Council staff donate comfort teddies to support children at funerals

The bears will be offered at funerals at Kingsdown Crematorium by the Council’s Bereavement Services team for the children to keep and take home with them.

A special ‘adoption certificate’ will also come with each teddy that reads: “When you are feeling sad and you feel like you are on your own, squeeze me tight, as I’m here, you are not alone.”

The teddies will also be adorned with ribbons for Wiltshire Treehouse, a local charity supporting childhood bereavement.

The project follows the Council’s participation in Wiltshire Treehouse’s ‘Week to Remember’ campaign as part of National Children’s Grief Awareness Week last November. Throughout the week on social media, a teddy named Angel promoted various aspects of bereavement services to raise awareness of childhood bereavement.

After seeing the impact Angel had on children attending funerals at the time, Bereavement Services officer Zoe Fennell took the idea one step further.

Zoe said: “The aim is to provide a bear for a child that is finding coming into the chapel emotionally overwhelming, in the hope this will give them something to focus their thoughts on and help them to sit through the service while cuddling their gift.

“The bear may also provide a great deal of comfort in the time that follows, when they think of their loved one, or feel sad when they are missing them.

“After appealing to council colleagues, as well as friends and family, we finally have plenty of bears to launch the service and we hope it will be a big help to those children who have to go through a terrible loss.”

Councillor Chris Watts, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment and Transport, said: “What Zoe and the team are doing in the team is amazing. I’m so proud to have such caring staff working at the Council and I can’t thank them and those who donated the teddies enough.

“Losing a loved one can be tough at any age, but to be a child who loses a parent or close family member can be extremely difficult. While it may not be much, I hope the bears can bring some comfort to them at a difficult time in their lives.”

Sarah Bear, Business Director at Wiltshire Treehouse, said: “It’s absolutely wonderful to see the response to the bears at the Crematorium, and that Angel, the crematorium’s ambassador bear from our Week to Remember ’23 campaign, continues to have a lasting impact.

“As the local bereavement support charity for children and young people living or educated within Swindon and Wiltshire we have bereavement programmes running across the county.

“The charity is going from strength to strength and recently was awarded Charity of the Year at the Wiltshire Life awards. If you would like to join the team, we currently have volunteer roles available and you can find out more at www.wiltshiretreehouse.org.uk on the join us page.”

Anyone who would like to donate a comfort teddy can drop them off at Kingsdown Crematorium or, alternatively, at the Register Office at the Civic Offices in Euclid Street.