since I was writing for the first edition of Footprints,
and already we’re over halfway through the year. It’s been a very busy six months, and whilst I can’t mention everything I would like to briefly tell you about some of the achievements and events that have happened since the last issue, many of which are covered in greater detail within this edition.

We have appointed two new co-opted trustees; Alex Noble and Gaye Henson
and I would like to formally welcome Alex and Gaye to the Board. They bring great experience, skills and knowledge and I am sure that they will prove to be exceptional Trustees. You can read a little more about them both over the page.

As mentioned in the last report we have been successful in our campaign to challenge the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on seeing and holding a stillborn baby. I am pleased to confirm that NICE has issued an implementation statement and revised the guidance for parents on seeing and holding a stillborn baby. This new guidance makes it clear that parents should always be offered a choice.

We recently launched our new leaflet Saying goodbye to your baby, which is the first of our new suite of leaflets, that I know will be welcomed by all. I found the advice in this publication to be informative, relevant and balanced and was as ever moved to tears by the quotes from parents. Well done to everyone involved and I look forward to the publication of more new leaflets in the near future.

I have just received and read our Bereavement Care Report 2010 and could
not help but be impressed. I found it hard hitting and thought provoking. In
terms of our second objective “to work in partnership with health professionals to try to ensure that families receive the best possible care” this survey is an immensely important document. The report clearly highlights the areas in which we need to focus our efforts when working with health professionals in the future. The most encouraging aspect of the report is the conclusion that the staff that responded to the survey “are aware of what would really make a difference to the parents they care for, and are highly motivated to improve the service that their unit offers”.

Ten years ago we opened the Sands Garden at the National Memorial Arboretum, Lichfield, Staffordshire. It has been my pleasure to attend the annual Sands service and garden open day and see this event grow in terms of profile and attendance. This year’s event marked our 10th anniversary and was attended by well over 200 people. I was very impressed with the organisation
and atmosphere created by the service and would like to thank everyone involved in making it such a success.

Feedback has been excellent and it was great to see and hear Jon Stokes’ passion for the garden undiminished after 10 years. The congregation were treated to a flawless performance of Pie Jesu by ten year old Cosima Broadbent. Afterwards, everyone was given a single yellow rose and we walked the short distance from the Chapel to the garden to conclude the service. It was very poignant seeing the hundreds of stones that have been placed in memory of so many babies, along the pathway into the garden.

On behalf of everyone I would like to say a huge thank you to the small team of
volunteers who regularly visit and care for the garden, it really is testament to your dedication and hard work how beautiful it looks.

Thousands of people affected by the death of a baby have sought and found support and comfort from visiting the garden which is now a mature and well established haven and I would like to quote Neal Long, our Chief Executive “The garden has grown and matured over the last 10 years and this has been mirrored by the development of Sands”. We are in very exciting and challenging times for our charity and I would like to take the opportunity to thank the staff,
members, groups, trustees and our many fundraisers and supporters for your excellent contributions and continuing hard work.

Steve Hale

Lights of Love In December I was once again impressed by the teamwork between groups, networks, staff and trustees in organising the six Lights of Love events throughout the UK. I attended the Nottingham event and as I sat in St Peter’s the thought of hundreds of people around the UK sharing the same experiences, thoughts and reflections for our babies, sent a shiver down my spine.

Research In February the Board of Trustees met with Neal Long and our Research Manager Janet Scott to discuss and agree on the funding of our first research projects. Janet and vice chair Kate Anker attended the WellBeing of Women Research Advisory Committee (RAC) which sat over two days in late January deliberating over a large number of research projects and fed back to the Board on the RAC’s recommendations. I would like to thank Janet and Kate for the clarity and professionalism of their feedback which I am pleased to say resulted in a unanimous decision on which research projects to fund and was a great example in the way staff and trustees can work together. The funding of research is also a historic landmark for our charity in terms of our third aim.

Seeing and Holding – NICE Guidelines I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in supporting our campaign to challenge the current NICE Guidelines on “Seeing and Holding” which culminated in a meeting with NICE on the 29th January 2010. Due to the careful and structured campaign led by our Improving Bereavement Care Manager Judith Schott and Neal Long, including national media coverage, NICE agreed to clarify the intended meaning of the recommendation on seeing and holding a stillborn baby. In line with regular practice, they will revisit the guideline when it is next due to be updated and review any new evidence at that time. We have been assured that we will be included as a stakeholder in future discussions about this issue. Well done to everyone involved.

Meeting with Bliss Trustees Sands Trustees held a meeting with the Bliss Trustees in March. It was a very productive, open meeting and a chance to share ideas, best practice, celebrate our successful joint collaboration to date and explore possible opportunities for future partnership. We shall be having further meetings and dialogue with Bliss to pursue these initiatives for the benefit of both our charities.

Stormont, Northern Ireland Assembly On March 23rd I attended the launch of Every Baby Matters in Northern Ireland. Working in collaboration with two other charities, TinyLife and Bliss the event was a real success and a great day for Sands in Northern Ireland. An unprecedented number of MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) attended from across all the political parties. Once again the media coverage was extensive with our Northern Ireland Co-ordinator Steven Guy and trustee Colin Pidgeon doing a number of excellent interviews as well as Katie Duff our Media Manager being featured in the Times. Steven also spoke with great passion at the Stormont event delivering a very powerful Sands message. I think that we should all be immensely proud of the work our charity has done since the Why17? launch at the House of Commons which was just over twelve months ago.

Steve Hale