Durham church holds service for babies buried in unmarked graves

The memorial was designed by London-based artist Lara Sparey.

She said: “Twenty two years ago my son, Shay, died four days after he was born, and until recently I just wouldn’t have been able to do this project but somehow I felt the time was right.

“It was a competition so I had to put a design forward but I think the fact I’d had a loss myself was very important to the church.”

“The design includes a dove, snowdrops and sun rays so there’s a bit of hope there, and I just want it to be a place where people can sit and remember that child,” she added.

Mrs Gaughy will be doing just that.

“I often wonder what it would have been like to have had a sister,” she said.

“It was incredible to think what they did back then, there must be so many women like my Mum who never saw their babies and never knew where they were.”