A FATHER-of-two’s website for new parents to coo over their newborns could raise thousands of pounds for hospitals.

Simon Haynes’s social networking site Birthooray offers a safe way for parents to share updates, images and video clips of their babies or toddlers with close friends and family.

Mr Haynes, 46, from Summertown, came up with the idea after realising there must be hundreds of pictures taken by friends and family of his children Dylan, 12 and Poppy, 10, that he and wife Catherine had never seen.

He said “I had the idea about 10 years ago when my children were small and a huge number of people took snaps of us, which I’ve never seen. It’s been a slow-burner of an idea.”

Our top stories

The online gallery, www.birthooray.com, which launched last month, is free to use but a Justgiving link encourages parents to donate to the hospital where their baby was born.

And when their ‘cooers’ – as friends and family are known on the site – log in to view and post pictures and videos – they are invited to donate.

Mr Haynes and fellow Birthooray director Edward Williams, a father-of-two from Five Mile Drive, aim to attract 600 users in the first three months.

Mr Haynes, who runs Oxford-based video production and marketing firm SH Creative, is a volunteer for local charities including the Oxford Children’s Hospital and its Oxford Mail-sponsored OX5 Run.

He said: “Those first few years of becoming a parent are quite magical and we are hoping this site can capture it.

“Somewhere like the John Radcliffe Hospital has 3,500 births a year and if you took just half of those parents plus their family and friends, you might have 10,000-15,000 people.

“Most new parents want to share images and information about their baby with friends and family and if they and just a few ‘cooers’ are willing to give £2, that could raise thousands of pounds for charity.”

Sarah Vaccari, communications manager for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Funds team, said: “Simon has been a great supporter of the Children’s Hospital over the years, helping us with design and video for events like the Oxford Mail OX5 Run.

“We hope this latest innovation will encourage new charitable support for maternity wards and specialist areas, like the Silver Star fund that helps Oxfordshire mums through more complicated pregnancies.”

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.