Mum fundraising for a memorial tree for bereaved parents has raised more than £1,000

Karyn Jenkins and husband Andrew lost daughter Sophie Louise at 22 weeks in 2012 and are leading efforts to gather the £16,600 needed for SiMBA Tree of Tranquility installed in Gourock Park.

Karyn recently set up in the McGilps pop up in Kempock Street and sold new and nearly new baby clothes, toys, accessories and ladies clothing as well as SiMBA merchandise.

Over the course of the weekend, with the help of family and friends, she raised a sizeable sum which will go towards getting the tree installed.

Karyn said: “I think between 150 and 200 people came in across the weekend.

"Some bought things, some donated cash and some came in to tell their story.

“It was so lovely hearing everyone’s story.

"It meant that it wasn’t so taboo and that people actually wanted to speak about their little one.

"I found this also helped them as well - they got to speak about their little one, which from my own experience is really hard to do in front of people as most think it shouldn’t be spoken about.

“We are very lucky to have so many kind and friendly people in Inverclyde.

“I definitely feel that the shop helped spread awareness about the charity and helped get people talking about it."

A JustGiving page set up to raise funds for the tree has already raised more than £2,750.

Karyn handed the remaining clothes stock into Auchmountain Resource Centre for their children’s clothing bank, while the books were handed to Port Glasgow Tesco for the book stall and everything else went to Ardgowan Hospice and a charity shop in Port Glasgow.

As her collection continues Karyn has organised a SiMBA Ladies’ Day to be held in the Clyde Suite on Sunday July 28 from 1-5.30pm.

Anyone able to help with donations for the ladies day is asked to contact Karyn on 07903910135 and you can donate towards the tree at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/InverclydeTreeofTranquillity