Demystifying Death Week 2024

Death, Dying and Bereavement Open Day

Organised by One Dalkeith

8th May 2024

One Dalkeith, 21 Eskdaill Court, Dalkeith EH22 1AG 

This event is open to the public.

One Dalkeith is delighted to have funding support from Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief to provide Demystifying Death Week opportunities for people to: 

• interact with a community group creating a mixed media quilt in memory of people that have died by suicide
• have a natter with professionals who will guide and advise on preparing for dying and the physiology of death
• join round table discussions that will consider developing a Death Plan and how to take pressure off and bring comfort to loved ones in the run up to or after death
• meet grief counsellors who will discuss support to understand how grief affects each of us differently
• come together with experts specialising in relaxation techniques that will provide support through bereavement and stress
• talk to experts in financial signposting in the event of hardship

We have invited local partners, such as Funeral Directors, Celebrants and Religious Leaders to take part in discussions on matters such as developing Advanced Funeral and Farewell Wishes, cremation vs. burial, Funeral Plans, Living Funerals, Memorial Services, and much more. "Another new experience comes to Dalkeith!"

"Much Ado About Dying" screening - Ayr Town Hall

In partnership with Cosmic Cat Films, Ayr Film Society, NODA Ayrshire and Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief

Wednesday 8th May, 2.30pm

Ayr Town Hall, New Bridge Street, Ayr KA7 1JX

This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.

On Wednesday 8 May, NODA Ayrshire and Ayr Film Society are teaming up with Cosmic Cat Films and Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief to screen the new film "Much Ado About Dying" in honour of Demystifying Death Week.

The film is a gloriously eccentric and thought provoking look at what it means to live. The award-winning documentary follows long-retired actor David Newlyn Gale, living in an unsuitable flat, sustaining himself on cans of soup, keeping himself warm with a small army of electric heaters and battling a mice infestation with toothpaste. The film presents an intimate, occasionally funny and ultimately moving portrait of a solitary life and a quietly critical assessment of the inadequate resources available in the UK for a rapidly ageing population. 

A partnership between Cinema For All, Cosmic Cat Films and Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief will bring the new film to community cinemas across Scotland during Demystifying Death Week. From Tiree to Findhorn, remote and rural cinemas across Scotland are holding discussion screenings of the new film. 

Please book your tickets here.

A full list of screenings is available here.  

Online Session - Grief Tending in Community

Organised by Douglas Guest, Maeve Butler and Robin Botley of Grief Tending in Scotland

Wednesday, 8th May 7-9.30pm

Online via Zoom

This event is open to the public. Booking in advance is required.

"I have been leading a small ever changing team to do grief tending for a number of years. It started when I looked into my resistance to grief and felt that other emotions like anger & forgiveness I struggled with too. I discovered others did too when we sat in a ritual safe space. I learnt that our ancestor and indigenous people regularly visited grief for the health of the village and its ancestors. I read Francis Weller's book and it gave me a framework and a depth to holding my grief and in setting up community spaces to hold our grief collectively. We do this as volunteers and regularly attend our grief and I judge that all who arrive in these spaces, myself included, leave feeling better for sharing and witnessing." 

If this resonates think about signing up for this online event. We’ll give our presence and attention to any and all layers of grief that arise in the day. To help us frame our scope, we’ll use the ‘Five Gates of Grief’ that Francis Weller describes in his book ‘The Wild Edge of Sorrow’. You don't need to have read the book to attend.

For more information and/or book a place, please email douglas_guest@yahoo.co.uk. You can also book your place here.

Photo credit: Douglas Guest

Author Event with Elizabeth Reeder and Gillian Shirreffs

Organised by Glasgow Libraries

7th May 2024, 11.00am-1.30pm

Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN

This event is open to the public.

Demystifying Death Week is about giving people knowledge, skills and opportunities to plan and support each other through death, dying, loss and care. Join us for our Demystifying Death Week event with writers Elizabeth Reeder (microbursts & An Archive of Happiness) and Gillian Shirreffs (Brodie) as they share their work and talk about the highs and lows of writing about difficult topics like illness, dying, death and grief.

Elizabeth Reeder is author of microbursts (Prototype), a hybrid work about the illnesses and deaths of her parents, which is a design collaboration with Amanda Thomson. Her third novel, An Archive of Happiness (Penned in the Margins), takes place in the Scottish Highlands and explores the unsentimental work of love in a family. She is a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at University of Glasgow.

Gillian Shirreffs is author of Brodie (Into Books), a novel about six women whose lives intertwine over three decades, told by Brodie, the beloved object that connects them. Her fiction explores the world of illness, mainly the lived experience of multiple sclerosis. Gillian’s narrative nonfiction interrogates medical objects, places and spaces. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, this new illness experience is reflected in her recent writing.

We’ll be joined by a wide range of support services after the talk, including Macmillan @ Glasgow Libraries, Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Marie Curie, Lifelink, Richmond’s Hope and Age Scotland.

Explore the Glasgow Life Libraries reading list on death, dying and bereavement for thoughts and ideas on how to help when someone is dying or grieving.

Please contact librarieshealthandwellbeing@glasgowlife.org.uk or 0141 287 2903 with any questions.

For more details, see here.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Glasgow Life