DiscoverCafé HopeBringing loved ones home
Bringing loved ones home

Bringing loved ones home

Update: 2025-09-29
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Co-founder of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, Colin Bell, tells Rachel Burden how his son's death abroad, was the start of his charity that repatriates loved ones.
26-year-old Kevin, from Newry, County Down in Ireland, was killed in a suspected hit-and-run in New York in June 2013.

The community in Newry, raised around £150,000 to bring Kevin back home. Inspired by their generosity, Colin and his family started the charity, which is funded entirely through donations and fundraising, to help families in the same position bring their loved one home.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Maeve Schaffer
Editor: Clare Fordham

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Bringing loved ones home

Bringing loved ones home

BBC Radio 4