‘That’s a bit of magic’: Zoe Ball shares ‘sign’ from her mum on the anniversary of her death

Zoe Ball often speaks about her mum, Julia Peckham, on the Dig It podcast she hosts with friend Jo Whiley.

Sadly, Zoe's mum died from pancreatic cancer in 2024 at the age of 74. Zoe and Jo regularly touch on grief and how they cope with it, with Zoe once reflecting on the unexpected ways spending Christmas without her mum can leave her in sudden tears.

Recently, Zoe was having a difficult time on the anniversary of her mum's death, but ended up getting a 'sign' she was sure had been sent by Julia to give her some comfort.

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Sharing the story with podcast listeners, Zoe recalls, "My mum used to tell this story to the kids about how I loved the song Little Donkey at Christmas."

She adds, "But I would sing 'Little Donkey on the dusty whoa' [instead of road] so my mum would always buy me little donkeys, and things like that would go in my Christmas box."

On the anniversary of her mum's death, Zoe was walking through a car park back to her car and "having a right old blub." When she reached her car, she noticed a tiny toy donkey right next to it.

"A little donkey, on the dusty whoa," she says, harking back to the mispronounced line from the song she used as a child.

"No way!" says an incredulous Jo, as Zoe continues, "Some poor kids has lost this little donkey, but it was by my car and I was like, 'There you go.'"

"Just little moments like that," Zoe says, adding, "I've been keeping it in my pocket."

"That's magic," Jo interjects, as Zoe reiterates, "That is a bit of magic isn't it?"

When shared to Instagram, the post clearly resonated with fans and the Dig It audience, garnering lots of comments and interaction.

One person wrote shared their own very poignant experience of receiving a 'sign' from a deceased loved one.

They wrote, "Definitely a sign. I asked my husband to send me a sign, I said 'show me a huge bird in the sky.'"

"Only a day later I was hanging my washing out and high above me in the sky was a red kite! Just gliding high in the sky - we don't get red kites in Eastbourne."

Another person commented, "My dad and I had an owl thing… when I’m out with the kids we always see something random that's owl related - they find a way to let you know."

Adding to the conversation, another person wrote, "I'm an art therapist specialising in grief, and you have perfectly described many very normal things. Hold those moments close, and thanks for talking openly about grief, it's so helpful for others to realise it's all normal."