About this Event
Welcome to the Bigger Than The Whole Sky Charity Gala Dinner! Join us on Saturday September 21st, 2024 at 6.30pm-12.00pm at The Kinmel & Kinspa for a night of live entertainment, delicious two-course dining and an opportunity to fund support for bereaved familes in North Wales. Find out more about our story and cause at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/biggerthanthewholesky
Agenda
- Arrivals and Welcome Drinks from 6.30pm;
- Two-course Dining from 7.30pm;
- Live Entertainment and Disco from 9pm;
- Carriages at 12pm.
On the Night
On the evening of the 21st September, we will have a variety of performers all booked to entertain you. There will also be opportunties for you to take part in raffles and other fundraising activities. We hope that everyone will have a lot of fun, but also that we will raise enough money to make a difference in as many lives as we can.
Our Story
Our names are Gemma and Huw Algieri and we have a 4 year old son named, Martin. In November 2021, we were excited to find out we were expecting again and would soon welcome into the world a little baby brother or sister for Martin. Unfortunately, at 8 weeks, following tests at the early pregnancy unit in Glan Clwyd we discovered that we had suffered an anembryonic pregnancy (when a gestational sac that forms and grows while an embryo fails to develop). Which meant that although my body thought it was pregnant, despite our joy, love and dreams for a future with our second child; there was never a baby. In December 2021, I miscarried in hospital and we were sent on our way to grieve for a life that never was.
After two years of trepidation and lost hope, we discovered we were pregnant again. At our Dating Scan at 12 weeks, we held hands and our breaths and prayed that our much longed for baby would appear. And in glorious black and white, there they were. Our baby, our second child, growing beautifully, spinning, twitching and moving around that screen like they had been desperately waiting to see us too. We went home, scooped up our little Marty (who now seemed massive!) and just let the overwhelming joy wash over us. Our little family would be complete.
My pregnancy progressed, my stomach grew, and we enjoyed a Summer of laughing and dreaming of what the winter would bring us. Then, in September 2023, we again travelled to Glan Clwyd hospital for our Anomaly Scan at 21 weeks. The screen, just as before, lit up with the image of our baby boy; Macsen. We already knew his name. We had decided years before when Marty was tiny and we had gone on a family trip to Caernarfon Castle and read about Macsen. We knew that Macsen would be the name of our future son. His face was so clear, we laughed about how often we would kiss those little lips and tiny toes in this precious baby's life.
But then, everything was lost. Macsen's body was not forming as it should and following further tests, scans and endless prayers, we were advised that the liklihood was that Macsen would not survive. So, on the 18th September, at 00.38am, at Glan Clwyd Hospital and following a seven hour labour, Macsen Raymond James Algieri was born. He weighed 1lb 1oz, had ten perfect little fingers, ten perfect little toes, a flick at the end of his nose like mine, and full cherry red lips like his brother. But Macsen's soul had already left this world. He was born in silence; already at rest.
We seek comfort now in the knowledge that the entirety of Macsen's life was spent within me. His short life consisted only of the soothing hum of our voices, the gentle shake of my laugh, and the warmth of my body that kept him safe and cocooned in unconditional and undying love. We now, as a family, have to navigate this life without Macsen. He was only in our arms for a cruelly short amount of time, but he will live in our hearts and our memory forever.
Sadly, although tragic and completely personal to us, our story of Macsen is not unusual. 1 in 4* pregnancies end with broken parents and aching arms. We hope that you buy a ticket to this event, you encourage family, friends, colleagues to buy a ticket to this event. You spend the evening well fed, laughing, dancing, entertained and happy. And that together we raise vital funds to help support parents, siblings and grandparents in their darkest depths of grief. That we come together to remember and honour all those babies, like Macsen, who are 'Bigger than the Whole Sky'.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Kinmel & Kinspa, Saint George Road, Abergele, United Kingdom
GBP 50.00