Ricky Gervais: Netflix's After Life inspires Blackpool parks' plaques.

Norbreck councillor Julie Sloman is urging people to back the ‘Sit With Hope Campaign’ inspired by TV show After Life starring Ricky Gervais.

She is appealing to councillors in Blackpool to put the plaques in their wards, and now the first have been installed in the Solaris Park and Louie Horrocks Park, both in Squires Gate ward, provided by Coun Gerard Walsh.

Coun Sloman said: “The versatility of the plaques mean they can be placed anywhere people can see them – hence the one on the planter at the Solaris as it is in the Dementia Garden and people do look at the flowers with their carers.

“We always assume grief to come after a bereavement but that isn’t always the case.

“The grieving process can often precede the actual physical bereavement, and I think it is really important that the message that there is help and hope out there is available at an early stage for people who are facing an inevitable physical bereavement.”

There is also already a plaque on a bench at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Coun Sloman, who is a bereavement officer for the NHS and a former Marie Curie nurse, is hoping to get as many plaques as possible provided around Blackpool and further afield.

The plaques, which cost £15 from the Good Grief Trust, have a QR code that takes people directly to the Trust website where they can find advice and support.