Legends of GB sport take part in Rochester Cathedral's latest art-fundraiser
The Medway based charity founded in 2010 helps parents, midwives and health care professional going through the bereavement of babies from counselling to providing training.
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00:00The crypt within Rochester Cathedral is seeing lots of helping hands, specifically the hands
00:06of 25 famous sporting legends in the UK, from 1966 World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst, to
00:14powerlifting Paralympic champion Louise Sugden, which have been livecasted to raise money
00:21for the baby loss charity Abigail's Footsteps.
00:24The charity was founded in 2010 after its co-founder's baby daughter Abigail passed
00:31away shortly after she was born. It helps families going through similar tragedies.
00:37So the project has been the idea of Louise Giblin, who is a renowned sculptor, and she
00:43has met many of the Olympians previously with other work she has done, and so on this exercise
00:49she has gone and met them again and cast their hands. So from Sir Geoff Hurst, to Craig
00:54Chalmers, to Sally Gunnell, we've got a wide range of different athletes represented, all
01:00of whom have donated their time freely to help support us.
01:04And there's a significant reason why hands were chosen for the display.
01:08The handprint is so important. It's a memory of your baby and you've always got it, that
01:17tiny little hand. And so I think that's the relevance of the handprints here with Louise's
01:24exhibition. And all the sports people, all the fantastic things that they've done and
01:29they've achieved in their lifetime, and the awards that they've won. If you look at the
01:33hands, they tell stories, you know. I think the relevance of the handprint and Abigail's
01:41Footsteps is very real.
01:43For the sports stars who are at the opening, Abigail's Footsteps tackles problems very
01:48close to their hearts.
01:49Yeah, I think it's a really important charity because from what I've learned today, there's
01:55no one else doing a similar job and supporting these families that have lost children. So
02:01I think they're brilliant, really happy to be able to support them in a similar way.
02:07So I was born prematurely. My parents never mentioned about this kind of support. I do
02:13remember my mum speaking about the doctors and nurses that looked after me when I was
02:18in a neonatal unit, but I didn't hear much about this kind of support. But probably it
02:26was there, but I think it's something that needs to be more available to parents.
02:33The art will be on display from the 19th of July until the 31st of August, and auctioning
02:39will take place until the 14th of September. All the money raised will be going towards
02:45funding a bereavement garden at Medway Maritime Hospital.
02:50Henry Luck for CAME-TV in Rochester.