NOTHING can ease the grief of a child who has lost a parent or close relative through death.

But much can be done by caring people to help the youngsters come to terms with tragedy and carry on with their lives.

One such group able to do that is the Noah's Ark Trust and it has just been awarded £213,433 by the Big Lottery Fund to develop its services in Herefordshire.

Once up and running it is expected around 70 youngsters in the county every year will benefit from the support given by the trust during tragic times and for long periods afterwards.

It was in October 2004 that a group of people, including doctors, nurses, clergy and parents of grieving children, met in Hereford and decided to enlist the help of Noah's Ark, which has been operating in Worcestershire, helping round 200 youngsters every year since 1998.

News that the Big Lottery Fund had included Hereford-shire's name in a list of 41 groups in the West Midlands to get £6.1 million in grants has been welcomed with delight.

Herefordshire's share of £213,433 means that Noah's Ark can now prepare a framework for the service in the county and start training volunteers, who will visit children at home or school and develop individual support programmes.

"We give one-to-one support to a child who is bereaved, and will work with the child's family and siblings too. We also provide group support and residential weekends for children and parents as part of the counselling process,'' said fund-raising manager Susan Smith.

The lottery grant was more than they requested but Noah's Ark believed the work it did was valuable to children and the lottery had recognised that, she added.

The Herefordshire Noah's Ark Trust will be launched with a dinner and auction of promises at Eastnor Castle on May 19.

Another local group to benefit from lottery funding is Herefordshire Mediation, which will receive £150,000.

"We started as a family mediation service, helping couples who are divorcing about matters like financial arrangements and children.

"But, because of demand, we developed a children's counselling service as well, and we have been running this for the past five years,'' said service manager Tim Bray.

The Lottery money will support current work and allow the group to introduce a new counselling service for parents to support their children.

"It will also prevent a waiting list developing, as we prefer to see people as quickly as possible,'' said Mr Bray.