A childminding group has rallied round to raise money in memory of twin baby boys who tragically died before they were born.

Childminder Audrey Sands has raised money for the Sands charity (no connection) after a mother in the group lost her twins to a rare condition.

Janine Newman, from Keighley, found out that her identical twin babies were suffering from Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) four months into her pregnancy and by eight months both her sons had died. The syndrome meant the babies shared a single placenta, which can restrict the blood supply to one baby.

Ms Newman said: "I had lots of surgery to try to sever the links so that they could be independent but it wasn't successful.

"I lost one of the babies before Christmas, which I had to keep carrying for the sake of the other one, which I lost in January two weeks before he was due to be born." Ms Newman then had to go through the trauma of giving birth to the twins in hospital. During that difficult time, the group began raising money for the Sands charity - which supports people affected by the death of a baby - by holding a competition to guess the weight of two new-born babies in the group.

Ms Sands showed parents a picture of mothers Michelle Atkins and Emma Buckley when they were pregnant and asked them to guess what weight and gender the babies would be when they were born. Mrs Atkins's baby girl, Lottie Lou, weighed 9lb 6oz, and Mrs Buckley's baby, Ellie May, weighed 7lb 9oz. Altogether the group managed to raise £53 for the charity.

Ms Newman, who has a five year-old son Ben, said she was touched by the gesture.

She and her partner, Andrew Grant, named the twin boys Cameron and Finlay.

Anyone who would like to donate to the Sands charity can visit uk-sands.org.