Mary Berry makes emotional plea as she reveals the most important time to check in on bereaved loved ones - 35 years after the tragic death of her son

Mary Berry has made an emotional plea as she revealed that the most important time to contact anyone bereaved is several weeks after the funeral.

The former Great British Bake Off star, 89, said her plea came from the experience of losing her son William in 1989 when he was killed in a car accident at the age of 19.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mary said it is vital to continue support for friends and relatives at a time when they may be hit hardest and feeling most lonely.

Mary said that the best time to do this is in the weeks after the funeral, and said bringing food round or taking them out to do something they enjoy.  

'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,' she said.

'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.'

Talking how she looks to help others, she said: 'I'm not too worried whether I can go to the funeral. 

'It's much more important three weeks afterwards to pop round 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 round. It will mean an awful lot to them.'

Mary, who had two sons and a daughter Annabel, lost William when he came home from Bristol University.

She recalled on the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast: 'He asked if he could borrow a sports car, which he was insured for, and I said "You ask your dad".

'Anyway, he took his sister with him, and he just drove too fast, which was so unlike him.

'William was the one that you could rely on. When the phone rang after he was killed, everybody said 'I'm so sorry to hear about Thomas, because Thomas was our wild one.

'I knew when the policemen came through door. I remember saying to him 'it must be an awful thing for you to tell us all'.

'It was a huge sadness but there was a bonus, because Annabel - we had to go down to Wycombe hospital - they didn't tell us then because the policemen didn't know, so we went down.

'And I can remember being in the corridor and I suddenly saw Annabel, in a pink tracksuit, running up towards me, and I thought 'I've still got her'.'

Revealing how she coped, she said: 'I was immensely lucky to have my husband. I have other friends who've had tragedies and the husband and wife argue, or don't comfort each other.

'We just felt fortunate to still have Thomas and Annabel. People were very, very kind.

'We had 400 letters. I replied to them over the months. It's sometimes quite nice when you're thinking to pick out one, of people giving a little story about him (William).

'We just had to keep busy. I didn't want to face going back to my work in London.'

She had written a book about cooking with AGAs, and so began running courses teaching people how to use them.