For Will....

Met a lovely mum today. She's Gill Hartley, from High Wycombe, who lost her lovely son, Will, in 2006. He was only 22, a charming, good looking and accomplished young man, whose life was snuffed out by a mystery illness, leaving his parents devastated.

Gill was shocked to find that, after his death, she felt as though she had fallen into a vacuum - and it's a feeling I know a lot of bereaved parents experience, particularly mothers.

It's the time when even good friends will do everything they can to avoid you, because they cannot think of the right thing to say. When people literally do cross to the other side of the street to avoid meeting you. When the telephone stops ringing, no-one comes to see you and you feel that even your best friends have deserted you. I can tell you, the years following my little boy's death are marked by the letters that didn't come from certain people, the friends who stayed away until they thought I'd got over it all.

But the truth is, you never do.

And Gill has never, and will never ever get over Will's death. Why would she? Only those who have been through a similar experience know the feeling. And that's why she has set up a special "drop in" centre for those who have lost a child.

If you want to know more - it's in High Wycombe, at the Friends Meeting House, which is

25 London Rd.

The sessions take place on : the second and fourth Monday of every month from 1000 to 1200, and on the second and fourth Thursday every month from 1930-2130. More details from www.gillhartley.com