A mother from Wythenshawe has set up a bereavement group to help families dealing with grief to support each other. With help from Forever Manchester, Gaynor Jackson, has started the group to encourage children and young people to open up about their loss.

Gaynor Jackson from Benchill, who established Bereavement 4 Kids was interviewed live on BBC Radio Manchester breakfast programme on Wednesday 11th September 2019 where she talked about the new weekly group that meets from 3.30pm to 5.00pm every Monday afternoon at Benchill Community Centre.

When she lost her husband 5 years ago, Gaynor felt like there was no support for her children. However, Gaynor was encouraged and supported to develop the group by one of Forever Manchester’s Community Builder’s Vikki Snowden as part of her work in the area.

Gaynor decided to create her own group for families dealing with the loss of a loved one, where children and adults sharing similar experiences could come together to do an array of activities aimed at helping them deal with their loss, share their experiences and support each other.

Gaynor successfully applied for a Cash 4 Graft award and used the funding to purchase craft equipment and refreshments.

Gaynor said: “I met Vikki from Forever Manchester, we had a few chats and organised a couple of activities such as an Easter Hunt and a Bingo & Breakfast in the Community event. We got a good bond going and then I came up with the idea of the Bereavement Group for local families affected by the loss of a loved one.”

Vikki said: “Bereavement 4 Kids is a great example of what can be achieved by local people with just a little bit of encouragement and support.”

Listen to the full BBC Radio Manchester interview with Gaynor Jackson below. 

(Fast forward to 1 min 28 seconds to skip our advert.) 


Do you have a great idea for a community group or activity that will help bring people together across Greater Manchester? Why not check out the Funding & Support page of our website?

Here you will find a number of funds that Forever Manchester manages and administers. Should you need to contact us to discuss deadline dates, eligibility and criteria, or if you encounter any problems applying for any of the funds listed, please contact our Awards Team on 0161 214 0940 or email awards@forevermanchester.com.