Meet and greet: Support group for bereaved children opening second location in Birkenshaw

Brighter Gray’s, which was formed by Amy Wilks after the death of her then six-year-old daughter’s Dad, Graham, in 2021, will be hosting a meet and greet session at Birkenshaw Methodist Church on Sunday, January 28, 3pm to 6.30pm.

The support group, which only held its first session in April 2023 at Heckmondwike’s Kip McGrath Education Centre, has recently moved its main base to Mirfield’s Zion Baptist Church, on Water Royd Lane, to accommodate the ever-growing numbers.

And the opening of the Birkenshaw setting, on Bradford Road, will allow more people to access the service.

Amy said: “Things have been going brilliantly. The last few sessions have been held in Mirfield as we have got quite busy. We have made the decision to now stay in Mirfield as it is a bigger space and we can accommodate more children and do more activities.

“It’s great we can also open a second location. We will be having an informal meet and greet session. There will be a few activities so the children have something to do. It’s a chance for people to come and meet us, say hello and get to know us a little bit and see who we are.”

Amy and Brighter Gray’s partner Kerry Littlewood, who lost her Dad in adulthood, have received funding to create a mental health library which will be available during their group sessions, while they will also be looking to take their service to schools across North Kirklees.

“The library will run alongside the Birkenshaw group,” Amy revealed. “People can drop in while we are there doing our sessions. Even if it is nothing to do with grief and they just want some books to give them advice on well-being, confidence or emotions.

“We will have a wide range of books for different ages so we are catering for everybody. We will also take it to our Mirfield group and have it there, as well as to any events we do, like an event we are having at Roberttown Community Centre on Saturday, February 24,in partnership with Fresh Futures, formerly Yorkshire Children’s Centre, for young people’s mental health.”

She added: “We also want to go into schools and offer one-to-one peer support. That is something we will be looking at, as well as school workshops.

“Sometimes children don’t know how to approach grief and friends might not know what to say to someone. As an adult you sometimes struggle with something like that when someone has lost somebody close.

“It’s okay to talk about these things, that’s the message. It happens and it is perfectly normal and people go through it. If we are all together we can help everybody.”

The meet and greet session is at Birkenshaw Methodist Church on Sunday, January 28, 3pm to 6.30pm.