A TULLIBODY couple who lost their baby due to a miscarriage are looking to raise funds to plant a memorial tree in Stirling.

Tanya Dewar, 28, and her partner Andrew Gibson, 30, were expecting their first child together but lost their baby last month.

Before the couple left the hospital, they were given a memory box which they opened after a few days.

Tanya said: "Although I would have preferred to be walking out the doors with my baby in hand, it was better than walking out with absolutely nothing but a broken heart."

After a few days of coming to terms with their loss, the couple opened the box from SiMBA, a Scottish charity that helps couples remember their babies.

"The box was filled with lovely little trinkets," Tanya added. "There were two butterfly charms, the symbol for SiMBA is the butterfly.

"It was just really lovely, the part that made it best was that you weren't coming home empty-handed.

"Even though we were early in the pregnancy, a baby loss is a baby loss, it still hurts just the same."

One of the charity's ventures are the Trees of Tranquility, where a bereaved couple receives a couple leaf that they can have engraved with a name or date.

The leaf is then welded onto a tree for couples and families to have a place to visit and remember their babies.

Tanya seen online the closest Tree to her was in either Glasgow or Edinburgh, but noticed the charity was fundraising to have one planted in Stirling.

It was then she decided to fundraise herself to help raise money for the charity that helped her so much.

She added: "This tree will give us somewhere to go, somewhere to grieve. Somewhere to remember our babies.

"I said to my partner: 'I want to help, I want to have that here'.

"Not just for ourselves but for so many other parents."

Tanya will be streaming an online raffle via Facebook on June 5. She is hoping the community will help her raise as much money as possible by donating prizes and buying raffle tickets.

She added: "I'd just to like to thank all the local people and businesses for donating to the raffle so far, the response from the Wee County has been incredible."

To donate to Tanya's raffle, visit facebook.com/tanyadewar.x for more details.

Visit simbacharity.org.uk/ for more information on the help the charity provides.