A Help In Grief

Coping with the death of someone close

Author: Julian Evans, Ben Evans, Phil West & Clive Anderson

Publisher: Day One

ISBN: 978-1846256349

A short book of 145 pages written in an accessible and friendly style empathising with the reader. Outlines both the practical elements surrounding a death and its consequences and the emotional journey as we mourn and grieve. The aim is to provide clear, straightforward advice and help.

The authors are a father and son, a local GP and a minister. All have lost very close relatives and write from personal and professional experience.

Foreword by Debbie Thrower.

About the authors

JULIAN's late wife, Margaret, (Ben's Mum) died very suddenly aged 55 years. With Ben, his youngest of three sons, the idea of this book emerged from the tragedy though not until some years after.

Julian is a forest scientist, has written many technical books on forestry, and was formerly the Forestry Commission's Chief Research Officer (S) and subsequently Professor of Forestry at Imperial College London. He is in the leadership team of his church and is a non-executive director of the Christian international relief and development charity, Tearfund. He owns a small woodland.

He was appointed OBE in 1997 for services 'To Forestry and the Third World'. Almost three years after Margaret's death he remarried also, a little confusingly, to Margaret. They live in Ellisfield, Hampshire.

BEN was 19 when he lost his mum whilst at university in Exeter. Just 2 weeks previous he had been at home with the family for Christmas with no indication of what was around the corner. The weeks immediately after his loss were spent with his Dad, brothers Jon and Stephen, and sister-in-law Christina.

Today, Ben is partner in a learning consultancy - EvansLewis - as well as a Training Officer for The Royal British Legion. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a registered Myers-Briggs practitioner.

Ben is 28 and lives with his wife, Anna, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

PHIL is a GP in the Hampshire village of Four Marks. He is married to Ruth and they live with their daughter and two sons.

Phil trained to be a doctor at St George's Hospital, Tooting. During his GP training he also worked in community psychiatry outpatient clinics. Phil lived and worked at Mseleni Hospital, in rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa between 1998-2000. During this time he cared for many people infected with the HIV virus and also had friends and colleagues lose lives to this terrible disease. His mother was diagnosed with cancer shortly before his return to the UK, dying at the age of 63 only two months after the birth of Phil and Ruth's first child. Phil is on the leadership team of his local church. He enjoys digital photography and plays the cello and bass guitar.

CLIVE Anderson is a minister of the Butts Evangelical Church in Alton, Hampshire, having previously been Minister of a Church in Streatham, South London. This means he is often connected with bereavement and its effects in the lives of many, and has conducted hundreds of funeral services.

Clive has wide-ranging interests, including history, sport and railways. He also leads tours to the Middle East and around the British Museum in London, where the Egyptian mummy rooms prove to be the most popular. He has written and co-authored a number of books, and is married with one son.

Recommendations

“Buy three copies of this book! Give one to your pastor, one to your local library and keep one for yourself – it is a valuable resource.”

“A Help in Grief is a book warmly to be recommended. It is clearly printed, charmingly illustrated and immensely good value.”

“It is written in a personal and accessible style, making it highly engaging and practical. It is a book that could be recommended by any parish priest to families, as it expresses Christian love simply by trying to map a difficult terrain and to extend the hand of love.”

“There is wise guidance given in the various chapters. I have no hesitation in recommending this publication.”