By Grieving Scunthorpe couple create a Baby Rainbow Memorial Garden
A grieving Scunthorpe couple have created the first community Baby Rainbow Memorial Garden, following the death of their nine-day-old son.
Rory Harrison Clifford was just nine days old when he tragically passed away from sudden infant death syndrome, commonly known as cot death.
Following the devastating loss of their son, rainbows became “incredibly significant” to Andrew and Donna Clifford.
Speaking to the BBC, Rory’s parents said it rained constantly following his death, but during brief spells of sun rainbows began to appear, and we connected that with our son coming to say hello.
Rory’s mother and father included rainbows at his funeral to celebrate his short life with beautiful colours.
Rory’s parents now tell their children he is with them and in their hearts when they spot a rainbow beaming down from the sky.
To help with the grieving process, Andrew and Donna decided to create a safe place for themselves and other parents going through the same emotional turmoil, with rainbows playing an integral role.
Coined “The Baby Rainbow Memorial Garden”, the project, located at Central Park is now open for families who have lost a child to grieve together.
The garden includes “The Halo Wall of Remembrance” to allow families to mount plaques in memory of babies that have tragically been lost.
The hope for the garden is to bring a sense of togetherness in such a dark time for grieving families, through a “unique, bright and beautiful” space where people can reflect and remember their children in a positive light.
Although the couple have created an idyllic setting for such dark times in their lives, Donna said some days are better than others but losing a child “is something that you’re never ever going to get over”
Donna’s husband Andrew Said:
“I didn’t eat for a long time, I ended up decorating my house from top to bottom, just finding stuff to do, trying to keep my mind off it, it didn’t work”
“It was only until I came up with the idea of doing something like this (Baby Rainbow Memorial Garden) that my grief started to change and I started to speak to people more”, he added.
Donna added that’s the reason why she and Andrew launched themselves into the project, wanting to help other people “that probably are going through exactly the same thing that we went through… this hopefully will help a lot of people and that’s what we want for it”
