A father-of-three from Bushey has launched an online 'memorial' to help mourners come to terms with their loss.

Gary Goodman, 61, founded Everlasting UK to give grieving family and friends a platform to vent their feelings.

It allows people to celebrate the lives of lost ones by leaving personalised tributes, photographs and biographies.

The site, which is free to use, already contains a string of moving tributes following its official launch earlier this month.

It has also attracted the backing of TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, whose daughter Caron Keating died of breast cancer in 2004.

Speaking at the website's launch at London's Hempel Hotel, the grandmother-of-eight said: "People live on - on the lips of others.

"I fully approve of Everlasting UK. It is a very beautiful and wonderful idea."

Mr Goodman, who lives with wife Angela, said the memorial is designed to be a "thanksgiving" of life.

He said: "It is and will remain our intention that Everlasting UK should be a site where the lives of 'ordinary' people can be celebrated through stories, photographs and memories.

"Relatives and friends, wherever they are in the country - and indeed the world - can participate in this celebration.

"Pictures taken by others which the family may never have seen can be uploaded and shared.

"And family members and friends who may live abroad and who may not be able to travel to funerals will be able to contribute."

He added: "The tributes will be available on our website for ever. At any time but especially on the anniversary of the death family members and friends may wish to revisit the website and post new messages of remembrance."

Mr Goodman, who runs ICAB, an insurance firm based in Bushey, founded the site after a family holiday to America.

Unlike the British national press, he noticed that large American newspapers carried detailed obituaries of "regular" people.

This, he said, inspired the concept of Everlasting UK.

Mr Goodman, who has three grown-up children, said: "There were detailed descriptions of the person's life, their family, career, service to their country, charity work and so on.

"But rather than being an obituary, they were a celebration, almost a thanksgiving of the journey that the deceased had made in their lifetime.

"I was genuinely moved by the ordinariness of the people involved and the fact that so many people had led such good simple lives that deserved to be remembered."

The site went live on November 11, and continues to upload new tributes on a regular basis.

These include brief biographies of late celebrities, including the singers Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Stephen Gately.

For £50, mourners may also compile people's tributes into a professionally-bound keepsake book.

Gary Goodman, Everlasting UK's managing director, said the site will support three charities that include The Army Benevolent Fund, The Caron Keating Foundation and Tress for Cities.

It will also donate a free keepsake book to families of British servicemen who lose their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Mr Goodman said: "We will support these charities in any way we can, through donations, events and fundraisers.

"Everlasting UK will also donate a free book to the next of kin of any member of the Armed Forces who has died whilst on active service."

Gloria Hunniford's daughter Caron, a former Blue Peter presenter, died in 2004 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 41.