A Welwyn Garden City woman has started up a coffee club for people who have suffered miscarriages.

Rebecca Griffin, from Howlands, had the idea after she found herself confiding in the friends she had made while attending a recurrent miscarriage clinic.

She and her husband Jamie decided to try for a second child in 2014.

But the pregnancy wasn’t successful.

Tragically, it was the first of five miscarriages for the couple.

After the third time, Rebecca was referred to Hertford County Hospital recurrent miscarriages unit.

Rebecca, 34, said: “It is an incredibly lonely time to be going through - you end up chatting to women and fathers as well.”

In January this year, on the day the baby from her last pregnancy would have been born, she decided to start Chasing Rainbows.

Their first meeting was in March and she is looking to expand the group.

The group’s name comes from the phrase “rainbow baby” - a baby who comes after the “storm” of a miscarriage - and aims to offer friendly faces while people are grieving a loss or making new attempts to have a child.

“I didn’t want it to be a formal group where you take turns to talk about your feelings,” said Rebecca.

“We don’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to, it’s more about being around like-minded people who are going through the same as you.”

Members of the Chasing Rainbows make their arrangements in a Facebook group to meet at different cafes in the area, and currently have around four people.

Rebecca clarifies that the group doesn’t offer medical advice. “We don’t have qualifications regarding the medical side. It’s more for emotional support.”

She said people joining them can be assured that everything said is confidential.

“It’s for people to know that there’s always someone around if you need to talk, so you can just meet up.

“I want to feel like something good has come out of the whole bad experience - not everyone wants to share their feelings with someone else but for me it helps to talk to other people who have gone through what you have - and to know you’re not alone.”

The Chasing Rainbows Coffee Club Welwyn Garden City can be found on Facebook here.