BEREAVED families walked in memory of their babies at Swindon Sands Walk A Mile In My Shoes event.

Forty family members and friends using the Sands support network set off for a sponsored walk around Coate Water Country Park at 11am on Sunday, walking around 1.3 miles.

The event is designed to give families the chance to remember and reflect upon their babies to help with the grieving process, as well as speaking to people in similar situations.

Natasha Wilson, co-chair of Swindon Sands Still birth and Neonatal Death Charity, said: “We organised this year’s event to give families a chance to come together to do something positive in memory of their babies and give siblings and friends a chance to remember too.

“Sadly baby loss is still largely a taboo subject, but we want to get out there, get our babies names heard and do something positive for our babies who are not here anymore.”

She added: “Every year this brings people together and we want them to know that they are not alone in this process.”

June is Sands awareness month, and this will be the fifth year it has taken place.

The walk took around an hour to complete, and the charity also hosted a picnic for families and people who took part.

Swindon Sands entered their own boat at this year’s Dragon Boat Race, which was also held at Coate Water.

Ceri and Darren Crannis lost their daughter Poppy in December 2017; they wanted to raise money in their daughter’s memory.

Both of them competed in the boat race and finished second; they also raised over £4,000 for the charity.

The money raised from the walk will go towards funding vital Sands support services, including memory boxes given to grieving parents with keepsakes to remind them of their baby.

There was a stall set up at the event to give advice and support to the general public about still births and raising awareness.