Memorial for children killed in house fire let’s mum know ‘her little one’s lives mattered’

August, Goldie and Hugo Field died last year. Photo: Supplied

A Sanson cafe owner says a memorial to the children of the Field family is a chance to let mother Chelsey Field know “her little ones’ lives mattered”.

August, Hugo and Goldie Field died late last year, in what is being treated as a murder-suicide. Their father, Dean Field also died.

The children’s mum, Chelsey Field, unveiled a plaque installed in front of a colourful picket fence in the playground at Viv’s Kitchen. Photo: Supplied

Emergency services were called to a fire at the family’s home on 15 November.

On Tuesday, Chelsey Field unveiled a plaque installed in front of a colourful picket fence which encircled a fairy garden in the playground at Viv’s Kitchen on the main road of the small Manawatū town.

In a statement, Field said the cafe was a local destination for her family and the support she had received from the community meant a lot.

“I am so thankful to those who have dropped off ornaments or painted rocks to add. It touches me that complete strangers would like to keep the memory of my children going and that does not go unnoticed,” Field said.

The memorial would be a focal point for herself, friends and family to visit and remember the children.

“I am also so appreciative of those who have offered me so much support over these last two months through the kind words, messages, cards. It was so heart-warming to unveil the new plaque and it felt very special,” Field said.

She said she hoped to find another way to honour her children and give back to the community in the future.

Vivienne Withers owns the cafe alongside her husband Kevan.

As she constructed the fairy garden on the cafe grounds, she said she decided she had to dedicate it to the children.

“I take things to heart and when this happened I was just starting this little fairy garden,” Withers said.

“I went out there to do a bit on it and it just came to me that ‘I’ve got to make this for the kids. They’ve got to be remembered.”

Photo: Supplied

She said she approached a local trophy engraver who was able to include images of the children on the plaque.

The fence was painted in the same bright colours chosen by the family for the children’s caskets.

The plaque also included the name of Iris – Field’s stillborn daughter whose ashes were lost in the fire that consumed the family home during the incident – as well as the family dog Marlo who also died.

Withers said the children’s deaths had shaken not just the tight-knit community but the nation.

“It’s like it touched the whole of the country. The whole country wrapped their arms around Chelsey. [This kind of thing] just doesn’t happen in New Zealand let alone in little Sanson. It’s just shocking,” Withers said.

Photo: Supplied