A County Durham charity that helps families affected by suicide and mental health is to receive over £2000 from a charity grant scheme.
The Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of The Northern Echo's parent company, is providing £128,000 in cash to support charities across the country.
The Foundation asked the public to decide where this money should go.
People nominated in their thousands and a shortlist of 10 charities in each region will receive a share of £16,000 giveaway.
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Quinn’s Retreat just outside Barnard Castle provides short breaks away for families dealing with the loss of a loved one through suicide.
Tracey and David Beadle, from Shildon, lost their 17-year-old daughter Quinn in December 2018 to suicide.
Nearly a year later, in October 2019, Quinn’s 21-year-old brother Dyllon tragically also took his own life.
It was only after Dyllon’s death, that the idea of the charity was spawned, and so in February 2020, Tracey started running Quinn’s Retreat which offers those suffering from the lingering effects of losing someone in such heart-breaking way, the chance to take a breather and get some space.
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Families can stay in a static caravan where they can share precious memories and grieve without judgement.
The retreat is a “tranquil and calm place,” just by the River Tees, and inside there are booklets and other resources on how to get through such a tumultuous time in a person’s life.
When hearing that Quinn’s Retreat would receive £2,176, Mrs Beadle told The Northern Echo: “That’s wonderful. That’s just brilliant, thank you so much. That’s made me really happy.”
The money will go toward the general upkeep of the caravans to ensure that as many families/individuals as possible can benefit from this service.
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Talking of how a short break away helped her family following Quinn’s death, Mrs Beadle previously told The Northern Echo: “After Quinn’s funeral we had a short break away and it was just so lovely to talk about her and have that time together as a family away from everyone else so we could just have that time together and we could just be anonymous knowing that no one knew our story.
“I talked to Dyllon and we decided it would be a good idea to give something back to other people going through bereavement through suicide and to offer people the chance to have a breakaway and we thought that buying a caravan was the cheapest way of doing that.”
Read next:
- Readers' Choice: Charity helping families bereaved by suicide to win share of £16K
- Cash for Charities: The Angel's Trust in Bishop Auckland to win share of £16K
- 3 County Durham charities to win share of £16K Northern Echo scheme
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