news and events

• "Acknowledging pregnancy loss: The Miscarriage Association."

View our film about the experience of miscarriage and the work of The M.A.

• Channel 4 News is working on a film about Down’s syndrome screening and testing. Phillip Carter writes, "We are very interested to hear the experiences of women who as a result of either CVS or amniocentesis subsequently miscarried their child. If this has happened to you, or you know of someone who has experienced this, then please get in touch with Philip Carter at Channel 4 News (Independents Fund) at phil.carter@itn.co.uk or by mobile on 07783-712-227. We appreciate the sensitivity of this subject and will treat all responses in strict confidence. Any initial contact you make does not oblige you to proceed any further than you wish."

• Recruiting for a research trial into NK cells and recurrent miscarriage. If you have had investigations for recurrent miscarriage and the results came back clear, then you might be interested in taking part in new research.

Read more about Patient Opinion

• At our planning weekend, the trustees discussed how we might update the M.A.'s look and style, as well as the mission statement. Twenty-five years on, it seems like a good time. It will be a lengthy process as we think about things like the logo, leaflet design, posters etc but when we do, the website will be a crucial part of carrying that image forward. So if you have any ideas, why not complete the survey through the link on the left and let us know?

• Once again miscarriage has been in the news, following the serialisation of Cherie Blair's autobiography. We quote from The Times' serialisation:

"As for Tony, his main emotion seemed to be relief. ‘You know you felt there was something not quite right, Cherie,’" he said. ‘So it's probably all for the best.’…
“... I was surprised at just how badly it hit me. It wasn't as if I was childless. I had four lovely, healthy children. But I was overwhelmed by this great sense of loss. To me, more than anyone else, this baby was real. I had seen it. I still have the scan."

While very few of us have to cope with the added pressures of politics and the media, many of us can empathise with Cherie's feelings on the loss of her baby. Her circumstances can only have made her miscarriage much more difficult to cope with, both then and now. Our thoughts go out to her.

• Miscarriage: how one woman coped with the death of her unborn child
When Sarah Oliver was told her 12-week-old foetus was dead she surprised herself by ignoring medical advice. A very moving and beautifully written article in YOU magazine, part of the Mail on Sunday.

• When the trying stops
For some women and their partners, there will sadly come a time when they make the decision to stop their efforts to have a baby. If you are thinking of stopping trying, especially if it means remaining childless, this leaflet is written for you. Read more …

• Miscarriage and the Workplace
The behaviour and attitudes of employers and co-workers will affect how well women and their partners cope with miscarriage and how soon they feel able to return to work. The M.A., supported by Hewitt Associates, is about to launch a new leaflet to encourage supportive management for employees who experience pregnancy loss. You can preview the leaflet here.

• BBC Radio 5 Live gave nearly three hours of air time recently to the subject of miscarriage. Presenter Victoria Derbyshire and researcher Andrew Fletcher did a great job highlighting some of the most important issues and were especially sensitive to all those listeners (men and women) who phoned in to talk about their experiences. You can listen to a one hour, edited, version via podcast after this date on http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/01/response_to_your_experiences_o.html.

• going shopping?
We have a brightly coloured enamel pin badge depicting our Russian Doll logo and a trolley key-ring: the enamel "coin" to secure your shopping or airport trolley also contains the M.A.'s logo and contact details.
See our shop page for details

• Website visitors questionnaire
We would really like to know what you think about our website. Please take a few minutes to complete our questionnaire and help us to develop the site to suit your needs

• Support, companionship and information at The M.A.'s recent Members' Day

• Barbara Hepworth-Jones presented our research findings at the prestigious ESHRE conference in Brussels.

• Forget-me-not meadow

After the success of our online “Lights of Love” tree over the last two years, we have had several requests to provide a year-round remembrance facility on our website.

Thanks to The M.A.’s webmaster, Nigel Wood, we can now do just that, with The M.A.’s Forget-me-not meadow. You can write a message to your baby or babies and the message will then be added, marked by a forget-me-not in the meadow.

Click here to visit the meadow

• Members’ area
In response to feedback from a number of members, we’ve now launched a Members Only section of our website.

The members’ area includes:

a message board, where you can share experiences, discuss opinions and views, and publicise or enquire about events
back issues of our quarterly newsletter
member-specific news and updates

All you need to do to access this area is to click here and follow the instructions

• Love chocolate? The Miscarriage Association’s Chocolate Challenge, a series of chocolate-flavoured fundraising events took place during March 2008. Find out more...

• Lorna Irving is a trainee clinical psychologist who is researching women's experiences of miscarriage.
She asked if we could help her research by advertising on our website. She writes:
"I wanted to let you know that I received 40 completed responses to the miscarriage survey you so kindly allowed me to advertise on The MA website. I can honestly say that without your support there is no way I could have completed the study, so thank you. I look forward to analysing the data and sending you a summary of my findings towards the end of the year."

Thank you to all who responded.

• Our most widely-read leaflet, We are sorry that you have had a miscarriage, is now available in seven community languages: Arabic, Bangla, Gujerati, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu. We also have a version designed especially for profoundly deaf people, especially if British Sign Language is their first language. There is also a shorter, illustrated version for those with learning difficulties. All leaflets are available to download free of charge or can be ordered from our office. There is a charge for bulk orders.

