Due to circumstances beyond my control, the retreat described below is most likely going to be the last Living with Loss retreat in 2024. I hope to resume the programme in 2025. There are 2 spaces left at this retreat. The Lake District with its hills, lakes and natural beauty is one of the most…
Are there some things that are making your grief harder to bear? External factors can make our lives even more difficult. Grief is hard enough in itself. The memories that come unbidden; the ache of loss and loneliness; the unanswered questions. Thoughts that filter through our minds; emotions that arrived unexpectedly; dreams that disturb. Reminders…
Some thoughts on coping with the sudden death of a loved one. Rooting – a poem Can the sorrows ever be rooted out? For even when pulled, clumps of dark earth clinging, wired with tiny tendrils of translucent flesh, some hole remains. An absence, it is, that speaksof once holding and growing dear a place, a touch, a heart, within mine. (Carolyn Weber) As…
It would seem that money would be the last of someone’s concerns when a loved one has died. The heartbreak, the sadness, the loneliness, the rollercoaster of emotions, the acute pain of simply missing them is enough to bear, surely? If you are someone with tens of thousands of pounds or more in the bank,…
(A rambling personal post from me, a bereaved mum, with a poem) It is now a full 13 years since my daughter Catherine died. She was almost 31, and this coming birthday she would have been 44. I suppose some people might be surprised that I’m “still” writing about her. After all there isn’t really…
To be bereaved by suicide is widely accepted as being one of the most difficult bereavements to cope with. There are so many unanswered questions and endless possibilities for blaming yourself. To be bereaved by the suicide of one of your children is exponentially worse. As a parent you want the best for your children.…
(A post for those interested in a Christian outlook) It’s ‘Holy Week’. We’re remembering the events leading up to Easter. Thursday and Friday are days of sadness as we remember the betrayal, trial and death of Jesus. On Saturday we pause, but we know it won’t be for long. Sunday is coming. The joy of…
This is a post especially for people who are in the very painful early days following their bereavement. I hope it will give you some hope that as difficult as life is at this moment, it won’t always be like this. (This is an update of an earlier post) Some people have described the death…
Sister Julienne is a fictional character in the long-running British TV show “Call the Midwife”, depicting the joys, labours and sorrows of a group of London midwives through the 1950s and 1960s, along with the struggles of the working people living nearby. The series is centred on Nonnatus House, home to a religious order of…
A Valley Journal 
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