Publish date: 16 October 2025
Tameside Hospital staff, patients and members of the local community gathered on Wednesday 15 October to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week with a ‘Wave of Light’.
The Wave of Light event is a way for families to honour and remember babies who have sadly died during pregnancy or after birth.
Every year, people all around the world light a candle at 7pm in their local time and leave it burning for at least an hour. This creates a wave of candle light which spreads across the globe as it turns 7pm in each new time zone.
Tameside Hospital hosted the event in the hospital’s baby garden, beautifully lit up in shades of pink and blue for the occasion. Local choir Tameside Voices added to the atmosphere, bringing a sense of peace through their music.
Led by the Maternity Unit’s Bereavement team, this year’s ceremony was the biggest Tameside Hospital has ever seen, with around 50 people in attendance.
Attendees had the opportunity to light their own candle and write their baby’s name on a ribbon if they wished.
While many people can find it difficult to talk about baby loss, Baby Loss Awareness Week and the Wave of Light movement aim to raise awareness of the impact on families and the support available.
Tameside-based charity Finding Rainbows also attended the event to provide information and resources for anyone needing that extra bit of support. The charity was set up by people who have experienced baby loss themselves, creating an empathetic space where families know they are not alone.
Victoria Wright, who works in bereavement support for early pregnancy in the Women's Health team, said:
“It was an honour to host this year’s Wave of Light event again at Tameside Hospital.
“We’d like to say a big thank you Tameside Voices choir for their beautiful singing, Finding Rainbows for their expert support, our Maternity Unit and Early Pregnancy teams who are there to help families going through some of the toughest moments of their lives, and especially to those parents and families who came along to remember their babies.
“As Baby Loss Awareness Week comes to an end, it’s important that we keep raising awareness and break the silence on baby loss.”
