In another attempt to tackle death as a taboo, Final Fling is hosting a Death Cafe of Remembrance. It’s one of many events marking To Absent Friends week – a people's festival of storytelling and remembrance coordinated by Good Life Good Death Good Grief.

10 facts about a Death Cafe

1. It’s free to attend
2. It’s two hours of informal chat over a cuppa and great cake
3. It allows you to talk about life and death freely
4. It’s not maudlin or macabre
5. It’s friendly and welcoming - you can come on your own; your hosts will make you welcome.
6. It’s fine to chat or to listen – hopefully both
7. It’s intimate – usually only around 10 people
8. It’s a phenomenon that happens all over the world
9. It’s interesting and likely to leave you feeling good
10. It’s essential to book!

“I know from experience that many people are keen to talk about death for all sorts of reasons. It helps us share sorrow; it helps us come to terms with our own mortality; it helps us accept loss; it helps us celebrate people we’ve loved and lost. Sometimes folks need ‘permission’ or a safe place to share openly. And that’s what a death cafe provides.

“We launched Scotland’s first Death Cafe supported by Good Life Good Death Good Grief in 2013 and ran a series over a year. We also held Scotland’s first Day of the Dead Festival in 2013 at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art; a creative celebration of life and death. So we’re bringing these two things together for To Absent Friends week.”

The Death Cafe of Remembrance invites artists who presented work at last year’s Day of the Dead to join in conversations about how creativity can help us express the inexpressible, capture memories, offer oppportunities to come together productively to create and communicate.

Barbara Chalmers Final Fling Founder will host the Death Cafe with:

• Greer Pester ran a Shrine Making workshop for Day of the Dead, sharing practices she learned during an exploration of death rituals in North and South America in 2013 funded by Creative Scotland.
• Nichola Scrutton presented HearAfter, a sound installation that re-presented the human voice – words and sounds – to create contemplative and immersive sound art inspired by the birth-life-death cycle, memory, and the transformative process of decay.

The Death Cafe of Remembrance will also pay tribute to artist Adrian Howells, who delivered Unburden: Saying the Unsaid as part of last year’s Day of the Dead. Adrian sadly died this year. His work focussed on one-to-one performance and we will talk about the power of connecting in this way as part of remembering.

ON THE DAY

Bring a photo or object of someone loved and lost.
The event is free - contributions invited to cover cost of refreshments.