Fife Council Gathering Memorial Ideas After Baby Ashes Scandal

Parents in Fife who never received the ashes of their babies are being asked to come forward with ideas for a memorial.

Fife Council previously planned a memorial statue of a weeping angel to be constructed in Dunfermline's Townhill Country Park.

This idea was scrapped following complaints from parents that the statue would have religious connotations and, therefore, would not be inclusive for everyone affected.

The scandal occurred after a charity revealed that staff at a Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy crematoria had disposed of ashes anonymously and had told parents that their babies were not big enough to have their ashes recovered.

Ideas and questions about the tribute can be put to council representatives at various consultation events around Fife between the 16th and 26th of March.

Senior manager Alan Paul said: “We know everyone deals with grief differently and individual families will have different views on what kind of memorial they would want to see in Fife. It is important to us that we get the views of as many bereaved parents as possible.

“Discussions as to how best to do this are at an early stage and we have drawn together a group of parents and other stakeholders to include representatives from SANDS Fife to help support this work.

“The group have already met with us and we have made good progress, but we’d like to hear from as many affected families as possible, so that they can be included.”

Parents can attend the following meetings:

Monday 16th, 6pm - 8pm, Peacock Rooms Café, Dunfermline 
Tuesday 17th, 6pm - 8pm, Willie Clarke Centre Café,Lochgelly 
Saturday 21st,10am - 12pm, The Lomond Centre, Glenrothes
Tuesday 24th, 6pm - 8pm, Kirkcaldy Galleries, Kirkcaldy 
Wednesday 26th, 6.30pm - 8.30pm, Cupar YMCA & YWCA Centre, Cupar