KNITTERS are being called on to help parents overcome the loss of a child.

Sharon Darke and other volunteers are to hand out “memory boxes” to parents who have lost children at the Horton Hospital, Banbury, as well as the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

They are calling on residents with knitting skills to contribute blankets for the boxes.

Mrs Darke, the Oxfordshire chairman of the Sands stillbirth and neonatal death charity, lost sons Charlie and Joshua in 1999.

The wooden boxes have a plaque on the front bearing the inscription “Always Loved, Never Forgotten” and a space where a name or photograph of the baby can be added.

Inside, the boxes contain a teddy and a photograph of the baby.

Mrs Darke said: “There will be a little box, which could contain a lock of their hair, a handmade message card to write whatever you want and a disposable camera.

“And then there will be a handmade blanket. They provide such a comfort to parents.”

She was herself given two memory boxes following the deaths of Charlie and Joshua, aged seven and 13 days, at the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary.

Mrs Darke, of Morris Drive, Banbury, said: “At the time, I didn’t appreciate them at all. I came home with two boxes, when I should have had two babies.

“But now I’m so glad I have them. They give me a place to keep things that help me remember, which is so important.”

Mrs Darke and her husband, Dominic, 35, now have two children, Jessica, ten, and Samuel, eight.

She said: “Jessica and Samuel often ask if we can get Charlie and Joshua’s boxes out so we can have a look.

“They are special to me and it’s nice for the family to be able to remember them in this way.”

The charity is hoping to give out the boxes from June, to coincide with Sands Awareness month.

The knitting pattern is available from oxfordshireSANDS.org.uk/images/blanket_patternPDF or by ringing 07551 399747.

Send completed blankets to Bridge House, Shillingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 7EU.