Last week saw us hold our first Management Meeting. 

This felt like another huge step forward for the charity and made us feel very professional. 

We invited all the trustees of the charity along with the Patrons, Counsellors, Bereavement Liaison Team, Bereavement Midwife and Committee members.

The meeting was reasonably well attended seeing as it was our first and we had some very productive conversations. It was really good to get other peoples ideas and thoughts on how we should continue to move forward.

We have been left with some exciting plans for our future and lots of work for us all to do to try and continue our growth and success.

When you start out as a charity you think it is going to be a straightforward thing, boy were we mistaken. 

We think we have done really well to get to where we are now considering none of us have any background experience in any aspects of running a charity. 
I guess that the skills we have developed over the years as parents, workers and general life skills have all helped us to cope with the stress and difficulties we have encountered.

Over the last 3 years we have all found the things that we are good at within the charity and have slipped into those roles. It is great to have a mixture of skills and experiences as it benefits the charity in many ways. 

At the meeting, with all the other disciplines there, it felt like we can offer such a diverse range of skills and experiences which can only make the charity even stronger. 

The counsellors that we now have on board, offering free sessions to our clients, are absolutely amazing. They give their precious time and have taken on several families alongside their normal workload. This commitment from them still amazes us all and we can't thank them enough. They are very special people.

Through the Bereavement Midwife we have now been getting more and more referrals, this shows us that we are now being seen as a major agency for bereavement support. 
The families we have been put in contact with are now getting the support and help they need to help them cope with the loss of their baby or child.

Everything seems to have progressed so quickly for us and we feel like it is just going to get bigger and better. This excites us but also scares us. We know that what we are fighting for is so important and we will never give up.

Charlie Arthur Curtis will always be a huge part of our lives and he will be our motivation to keep going. 
But now others are also being touched by his courage and fight and they will get the support they need because of him. 

What an amazing legacy to leave behind. What an amazing little boy.