JANE Jackson, from Henleaze, who has worked tirelessly for two decades to support estranged grandparents, has been appointed MBE in the New Year’s Honours List.
She has been given the honour by the King for her services to older people.
Jane set up the Bristol Grandparent Support Group (BGSG) in 2007 following a breakdown in family relationships which led to many lost years of contact with her beloved granddaughter. Developed and run by its members, the group evolved to support grandparents who have lost contact with their grandchildren, not only in Bristol but across the UK and beyond.
Jane says her personal story of initially joyous times with her granddaughter, and the subsequent sense of bereavement and bewilderment she felt when a string of incidents meant that further contact was denied, gives her understanding of the sense of grief and isolation that grandparents feel when that loving, caring relationship is taken away. She appreciates that family breakdown occurs for a variety of reasons – separation and divorce, drug and alcohol dependency, violence within the home, bereavement and family feud – but thinks that the rights of grandparents are often overlooked and misunderstood.
Describing the moment she heard she was to be honoured, Jane says: “There was no mistaking that the envelope held something quite important, stamped with URGENT-PERSONAL and CABINET OFFICE. It isn’t often I am speechless but when I opened it and read the content I was lost for words.
“I have done nothing to warrant this honour. All I did was to set up BGSG, a group to help me as well as others, at a time when there was so much darkness, so many unanswered questions.”
She insists that it is really the grandparents at the heart of the group who deserve the award.
While estrangement continues to be a source of great sadness to Jane, she says she is thankful for everyone’s kind words and excitement over her award and vows to continue to “move along together, supporting one another and continuing to raise awareness of the living bereavement that is estrangement.”