Bereaved parents gathered to remember their children during a moving service at Bradford Cathedral.

More than 60 people attended the 16th annual service organised by Bradford Bereaved Parents Group on Saturday. It was led by the vicar of St Chad’s in Toller Lane, Canon Ralph Crowe, and featured hymns, poems and readings by bereaved parents and retired Bradford coroner Roger Whitaker.

At the end of the service, mums, dads, grandparents and siblings lit a candle in memory of their loved ones and memorial cards with the name of each lost child were placed on a special tree near the altar.

Coleen Watson, from Eccleshill, attended the service with her two young children to remember her daughter Alanya, who died of cot death almost 12 years ago.

“I have been coming every year since her death with my mum,” she said. “It is a time to remember, light another candle and meet with other people who have experienced something similar.

“You never forget. You just learn to live with it. I have times when it hurts more, especially around Alanya’s birthday and the anniversary of her death, but you have just got to carry on.”

Diana Pearson, from Bankfoot, sang during the service with music group Free Spirit and has been helping to organise the event since it started 16 years ago.

She joined Bradford Bereaved Parents’ Group after her first two babies died shortly after birth more than 23 years ago.

She said: “We take a great deal of time and thought in planning the service. It is not an evangelical service. We realise people may be coming who have a different faith or who don’t have faith at all. We choose hymns and songs so that any bereaved parent can come.

“It is good to be able to speak with parents who are going through the early stages of grief to let them know it does get better and over the years gradually builds up to a peaceful place where your child goes to inside.”

Fellow organiser Kathy Kenure added: “We hold the service at this time of year because we recognise Christmas is a really difficult time for people who have lost a child. Whatever age your child is when they die, whether they are a baby or an adult, it is always a terrible tragedy.”

The group no longer meets regularly but is available to befriend bereaved parents on a one to one basis. Contact Rosalie on 07931 558224 or 01274 735155.