The Salvation Army makes a surprising link to Spiritualism in this touching story of family devotion.

The bereaved look for hope of life after death in Spiritualism. Wendy Marston had great hope, and to her immense joy, she also found proof.

Wendy tells the story of how, as a young married mother, she struggled to give the best start in life to her son with a learning disability. And she faced her own health problems, diagnosed with energy-sapping ME.

This tight-knit family then faced the prospect of the awful wrench that comes when elderly parents die. As their beloved mother's health failed, Wendy and her sister attended her with devotion. Their mother, raised by Salvation Army parents, knew she would go to heaven. In Spiritualism, the bereaved hope to contact their departed loved ones in heaven, or the 'Spirit World'. Wendy discussed this with her mother, and made a plan to prove that there is life after death.

Laughter mingles with tears, as Wendy describes the challenges of dealing with a strong-minded father afflicted with dementia and Alzheimer's, deafness and a liking for brass band music. When her father passed on, Wendy discovered that, again, the Salvation Army played a key role—before and after death.

Wendy Marston worked as a legal secretary before becoming a carer for her son and then her father. She has many years' experience of working as a trained volunteer in bereavement care. Wendy lives in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.