An emotional appeal film featuring Billie Piper's visit to bereavement charity Nelson's Journey will be shown as part of tonight's Sport Relief TV fund-raiser.

The actress joined one of the charity's therapeutic residential weekends at the Hilltop Outdoor Centre, near Sheringham, in early February, where she met children coping with the loss of close family members.

Among them were Georgie, Ashleigh and Serena Boast, whose father Mark was left brain-dead after a road accident two years ago. After 15 hours at his bedside, his wife Louise had to take the agonising decision to switch off his life-support machine.

She told Ms Piper that she and her three daughters, from Freethorpe, near Acle, had been helped through the years since then by Nelson's Journey, which received �30,000 of Sport Relief funding last year.

Ms Piper said hearing the family's story was heart-breaking, but showed the vital support the charity offered.

'It's vital for children to get this help as it's hard for them to know how to deal with the grief. It's trauma they're suffering and sometimes you need professional help to find coping mechanisms.

'The girls have made and decorated beautiful memory boxes, in which they put precious photographs and gifts from their dad. They also have a special garden dedicated to Mark with a little postbox. Every Christmas, birthday and Father's Day they post a card in the box, so they still feel close to him,' she said.

The children also attend Nelson's Journey camps where they can meet other bereaved children and realise that they are not alone in their grief.

The weekend includes activities like abseiling and painting, and the 'anger wall' where they can throw wet clay, but also ways to remember loved ones like the balloon ceremony.

Ms Piper said: 'Before their final fun activity of the day, the children hold a poignant candlelight ceremony, where they sit in a circle and light a candle for their lost one, before going round and blowing them out.

'I have witnessed first-hand how important Nelson's Journey is in helping girls and boys find ways to remember their mums and dads and deal with their grief.'