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Storytelling and remembrance across Scotland
To Absent Friends, Scotland's festival of storytelling and remembrance, drew to a close on 7 November, after an event-packed week that saw people across Scotland taking time out to remember and reflect upon loved ones who had died.
People from across Scotland took part in the festival, either by attending one of the many public events, holding their own private acts of remembrance, or contributing to memorial activities on the festival website and across social media.
The festival launched with a concert at the RSNO's new auditorium in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 29 October. Schoolchildren from five different schools worked closely with musicians from the orchestra over several months to compose music for the night. For inspiration, they met and chatted to residents of care homes. The resulting works were performed to a delighted audience, interspersed with video footage from the residents themselves. An anthology of poetry from the evening is available.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, theatre group Creative Electric took to the streets with theatre piece Dog Stone. The interactive storytelling adventure engages children with the idea that imagination can be a coping mechanism when someone is no longer with us. The city's burgeoning spoken word scene also joined in with the festival; Gone But Not Forgotten saw a dozen different performers take to the stage at the Blind Poet pub to tell stories of those they had lost. A gallery of photos from these and other events is also on the To Absent Friends site.
Many hospices were active in To Absent Friends. For example, Ardgowan Hospice in Greenock worked with secondary school pupils to make a communal wall of remembrance, while at St Columba's Hospice in Edinburgh, poet Elspeth Murray led a creative writing workshop with staff. The session, called Honouring memories, offered time and space for staff to reflect and share memories of the patients they have cared for. "It’s nice to have time and space to specifically reflect on those who we miss and love," said one of the residents at Accord Hospice after sharing songs and stories at their day therapy remembrance event.
Many Scottish care homes chose to host events to mark the occasion, both by inviting residents to share their stories and welcoming back relatives of late residents to talk and reminisce over a cup of tea. For instance, in Lanarkshire, Balmer Care Homes Rosepark and Rosehill held a week of remembrance from the 2 - 6 of November, culminating in a balloon release by relatives of former residents, as a memorial to the loved ones they had lost.
Meanwhile, in Livingston, the Peacock Nursing Home took a musical approach to remembrance with a gathering to remember ex-residents. Margaret Bradford, Activity Co-ordinator at Peacock Nursing Home reflected:
“Our event was a massive success. I think that initially people didn’t know what to expect, but the turnout was great, and we got amazing feedback from the relatives who came along.”
The Essence of A Memory photo competition invited people to capture a memory of a loved one in a photo and fifty words.
Eight winners were chosen by writer and former Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin, and photographer, Colin Gray. So far the exhibition has toured Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Govan Health Centre and St Andrew's Hospice, with more tour venues to be planned next year. If you would like to host the exhibition, please get in touch.
On Facebook and Twitter, people changed their profile picture to a loved one who had died, and shared stories of their lives. Many organisations did the same with their social media. Parkinsons UK changed their picture to their founder Mali Jenkins, for instance. Local history pages Lost Edinburgh and Lost Glasgow shared the festival with their tens of thousands of followers. Dinners have also been held to the memory of absent friends, including one at the Scottish Parliament.
These are just a few examples of the amazing variety of events that took place - check out the To Absent Friends Festival Listings, Festival Blog and Photo Gallery more information. If you took part in the festival and would like to share your experiences, please get in touch.
To Absent Friends 2015
Across Scotland, preparations are underway for To Absent Friends, a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance.
The festival will launch with a special concert at the RSNO's new centre at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Thursday 29 November 2015 at 6pm. The concert is the product of 6 months work by high school pupils and teachers from across Scotland, who have collaborated with musicians from the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra to prepare original stories and compositions inspired by people who have died.
The To Absent Friends festival invites ordinary people to remember friends and family that have died, through a series of public events, private reminiscences and online tributes. A full list of festival events can be viewed on the website, and a range of community of events are taking place across Scotland.
The public events programme includes:
- A Hearth for Old Stories, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre with poet and storyteller Margot Henderson.
- Dog Stone an interactive storytelling adventure by theatre company Creative Electric, taking place in various public spaces across Edinburgh and exploring how imagination is often used as a coping mechanism.
- Get Organised a recital by Usher Hall organist John Kitchen in honour of absent friends.
- Gone but not forgotton, storytelling and poetry at The Blind Poet pub
- To Absent Friends concert with Edinburgh Brass Band.
- Courage in the name of freedom of expression, hosted by the Scottish Writers Centre' and Scottish PEN at The Mitchell Library to remember writers who have lost their life for their words.
- A time of reflection for those bereaved by suicide, at St John’s Church, Glenrothes - short talks, poetry readings and music, to remember those who have tragically lost their lives to suicide
- Bridgeton Community Celebration, a free event to celebrate the lives of lost loved ones with soup, tea and coffee, stories and balloon release to remember absent friends.
- We remember them well, a chance to hear and share memories of departed friends, from Leith and beyond, with live music and refreshments.
- Don’t mention the coal scuttle, a discussion about bereavement based on the book Don't Mention The Coal Scuttle, a compilation from over 50 different and real experiences of those facing the death of a husband, a wife, a partner, a soul mate, including anecdotes, reminiscences and personal experiences.
