A SOUTHAMPTON NHS worker is encouraging local photographers to volunteer for a charity that helps parents experiencing the loss of their baby.

Charlie Pugh, a nurse in the Neonatal Unit at Southampton's Princess Anne hospital, joined the non-profit organisation Remember My Baby as a volunteer in 2015.

Remember My Baby was set up in 2014 by a group of determined and passionate women who came together from different parts of the UK with a shared goal to provide photography for grieving parents at the most devastating time in their lives: the loss of their baby.

Charlie told the Daily Echo: "I have been volunteering for RMB for several years and sometimes travel to other nearby hospitals to photograph babies and their families.

"It is an honour to be able to spend some time with each family, creating some images that will help keep the memory of their lovely little person alive.

"Every family I photograph is different, so the experience is never the same. However, it gives me great pleasure to be a part of the team that provides this wonderful service to families during a particularly rough period in their lives. I love being able to capture images of joy amid so much misery."

Since its launch in 2014, RMB has met almost 5,000 families and provided over 170,000 images. The charity meets over a thousand families a year and is free of charge.

Mrs Pugh was born in Dorset, she has also lived in Moscow and America while growing up. She came to Southampton when she was 18-years-old to do her undergrad in Chemistry.

Charlie received her first camera from her parents when she was 11-years-old. Ever since then, her passion for photography has continued to grow.

She sometimes finds the work with RMB emotionally draining, but she is grateful that it makes a difference in people's lives.

The Southampton nurse continued to volunteer for RMB during the national lockdown while following the government's Covid-19 guidelines. She is now encouraging photographers to join the organisation. She said: "Some photographers might find the work we do at RMB emotionally exhausting, but it is very rewarding, and I would urge all photographers in the city to give it a try.

"You might not notice it, but you are making a big difference in the lives of bereaved families."

For more information about RMB, visit: remembermybaby.org.uk/about-us or call 0808 189 2345