'She was wonderful... what more can I say?'

TRIBUTES have been paid to a much-loved hospice chaplain who helped thousands of families deal with grief and bereavement.

- DANIEL HALL

Reverend Janet Jackson, 79, died peacefully in hospital with her family by her side on Wednesday, June 11.

She spent 13 years as chaplain of St Oswald's Hospice in Gosforth, where she was instrumental in the charity's Light up a Life services and celebrations.

Rev Jackson also set up the bereavement service at Tynedale Hospice at Home in Hexham, as well as "Forever Parents", a group dedicated to parents who have lost a child, and "Rainbows, for children who had lost siblings.

In 2019, she was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to bereaved families in the North East of England.

Rev Michael Jackson paid tribute to his wife, with whom he would have celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary next year. He said: "Janet was a wonderful person, but she was in no sense pious, she had an extremely strong faith but wore it very lightly.

"She was very empathetic, [the groups] were opportunities for people who were sharing that pain and bereavement. She had a wonderful knack of getting people to open up to her and to each other in a completely non-judgmental way.