The ‘Saying Goodbye’ services are uplifting and moving events filled with music, poems, acts of remembrance and more. They were created by leading grief expert Zoe Clark-Coates MBE and her husband Andy, following their devastating personal journey of five losses. They are free to attend and are open to people of any faith or no faith and to those who have lost recently or decades ago.
2025 will see over 25 services take place in six countries, and the second will be held at Chichester Cathedral in Chichester, on the 26th of April at 1.00 pm.
The charity’s co-founder and CEO, Zoe Clark-Coates MBE, commented, "Our services provide a beautiful opportunity for mothers, fathers, siblings and extended family to say goodbye to their babies and show they are truly loved. Our job at Mariposa International is to ensure every child is recognised, however fleeting their existence.”
Sadly, baby loss affects around 1 in 4 pregnancies yearly in the UK, with nearly 700 babies lost each day.
When parents go through the devastating loss of a baby, they often feel isolated and unable to process the overwhelming grief and trauma that miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal and early years’ loss brings. The services allow people to stand with others and collectively acknowledge and remember each life lost. In addition to the services, the charity’s six divisions provide support to over 50,000 people from around the world each week.
One parent who attended a service said, “The Saying Goodbye service gave me the time and space to formally recognise all of my babies, and the experience of being with people who just knew how it felt was a real strength. As I stood with other parents and proudly rang the bell for my 14 babies, I felt unbearable sadness but also a great privilege to be able to properly celebrate their existence. For the first time, I felt my tears of grief, loss and love were allowed, shared and understood.”
The charity is at the forefront of campaigning for change, with Zoe chairing and authoring the government’s Pregnancy Loss Review, which saw 73 recommendations to overhaul care and support across the NHS and beyond accepted in 2023. These are in the process of being implemented, with key recommendations such as the new ‘Certificates of Loss’ already coming into effect.
Andy Clark-Coates, the charity’s co-founder and CEO commented, “We invite anyone who has gone through or been affected by baby loss, whether recently or decades ago, to join us for this special event.”
More information on the charity can be found at www.mariposatrust.org and via www.sayinggoodbye.org.
The charity has multiple social media pages and can be followed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sayinggoodbyeuk, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sayinggoodbyeuk, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/sayinggoodbye_charity.
The charity can be contacted by email at office@sayinggoodbye.org