Get involved
Individuals and groups are being encouraged to host their own private remembrance events as part of To Absent Friends. Samhain Suppers are one of the ways people are getting involved at home. Based on the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain, the idea is for people to gather together for dinner, share stories and photos of absent friends, maybe even raise a toast, in the manner of Burns' Suppers.
The To Absent Friends website also has space for people to leave their tributes. The Remembrance Playlist allows people to dedicate songs to late loved ones, while Remembering The Greats invites people to pay tribute to stalwarts of their local football or rugby club.
On social media people will be changing their profile pictures to an absent friend, as a mark of remembrance. Follow @2absentfriends and use #ToAbsentFriends to join in, or contact Rebecca if you'd like more information.
Seven songs for a long life
Filmmaker, Amy Hardie has been visiting Strathcarron Hospice in Scotland. Filming began gently with no agenda - the result is a feature length documentary, which is now being used as part of a UK-wide campaign to encourage the general public to talk more openly and confidently about the process of dying.
Produced by the Scottish Documentary Institute, the film will be launched during Hospice Care Week in October. The film will screen in cinemas, but most importantly it is available to hospices, palliative care organisations, carers and community groups - anyone who has an interest in engaging in or facilitating openness around death and dying. The documentary will be followed by an educational package of shorter clips and a toolkit for teaching.
Director Amy Hardie says:
“I came to Strathcarron with strict instructions: hang around. Being an artist in a medical establishment, you get good at hanging around. Feeling useless becomes your evolving art form. Finally the patients took pity on me. Maybe they were feeling a bit useless too. Disease can do that. Then they started singing to the camera. I loved it. Myself, I was banned from the singing circle right at nursery. But the songs that came from the patients at Strathcarron were so full of passion, dreams, anger, regret, acceptance…I felt it was their whole lives tunneling into the camera microphone.
Time is one of the greatest gifts someone can give you. When you sit with someone you are giving them your time. I spent four years filming in Strathcarron, listening, watching, and taking up time from the patients and the staff. It was a privilege.”
To find out more, to book the film for a screening or to ask for a preview screener please contact Rebecca Day at the Scottish Documentary Institute on: 0131 651 5872 or visit the website: www.sevensongsfilm.com
Will you enter the Dragon's Den?
Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief members are being invited to take part in our very own Dragon’s Den, as part of a stakeholder networking event taking place in Edinburgh on 30th September.
Those who dare will have the opportunity to deliver a 5 minute pitch to fellow delegates, describing a project they’d like to undertake as part of To Absent Friends this year. Everyone present gets a vote, and the project that wins the most votes in a secret ballot at the end wins £250 to put the project into action.
Death Dragon's Den is part of an interesting and varied programme at Life, Death, Grief Gets Practical, a networking event for people in Scotland who are interested in promoting more openness about death, dying and bereavement. Organised by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, the event will provide delegates with opportunities to:
- hear about Scottish initiatives relevant to promoting openness about death, dying and bereavement
- share ideas for developing work in this area in the future
- network with people who share an interest in this area
- win £250 to support their participation in To Absent Friends, a people's festival of storytelling and remembrance this November
Attendance is free, but you need to book in advance. For more information about the programme for the day, and to book, visit our Eventbrite page: programme information and booking
If you’d like to participate in Dragon’s Den, email Rebecca with a 250 word summary of the project you’d like to pitch. Closing date is Wednesday 16th September, and you’ll hear by Thursday 24thSeptember whether you’ve been chosen to give your pitch on the day. (We’ll accommodate as many people as we can, but time will be limited, so we can’t guarantee everyone 5 minutes to pitch.)
Death on the Fringe
After its success last year, we're pleased to be bringing Death on the Fringe back to the Edinburgh Festival fringe again this August.
Death on the Fringe is a series of shows that look at death and dying from different perspectives – some serious, some comical – but all contributing to the debate on death and end of life matters.
Thirteen diverse shows are lined up to be part of Death on the Fringe, including comedian Jack Rooke, who examines how we treat bereaved people; A Gambler’s Guide To Dying, the story of one boy’s grandad who, diagnosed with cancer, gambled his savings on living to the year 2000; and Fiesta de Los Muertos a music, theatre, and storytelling show, inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead.
For a full list of all shows, check out the Death on the Fringe website.
This year we're excited to be expanding on the festival with a Lecture Series and Cabaret Evening. The Death on the Fringe Lectures bring eminent medical, academic and end-of-life care professionals to Edinburgh to discuss the latest thinking on the topic, stimulating discussion and challenging established ideas.
The Death on the Fringe Cabaret, will be an evening of poetry, music and performance reflecting upon life, death and grief, featuring established local performers.The Edinburgh Fringe is the world's largest arts festival with attendances of over 2 million. It has a history of showing cutting edge and thought provoking arts events, making it the ideal place to encourage more public openness and debate about death, dying and bereavement. Death on the Fringe embraces artistic endeavours which promote exploration and discussion of death, dying and bereavement, neither endorsing nor censoring the views put forward within performances.
Death on the Fringe takes place between 7 and 31 August. Find out more at the Death on the Fringe website. You can keep up to date by following @DeathOnFringe on twitter.
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