DUNFERMLINE-BASED charity Choices is celebrating 20 years of supporting women through pregnancy loss.

Choices was set up in April 2002 by Rowland and Paula Lines and has gone on to help and support countless women with unplanned pregnancies, terminations, miscarriages and stillbirths.

Sarah Cumming, centre manager for Choices Dunfermline, has volunteered with the charity for 14 years now, taking over as centre manager in 2017. She told the Press: "We were quite quiet, actually, when I took over but we've got really busy.

"I think that, especially with miscarriages, people talk about them more in the press and in general with the media, you hear celebrities talking about miscarriages. I think it's helped people to know that actually, they're not alone in finding them difficult.

"One in three or four pregnancies will end in a miscarriage is a commonly-cited statistic and so people think, 'Oh, it's really common, therefore, if I have one and I'm struggling then why am I finding it so hard?'

"Now, with more and more folk talking about it, I think people realise actually, it's okay to struggle, and they can get some help. They know that there is help out there. So we've got just got busier and busier."

Choices is based in the old Press office in Pitreavie Business Park and they've been making good use of the space since we left!

One person who was helped by the charity, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “I can’t even fully describe how much this programme has helped me. Just having someone to talk to has made facing issues easier for me and the programme really helped me deal with all my issues, even those that were the most painful.

“If it hadn’t been for the help, support and friendliness of all staff at Choices, I wouldn’t have coped, as I was using unsafe coping strategies to block out how much I was hurting inside.”

To mark their 20th anniversary, Choices are hoping to gain 20 new donors to sign up for monthly donations so they can continue to provide support to those who need it in the Fife area.