Memory making is an integral part of what we do at Tŷ Hafan. It’s about making positive memories together as a family during what can be an incredibly painful time and creating keepsakes that can be cherished forever.
Memory making activities can include special outings, taking photographs, creating memory boxes, writing books about the child and their family, saving locks of hair, making artwork together, or making handprints and hand or foot casts.
Hand or foot casts are plaster casts of a child’s hand or foot that a family can keep and hold onto forever.
“Presenting the finished hand cast to a family is often an emotional moment, as a hand cast preserves a lasting memory and is a truly tangible and sentimental piece of memory work,” shared Emma, Creative Arts Practitioner at Tŷ Hafan.
Families can also attend our local Bereavement Hubs, where they can take part in memory making activities for as long as they want after their child has died. One example of a memory making activity at our Bereavement Hubs is creating an acrostic poem. Families think of words that describe the child they are remembering and begin with the letters of the person’s name.
Michelle, whose son Louis was three-and-a-half years old when he died at Tŷ Hafan, shared her experience of attending one of our bereavement memory making sessions in Pembrokeshire with her daughter Lily.
“This class was a great way for a sibling like Lily to understand more about Tŷ Hafan, as she was born after Louis passed away. Plus, it was also a nice way for me to keep in contact with Tŷ Hafan.”
Finding ways to remember a child who has died is such an essential source of comfort for many bereaved families. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to memory making, so our expert team work with families to find what works best for them.
“I wouldn’t have thought about making things we could keep, but Fynley’s Memory Box is one of the most precious things I have,” shared Maria Thomas, Fynley’s Nana.
Thanks to generous donations from supporters like you, we can offer all our memory-making services completely free to families across South Wales.