Mansfield Woodhouse pet bereavement charity in plea for help

Yvette Price-Mear, holder of the Order of the League of Mercy (OLM) award, is the founder of Pet Bereavement Support, and known to generations in the Mansfield area as ‘Mrs Hook-a-Duck.’

Since forming her charity in 1993, the 58-year-old grandma and mum has fundraised at thousands of festivals with her stall to bring in to support people grieving for pets.

Due to coronavirus closing local gatherings, the charity’s fundraising dried up, and Yvette, who has two grown up children and three grand daughters, is appealing for help.

"I haven’t been able to do my usual hook-a-duck fundraising, everyone knows me as Mrs Hook-a-Duck, it’ll probably go on my gravestone! But support service for people who have lost pets is needed more than ever,” said Yvette, who also fosters adults with learning difficulties as a Shared Lives carer.

“During lockdowns people have relied on pets for company, a lot of people have suffered from loneliness,” she said.

"Psychologists say to lose a beloved pet, is the same kind of grief as losing a four-year-old child. For many, it is absolutely devastating, and it’s all grief.”

“This year, the fundraising hasn’t happened, and like a lot of small charities it has been hard to run on fresh air. Mansfield District Councillor John Coxhead and Anne Callaghan BEM took pity and set up an appeal on Facebook.”

Councillor John Coxhead said: “It is one of those charities that don’t get a deal of help. I know someone who has lost a pet, we’ve lost pets before and in these unprecedented times, when people are on their own it’s terrible to lose an animal. People like Yvette are a lifeline.”

The biggest need for Yvette, apart from donations is and ink stamps so she can write and print letters and send out her support packs which include uplifting poems, tips and advice.

John added: “We’ve set a target to get 500 stamps, if we get more than that we’ll re set the target to 1,000.”

Yvette’s work was featured on the Surprise Surprise show with Holly Willoughby, in 2013.

To offer support see Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AnneandJohnMansfieldNorth. For pet loss advice call 01623 653173.