When our first granddaughter was stillborn, we very much appreciated those who had foreseen that this kind of thing happens, and had decided to do something in the light of the deep pain and disappointment experienced by grieving mothers and fathers, and their families.

A would-be mother goes in to the hospital to deliver the baby, a welcome addition to the family, but when there is a stillbirth, she leaves for home with nothing in her arms.

Some anonymous grieving woman, or perhaps several mothers to whom the same had happened, have prepared a little white cloth-covered box into which the scant but precious ‘momentos’ can be placed, taken home by the grieving parents. A wee skullcap, a narrow wrist bracelet with the infant's name, the inked-stain prints of tiny hands and feet, perhaps a wisp - a lock of hair.

It's all they have to take home. But the little box with its momentos is something - not enough, of course, will never be enough.