Laurence's grandad was a very special person in his life and it seemed when he died, he came to reassure the lad. 'I was told my father was a Canadian airman who had been killed in the war. I was brought up with my grandparents. My grandad had a stroke and could not walk unaided. He used to go to the local bowling green in his wheelchair. When I was five, my mother remarried, but we remained with my grandparents till I was nine. My parents and I moved, which I did reluctantly as I had to leave the people I had grown up with.

'When we had settled in the new house, I had a dream I was sitting at the top of the stairs with my grandad looking down the stairs. A shape which I now take to be a monk's habit with a hood moved upstairs towards us. I said to my grandfather, "It's coming," but he said, "Don't worry. It's not coming for you."

'Next day, my stepfather broke the news that my grandad had died.'

Claire believes her grandad first came back to her while she was a child and has continued to figure in her adult life. 'When I was nine, my great-grandfather died whom I loved very much. The night he died, he came to see me two hours after his death. At the time I did not know he was dead and did not understand what he was saying to me, though now I do. Every time someone dies, he comes to tell me they are all right.

'When my daughter was very ill and we all thought she was going to die, he came to tell me not to worry. She would cope if he didn't come again.'

Grannies are often accused of spoiling grandchildren and leading them astray and according to Pamela, this too can continue in the afterlife.

"When I was 12 my gran died,' she said. 'The Grand National was her favourite horse race. She always had a little bet on it. The milkman used to put it on for her. The year after she died, she came to me in a dream and gave me the name of the horse who would win. I didn't say anything to anyone, but the horse won.'