As each day passes the realisation strikes harder, stronger and more relentlessly.

We cannot turn back the clock.

But we can make Matilda’s death do some good for others.

We can honour her memory and create her legacy.

You can help us too.

On the 11th May 2013 we will be walking a Mile in Memory of Matilda Mae to raise money for The Lullaby Trust.

We are so incredibly lucky to be able to hold this walk at The Rare Breeds Centre in Woodchurch, near Ashford, in Kent.

This is one of our absolute favourite places to be. Tilda loved it too and visited a number of times in her little life. As a bump and as a baby.

It is a family centred place, perfect for families.

The Rare Breeds Centre is owned and run by the Canterbury Oast Trust.

Not everyone knows that the Rare Breeds Centre is home to Canterbury Oast Trust, a charity which supports over 160 adults who have learning and physical disabilities.

A learning disability affects the way a person learns, understands information and communicates. This can lead to some people facing discrimination, exclusion and even abuse, resulting in low-self esteem, loneliness and a high risk of living in poverty.

We believe that people with learning disabilities should be given the same chances as everyone else to live the life they choose, to be more independent and to be valued within our community.

We support people by providing a family home and care to meet the needs of each individual. Through our accredited training, we provide an opportunity to increase practical skills, develop communication and social skills and help people to grow in confidence and self-esteem.

The Rare Breeds Centre is a wonderful environment for learning and many of the people we support are involved in training activities on our farm. They care for our animals, grow plants in our nursery and will help to host you during your visit.

By walking with us in May you will be celebrating Tilda’s life, raising awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, raising money for FSID and also helping the Canterbury Oast Trust in their fabulous work.

This all feels to me like it was meant to be.

In the last few weeks visiting The Rare Breeds has become our Saturday thing. We arrive after lunch and visit the animals, ride on the tractor trailer, play on the park and walk at least part of Tilda’s walk. It is definitely one of our favourite places to spend some quality time.

Let me tell you a bit more about the walk and for more information about The Rare Breeds Centre itself you can check out their website as well as reading my review of the farm here.

The walk will start in the main paddock of the farm. As people arrive we are planning on having some face painting and children’s entertainment.

Fun Train have kindly agreed to come along and sing and dance with us to kick start our toddlers before the walk. We go to Fun Train class every Monday for action songs, puppets and instrument play. I know that Fun Train will do us proud on the day. Esther and William are very excited about this part of the day.

The Rare Breeds Centre Cafe will also be open if you want to grab a quick coffee before we go.

As you arrive at the farm you will have to sign in with us and you will have the opportunity to pay £5 for your group to stay on at the farm after the walk has finished. This is a fantastic offer from The Rare Breeds Centre. You will pay £5 for your family group, whatever size that may be, for entry to the Rare Breeds Centre for the day. This would ordinarily cost at least £28 so it is a fantastic deal that we strongly encourage you to take advantage of to make the most of your day and also to support a charity that is doing so much to make our memory walk possible and be a huge success. We hope that you will be able to stay on at the farm and enjoy all the attractions that it has to offer.

The walk goes through the farm and up through the woodland bluebell walk.

All along the route there is a Quiz Trail for young children and plenty of places to play.

Half way around the route there is a totem pole with a fairy ring around it. We thought people might like to stop here for a moment and blow some bubbles up to Baby Tilda in the sky. We have enough bubbles for everyone attending thanks to the lovely Jodine at Gummee Glove. We will also be giving each family a packet of Forget Me Not seeds to take home. These have kindly been donated by Suttons. Thank you!!

This beautiful spot is just by the Rainbow Wood which is a memorial wood where we may try and get a tree for Tilda.

The one mile walk will end back where we started where we will be having some classical music played by Classical Babies and where we will be blowing bubbles for Baby Tilda. Dr Zig’s have kindly donated a giant bubble kit for us to use so we will all have great fun with those.

There is space there for you to settle with a picnic or buy food from one of the outlets on site.

At the end of the walk the lovely Max from Jumping Beans will be there with a whole host of toddler play equipment so that anyone who has been in a buggy for the mile can have some physical fun and use up some energy. All in memory of Matilda Mae who adored her Jumping Beans classes.

If you pay the £5 donation per family to the farm then you can go to the Children’s Barn to meet the animals, explore the different playgrounds, play in the Discovery Garden, watch some pig racing. There is so so so much to do to make this a family day to remember.

We hope that you can come along and join us to raise money for The Lullaby Trust and to celebrate the very little life of our little girl.

There is a Facebook Event Page set up for our walk which you can find here

There is also a Just Giving Page where you can pay your FSID donation in advance.

Your family £5 farm ticket will need to be bought on the day.

We are so so so excited about this event and we would love to see you there.