MALDON town centre will be lit up in pink and blue from tomorrow (Friday, 9 October) at night as part of Baby Loss Awareness Week.

Behind the moving display in Maldon this year is Dave Ridgewell, manager at William H Brown estate agents in the High Street. Dave and his wife Abby, who live in Heybridge, lost their beautiful baby son Max in November last year, just one day after he was born. Abby had suffered complications during labour which meant that Max could not survive.

Now with Baby Loss Awareness Week being marked out with light and colour in Maldon, the couple hope that other parents who have experienced such loss will feel they have the freedom to talk about it - and know that they are not alone.

Dave said: "Our world collapsed that night, and despite the love and support of our families we felt alone. What makes matters worse is that people, understandably, don't want to bring him up in conversation for fear of upsetting us or simply because they don't know what to say."

The opportunity to talk about your baby often goes away

"But when you have a child it's natural to want to talk about them constantly, and even if that child dies that doesn't go away, but the opportunity to talk about them often does.

"We discovered that very few places in the Maldon or Chelmsford area take part in Baby Loss Awareness Week and we wanted to change that.

"At William H Brown, we are putting pink and blue lights up in my office window, as well as inviting bereaved parents to have their babies' names and a short message on ribbons in our window.

"The response has been awesome and we already have over 125 ribbons to put up.

"We have also persuaded a number of other businesses, including many of the other estate agents in the town to put up pink and blue lights and were delighted to get confirmation that All Saints Church and the Moot Hall will be lighting up in pink and blue, too, so Maldon will be looking very different at night."

The display will be put on every night from tomorrow until Thursday, 15 October.

Dave added: "We invite everyone to come and see our window display from this Friday, and if they or their loved ones have experienced baby loss, to talk about it."

Baby Loss Awareness Week - the background

Every year, Baby Loss Awareness Week aims to raise awareness about pregnancy and baby death in the UK.

As many as 1 in 4 pregnancies results in loss, so there will be thousands of parents affected by this across the Maldon district area.

Chelmer Radio is also supporting Baby Loss Awareness Week by giving bereaved parents the chance to talk about their loss. Interviews will be aired on Chelmer Radio's daytime show between 10am and 2pm each day.

Programme Director David Baker said: "This is a hugely distressing and emotional time for many people. What we aim to do is to let people out there know that there is help and how good it is to talk.

"We are also trying to get as many businesses and organisations as possible to light up their buildings to pay tribute to those beautiful babies who have been lost."

For more information visit the Chelmer Radio website here.