Be part of the postcard project at Kicking the Bucket Festival by writing a postcard with words of advice for dealing with grief and send it to Liz Rothschild. Details at the foot of this piece. Rachael Chadwick explains- “There’s nothing we can do”, they said. In January 2012, my mother (aged 59) was … More 60 Postcards: Using Storytelling to Tackle Grief
Family funeral guide and educator Jerrigrace Lyons is a pioneer of the home funeral movement. Based in California, She is founder and director of Final Passages, a non-profit educational institute of conscious dying, home funeral and green burial education, and a founding member of the National Home Funeral Alliance. She writes: Death is the last … More Reclaiming Death: The Home Funeral Alternative
Fear of dementia has overtaken cancer, according to a new study commissioned by Saga, which shows that 43% of people over 50 fear developing dementia more than any other illness. The Kicking the Bucket Festival knows that facing our fears can help reduce them – so has invited New End Theatre to present DON’T LEAVE … More “Dementia is the illness we fear most”
I have been to a few Death Cafes, but this week was my first try at hosting one. Fortunately I had some very supportive helpers who could be relied on to cope with anything that turned up. In the event I needn’t have worried – my anxiety that no-one might come was ill-founded, and around … More Telling our stories
The popular Day of the Dead Ceilidh is back again this year (details below). Jackie Singer explains what its all about- The music is driving, the people young and old, with painted faces swirling, laughing. The lights are low, and candles in front of an altar flickering. On the altar are photographs of departed loved … More A Ceilidh for the Day of the Dead
Grief and anger can have a raw honesty about them, especially in bereavement. The following speaks for itself, reminding us that there can sometimes be no “right thing” to say to someone suffering a shattering loss. No one else’s reactions and emotions are the same as ours. In some ways it is impossible ever truly … More The honesty of anger
“I attended my first death cafe recently and was surprised to discover that the gathering of goths, emos and the terminally ill that I’d imagined, turned out to be a collection of fascinating, normal individuals united by a wish to discuss mortality.” Those are the words of journalist Matilda Battersby, writing in The Independent in … More Death Cafes are great!
