ASHFORD BABY MEMORIAL GARDEN

Many crematoria and cemeteries have special baby areas but often they are out of town and not easy to get to, and the baby areas themselves are sometimes quite a way from the car park, or bus stop.   They are often very sad places not always very inviting, sometimes with areas overgrown or very cluttered. Memorials at crematoria and cemeteries often cost many hundreds of pounds for just a set number of years and are often too expensive for many people.

 

In 2011, a group of local volunteers got together and decided we needed something better for local people.  After a lot of work, and a considerable amount of fundraising, raising around £30,000 they were able to create the wonderful Ashford Baby Memorial Garden in Ashford Town Centre.  This is within the main Memorial Park, and is five minutes’ walk from the shops, the buses and the railway station.  The Baby Garden is open every single day during daylight hours and is completely accessible, with no steps.

 

When we designed the Garden, we wanted something that was bright and welcoming, and somewhere where we could remember our special babies in a positive way.  We wanted something where members of the public would feel comfortable visiting, and somewhere where children were able to play when they came along to remember their brother or sister. 

 

The end result was a beautiful garden, full of flowers and shrubs, and a really bright and vibrant area.  We have two beautifully carved benches, one depicting a butterfly and the other a dove, and these were created specifically for us.  The Garden is maintained by Aspire, Ashford Council’s gardening contractor, for which we pay an annual fee.

 

Within the Garden, we have a lovely mosaic, created from well over 5,000 pieces – each one representing one of the 5,000 babies that die each year - created by local families in 2013.  This has a teardrop design and is surrounded by 171 baby names, recorded forever.  We now also have boards along the side of the Garden where we are able to offer name tiles, each one with a special baby’s name and a date. In total we have over 380 baby names recorded in the garden forever.

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We are able to offer name tiles at a one-off cost of £40 each, although we can assist if payment is difficult.  We place orders four times a year and have deadlines for receiving orders of 15 February, 15 May, 15 August and 15 November each year.

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In addition to the Ashford Baby Memorial Garden, we have a nameboard at the West Faversham Community Centre and in Westgate Park, Canterbury.  We are keen to look at the possibilities of creating baby name tile boards in other community gardens in East Kent. If you know of somewhere that might be a possibility, please get in touch with us.