Forget-Me-Knot FC Launches to Support Bereaved Dads
Forget-Me-Knot FC helps grieving men talk, connect, and find a community.
In partnership with Port Vale Foundation in Burslem, a new football club has launched to support bereaved dads, offering a unique mix of changing room chat and on-pitch run-around. Forget-Me-Knot FC brings together men who have lost a child to share their stories, swap advice, and find comfort in the company of men who truly understand.
The group begins with an hour of conversation, an open space where men can talk through the highs and lows of their week without judgment or the need to censor themselves. Some of the discussions are practical, with dads further along in their grief sharing advice and experiences. Others are simply about being able to say the unsayable in a room where everyone “gets it.”
Forget-Me-Knot FC is for men in the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire area who have lost a baby, child or experienced pregnancy loss. The group is focused on dads, but also acknowledges that grief can impact the whole family and is open to grandads, brothers and uncles. Experiences can vary, from families who have to make the difficult decision to end their pregnancy due to foetal anomalies, stillbirths, rare health conditions and more.
The team is affiliated with Royal Stoke University Hospital and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), and is in partnership with the Port Vale Foundation. The group meets every other Monday evening at Port Vale Foundation in Burslem.
To join the group, or enquire, email Brett Pointon (brett.pointon@port-vale.co.uk) at Port Vale Foundation or the Bereavement Midwifery team at Royal Stoke (nos-tr.bereavementmidwife@nhs.net).
Forget-me-knot FC plans to hold regular meetups and hopes to grow into a wider community for bereaved dads across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire with the aim to play against other teams set up for the same purposes, like Honey Suckle FC in Liverpool, Angels United and Sands United.