Christina Schmid

Having worked as a journalist for the last 20 or so years, it’s not often that the front page of a newspaper moves me to tears.

But I was completely shaken yesterday when I saw the photos of beautiful Christina Schmid, alone, dressed in black and carrying flowers at the funeral of her husband Olaf who was killed while defusing a bomb in Afghanistan.

It is an impressive thing for any young widow to be able to stand up and address a packed cathedral only days after her husband’s death. But to do that when you know the camera lenses of every media outfit in the country are trained on you is something else entirely.

Christina is 34 – the same age I was when Nick died. Perhaps that’s why this story more than other similar stories got to me. Perhaps it was the image of her standing on her own, yet surrounded by hundreds of other people, which resonated with me.

WAY is trying to strengthen ties with the military. I believe that even though the forces give support to men and women whose partners die in active service, and on training, there is still a need for those partners to be able to talk to others who have lost the person they love.

And many of those partners will be living in civilian accommodation, working in civilian jobs and will need more support than the army, air force or navy can offer.

Seeing Christina’s picture has strengthened my resolve to do more to build links with all service organisations.

WAY extends our deepest sympathies to Christina, their son, and all other young men and women who have been widowed in recent conflicts.

Magazines, magazines…

Well it’s turning out to be quite exciting on the magazine coverage front (thanks to Linsay’s unstinting efforts as our press officer).

Sarah French looks fabulous in December’s issue of SHE magazine – hope you enjoyed the makeover Sarah, you look wonderful.

She did WAY proud with a very moving interview about facing her first Christmas alone – thank you Sarah and well done.

There’s a piece about me in January’s Good Housekeeping following on from the Woman of the Year Award lunch – haven’t seen the photo myself yet so I won’t comment on that!

And there’s more to come in January – SHE again and Bella, among others – watch this space.

WAY on TV

We were really chuffed that WAY was asked to take part in a news story on BBC breakfast on Saturday. Journalist Sarah Pennells has been investigating the way financial institutions deal with bereaved people, following the awful experience of Ingrid Facius.

Caroline was interviewed at the BBC studio in Plymouth and at an ungodly hour of the morning (6.20am!) Linsay Black went into the BBC studio in London to be interviewed on the subject.

We were trying to stress that Ingrid’s case was not a one-off individual scenario, but that a large number of our members have had trouble dealing with financial institutions, utility companies, TV companies etc after their partner died.

MP John McFall is calling for a new code of practice to ensure companies act in a more consistent and fair manner.

If you have had a difficult experience dealing with financial affairs after a bereavement, the WAY Foundation would love to hear from you, to help further this campaign. Get in touch with us at media@wayfoundation.org.uk

A fabulous surprise!

When Linsay’s phone rang on Thursday she got one hell of a surprise – it was Good Housekeeping ringing to invite Caroline and her to the Woman of the Year Awards lunch!

This prestigious award is given every year and sponsored by, among others, GH magazine.

Linsay nominated Caroline as a way of drawing attention to WAY among the judging panel – most of whom will probably have never come across us before.

It was a massive surprise to be told that Caroline had been chosen by GH to attend the lunch. She’s not in the running for the award, but there will be coverage of WAY in the magazine and possibly elsewhere, which is great news.

And Linsay and Caroline are off to London to enjoy some champagne and raise the profile of WAY among some very influential women!

Great publicity in Oxford

Three of our Oxfordshire group gave interviews to the Oxford Mail recently and a very moving piece appeared on Saturday.

You can read it here.

Many thanks to Sarah Wilkinson, the area contact, Ali dos Santos and Alistair Morris for sharing their stories with the paper.

It’s not an easy thing to do, but these stories are crucial to help get the word out about WAY. Thanks guys,

Caroline

WAY's North East Area Contact in the news

Gaynor Williams, who runs WAY in the North East along with Debbie Knivett, is featured in The Northern Echo today, talking about WAY and how it helped her after her husband died.

You can read her interview here.

International Widows Day Media Coverage

Caroline Doughty, WAY’s Chairman, and Brian Smith, a WAY member from Godalming, were interviewed this morning on BBC Southern Counties radio about being widowed young and bringing up their children alone.

The show’s producer Mandy de Souza said the interview ”was really strong and we got a number of calls from widows/widowers off the back too, so it clearly had an impact”.  

We are aiming to get a link on the WAY website to some of the radio interviews we’ve done as they are only available on iPlayer for a week. Watch this space!

Father's Day Press Coverage

Facing Father’s Day without Dad was the subject of an article in Friday’s Edinburgh Evening News, featuring me, (WAY’s Press Officer Linsay Black) and another WAY member in Edinburgh, Yvette Brough.  The story mentioned WAY and the challenges of bringing up your child alone following the death of your partner.

You can read the story here.

WAY on the radio again

WAY Chairman Caroline Doughty is on the radio twice today! 

She is being interviewed on BBC Radio Manchester’s Heather Stott programme at about 11.10 this morning.  She’ll be talking about being a young widow and sharing some thoughts from the book she wrote “If There’s Anything I Can Do…”  a guide for friends and families of the recently bereaved based on her own and her friends’ experiences.

Then at 12 noon (ah, the life of a media superstar!) she dons the headphones again for BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire’s Annie Othen Show, along with Coventry WAY member Derek Fraser, to talk about bringing up your children alone.  Derek’s wife Mandy died eight years ago when their three children were under five.

You can listen through the magic of the BBC i-player and we will also try to put up a recording on the WAY website - watch this space.

Word Spreads …………..

Having been interviewed on BBC Radio Solent from the BBC Radio Devon studio this afternoon, WAY Chairman Caroline Doughty was “kidnapped” by one of the Radio Devon presenters for another interview about WAY on his show; being a young widow; bringing up her daughters alone…. etc.  She was surprised, in a good way, that the first question was “Tell us about Nick”  Very few people ask about the partner you have lost and she was pleased to talk about him, even though she was a bit thrown by the question!

I tried to use the listen again service, but it did not seem to be working – we are hoping to get lots of radio interviews up on the WAY website soon – watch this space.