Bereaved Worcester couple help other parents pay for child graves

Stevie Graham's parents said they considered themselves lucky to have known her

A Worcester couple who lost their three-year-old daughter have set up a group to help other bereaved parents afford headstones for their children's graves.

Stevie Graham was suddenly taken ill with a stomach bug in June 2021 and hours later died from a herniated bowel.

Her mother, Naomi, said designing and tending her gravestone had been therapeutic and wanted to make sure all parents had the same opportunity.

However, her father, Barri, discovered many child graves had no headstones.

Mr Graham said he only realised this while they were burying their daughter and found some children were laid to rest without a headstone or marker, while some older plots were overgrown.

Believing the cost to be a barrier for some parents, they set up Stevie Stones to ensure "no parent at this cemetery and beyond would ever go without a headstone".

The couple are applying to have it registered as a charity.

Barri and Naomi Graham said they found tending their daughter's grave therapeutic

Mr Graham said their daughter had been "amazing".

"We knew we were really lucky and we still consider ourselves really lucky to have had her," he said.

Mrs Graham said: "When you lose a child you don't stop being a parent, but you stop being able to physically parent them."

So she said having a practical task, like designing and tending a grave, "means you can still do some physical actions of parenting".

"How difficult must it be for other parents who can't tend to something in a practical way."

Donations to Stevie Stones are used to pay for pay for memorials, supplied by a local stonemason.

It has also founded a support network for bereaved parents.

Mr Graham said setting up the organisation and knowing they were helping others was "healing" for them.