A mother-of-one who lost her first daughter at birth knows the difference a shoulder to cry on can make.

Lydia Berry, 29, from Chipping Norton, wants to make sure others get the help they need with the launch of a playgroup, which is the first of its kind in Oxfordshire.

The weekly Rainbow group, starting on Saturday, May 16, at The Ace Centre, Chipping Norton, will cater for bereaved parents with living children aged up to seven.

Mrs Berry lost her first baby, Evelyn, at birth on October 27, 2011.

She said: “In every other way Evie was absolutely perfect. It was traumatic. It gets better with time.”

Mrs Berry, a PA at Oxford University, lives with husband Matthew, 28, and their second child, Poppy.

Now two, Poppy was born one year and two months after Evelyn.

Mrs Berry added: “I don’t know whether Poppy will ever know how much of a soothing balm she’s been. She’s my world.”

Three weeks after Poppy’s birth Mrs Berry began frequenting the Ace Centre in Burford Road, a children’s centre which will host the new playgroup. At the time, she was still recovering from Evelyn’s loss.

She said: “It was a safe space. The staff and health visitor were great.

“The Ace Centre was really good for me but there was something missing. I was the minority in the room; most of the people there had not lost any children.”

At the new playgroup, youngsters from anywhere in Oxfordshire can socialise and play, while parents support each other.

Mrs Berry noted the “bittersweet, crazy contradiction” between the pain of losing a child and the joy of having another alive.

She, Mr Berry and Poppy will all be present at the first meeting on May 16.

The playgroup is free and open to all who have lost a baby at any time during pregnancy or around birth.

The playgroup will run on May 16, July 18, September 19 and November 21.

For information, or if you wish to bring a child older than seven, contact Mrs Berry at oxfordshirerainbows@gmail.com