All Saints Church Gornal and Sedgley

All Saints Church Gornal and Sedgley

The parish of Gornal & Sedgley has three churches, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s and All Saints. Together, as a response to the pain and loss felt by so many during the Covid pandemic, we set up our bereavement hub, which is open to all. Our training initially came from the local hospice bereavement team and since then we have slowly grown in confidence, raising the profile of bereavement awareness across our three churches. 

We meet once a month in our community room, offering a part structured, part informal morning where guests are encouraged to explore emotions, share stories and discuss topics, which has brought about a strong sense of mutual support for one another.  

Our Member of Parliament was invited to join us for a meeting where several concerns were raised by guests, resulting in some positive interventions. From time to time, we include craft activities, because we find these encourage friendships and allow us to be alongside those who find it harder to express their feelings.  

The group also embarked upon creating a banner for church as part of our Bereavement Friendly Church initiative. The motifs are individually created, personal to the memory of loved ones and fixed with Velcro so they can be changed. The planning of the design was done in our church coffee mornings, allowing others not in the bereavement group to contribute.  

The church introduced a Blue Christmas service in 2025 in addition to our usual memorial services. This proved very popular, with some funeral families attending as well as those from the bereavement group. It was a gentle and poignant time to remember loved ones and to be thankful for the precious gift of Christmas. 

We are particularly proud to offer The Bereavement Journey® programme. The first time we did this, in January 2025, every person who attended said it was ‘the best thing they had done’ to help them process grief and move forward in life. Out of that group, there is now a mutually supportive group of friendship. At the time of writing, the 2026 course has begun, and we hope this proves equally helpful for our new guests. 

Since setting up in 2022 we have supported almost fifty people, and we are proud to contribute in some small way to our community in making Gornal & Sedgley a better place to live.