A PIONEERING group to help volunteers support bereaved families has been set up by St Anne's Church, Turton.

Backed by a £2,000 Lottery grant, the church has set up a series of training days covering home visits, support groups and providing bereaved families with necessary information.

Parish vicar Martin Short said: "Death is something that we, as a society, don't like to deal with and it is a subject which is very much brushed aside.

"The aim of the course is to train people to help bereaved families, to sit alongside them when they most need it. It's not a counselling service but we want to train people so they can offer advice. And if they don't know the answers to the questions, at least they will know where to go." Six sessions will be carried out between June and September, covering funeral arranging, registering a death, welfare benefits and child bereavement.

Organisations with similar characteristics have praised the new scheme. A Samaritans spokesman said: "Anybody that can provide a listening ear to anyone going through a bereavement is a very good thing.

Sue Allen, head nurse at Derian House children's hospice, Chorley, said: "We have our own service but there are very few in the community that deal with death. We are fully supportive of the St Anne's project."

Turton Moorland Bereavement Project has so far attracted 20 people.