Festival Events 2016
Cafe of Reminiscence
Queen Margaret University and St Columba’s Hospice will be hosting a Café of Reminiscence in the QMU Students' Union. Staff and students are invited to come along for tea and cake and reminisce and share stories (and perhaps photos or small objects which are reminders) of dead family and friends in a supportive and welcoming atmosphere. A reminiscence “menu” will be used to help start the chatting. Also during that week, a tree will be available so people can write names or memories of their dead loved ones on paper leaves and attach them to the tree.
2 November, Queen Margaret University Students Union. For more information contact Joanna Beveridge or Danuta Orlowska.
NHS Lothian
NHS Lothian Palliative Care Link Nurses will be supporting people to participate in the To Absent Friends festival. Opportunities to share memories on trees and in scrapbooks will be available at the following NHS Lothian sites during 1-7 November:
Balfour Astley Ainslie Hospital
Ellens Glen House
Findlay House
Ferryfield House
OPRA Leith Treatment Centre.
Essence of a Memory Exhibition
MSPs and staff at the Scottish Parliament will have the opportunity to view the winning entries from the To Absent Friends Essence of a Memory competition, currently running as part of the Luminate Festival of Creative Ageing. The competition invites entrants to submit words and an image which evoke a memory of someone they love who is dead.
Picture by one of last year's competition winners - Eleni Thomaidou:
'She used to call me “my little bird”.
I grew up with her.
She grew old with me.'
Scottish Parliament Garden Lobby, 7 - 10 November. (Not open to members of the public.)
telling stories to keep memories alive
Marie
Curie's Bereavement Support Team are hosting a To Absent Friends evening
event on 2nd November. The event will feature
storytellers and poets, who will be on hand to help people celebrate and share
their stories about loved ones who have died.
People will have the opportunity to have one-to-one conversations with staff
and volunteers and other people who have been bereaved. A calligrapher will be
available to write the names of people who have died onto leaf shapes to be
added to a tree which will form a centrepiece. These will be available for
people to take home at the end of the evening.
There will be live music
along with light refreshments and a variety of materials for people to take
home. People are also being encouraged to bring a memento, object or photo that
reminds them of their loved one and which can be shared with others at a Table
of Memories.
Invitations have been sent to the relatives of patients who had been supported
by Marie Curie and who died over the past year.
Get Organised
A unique opportunity to reflect on absent friends in the magnificent surroundings of the beautiful Usher Hall, one of Edinburgh 's architectural gems. Join City Organist John Kitchen for a range of music themed around remembrance, and relax and enjoy the sounds of the historic Usher Hall organ.
1.10pm, Monday 7 November, Usher Hall, Edinburgh. £4. Weblink.
RSS