In brief: Jersey charity Philip’s Footprints has donated a further 75 memory boxes to bereaved families, bringing its total to more than 575 since it was founded. The milestone coincides with Baby Loss Awareness Week, running from 9th to 15th October 2026, during which local landmarks will be lit up in pink and blue.
Another 75 Boxes, Another 75 Families Held
There are milestones you celebrate with champagne, and there are milestones that stop you in your tracks. Philip’s Footprints, Jersey’s baby loss and safer pregnancy charity, has reached one of the latter kind. Channel Eye reports that the charity has donated a further 75 memory boxes to bereaved families in Jersey, adding to the more than 500 it had already provided by this time last year.
The boxes are given to families experiencing the loss of a child at any stage, from the earliest pregnancy loss right through to the death of a child up to the age of 18. Each one contains carefully chosen items: tiny teddies, “Star” baubles, a “heart to hold”, bespoke candles, and support information. For families facing the earliest losses, where tangible memories can be almost impossible to create, the boxes serve a quietly profound purpose: recognition that their baby mattered, no matter how small.
Jo Nash, founder of Philip’s Footprints, put it plainly: “Each box represents a life not lived and a family whose world may be changed forever. We hope parents know they are not alone, that their child will always be remembered, and that their memory box offers comfort not only at the time of loss but for many years afterwards.”
A Charity Born from Personal Tragedy
Philip’s Footprints was founded in 2008 by Jo and Paul Nash following the stillbirth of their second son, Philip. What began as a personal response to grief, a way to offer comfort to other parents walking the same devastating road, has grown into a charity with a dual mission: supporting bereaved families and actively working to improve pregnancy outcomes across the island.
Jersey sees around 700 babies born each year, and the charity’s Safer Pregnancy Projects, launched more than a decade ago, aim to reduce preventable loss among that number. The inspiration, as Channel Eye notes, came from a sentiment heard repeatedly from bereaved parents: “We just don’t want others to go through what we did.” It is a simple sentence that carries enormous weight, and it has shaped the charity’s direction ever since.
The statistics behind the work are sobering. With one in four pregnancies ending in loss, the scale of quiet grief in any community, including Jersey’s, is far larger than most people realise. More than 100 charities across the UK and Channel Islands will be using Baby Loss Awareness Week to raise awareness and encourage those conversations that so often go unspoken.
Lighting Up Jersey for Baby Loss Awareness Week
Baby Loss Awareness Week runs from 9th to 15th October 2026, and Jersey will be visibly part of it. The Fort Regent Dome and the General Hospital will both be illuminated in pink and blue, joining landmarks across the United Kingdom in marking the occasion.
Mrs Nash welcomed the week but was careful to frame it in its proper context: “This week will spark conversations about baby loss and give local bereaved parents and families an opportunity to talk about their precious babies and feel less isolated in their grief. While Baby Loss Awareness Week is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness, it is just that, one week. We hope those who know a bereaved parent will be mindful that, for them, it’s not just one week, it’s every day.”
It is a reminder worth hearing. Awareness weeks are useful tools for shifting public conversation, but the grief they shine a light on does not observe a calendar.
Source: Channel Eye
