Welcome to our first newsletter!
Thank you for supporting our fundraising in memory of our son Zac. We have organised and taken part in events, to raise much needed funds for a wonderful charity who have supported us since Zac died: Surrey Sands, our local group of the national charity Sands, the Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Charity.
Cycling 100 miles and £18,000 raised
Simon and a group of his friends cycled 100 miles for Zac, in the New Forest in October. This was no easy feat and Simon trained hard for 10 weeks to the event having never cycled near to this distance before. Many of you kindly sponsored his and the team’s incredible challenge and this is greatly appreciated, thank you so much. With your donations a staggering £18,000 has been raised! These funds will go directly to supporting bereaved parents by providing much needed facilities at the hospitals that Surrey Sands supports. These include the purchase of special cooling units and dedicated bereavement suites - meaning parents can spend much needed private time with their baby. Surrey Sands train professionals at the hospitals and provide guidelines of how to support bereaved parents before and after giving birth to their baby who has died. Your donations will truly provide direct support to local bereaved families, thank you.
Our justgiving page www.justgiving.com/ZacBanks
Babies Memorial Garden Project
I am involved in helping to create a very special babies memorial garden in Epsom Cemetery. We are a small team of Surrey Sands members/ volunteers working directly with the council. Epsom & Ewell Council have kindly donated a 27’ x 27’ plot of land at the south elevated position of the cemetery, with stunning views across London. It is estimated that Surrey Sands, with the help of it’s enthusiastic fundraisiers, will need to raise approximately £30,000 to create and build the garden. Fundraising and ideas are now progressing. We are working towards an opening date of Summer 2012.
The garden will be a tranquil place for families to sit and reflect on their loss, whether recently or long ago. The garden will feature bronze sculptures of children, a tree and planting, creative paving, seating and an area for scattering of ashes and placing of memorial plaques. We hope it will be a peaceful haven to mark the loss of much wanted babies, who will always be loved and never forgotten.
If you would like to help in anyway by offering garden design ideas please contact us, we are looking for passionate and creative garden designers who could volunteer a little time to help further develop our ideas. To read more about the project please visit www.justgiving.com/Epsom-Babies-Memorial
Bake Sale
We held a small bake sale in March this year to raise funds towards the Babies Memorial Garden project. It was lovely to see so many friends attend and thank you for your support, both to customers and those who helped by baking delicious delights! We raised a fantastic amount of £400 with our one bake stall and thank you to St John’s Church for their support to help us succeed with this.
Zac’s Light Design & Craft Shop
Zac is our inspiration to what we do: our little boy continues to inspire us; he is still very much part of our family life and his light still shines on. I am now exploring photography from ‘behind the camera’. As some of you know, I have been designing most of my life and trained and worked as a graphic designer. I am now using my skill again as a creative designer and combining this with my passion for supporting and fundraising for stillbirth & babyloss charities.
Zac’s Light Design & Craft Shop is a place to find and purchase unique personally-created keepsakes, accessories and gifts. I also provide a special in memoriam design service for bereaved parents and families. Our current items for sale including cards & prints, bags and handmade children’s items are in aid of Surrey Sands –100% of the proceeds are donated to the Babies Memorial Garden project. Please can I ask you to take a look at our fundraising shop and support our project, thank you.
Forthcoming Fundraising and Events
Working towards our personal target of raising £1,000 for the Babies Memorial Garden we will be organising a range of new ideas and events:
This month in August, I will be holding a Bake & Craft Sale/ kiddie friendly coffee morning. If you are local to us and would like to come, please email me at zacs-light@lisabanks.co.uk so I can send you an invitation. If you would like to still support us but can’t attend then we welcome donations for our raffle, and we also plan a toy tombola for pre-schoolers so if you have any party bag type toys you’d like to donate please get in touch, thank you!
We have been donated a giant teddy and he’s so gorgeous we’d like him to go to a new home for a good cause, so we are running a Guess The Name of The Big Teddy Competition. He retails for as much as £60 - £100 so would make a lovely gift for someone special or keep him yourself! Tickets will be on sale next week for £1.00 a guess. The winner will be announced at our Bake & Craft Sale.
We plan to hold a Christmas Craft Sale within our local area of Surrey during November or December this year. All items will be personally designed or handmade, including our Bag for Life In Memory of a Life, Christmas cards, decorations, handmade kiddies stockings and much more. If you are a crafter, a whizz on the sewing machine or knitting needles and would like to create us some designs please do get in touch, we’d be over the moon for your support thank you.
You can keep up to date with our forthcoming fundraising and events on our facebook page.
Thank you for supporting us and taking the time to read our news.
In memory of our dear Zac, our precious, much loved and wanted, baby son x
