EVIE Sutton was looking forward to meeting her new baby cousin.

But the 10-year-old’s excitement turned to devastation when little Jack Croden, the son of her uncle Richard and Auntie Ally, was born sleeping earlier this year.

Evie’s father, Matthew Eccles, recalls: “Evie was really looking forward to having a new baby in the family and meeting Jack and she was really upset.”

Matthew tells how, after sitting their daughter down to explain, Evie was determined to do something to help the non-profit organisation that had supported her Auntie and Uncle and baby Jack.

Aidan’s Elephants was set up in 2012 by a couple following the death of their two-day-old son, Aidan Christopher.

They were inspired to set it up after receiving a memory box from the Nationwide Baby Loss Charity, 4Louis which aims to ensure every hospital in the UK is equipped to support bereaved parents. They also provide memory boxes to hospitals and hospices throughout the UK.

Initially the couple self-funded Aidan’s Elephants, along with donations from family and friends, to support Airedale Hospital, where they had received excellent antenatal care, in providing care for bereaved parents who have lost a baby or a young child through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal or infant death.

Over the years, Aidan’s Elephants has been generously supported by many families, local businesses as well as larger organisations such as the Yorkshire Building Society and Tesco.

With the support of 4Louis, Aidan’s Elephants initially donated 100 Memory Boxes to Airedale Hospital in Aidan’s honour.

The Memory Boxes contain a little card explaining it has been handmade in Aidan’s memory for Aidan’s Elephants, along with information about their interactive website which offers easy to understand information relating to the death of a baby or a young child which they can access when the time is right for them.

Parents and families/friends can also access support via email and, in addition, Aidan’s Elephants also runs social media pages providing families with community support.

On average, Aidan’s Elephants receives between 1000 to 1,500 visits to the website per month and around 30 emails per month.

Jack’s family received a memory box and has been supported by the Sunbeam Bereavement Suite at Airedale Hospital, a specially designed room where bereaved parents can stay with their babies for as long as they wish, which, along with Aidan’s Elephants, brought great comfort to the family during a devastating time in their lives.

Keen to help Aidan’s Elephants, and being a sporty girl, Evie was used to walking with her parents - but she hadn’t tackled a challenging trek before.

When she learned her mum, Jo, was doing Yorkshire’s Three Peaks challenge she decided to do it on the same day along with her father, her uncle Richard and her Auntie Nicola to support Aidan’s Elephants.

In preparation for the challenge, Evie accompanied her parents on training walks.

“Evie is sporty, she has always been active. She played a bit of football for Sutton Juniors and we have been doing training walks,” says Evie’s proud dad.

But conquering Yorkshire’s Three Peaks, Pen-y-Ghent, 694 metres; Whernside 736 metres and Ingleborough 723 metres, a 24 mile long route forming part of the Pennine range, encircling the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and including 5,200ft (1,585m) of ascent, was a feat in itself considering the amount of time spent walking and a terrain that was far more unfamiliar than the local canal towpath.

Matthew says the training walks gave Evie an insight into the challenge and she seemed to take to it with ease.

“We had no worries at all. Whernside and Ingleborough have some steep ascents and were a bit scrambly but she loved it. There was no stopping her so there was no danger she wouldn’t do it,” says Matthew.

He says Evie’s only concern was completing it within the 12 hours.

“She was the first up on the Saturday morning at 4.30am. She was proper excited. She is ace, she really is fantastic.”

Matthew said the longest they stopped for a break was for 10 minutes to eat at the iconic Ribblehead Viaduct, but Evie was keen to crack on.

“She kept encouraging us,” says Matthew.

With Evie setting the pace, the team managed to conquer the challenge in 11 hours and 40 minutes.

“It is a fantastic achievement,” says Matthew.

“We are all really proud. Jo and I are proper proud of the fact that she finished it in under 12 hours. It rained on us but we kept going.”

The family, from Sutton in Craven, raised £800 from the challenge and Evie’s Auntie Nicola also helped to boost the fund by donating £100. A further £700 was also raised in donations for Aidan’s Elephants at baby Jack’s funeral service. So far the family have raised £1,600 in total for Aidan’s Elephants.

Evie’s uncle Richard expressed how ‘extremely proud’ they are of Evie and grateful for what she has done in Jack’s memory.

Evie, who is a pupil at Glusburn Community Primary School, also expressed her gratitude for the support she had received.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who sponsored and supported me in doing the Three Peaks challenge for Aidan’s Elephants.

“I feel overwhelmed by the generosity,” she says.

One of the founders of Aidan’s Elephants says: “There are no words to express how grateful we are to the families who support us in honour of their children. We could not continue to provide the services that we do, without their support behind us. It is their children’s legacies that have given other families the chance to create memories and keepsakes which they will treasure for the rest of their lives.”

Evie and her parents are now considering doing another challenge so it looks like Evie could be putting her best foot forward again. Watch this space.....

For more information about Aidan’s Elephants visit aidanselephants.co.uk.