Asian Standard Kirklees has successfully been delivering news to the Kirklees area for almost three years now, and we can’t thank our readers and the Kirklees community enough, for all the love and support they’ve given us over the years.
Since launching, Asian Standard Kirklees has made a commitment to focus on community and giving back wherever possible. Charity and community are at the heart of everything we do so we’ve decided along with our everyday commitments, we will commit to partnering up with a charity every year and help them reach their goals to assist with their cause.
Often governments fall short to protect everyone who needs it and that’s why charities are established. We all know about the significant challenges facing many charities right now, so our support is needed now more than ever.
So for 2023 we have chosen Huddersfield’s Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice as Asian Standard Kirklees’ charity of the year.
Forget Me Not is a registered charity supporting families who are facing or living with the loss of their baby or child. The charity, provides superb nursing care, hydrotherapy, creative therapy, days out, memory making, end of life care, bereavement support and counselling at thier hospice, Russell House, and in families’ own homes, Forget Me Not helps families make the most of every moment they have together.
Forget Me Not have been supporting children with life-shortening conditions, their families and families whose child has sadly died from across West Yorkshire for over a decade. Many of the families they support are from Asian or other ethnic minority communities, but their work is often not well known or understood.
The charity is keen to increase the awareness of Forget Me Not so that more families who have experienced the loss of a baby, or who are exhausted by the demands of caring for a child with a life-shortening condition or families living with the loss of their child, can get the help they need.
The word ‘hospice’ can itself be a barrier. But the reality of what a children’s hospice is, is very different to what people might expect. For instance, you might imagine a sad, quiet, sombre place.
But the Forget Me Not hospice is the opposite of gloomy. Bright and colourful, full of laughter and fun, Russell House is a special, warm and welcoming place where families want to spend time together.
Here are just some of the many services:
End of life care – It would be wrong, however, to suggest that nothing sad ever happens here: the charity support families at the worst possible times. At the end of a child’s life, the team help make the child comfortable and support them and their family to make memories together.
Respite care – Children stay with Forget Me Not for a range of other reasons too. Mostly, they’ll stay overnight or for a weekend to give their families a well-earned break from the stresses of caring for a child 24/7.
Family support – Forget Me Not care for the whole family not just the child, offering a range of support groups, counselling and bereavement support. Their popular spice and sparkle group brings families together to share the delicious food they’ve made. And their dedicated support worker for South Asian families helps ensure their services are accessible for all.
Snowflake services – The Snowflake Suite is a private apartment at Russell House where families can stay to say their last goodbyes to their child. Support is also available with practical matters, like helping arrange a funeral.
Sudden death – Forget Me Not are the only children’s hospice in the UK to have a dedicated support for those families whose child has died suddenly and unexpectedly. Supporting them in whatever way they need, whether that’s spending time with their child in the Snowflake Suite or getting practical help and emotional support.
Bereavement support – Everyone grieves differently, so Forget Me Not tailor their support to the needs of the whole family, offering counselling, creative therapy, support groups and activities like making memory boxes.
As a charity the Huddersfield based hospice relies on charitable donations to fund the vital work they do. It costs £4million a year to run their services and with just 6% of funding coming from the government, it’s only with the support of the community through fundraising, charitable giving, volunteering, shopping in their shops or leaving gifts in wills, that Forget Me Not can continue to be here for the children and families who desperately need their support.
Fatima Patel, Editor of Asian Standard Kirklees visited Russell House recently and was blown away by the quality and standard of services available. She said: “After seeing the work of Forget Me Not and learning of families who have benefited significantly from the hospice, I felt it was our duty to support the work of this charity and help them get through the coming challenges faced.
Forget Me Not Hospice is also the chosen charity of The Mayor of Kirklees, Cllr Masood Ahmed. He told Asian Standard: “Forget Me Not work is critical not just for the people of Kirklees, but across West Yorkshire. I have been involved with the charity for a few years now as a councillor and know how much the hospice means to local people. This is why I have chosen Forget Me Not as my chosen charity as the Mayor of Kirklees and so happy to hear they are now also the official charity for Asian Standard Kirklees, I hope your readers will also get behind the charity and do what they can to help with the cause”
Gareth Pierce, director of income generation at Forget Me Not, said: “We’re so grateful to the Asian Standard for choosing us as their charity partner. This is an amazing opportunity to raise awareness about the support available to families who are pushed to the limit by the challenges of caring for a child with a life-shortening condition or who are suffering the heartache of losing their baby or child. We want more people to know that Forget Me Not is here for those families, so they don’t have to struggle on alone.
As a charity, we also really appreciate the chance to let more people know how they can support us. Without the generous donations and fundraising efforts of the whole community, we simply wouldn’t be able to do our vital work. And every penny donated makes a real difference to the local children and families we care for. So if you can help us, perhaps by making a small regular donation, it would mean the world to us and the families we support. You can do so by visiting www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk/donate. Thank you.”
Some of the work Forget Me Not do.
Every year, hundreds of families in West Yorkshire suffer the pain and grief of losing a baby. Without support, this devastating loss can have a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of these families long into the future.
The first children’s hospice in Europe to employ a midwife, Forget Me Not is here for these families: mums and dads who find out their baby is unlikely to survive birth, parents who go through pregnancy knowing they may only have a few moments with their baby and siblings who are grieving for the brother or sister they never got to meet.
Families like Arrianne’s. Originally from Bradford, now living in Halifax, Arrianne Sykes found out she was expecting a baby in July 2018. In March 2019, at 36 weeks into her pregnancy, Arrianne and her husband got the news no parent ever wants to hear – that no heartbeat could be detected and that their baby had died.
48 hours later, their son Aziah was born. “It’s the worst thing anyone could go through,” Arrianne says. “To lose the baby that you’ve made together, to never get to see them open their eyes, to never feel their warmth against you.”
Determined not to leave their son in the hospital, Arrianne got in touch with Forget Me Not and, later that day, one of our team brought them to the hospice.
The family spent a few days with us in our Snowflake Suite – “it was absolutely amazing. We had the chance to spend precious time with Aziah, to read to him, to show him off to our family. It was all we wanted to do, but without Forget Me Not, we wouldn’t have had that time. It just meant everything. I can’t put into words what it did mean because it just meant everything. We can’t thank them enough.”
Since then, both Arrianne and her husband have had bereavement counselling through Forget Me Not and have gone on to have a baby daughter called Alarah. “When I was pregnant with my little girl, I came to a rainbow baby meeting at Forget Me Not with other mums who have lost babies and go on to have another baby. It’s just nice to be able to speak to people that are in the same position as you.”
“Forget Me Not are one in a million. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be today. Both me and my husband don’t know where we’d be today.”
By providing midwifery support, counselling and a place to spend precious time with their baby to say their last goodbyes, we help families like Arrianne’s to feel less isolated and better able to cope, not just through the immediate trauma, but throughout the rest of their lives, helping families learn to live with their loss and in some cases, navigate the challenges of another pregnancy.
Call to action: For more information on our services and ways to support Forget Me Not, please visit www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk
