Bereavement cafes have sprung up around Bolton thanks to a woman’s determination and a helping hand from a cash award.

Jane Dixon won the Stepping Stone Award at the She Inspires Awards last November and has spent the following nine months making her idea a reality.

She now runs monthly cafes in The Hub in Westhoughton and in Hindley Library and had the first one at Bolton’s Octagon theatre this week.

They all offer a safe and informal setting for people to chat with others about their grief, as opposed to one on one counselling.

Jane said: "While I appreciate many people will benefit from bereavement counselling, the thing I wanted and found I was missing was to meet like-minded people, to meet others going through the same as me or similar.

"To be able to listen to their stories and find common ground and hope.

"The thing I really needed was friendships and advice from people who really got what I meant.

"This is where the idea for the bereavement café originated."

The mum-of-five began organising the pop-up cafes after her husband of 16 years, Steve, died suddenly while they were on a family holiday in Dubai in 2018.

When she had training with Grief UK as a grief recovery specialist and found that offering support to other people who had lost a loved one helped her to come to terms with her own loss.

She had already begun holding the bereavement café sessions successfully when she won the Stepping Stone Award of £1,000, donated by Jackie Hyde of Stanmore Insurance Ltd in Little Lever.

The prize was designed to help individual women with specific projects or businesses.

She said: “What it gave me very quickly was two excellent mentors in Jackie Hyde and Gulnaz Brennan, founder of the She Inspires Awards.

“They made me realise the award was not for the organisation but to help me.”

She always describes herself as “just a housewife, nothing special” but the 49-year-old was able to use some of the money to improve her digital skills and gain more business training.

She added: “I’ve only spent part of the award and, most of all, what it gave me was confidence.

"It allowed me to create a business plan and to build a brilliant team of women around me.”

Jane is now creating information packs for GPs surgeries and funeral directors.

She said: “I think people need early help and guidance when they’ve been bereaved."