FOR most of us the festive season is an exciting time with presents, family get-togethers and too much turkey.

But Christmas is a mixture of happiness and heartbreak if you are a teenage mum with nowhere to go and no-one to turn to.

For these girls, this time of year is tinged with sadness — but there is hope in the form of Maryvale, a mother and baby home in Little Harwood, Blackburn, where young mums-to-be can find the help they so desperately need.

The only home of its kind in the area, Maryvale, in Rydal Road, provides mums and their babies with a place to stay until they get back on their feet.

The team of 10 staff, which become like a surrogate family for the girls, teach them the skills they need to provide for themselves and their baby.

Girls each have a key worker assigned to them to assist with healthcare and access to education services.

Deputy manager Karen Duffy is one of the team who work hard to support these girls who have, for one reason or another found themselves pregnant, or with a small baby, and alone.

“Some girls arrive here with a big belly and only the clothes they stand in,“ said Karen, who spends up to 50 hours a week at the home.

“It is very sad. These girls genuinely miss their families and struggle to cope alone. They are terrified.

“We teach them how to cook if they need us to and help them start college if that’s what they want.

"We are here to support them. It’s hard to not get attached when they usually stay with us for about nine months and we see a remarkable change in them from when they arrive to when they leave us.”

The centre has a kitchen, lounge, garden and bedrooms to house up to seven girls, usually aged 16 to 19, with Karen and her team on hand 24 hours a day.

They take it in turns to sleep over at the home, in a room which also doubles as their office, to be there for the girls and their babies if they should need any help.

But in order for the home to keep up its dedicated service it relies heavily on donations, especially at Christmas time.

At the moment the most crucial items needed include baby clothes, nappies, toiletries, non-toxic cleaning products, non-perishable food items and household items to help towards the home’s ongoing refurbishment.

Karen said: “We literally survive on donations. We would like anything anyone can give but we would also like to receive any unwanted gifts or anything going spare to help ensure the girls and their babies have presents to open on Christmas morning.

Karen, who will be working on Christmas Day, said she would be putting on a Christmas dinner for the girls, with games and Christmas music.

“We are putting up the Christmas tree this week,” she said: “It’s something we can all do together, although we are in need of a new one really as the one we have is quite dilapidated.

“We try to make the atmosphere as jovial as possible and there is happiness among the tears.

"Christmas is such an important time for the girls and there is a lot of excitement because it can be the first one for their babies.”