Speaker Meeting, 6.15 for 6.30pm

Wiltshire Treehouse is a Swindon-based registered charity providing bereavement support for children, up to the age of 16, who are struggling with day-to-day living following the death of a close family member. 

Sarah Gillam has been the Business Director of Wiltshire Treehouse since 2019.  With a wealth of experience in community work she has been developing the charity’s financial sustainability and managing its relationships with trusts and foundations and establishing links with corporate organisations and individual donors.

In the picture: Sarah Gillam with Club President Terry (right) and Rotarian David Dukes.

The origins of Wiltshire Treehouse go back to 2001 when Hazel Furze and Helen Pepler were nurses working in the Great Western Hospital.  They were seeing families who were struggling to cope with a family member’s death and decided to start up a dedicated social group for bereaved children.

With a group of enthusiastic volunteers they set up the Rainbow Club and were fortunate to be given the use of Blunsdon Village Hall.   The Rainbow Club has been running ever since with the continuous support of the Great Western Hospitals NHS Trust.  It was originally set up to help the families of patients but they were constantly getting calls asking for help from other people and it became obvious bereavement support was needed for the whole family, not just the children.  Hazel and Helen approached the Child Bereavement Charity and received support to get the first family group series up and running.   

Hazel retired and Becky King was recruited to replace her.  In 2013 an anonymous donor gave them £35,000 to get an independent bereavement charity, serving Swindon and Wiltshire, started.  Becky and Helen began meeting others already doing work in this area, such as the Rainbow Club, the Prospect Hospice, social workers, teachers and representatives from many other charities. They all said the same thing: “We can’t meet the demand and more specialist support is needed.”

From this group of interested people Wiltshire Treehouse was formed.  A board of Trustees was appointed and some incredibly gifted volunteers came forward to offer their skills in a variety of ways

Today, with a small staff and 21 volunteers, Wiltshire Treehouse supports some 300 families with children every year.  70% of the children have lost a parent or carer and some bereavements were suicides.   2021 was their busiest year with 358 families being supported.  The children are counselled in groups, bonding with each other which has proved to be helpful.  

Amongst other things, the children are encouraged to write a letter to the deceased parent.  Phrases such as "Daddy has gone to heaven" or "Mummy has gone to sleep" have been found to cause more stress rather than helping.  Consequently, clear language and plain words are used such as “death” and “died”.  

During questions, Sarah said that referrals to Wiltshire Treehouse come directly from families themselves.  Asked about running costs, Sarah said Wiltshire Treehouse’s current annual budget is £96,000 all of which has to be fundraised as no grants are received at all.

Our Rotary Club presented Wiltshire Treehouse with a cheque for £500 last month

Wiltshire Treehouse website