Charity calendar helps baby ward

The charity calendar was put on sale on Wednesday

A group of new mothers have produced a baby calendar to raise money for a neo-natal ward at a Kent hospital.

The eleven women all gave birth to "grossly premature babies" in the past year at Medway Maritime Hospital's Oliver Fisher Unit in Gillingham.

The charity calendar, called Our Little Miracles, shows how their daughters and sons have grown since their births.

It features a total of 14 babies across the 12 months as some of the mothers had twins.

One of the mothers, Karen Smith, said: "I think it's really good, the calendar's come out lovely.

"Hopefully we should raise a bit of awareness about premature labour, but more importantly give hope to families that might be going through a difficult time."

The calendar was welcomed by neo-natal staff at the hospital.

"It's nice to know they haven't forgotten about us when they go home," said nurse Helen Archdeacon.

"It's also nice to know that we mean so much to them that they want to raise money for the future babies who come into this unit.

"We do rely on fundraising to buy lots of our equipment," she added.