A group which helps bereaved children across Cornwall is among the 60 groups – 30 in Devon and 30 in Cornwall – shortlisted for our £££s for People awards.
Penhaligon's Friends, based in Redruth, does an invaluable job helping children across the country with the pain of bereavement. The charity also helps families with children who are terminally ill.
Last year, the charity helped 548 children through regular memory days and gatherings for families, and monthly support groups for teenagers, held in three locations across the county.
It also runs two support groups, one for families and one for parents.
"Children who have been bereaved are often isolated, particularly within the smaller schools in Cornwall," says the charity's manager Julie Parker.
"By enabling them to meet others and share their stories we allow them to process their grief and identify with others. Feedback from our young people tells us that they benefit from meeting others and realising that they aren't the only ones going through loss."
Comments from the children bear this out – "it helped me see that there are other children in the same boat as me, and I am not alone," says Charlotte, aged 13.
The charity has four paid members of staff, but relies on a pool of 40 volunteers to run the groups. It will use any funding from £££s for People to buy books to help families talk through their bereavement, and to provide sociable meals and activities at its meetings for teenagers.
Also looking for support is the Fowey Bowling Club which wants help from the £££s for People campaign to encourage all age groups to try the sport. The club, which draws its members from Fowey and nearby St Blazey, Par, Tywardreath, Polruan and Charlestown, wants to encourage children from the local community college, and their parents, to come and try the game.
For this, the club needs to buy bowling shoes and small "woods" – bowling balls – for young people aged 11-17. It also needs help to buy a new mower to keep its smooth lawn in tip-top condition over the winter months.
From the sedate sport of bowls, to the rather more energetic one of fencing. The Truro Fencing Club nurtures young talent in its school clubs and beginners' groups, with some 30 fencers discovered in this way competing in youth championships internationally, among them 15-year-old Kiera Sleeman.
The club wants help from the £££s for People campaign to buy kit so that is can extend its schools outreach programme.
There is plenty of time to vote for your favourite group in our £££s for People campaign, using the coupons printed each day in the paper until November 30. The closing date for receiving coupons is December 7.
