Our 2025 Charity Partner - Chasing Rainbows

Community is at the heart of everything we do at Tots Play, and our classes are all about providing a supportive space for families to connect, learn and grow together, so we really appreciate you being part of that.

We’re so grateful to be part of such wonderful local communities, and each year, as a way of saying thank you, we take the opportunity to give back through supporting a charity whose mission is to make a meaningful impact in the wider community too.

This year, we’re proud to support Chasing Rainbows, a charity that provides support and comfort to those who have experienced infertility and baby loss. Their work offers hope, connection, and a safe space for families navigating these deeply personal challenges, and we’re honoured to help raise awareness and funds for their incredible cause.

The Chasing Rainbow's Story

Here's Sam, the charity's founder, telling us a bit about what Chasing Rainbows does, and the inspiring story of how it got started.

"I created the charity off the back of my own lived experience of suffering recurrent miscarriage. Sadly, my husband and I lost 5 babies, but I'm happy to say that I was finally blessed with having my own children. 

After I had my rainbow babies I remember going along to baby and toddler classes with them and tears rolling down my face because I once really thought I was never going to get that experience. I cried during classes because I couldn’t believe I was finally a mum to a living baby. 

During that time in my life which I often refer to as ‘in the trenches’ of loss and infertility I felt incredibly alone and although I was surrounded by love and support from my family and friends I desperately wanted to connect with other woman who were going through what I was.  I had been writing my story because it was cathartic and helped me to channel my feelings and grief somewhere, I never had intended on sharing any of it but Baby Loss Awareness week 2017 inspired me to be brave and I hit publish on my first blog. 

Within days I had thousands of readers from all over the world and women reaching out to me to connect and I felt so empowered and finally felt that I didn’t need to be so isolated.  In 2019 I launched a local peer support group for women to come together, connect and support one another and from there onwards it has turned into something I never could have imagined was needed when I first started out on this journey. 

Chasing Rainbows became an official charity during lockdown in 2020 and has gone from strength to strength, we are now helping people and have services that have impact on a National scale, I believe we are making a difference. 

Baby loss and infertility have always been very taboo subjects and we are campaigning and advocating to make it more normal for people to talk about their experiences and to most importantly not to suffer alone. 

Over the last 16 months we have expanded our services hugely to now support any woman and partner going through any baby loss no matter the gestation. So we currently offer support for recurrent miscarriage, still birth, neonatal death, termination for medical reasons and also infertility and those struggling to have a family going through infertility. Our services by many have been described as vital and a lifeline, the impact of peer support is truly invaluable in my opinion. 

We currently offer face to face support groups monthly in Hull, East Riding Of Yorkshire, an online pen pal service that anyone from around the country can access, this offers one to one peer support, free fertility coaching support, an online blog and community. 

We were also the first charity in the UK to launch the pregnancy after loss lanyard which was a recommendation in the parliamentary pregnancy loss review in 2023. We supply NHS trusts with memory bracelets, lanyards, rainbow clinic packs and various bereavement and pregnancy after loss stickers. We now have these available in 10 trusts in England so far, we supply these free of charge to the NHS.

We have spent the last few years building connections in the fertility world with clinics and doctors to try and make things easier for our service users that have often exhausted all financial avenues on the road to having a family. By making affiliations we have been able to offer families access to more options that they wouldn't have had. In particular the charity in connection with Reprofit IVF clinic in the Czech republic have been able to give away a free round of IVF treatment to a couple whose son died last year at 17 weeks and were not entitled to any further help on the NHS. 

This year we are hosting our mental health focussed well-being weekend which we piloted in 2023 and was a huge success. The weekend is a safe space for women to attend to unpack their grief and to look at how they move forward on the journey to have a family. The weekend is made up of workshops, seminars and self care classes and treatments all with an underpinned focus of hope.

I am so passionate about the work that we do and people often ask me how and why I still do all of this now that my journey to have a family is over and me and my husband very luckily have two wonderful rainbow children. The reason is simple, if my story and Chasing Rainbows can help to give hope, to help in the hardest of times and make things that little bit easier for people, then that is my reason. When people can’t see the light I will sit in the dark with them. 

The motto of the charity is - Never Give Up On A Bad Day

I can’t thanks Tots Play UK enough for this support and for raising awareness not only of our small UK charity but also about baby loss and infertility, we are eternally grateful for this opportunity."

What's Charity Week All About?

Each year we have a special week at the beginning of March, dedicated to supporting our chosen charity, to coincide with the anniversary of the first Tots Play classes. In 2025 Tots Play is celebrating 16 years of fun and learning, and we're so grateful to you for being part of it.

This year we'll have special Jungle Themed classes running up and down the country, as part of the celebrations, and our franchisees will be raising both funds and awareness for Chasing Rainbows, with lots of different activities including sponsored sensory walks, raffles, games, dress up and lots more, and we're so pleased to be able to support such a wonderful charity.

If you're joining us during our charity week with your little one, we hope you'll consider supporting these activities and hope you enjoy all of the Tots Play jungle fun too!

Donate Now

If you won't be with us at our classes or events this year, and would still like to support this wonderful charity, or to make a direct donation you can do so via our Just Giving page by clicking the button below.

DONATE HERE

We're so grateful for all of your support, and as you can see, this is such a worthy cause and our efforts means such a lot to this small charity that's doing amazing things.

If you'd like to come and join us for our charity week, click HERE to find classes near you and do get in touch with your local class leader for all the details of what's happening in your area for this year's celebrations. It would be lovely to welcome you.

Thanks so much for being part of Tots Play and allowing us to offer this support to the wider community - it really is appreciated.

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