Joy emerges from young heartbreak as £50,000 is donated to Norfolk child bereavement charity Nelson’s Journey

David and Christine Mackie present a cheque for 50,000 to Colin Lang(right) from Nelson's Journey from money raised from their charitable trust. PHOTO BY SIMON FINLAY (Image: Archant Norfolk)

But Mrs Mackie has now been able to take comfort from her involvement in a vital donation of £50,000 to Norfolk child bereavement charity, Nelson's Journey.

Mrs Mackie and her husband, David, both aged 65, have chosen the charity for the donation in their role as trustees of the Ivy Child Charitable Trust.

Alongside Philip Norton, partner of Hansells Solicitors in Norwich, they distribute inheritance left to them by their friend, Ivy Child, who lived in Cringleford before she died in 2002.

Donating to Nelson's Journey has a special relevance to Mrs Mackie because of the loss of her mother, Margaret, which left her to cook, clean and bring up her four-year-old sister at her father's home in Bluebell Road, Norwich.

A tearful Mrs Mackie explained her father had to work seven days a week in the construction trade, meaning she had to keep a household running, while continuing to study at school.

She said: 'There was no one to talk to, schools never took anything up like that in those days. I just had one aunt, Doris, who helped but I would come home from school and have to cook and clean.

'My dad didn't ever really speak about it. My mum just went into hospital with cancer one day and never came out. It's still hard to talk about it, even after 39 years.'

Nelson's Journey chief executive Colin Lang received the £50,000 donation yesterday at the Eaton home of Mr and Mrs Mackie, in Chandler's Court.

He explained the charity currently has three child bereavement support workers, each with 100 active cases to oversee.

So he said an extra two support workers will make a 'significant difference' for his team, saying: 'This comes at such an important time for us, in order to never say no to a child.

'We never say no to a child that needs help but we were starting to get to that stage where we were having to look at who we could support and who we couldn't.

'Now thanks to Mr and Mrs Mackie we don't have to do that.'

The EDP Smiles Appeal has been helping to raise funds for Nelson's Journey in recent years, with over £350,000 raised towards the £575,000 needed to build the charity's new Smiles House headquarters.

This was boosted by a £250,000 grant from Norfolk County Council in February, which Mr and Mrs Mackie's only son Ian, who is county councillor for Thorpe St Andrew South East, was heavily involved with.