What’s the connection between Day of the Dead, Hallowe’en and death?
Day of the Dead is a Mexican festival to remember and celebrate our loved and lost. Making offerings at shrines, grave tending, sharing food and storytelling are all part of the ritual, designed to help heal and remember. Hallowe’en is
So this week I’ve been contacted by a TV production company who are researching whether there’s programme potential in the subject of match-making for a terminal partner.
For the last week, I’ve been reflecting on a question Professor Allan Kellehear raised about how long grief lasts. He posed this question during his keynote speech on Creating Compassionate Cities at the Everyday Compassion conference in Glasgow. He answered his own question. “Grief doesn’t last 6 weeks or 6 years. It lasts forever.”
What is the problem with death?
There’s a quotation, often wrongly attributed to Einstein and often misquoted, which goes roughly: “if I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spent 55 minutes framing the problem and 5 minutes solving it”. So, I’m wondering, what is the problem with death?
This week, I’m reaching out for Death Cafe feedback from anyone who’s attended a Final Fling Death Cafe.
Have you ever noticed Final Fling’s logo has a full stop in it? The big full stop – my view of afterlife. You see I believe we die and we’re done, gone. I was with my dad when he died. His ‘passing’ was electric: it felt like 5,000 volts leapt from him to me and […]
Originally conceived as a tribute to artist, performer and Glasgow’s Mischief La-Bas Director Ian Smith, who took his own life in 2014 after suffering with clinical depression, this is an expanded version of last year’s debut in Glasgow. The aim is to celebrate death, loved ones, art and life.
This week, Professor Scott Murray talks about his belief that early palliative care helps people live with – not die from – a serious illness. A recent medical scare of his own means Scott has been able to bring a very different, personal lens to his thinking about his professional area of expertise.
Last week Jackie Kay, our wonderful Scots Makar – Scotland’s poet laureate – was one of the guest editors on Woman’s Hour and chose as one of her many fascinating topics, ‘complicated grief’.
At Bristol Museum’s Death Fair at the weekend I was asked “You know you can become a tree when you die… how do I do that?” Well, here is one route to eternal life. I invited my friends at Capsula Mundi to explain…
This week’s blogger, Maggie, shares her experience of her mum’s Alzheimer’s.
“I’m at peace. I have no worries or fear. Death is nothing to be afraid of.”
Bucket List moment today. Got onto Woman’s Hour! Listen again. Jenni Murray was her usual amazing self, interviewing Fling blogger Dr Kate Granger, Jenny Katzinger, Rabbi Julia Neuberger, fab funeral director Emma O’Driscoll (and daughters) with myself and Emma Freud doing the last 5 minutes. As I heard someone say today, every time you take one […]
To kick off 2016, Jane Duncan Rogers ran a Planning a good death workshop, incorporating her own book, her Good Death Checklist and Final Fling’s planning tools, giving workshoppers the chance to chat, share, think, talk, plan and record. Here, Jane shares a bit about the session and the feedback. Our sell-out Planning a Good Death […]
“20 years ago this month, a traumatic session at the hospice where I volunteered sowed the seeds for Soul Midwives.” This is the story of the birth of soul midwives in the UK. It’s the (abridged) story of Felicity Warner, who has trained a network of people ready to support others through the final journey […]
Have you had thoughts about planning for a good death? Join Jane Duncan Rogers for a two-morning workshop to actually complete your Good Death List – or the various sections on Final Fling, your choice. Whether you prefer entering your information online, or with pen and paper, this workshop gives you the chance to actually […]
If you need help, coping with loss at Christmas, we think you might like a look at tips from The Compassionate Friends. This group has come together through common experience – the loss of a son or daughter. The tips, we think, will be of general help to anyone dealing with loss.
How does the future of palliative care in Scotland look? Well, talking to friends involved in death and dying down South, pretty good actually.
That’s in no small part to the work of an active and engaged group of people who meet as the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care and who run the website Good Life Good Death Good Grief and its events, like To Absent Friends festival.
There’s no hierarchy in pain when it comes to death, but there’s no denying, losing a child as a baby is a new parent’s nightmare. This week, Matt Cunninham shares his experience of losing his daughter Molly.
There’s a cunning plan afoot to set up Death Cafe London – a permanent home for all things death, chat, support, cake. Death Cafes emerged some years ago now… first inspired by Bernard Crettaz, Jon Underwood picked the idea up in the UK and it has spread like wildfire.
This week, Pam Diamond shares her uplifting story of caring for her dying dad. We hope these intimate stories from friends of Final Fling will help others going through challenging times.
“A couple of days ago I enjoyed an early morning walk on the beach to clear my head.