CELEBRITIES enjoyed a round of golf and a slap-up meal on a special day to raise money for a charity working to help families who suffer the tragedy of stillbirth.

CELEBRITIES enjoyed a round of golf and a slap-up meal on a special day to raise money for a charity working to help families who suffer the tragedy of stillbirth.

Organisers hope the event - part of the Sands “Why 17” campaign - has raised several thousand pounds for vital research into why babies die in the womb, or during or shortly after birth.

Sands patrons Matt Allwright, of TV's Rogue Traders, and David Haig, of Four Weddings and a Funeral and My Boy Jack fame, along with Apprentice candidate Jo Cameron, celebrity chef Stein Smart, and ex-Ipswich and Tottenham Hotspur star Jason Dozzell, were among the 300 guests who attended the dinner-dance at Ufford Park Hotel and Golf Club.

Earlier in the day, 120 took part in a golf tournament for the Jude Brady Memorial Trophy, with the winners being a team from Barclays Bank.

The day was held in memory of Jude, who was stillborn two years ago, and organised by his parents Peter and Lynn Brady of Sevenhills, near Nacton, as part of their support for Sands.

Mr Brady said: “It was an exceptional day and everyone has gone away having thoroughly enjoyed it and saying they will definitely come back to do it again next year,” he said.

The day grossed £40,000 but the final figure for the charity after costs is not yet known.

He thanked Barclays for their support in pledging to match fundraising pound for pound. The bank has agreed to continue to support all Why 17 fundraising events on the same basis. Mr Brady also thanked the 3D Golf company for its support in providing £2,000 worth of prizes.

Further fundraising events are being planned for the Why 17 campaign, which highlights the fact that every day 17 families in Britain go through the pain of stillbirth and neonatal death, with the aim to raise £1.7m in 17 months.

Mr and Mrs Brady - who have a son, Travis, four, and a daughter, Cerys, seven months - believe research will reveal actions which can be taken to reduce the risk of stillbirth.

Mr Brady said: “Nobody could appreciate the impact of having a stillborn baby until they have actually been through it.

“The initial indications of the research being done show that 40 per cent of those babies that die could have been saved if there were some changes to procedures in hospitals or the way we do things in our lives.”

Has the Sands charity helped you? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk

FASTFACTS: Stillbirth

Seventeen babies are stillborn every day in the UK or die within the first 28 days of life.

Charity Sands' Why17? Campaign will run over 17 months and aims to raise £1.7 million to promote changes in antenatal practice and fund research that could reduce the loss of babies' lives.

It also aims to raise awareness of the devastating impact of a stillborn baby, or a baby that dies shortly after birth.

In more than 50 per cent of cases of stillbirth, no reason is found to explain the baby's death.

There is a greater risk of a baby being stillborn in twin or multiple pregnancies, women over 35, specific medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or thrombophilia, and where mothers smoke, are obese or come from socially deprived areas.