|TOP|Grants totalling more than £460,000 have saved a bereavement project in Scotland for grieving children from closure after organisers warned last year that funds had dried up.

Richmond’s Hope, a project that helps young children come to terms with the loss of a parent or other relative, warned late last year that the grant funding that allowed the project to start up three years ago were beginning to run dry, reports The Scotsman.

The project made an urgent appeal at the end of last year for an additional £150,000 each year to sustain the project. Now the next three years of the project have been secured after pledges came in totalling more than £460,000.

Chairwoman Jessie Douglas reacted to the news: "We have managed to secure all of the funding now for the next three years. It has just been confirmed that we have enough to stay open, which is a huge relief.
"There is nothing else in Scotland that is exactly the same as what we are doing.

|AD|Since the charity was set up three years ago around 280 young people have been helped in their bereavement through the one-to-one bereavement counselling, play therapy and activities offered by the service to help the children express their feelings as a way to help them come to terms with the loss of a parent or sibling.

"In the three-year period coming up, we will be working with children not just in Niddrie and Craigmillar, but from across Edinburgh and also Midlothian."

She added: "It is great that a project from Niddrie is leading the way for the whole of Scotland.

"All the staff here are very passionate about the project and we know we have had such success with the children."

The charity, based at Richmond Craigmillar Church, received grants from the Big Lottery, Children in Need, Lloyds TSB, the Robertson Trust and Edinburgh City Council.

An extra £21,000 donated by Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland which will be used to convert the transept of the church into a self-contained area for working with groups of parents and teenagers who have lost a close relative.

Part of the renovation will include the creation of a “wet play” area where children will be free to express their emotions through paint and art.

Craigmillar councillor Jack O'Donnell said: "This project is worth every penny it gets for the work it does with young kids in the Craigmillar area and beyond.
"I am delighted that there is funding secured for the foreseeable future."

Ms Douglas added: "The Lloyds TSB funding is the icing on the cake. It means we will be able to convert an area of the church into a purpose-built room for working with young people, which is fantastic.

"We had planned to do that at some time, but we didn't think we would have funding to do it."

The news that the centre will remain open has been welcomed by its users.

One mother of a seven-year-old boy who attends the centre said: "He seems to be more like himself again after he has been to the sessions."

A teenager who also attends the centre added: "Richmond's Hope has helped me cope with the death of a friend to the extent that I can now be more open about my feelings."