We will support.

 You will know that because of recent events I have been considering whether to continue running Bristol Grandparents Support Group.
It has been a very emotional and difficult time.
Thank you to everyone who sent comments,emails,messages and called me, your wise words have been very comforting.
It is difficult to explain how important this group is to me and I do feel as though it is something I am supposed to be doing. Some of you will understand that others maybe won't.
Amongst other things as suggested I wrote a list of pros and cons, here it is:

Pros:

Fulfilment.

In my granddaughters name.

Meeting new people.

Supporting people.

Opportunities.

Sharing sadness.

Proactive.

Raising Awareness.

Commitment.

A voice for the grandchildren.

Advising.

Listening.

Campaigning.

Learning.

Communicating.

Cons:

Accusations/Discrediting me and the group.

Invasion of my privacy.

Infighting.

People thinking the group is a big organisation.

Contacting me at unsocialable hours.

  As you can see quite clearly one list is much longer than the other!

So I have looked carefully at the Cons list to see what we can do to either prevent it or certainly to be more aware of those pitfalls.

On the blog I have written - 'contact during office hours.'

I need to make it clear to people that this is a small organisation not some large corporate organisation.

We have legal professionals now within the group to assist me. 

I have made it clear that I will not get involved in personality clashes within the group, this is after all a support group.

I have and will if necessary bar people from making comments on the blog and bar them from being associated with Bristol Grandparents Support Group in any way.

And so, Bristol Grandparents Support Group will continue, and I will endeavour to do my best for all the grandchildren denied contact with their grandparents. 

All children have the right to be part of their grandparents lives, unless it is inappropriate for them to do so.

The upset this has caused has been enormous, many sleepless nights, many tears shed, time that should have been spent in a positive way was wasted in hours of negativity.

Jane