Credit: Ian Britton @freefoto.com
LETTER FROM THE OFFICE
It may be holiday season as we put the newsletter together, but helpline staff continue to be busy responding to contacts from people seeking support and information relating to pregnancy loss.
This is report and application season too. It’s the time of year when we prepare our rather lengthy audited accounts and the more colourful Annual Report that is sent to all our members, supporters and funders. We are also preparing bids for funding, especially since we are in the final year of a Department of Health grant. The DH has made major changes to the kind of work they will support from next year and we need to investigate whether we are likely to be included.
In addition to funding bids, we are also applying to a couple of award schemes, which carry both public recognition and financial awards. As you might imagine, it takes a great deal of time, not to mention chewing of pencils, to get the applications as good as they can be. And then we try not to chew any more pencils while we await their response.
That’s one of the reasons that we’re so grateful for all your help in raising funds for The M.A., whether it’s from taking part in a physical challenge, as “Ironman” Jay Lamb did or by holding a great birthday party, like Beverly and Simon Boyle. Many thanks to all our funders.
Website news
With larger and larger numbers of people having access to the Internet, The M.A.’s website continues to be a well-used feature of The M.A. and visitor numbers are growing. We recorded well over 4,000 visits per week in the first six months of this year (a total of 106,787) and if you look up “miscarriage” on Google, the largest search engine, www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk is consistently in the top three nonsponsored links (sponsored links are paid advertisements).
So that’s good – but it could be better. Sadly there are thousands and thousands of people who lose a baby in pregnancy but don’t know about The M.A. and the support and information we provide.
If you’re an Internet user, and especially if you ever use Facebook or MySpace or Internet messageboards and forums connected with pregnancy loss, please help us raise awareness of The M.A. by suggesting that people visit our site.
You can also include a link with graphics to our website which you’ll find at http://www.miscarriageassociation. org.uk/ma2006/about/createlink.htm
We’re also interested to know which other websites, forums and messageboards you have found helpful in relation to miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy. We’d like to make sure that we create links to those sites too, so that visitors to The M.A.’s site can see where else they can get help. We work hard to keep our website up to date, fresh and interesting, as well as easy to use and navigate and we’re grateful, as always, to volunteer webmaster Nigel Wood who does all our technical and design work.
BABY LOSS AWARENESS WEEK 9–15 October 2008
Now in its 6th year, Baby Loss Awareness Week will see people whose lives have been touched by the loss of a baby during pregnancy or just after birth uniting across the UK to show their support for the Baby Loss Awareness campaign 2008. This will culminate in International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day on October 15th.
As in previous years, we hope that volunteers will be organising a range of events across the UK. The aims are to increase awareness of the issues surrounding pregnancy and infant loss, to create a sense of community amongst those who have lost a baby, and to raise funds for the main UK charities providing support in this area.
Ribbon pins will be available in return for a suggested minimum donation of £1. These can be ordered from the Baby Loss Campaign online or by post.
To find out more, please visit www.babyloss-awareness.org and/or contact Marion, the campaign co-ordinator:
by phone: 07900 495436
by e-mail: info@babyloss-awareness.org
by post: Baby Loss Awareness, PO Box 13703, Musselburgh EH21 6WX