The 12th of June 2022 was a lovely sunny day in Birmingham for our first memorial meet-up since 2019. There was a lot of apprehension about what it would be like from our lovely families, which is to be expected.
The day was organised by myself, Louise Bowman, Jay Harper and Phil Doran. We were joined by Emma Collins from Twins Trust and Natasha Doran to get everything set up. We all agreed that it was a perfect venue and the staff were very helpful all day.
People began to arrive at 1pm. They were all able to help themselves to a gift bag with a "Forget-me-not" poem from Kate, seeds from Phil and Natasha, and butterflies and bear hugs from Vicky. Everyone wrote their babies' names on butterflies and hung them on our beautiful memory trees, next to our quilt of memories. There was some time to chat to each other while everyone arrived.
We began our service with an introduction from Louise and a message from Judi Linney, the founder of Tamba (now Twins Trust). Suzie read a poem called "These are my footprints" followed by Amisha Harper reading "Butterflies on the Breeze". Thank you to all of them.
Sarah then shared her experience as a befriender and remembering Eva 10 years on before we had our reflection time with the candles. Thank you Sarah, for sharing so beautifully. Everyone was invited to bring their candles with their babies' names up to the table while Jess, Sharon’s daughter, sang "Tears in Heaven" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". This was the part that we were able to livestream.
It was so beautiful and such a special time to remember our babies together.
Jay, one of our befrienders, read a poem, "I Spy", written by Marianne Andriot from our group before Sharon Darke shared a little of her experience of her twins Charlie and Joshua, and talked about how you can get involved with the bereavement group.
Phil then spoke about his twins Grace and Thomas and his journey with Twins Trust which started 30 years ago. Thank you so much to all of our speakers.
We finished this part of the afternoon with "Twinkle Twinkle" which was beautifully sung by May and Noah and a perfect way to end.
The afternoon continued with lots of socialising and talking about our babies to each other while enjoying the very tasty refreshments that were provided.
It was a beautiful day and so lovely to see so many people making friends and chatting about their twins and triplets. Thank you so much to everyone who came along and to all who helped in any way at all.
By Sharon Darke, Senior Bereavement Support Officer