Coming soon!

When the trying stops
Miscarriage and the workplace

• The Optimist website featured The Miscarriage Association in February for a week and will be listing us in their charities section thereafter. Optimist World is a "site dedicated to taking a daily look on the bright side. As well as uplifting Optimist News, we also investigate other aspects of everyday life which aim to inspire a positive outlook."

• Fundrasing
One of our members, Cathy Midgley, cycled from John o' Groats to lands End to raise funds for the M.A.. Here are some photos of her epic journey

• Lights of Love tree
Each year we create a virtual tree for you to post messages on, remembering your lost ones. Click here for the 2007 tree.

• The Miscarriage Association marked 25 years since its foundation with a small reception for some of its founders, members, volunteers and supporters. Read more...

• Read our Annual Report and Accounts 2006-2007

Annual Report (775kB)
Audited accounts (707kB)

• M.A. highly commended in the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards 2007
The GlaxoSmithKline Community Health IMPACT Awards recognise and reward small to medium sized charities in the UK who are doing excellent work to improve people's health. The annual awards are funded by GlaxoSmithKline and run in association with the King's Fund.

Charities applying for the Awards are judged on all of the following qualities: Innovation, Management, Partnership, Achievement, Community focus and Targeting need.

The judges of the 2007 Awards selected The Miscarriage Association as one of the Highly Commended charities, making us one of the top 20 of the 324 charities that applied.

The award is a great achievement in itself, providing external recognition and encouragement for our work. It also brought a prize of £5,000, to be used for any element of our service.

Read more about the awards

• Reflections:

For Samuel
I believe that life is planned out for you and things happen for a reason. Quite often we don't find out the reason until way into the future but we all almost definitely will one day. Sometimes life isn't fair but we have to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down and keep going, no matter how hard it sometimes is.

Jenny's story
Bless all those who miscarry before they become a mother. And especially bless all those who miscarry instead of becoming a mother

• "Man in a Panic": miscarriage from the male point of view. Author Richard Burke writes for internet men's health forum www.malehealth.co.uk

• Risk factors for miscarriage: latest research findings

Funded by the Big Lottery Fund and commissioned by The Miscarriage Association, the latest research on risk factors for miscarriage has been published by the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. This is important and interesting information for anyone wanting to reduce their risk of miscarriage...

• That empty feeling
Losing one baby was devastating enough, but multiple miscarriages left Kate Mulvey unable to cope. In a powerful article printed in the Sunday Times on 22 April 2007, she explains why she can't face trying again. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

• Volunteering for The Miscarriage Association
We are always seeking volunteers to help us at The M.A.. Some volunteers provide support, some help to raise funds and/or awareness, some help manage our services. If you might like to help, find out more about becoming a volunteer.

• Can you speak any language/s other than English?
The Miscarriage Association is seeking volunteers who can help us provide support and information to those who speak little or no English. If you speak a language other than English, please click here to find out how you can help.

• New and updated leaflets

Men and miscarriage – a revised version (September 2007) of a much-used leaflet for and about men.

Hydatidiform mole (revised April 2007)

Late miscarriage: the experience of second trimester loss (revised and updated October 2006)

Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) and pregnancy loss (September 2005)

Talking to children about pregnancy loss (December 2004)

Blighted ovum or anembryonic pregnancy - a brief fact-sheet explaining what these terms mean.

• Mailing Preference Service

The national Mailing Preference Service allows consumers to register their wish not to receive unsolicited direct mail. Now they have launched a new Baby Mailing Preference Service to enable parents who have suffered a miscarriage or bereavement of a baby in the first weeks of life to register their wish not to receive baby related mailings.

If you would like to register your wish not to receive baby related mailings, visit the website www.mpsonline.org.uk and click on the Baby MPS option, or contact the MPS for an application form, telephone 020 7291 3310, email babymps@dma.org.uk

• BBC Radio 4 Miscarriage specialists Professor Lesley Regan and Miss Siobhan Quenby discuss recurrent miscarriage research and treatment. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/

• Three ways to help raise funds for The Miscarriage Association:

Online shopping

From the AA to Zurich Insurance, shop on-line through our webshop www.buy.at/miscarriageassociation.org.uk and the retailers give us a donation when you shop with them.

By using our shop you get:

Frequent special offers and good prices
Convenience - no queuing for the car parks
Gift ideas - from our great selection of retailers
FREE postage in many cases

Remember every purchase must be made through our webshop

A charitable search engine

The M.A. is registered as one of the charities that benefits from www.everyclick.com - a new search engine that donates half its revenues to charity. If you make this your preferred search engine, you can raise money for The M.A. just by searching the web and it won’t cost you a penny.

Just go to www.everyclick.com/uk/miscarriageassociation whenever you search the web, or make it even easier by making it your home page.

eBay for charity

It's easy to donate some or all of the proceeds from your eBay sale to The Miscarriage Association. Just list your items with eBay for Charity - the easiest way to sell verified charity items on eBay.

• INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER

We would like to express our grateful thanks to ACTIV Computer Services who host our website and e-mail systems free of charge.