Widow support group 'shows people they're not alone'

Kelly Wing started Widow Tree after her husband died from cancer in 2020

A woman in Oxfordshire has started a support group to help those who have lost a partner.

Kelly Wing launched Widow Tree, which now has monthly online meet-ups, after her husband Darren died of cancer in 2020.

The group is open to men and women, regardless of how recently they were widowed, and aims to "get people to connect... and know that they're not alone".

That is particularly important for Kelly, who lost her husband during the first Covid lockdown and was unable to see her wider family.

Her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive cancer called neuroendocrine carcinoma in early 2020, and was given an initial prognosis of 12 to 18 months to live.

At the time, the Wings' four children were aged two, nine, 13 and 16.

"I remember the look on the doctor's face when he asked us if we had children," Kelly said.

The couple decided they would "make the best of it. We'd do lots of family time, lots of making memories".

"And then in March we went into lockdown and everything changed," Kelly said.

Kelly raised £17,000 for Sobell House Hospice in 2024

Five years on, Kelly said she does not want others to face the isolation she did during and after Darren's final months.

"The whole idea of Widow Tree is to get people to connect on different positions of their journey, to help one another and know that they're not alone," she said.

She said there were face-to-face meetings in the pipeline for Widow Tree too.

In 2024, she raised £17,000 running the London Marathon for Sobell House Hospice, where Darren died on 29 June 2020, the same spot that his dad Mick died in 2011.

"In Oxfordshire there are lots of us out there," Kelly said.

"It's just about bringing us together."