Lottery aid for bereaved children

A bereavement and memory weekend ends with the release of balloons

A lottery grant has been awarded to a bereavement service for families in Exeter, east and mid Devon.

The Bereavement and Loss Looking Onwards (Balloons) service has been given nearly £250,000 by the Big Lottery Fund.

Balloons supports children, young people and their families following the death, or before an expected death, of a parent, carer or sibling.

The service offers grief counselling and bereavement and memory weekends.

The aim of the weekends is to enable children, with their parent or carer, to access group support. The weekends conclude with the release of balloons.

'Positive impact'

Some of the money will be used for training professionals and carers to help them understand childhood bereavement issues.

A new young people's consultation forum will also be set up to help develop peer support networks.

Balloons spokeswoman Julia Hammond said the grant would have a "huge impact" on the charity and help the children.

"We will be able to fill two full-time posts, a family worker and a co-ordinator, to work directly with the children and to run the organisation.

"The overall impact will be to have a positive effect on bereaved children's life chances."