A BEREAVED couple from St Ann’s Chapel are creating a garden in memory of their stillborn daughter to help other families who have suffered a similar loss.

Christie Ferrari and her partner Ed Facey lost their daughter Violet last June. She was stillborn after a uterine rupture in which the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

‘She was a full term and otherwise healthy baby which made our loss an even more bitter pill for us to swallow,’ said Christie. ‘We have struggled so much without her and miss her every day.’

After her loss, Christie says it would have helped to have somewhere quiet to go. And from this the idea of a memorial garden grew. After she posted the idea, ‘a few people messaged me and said they had lost children as well’.

Now, with Calstock Parish Council’s blessing, it will be in a corner of the Millennium Green at Albaston. Work is to start in April, groundworks first and then construction and planting.

Here parents will be able to remember their lost children and plant hand-crafted ceramic markers with their names among the flowers in raised beds. There will also be somewhere siblings will be able to post messages in what is to be called the Little Blossoms Memorial Garden.

Christie said the idea came out of the desolation she felt in the wake of her daughter’s death, when she desperately needed somewhere quiet away from the house to go.

‘When you lose a child you don’t have anyone to see. When you have a baby you have the health visitor coming to see you. If you have a stillborn child, you don’t have that. It would be nice for someone in the same situation as me to have somewhere they can go which isn’t a graveyard.

‘It would have been nice if I could have found a spot in the early days, somewhere I could have sat down and reflected on everything.The garden will be somewhere for people to go and remember their babies.’

She has already gathered a lot of support from friends and from the parish council staff. Land within the Millennium Green has been earmarked

‘That spot doesn’t have a view but from the top of the field there are absolutely beautiful views of Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley so people can walk up there and sit and enjoy the view’ she continued.‘For people to remember their children, my first idea was to have their names engraved on slate in the seating area, but on reflection I have changed my mind. I have found a person who makes ceramic markers that go in the ground. I thought that would be much nicer to remember children.

‘I’ve put a section on the website for people to contact me to order one.

‘The ground isn’t that great down there, so the idea is to have raised beds to create the right soil. I did do an initial design, but we are still working on the details. I wanted to have a post box up too, because I’ve got a little boy and there are lots of siblings who have lost little brothers and sisters.

‘The other idea I have is for a wishing well, just so families have somewhere to come with their children. We also plan to place painted pebbles around the well, created by the children.’

She added: ‘I’ve got friends who are helping and the person who maintains the green for the parish council is going to have a look down there and see if he can help with digging it up and levelling the ground. It is then a case of getting started with everything else.’