A bereaved mother living in Monmouthshire is appealing for local volunteers to help her set up a local Sands group to support others whose baby has died.

Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity has around 100 local groups throughout the UK.

Karen Savage Grove got involved with the charity after her son Harry died in January 2012. Karen trained as a Sands Befriender two years ago and has been offering support to families whose babies have been stillborn or have died shortly after birth with Bristol Sands, another of the charity’s local groups.

As the nearest Sands groups to her are at least 20 miles away Karen has decided now is the time to start a new group in the area and is hoping families in Abergavenny, Usk, Monmouth, Ross-on-Wye and all surrounding areas will benefit.

She is calling on anyone else in the area who would be interested in helping start up the new group, based in her home town of Monmouth.

If you have good organisational skills to help on the committee as secretary or are good with figures and may be interested in becoming the treasurer, or even enjoy fundraising, Karen would like to hear from you. You do not have to have suffered a bereavement to be a committee member.

Specialist Sands Befriender Training is available for anyone who has had a baby that has died and who is interested in helping to support local families. A year must have passed since your bereavement before you will be able to undertake the training.

“My aim is to offer support to local families in the same way that my family has been supported by Bristol Sands,” said Karen.

“I would love to have other bereaved family members on board to help me do this and enable me to reach those local families who could benefit from support and talking to and meeting others who’ve also experienced the death of a baby.”

If you’d like to get involved please contact Welsh Network Coordinator, Heatherjane Coombs on 07709 602 635 or email [email protected].