Forest Food Showcase - Mum & Baby Santuary
A Birth Sanctuary at the Forest Food Showcase
At this year’s Forest Food Showcase, we created something a little different: a mum and baby sanctuary rooted in birth, care, and community.
Alongside the food, music and gatherings, we set up a birth pool and opened up space for real conversations about pregnancy, birth, and what women actually need to feel safe and supported. People stopped, lingered, sat down. Parents, grandparents, birth workers, and the simply curious all came to talk about the importance of strong birth support, continuity of care, and midwife-led services here in the Forest of Dean.
Alongside this, Scott was also sharing work from Rekindle Youth and Wildlings Ed — demonstrating axe skills, hosting practical land-based conversations, and creating space for older children and young people. A small climbing frame and fire pit became natural gathering points, reminding us that care, confidence, and resilience are learned through experience, trust, and relationship — whether you are a child, a parent, or preparing to give birth.
Together, the space felt held. Grounded. Alive.
What we didn’t know at the time was that, shortly afterwards, the entire homebirth service in Gloucestershire would be unlawfully suspended.
That decision didn’t land in isolation. It exposed fractures that many women, families, and birth workers have been naming for years: a system under strain, a loss of continuity, and a widening gap between policy language and lived reality across Gloucestershire.
And yet — with every cloud, there is a silver lining.
Out of that rupture, Gloucestershire Maternity Action Group (GMAG) was born.
GMAG brings together women, families, doulas, midwives, and birth workers from across the county. Its purpose is clear and uncompromising: to ensure maternity services are lawful, safe, transparent, and accountable; to hold the Trust to account; and to ensure proper scrutiny through bodies such as the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).
What began as conversations around a birth pool, a fire, and shared skills at a community food event has grown into a county-wide movement rooted in care, evidence, and collective responsibility.
You can read more about this work and the ongoing advocacy over on Emma’s Antenatal – Birth Advocacy Pages.
Birth is not a niche issue. It is a women’s health issue. A family issue. A community issue. And it belongs at the heart of public life — not hidden away behind closed doors.
