programme about life after death/bereavement.

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I don?t know if anyone can help (and I hope no-one minds me asking here but we never did set up that marketplace thread) but my sister is making a TV programme about grief, mediums and life after death. She intends it to be a study of bereavement of sorts and she really would like to answer the question: ?is there life after death?? (but realises that she may not be able to). She is looking for someone to take part who has lost someone close to them, is (possibly) sceptical about whether there is a (contactable) afterlife and would like to visit a medium and talk about it. Our dad died in May 2001 and we?re both keen to know whether the dead can be contacted but obviously, she can?t make the programme using her sister or herself. She asked me if I thought you lot would mind me asking you since I have told her how articulate mumsnet people seem to be and she knows I spend time here. She is an experienced and moral programme maker and this is a BBC2 Everyman programme. She is also sensitive: we both know how it feels when someone close to you dies. If anyone is interested please email her at [email protected] or call her on 0207 336 6331. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. www.

Hi www,
We have set up a new topic called media/ non-member requests. Go to www.mumsnet.com/s/Talk?topicid=66&stamp=010101000000 or scroll down the topics list.
Your sister's request may be better placed (and get a better response) there.
Thanks,
Justine

I feel told off now. Sorry if this offended anyone.

And actually I am a member and have paid a subscription and it is personal (since our Dad died) so I don't think it's any different from anyone else asking for help for a family member. Ok piece, said, am feeling sensitive today so will sign off until I get over it...

Sorry, didn't mean it to sound like a telling off - just wanted to advertise the existence of something we'd talked about. I'm sure no one is/ was offended. So plse don't be yourself.
Justine

WWW, please don't be upset or offended - lots of people have objected in the past to requests for help for various tv/magazine/newspaper pieces so it's good that mumsnet has provided a proper place for them - just unfortunate that its existence has been advertised via your personal request.

I am sorry about your dad, my dad died in February so I know how it feels, please come back soon.

www - no-one responded negatively to this request. i'm sure everyone would feel it was appropriate since it's personal. don't go - i might need more help with my fiend!

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WWW - Justine Picardie (think that's how you spell it) is the sister of the Observer writer Ruth Picardie who died of cancer. I think she has written a book about her need to find some proof of "life after death" for want of a better phrase. She would probably make a great i/v for your sister. PS: Don't feel bad - your asking is no different to me asking for help!

The Justine Picardie book is called If the Spirit Moves You. It is extremely interesting but reaches no conclusions. My father died in january and in a way I am probably just what the programme needs as I have been searching for the meaning of it all but unfortunately (for your sister WWW) I hate the concept of being on tv!!!!

Sorry for having a hissy fit here yesterday. It was a bit of an emotional day: ds started school and I wished my Dad could have been here to see it. He was a teacher and was alive when I chose the school. I followed his advice at the time which was ?choose the school where you think he?ll have the most fun.? Hence I asked all the head teachers at the schools we looked at if they thought the kids had fun at school. On the way back from dropping ds I had a cry in the car and got back to find dp still in bed (not working this week) and therefore not around to talk to me about it. When he did get up we had a row (about trivia and about him not being available) and when ds came home from school dp flounced off out. Ds went with him saying "xxx is fed up with you and I am too." Nice. Also the night before I?d had an anxiety dream involving a man trying to kill me and ds so I?d had a crap night sleep too (as my sister said, Freud wouldn?t take long with that, it?s about starting school). And then I read the message here and it was the proverbial straw, camels and all that. I feel better today for a bucket of wine and a big cry and hug and meal and talk with dp last night. Luckily I also drank a bucket of water before bed so I don?t have a hangover today, just puffy piggy eyes from bawling. Sorry I was such a drama queen (story of my life)?will pay mumsnet £30 for posting a media related message. Janh and winnie, sorry about your dads too. And I know I?m not the only one here who has been bereaved, far from it. Robinw, she?s interested in sceptical and non sceptical I think. Thanks everyone for being kind. Will NOT let my fingers anywhere near a keyboard next time I have a day like that?

Oh WWW, what a horrible day for you yesterday ... the absence of someone precious to us is so difficult to bear. I hope today is a better day for you, Winniex P.S have you read Virginia Ironsides 'You'll get over it'? I am only part way through it but it questions the idea that one does 'get over it' and has helped me realise that because I don't seem to be going through the 'stages' of grief that is talked of in all the literature on bereavement I am not going mad either. Although I may well have been mad for a long time

Hi, WWW, hope things are better today, what a rotten time. It's a long time before dd starts school but I will bear your dad's wise words in mind - thank you for sharing them with us. As for your asking for help re. your sister's programme, I don't think that anyone minds helping a friend if we can

winnie - that's a good point about getting over it. I know I definitely don't want to get over my dad's death but I am used to it.

www - hope you feel better today. My dad died 13 years ago and it is s*. I still think about him for some time every day and although it's sometimes a bit emotional, it's mostly warm and happy.

WWW,

"Will NOT let my fingers anywhere near a keyboard next time I have a day like that? "

On the contary, you MUST post your messages - epecially then .... that's what mumsnet is all about - and it's what we are all sitting here for - patiently waiting to give advice and lend support
You are usually one of the first mumsnetters to help out when someone need support - so rely on the rest of us when you need to.

Hear hear Crystaltips - hope things are better for you today WWW. And that your sis has a good response for what sounds like an interesting programme. I just hope they don't keep bouncing Everyman round the schedules as they have of late.

Sobernow, she sent me a programme outline and we've discussed it quite a bit so if you want to email me at [email protected] perhaps I can reply to you there and try to explain how she sees it going etc. Thanks for being so kind everyone. Winnie and Tinker, I think it's almost like becoming a parent in that you are never the same person you were before and so there's no point in waiting to go back to being that person because it won't happen. IYKWIM? Maybe I'll start a new bereavement thread...NOT for sister's programme, I mean just to vent and talk.

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WWW, I empathise totally, you are never the same person again. If you ever want to talk about it more here, I'm an old hand at bereavement. Had lost everyone except one family member by the time I was 19. Because it happened to me at such a young age, my friends couldn't sympathise and I felt very alone, and freakish as well as bereaved. Like childbirth, it's something you have to go through in order to understand. I am left with an extremely strong aversion to the phrase 'Life goes on'.
I wish I could make you feel better WWW.
You do begin to get used to it after a while.

www I'd like it if you started a bereavement thread as September 5 was the first "anniversary" of my brother's death. He had terminal cancer for nearly 4 years before his death so we had time to say goodbye. What is really hard is that he has left three schoolage children. While we were in that state of limbo last year between his death and his funeral, September 11 happened so you can imagine how surreal that was.

Thanks everyone, will start another thread now.