Retired midwife, Tracey Martin, has set out her efforts to raise money for a new Bereavement Room; The Florence Rose Room and Garden, following her friend’s tragic loss of her three-day-old baby, Florence.

Tracey has set herself the challenge of walking fifty-five miles between several birthing centres in the area to raise funds and enable the Palmer’s vision of a ‘relaxed’ Bereavement Room to come to life.

Tracey, who is a retired midwife, explained how she and midwife Rachel Coleman are taking on the walk to raise funds: “Florence was the granddaughter of my friend Cath. Florence Rose Palmer was born on September 30th 2019 at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

“Everything appeared normal and she was discharged home the following day. However, that night she was readmitted to the RUH and eventually transferred to St Michaels where tragically, at just three-days-old, Florence passed away from a rare metabolic disorder.

“Ryan (Florence’s father) would go to the mortuary at St Michaels and sit in a room with Florence – cuddling her, singing to her and reading her stories. This gave Ella (Florence’s mother) and Ryan a vision – to provide a Bereavement Room at the RUH where parents and family members can spend precious time with their baby in a relaxed, home like environment.

“Fundraising was started and that is when I came up with the idea of ‘55 for Florence’. I was working in the maternity department at the RUH at the time and wanted to do something that related to this so the idea of walking from the RUH to all the birthing centres and back was formulated.

“Following delays due to the pandemic Ella and Ryan’s vision is coming to fruition and The Florence Rose Room and garden will hopefully be completed early next year.

The walk will take place on Saturday 9th and Sunday, 10th September. On Saturday, Rachel and I will walk from the RUH to Chippenham Birthing Centre then on to Trowbridge Birthing Centre – twenty seven miles where we plan on camping out overnight.

Sunday will see us go on to Frome Birthing Centre, then Paulton Birthing Centre before returning to the RUH ; twenty eight miles in total.

“We will be joined for a few miles at the start and finish by Florence’s family and a few midwives who cared for Florence following her birth.

“All of the money raised will go towards furnishing the room and landscaping the garden to make it a tranquil, relaxed space to be in.”

Tracey is well on her way, having so far raised £1,450 of her £2,000 target.

To find out more, and donate to Tracey’s Just Giving page, visit: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/55forflorence