Former Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry has made an emotional plea to her fans 35 years after the death of her son in a car accident.
Berry, 89, who left The Great British Bake Off in 2016, lost her son William in 1989 when he was just 19, after an ill-fated trip to buy some newspapers.
Her son had borrowed his father Paul’s car for the trip, with his sister Annabel in the vehicle. Although Annabel escaped without any physical injuries from the accident from the crash, William sadly died.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Berry told fans that if they know anyone who is grieving from the loss of a loved one, that a simple chat can be a great healer, especially at Christmas time.
“I think I learned when we lost William how important it is to communicate or to talk with people who have lost one of their great family (members) or a friend. And not to walk down the street and cross to the other side of the road, but to go and just say something and try and remember something, a situation that you remember – how skilful they were, and what they won here – to get them to talk.”
She added: “‘I’m not too worried whether I can go to the funeral. It’s much more important three weeks afterwards to pop around with – maybe they don’t like cooking – with something and to keep communication with those who become very lonely.
“I had a friend when Will died, she said, ‘I’m going to Chelsea (Flower Show) and I’d love you to come with me’. At that time I thought I won’t ever feel like it again but to have that to look forward to, and to have something new to wear, and I was quite keen on gardening.... It’s looking after those.
“I’m at the stage when so many of my friends are losing a part of their family. Always include the widow or the widower when you’re having a few friends around. It will mean an awful lot to them.”
Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2014, Berry described the heartbreaking events of that fateful day.
“I remember it well,” Berry told Morgan. “It was a Saturday and he nipped out to get The Times because it had a feature on business studies and that’s what he was studying in Bristol.
“He went out with Annabel and it was a beautiful sunny morning. The doorbell rang, I went, and there was a policeman there. It’s very strange but I knew something had happened.
“He said, I’m afraid to say your son has died and Annabel is in High Wycombe Hospital’. I remember thinking then, ‘I just hope Annabel’s alright’.
“So Paul [Hunnings, her husband] came home and we went to the hospital and I can remember endless corridors and then all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw a pink tracksuit and Annabel running down the corridor.
“Mud on her, but there she was, perfect. I thought, ‘We’re very blessed that we’ve got Annabel and Thomas, but we don’t have William’.”
“We were lucky to have two other children,” she continued. “Imagine if you have one child and you lose it. I think it brought us all terribly close together.”
