A LIFELINE charity offering support for bereaved children is appealing for help after the Havering Primary Care Trust pulled the plug on its funding.

The Children’s Bereavement Service only started a year ago but has since helped more than 40 youngsters who have lost their parents in tragic circumstances.

But it now faces a desperate race for funds in order to keep the Hornchurch-based service going and free for the four -18-year-olds it serves.

Havering and Brentwood Bereavement Service launched the arm after its organisers spotted the need when it discovered 60 Havering children lose a parent each year.

Charity worker Lizzie Allen said children will be the losers if the service cannot continue due to funding.

She says: “When the service was first launched last year two sisters, Samantha, nine and Erin, seven, were referred here via their school. Their daddy had died of cancer two years earlier and, whilst his death was expected, diagnosis to death was very rapid.

“His wife Elaine had to go to the School to collect their children and tell them the devastating news.”

The girls took part in sessions with the help of the counsellors, art therapy, toys and puppets and worked through their grief and began to express their feelings.

Lizzie said: ““It would be a tragedy if we could not keep offering the service for free, so we need all the help we can get.”

The charity runs outreach and office based counseling with eight week courses which are currently entirely free.

More help is desperately needed. Contact Lizzie Allen at lizzie@hbbscounselling.org or telephone 01708 476912 or visit the website www.hbbscounselling.org for upcoming events. The names of the children have been changed to protect their identities.