Grieving Salford families are being invited to get together this week at two events held in support of those who have lost loved ones.
As part of National Grief Awareness Week, Salford Community Libraries are hosting events in partnership with The Good Grief Trust to raising awareness of the impact of grief and to get people talking.
Claire Gorton, the Community Development Officer for Salford Community Libraries, explained how beneficial events like these can be for people experiencing grief.
She said: “For people experiencing grief or loneliness, it’s going to be somewhere where they can come and not feel like they’re on their own, and there’ll be people they can talk to on the day.
“We’re open other days if they want to come and talk anytime to any library staff, that’s absolutely fine too.
“It will be important, and they will be able to come in and can be themselves, interact with others and maybe they can get some sort of companionship and support and feel free to talk if they are feeling lonely and down.”
The first event, which is the #BetterTogether Community Event, will be run on Thursday December 7 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at the Height Library with a range of charities, organisations and churches involved as well as Christmas carols being sung by St John’s School Choir at 2:15pm.
Tea, coffee and cakes will be available to attendees.
The second event will be hosted on Friday December 8 from 2pm to 3pm also at the the Height Library with support available to families that have suffered the loss of a child as part of The Compassionate Friends Talk.
Pauline Gallagher, from The Compassionate Friends Charity, will also be at the event giving a talk.
Claire also detailed how difficult and lonely it can be for people who are experiencing grief and how the library aims to help these people.
She said: “A lot of the time you withdraw away, you don’t want to make contact with people, it can be an incredibly lonely time.
“It can affect people in so many different ways.
“As a public library, we’re open to everyone, we’re sort of a safe space.
“We’ve got activities going on, you can come in and just sit and read if you like, you can get a drink, you can sit and watch the world go by.
“There’s no set time on grief.
“You can feel it for years and years after, and obviously libraries are always here for people.”
More details of the two events can be found here.
The address of the location of where the two events are being held is Height Library, King St, Salford M6 7GY.
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