In just over a month from now, I will be walking The 15 High Tors Challenge on Dartmoor, raising money for The Good Grief Project. Please support this amazing charity by sponsoring me as generously as you feel able to. THANK YOU!

Six years ago I joined The Good Grief Project team that runs active grief weekends for bereaved parents and siblings. Every member of the team has experienced the death of a child or sibling. By the end of each weekend retreat we see an extraordinary change in the participants. It’s as though the heavy burden they arrived with, has become lighter and more manageable.

Feedback is overwhelmingly positive and is peppered with words like ‘life-changing’ and ‘transformational’. Participants describe how the creative approach in the workshops (boxing, writing and photography) and additional activities, has enabled them to become ‘unstuck’ in their grieving, to find new ways of expressing their pain and helped to alleviate the isolation of their grief. We know that these changes endure because many participants stay in touch and tell us how they’re doing.

The charity was set up by Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds following the death of their son, Josh, in a road accident 15 years ago. Josh, like my son, Sam, was 22 when he died and away travelling in the Far East. Jane and Jimmy, along with Josh’s brother and sister are members of the team that delivers the weekend retreats. Their presence allows participants to see a family who have not only survived the loss most people fear above all other, but have found a way to thrive, whilst keeping secure the place Josh occupied and continues to occupy in their lives. These weekends offer people hope that they too might find a way to survive the death of their loved one, as individuals and as families.

We know how depleting grief can be so the retreats take place in beautiful accommodation on the edge of Dartmoor. We provide delicious and nourishing home-made food for the whole weekend. Having access to nature and being looked after are, in themselves, healing. As a charity we want these retreats to be available to all grieving families, regardless of their means. Fundraising enables us to subsidise the cost of running the retreats and to provide bursaries to those who might otherwise be unable to attend.

This really worthwhile cause is very close to my heart. I will be truly grateful for any contribution, however small.

Gill x