Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity’s purpose is to relieve the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical distress of children and young people suffering, or anticipating, a bereavement.

We provide a route to a healthy grieving process leading to the normalisation of grief, to avoid detrimental outcomes and allow for a happier, more fulfilled life. Bereavement impacts on every aspect of a young life. We enable children to know that they have a right to mourn, regardless of their age and understanding. Everyone reacts differently to bereavement. This is influenced by a number of factors, including who died, their relationship to the deceased, the nature of the death, the communication with the child, the environment, their cognitive abilities and their in-built resilience. If the right support is not provided, and grief is left unresolved, the child’s health can be compromised which can cause poorer mental health and educational outcomes, and risky behaviours.

We work closely with children, young people and their families, providing therapeutic, one-to-one and peer support to help them through their grief and provide them with the resilience skills they need throughout their grief journey.

In 2022/2023, we supported 330 children and young people in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire combined. The demand for our support continues to increase and with that, we are continuously using resources and running one-to-one and peer group therapeutic support sessions.

£10 provides a young person with a memory box and a Sandy Bear teddy.

£1,500 is the average cost of a young person’s support with us (including resources, one-to-one and peer group support sessions).

Event details

We are so grateful for the support we receive from our community, whether that be through donations or attending our events. We would like to bring our community together to take part in a 5k walk, jog or run for Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity.

The entry fee to take part is £5 per person and is open to all ages (providing they are physically fit to do so). Please donate £5 to your fundraising page to cover your entry fee. Hannah (Events Manager) will contact you following your registration to Just Giving to complete a registration form.

All participants will receive a race number (safety pins), a medal and a goody bag following the race. Pre-registration is required to guarantee these items. Runners/walkers can take part on the day but cannot be guaranteed to receive a race number, medal or goody bag. Pre-registration closes on Friday 15th of September.

Please arrive to collect your run number from 9.15am onwards at the Sandy Bear gazebo.

A warm up will take place at 9.45am at the starting line. The walk/jog/run will begin at approximately 10am, following this.

The start/finish line will be on Milford Haven Waterfront (on the path opposite Foam, postcode SA73 3AA).

We are encouraging runners/walkers to wear something yellow or bear attire to help us to raise awareness of Sandy Bear. All funds raised from the event will be donated to the charity to provide vital support to children, young people and their families who have been bereaved in Pembrokeshire.

All participants will receive a bottle of water. Additional refreshments will also be available to purchase from the Get The Boys a Lift coffee van.

Parking is available, free of charge, within the public parking spaces on Milford Haven Waterfront (next to the path and by the Mackerel Quay).

Please note, the route is not flat and there are areas of inclines but is fully accessible by foot or wheelchair.

We aim to finish the event by 12pm.

If the event is to be cancelled/postponed due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. the weather), we will aim to contact you the evening before the event where possible.

For any enquiries, please contact Hannah, the Events Manager, on hannah@sandybear.co.uk