Festival Events 2020
COVID-19 has changed the ways we are able to share stories and solace, so the 2020 festival looked different from in previous years. Communities found new ways to come together - gatherings were smaller and more distanced, and more took place online. In these difficult times, the To Absent Friends Festival remained a valued opportunity for sharing memories and human connection.
Remembering our loved ones
Organised by Friends of Parkhouse Manor Care Home, Saturday 14th November.
Parkhouse Manor Care Home has lost many much-loved residents residents this year. Their families haven’t been able to hold a proper service, staff haven’t been able to say a proper goodbye and this has had an impact.
As part of the To Absent Friends festival, (and if current restrictions allow) Parkhouse Care Home will hold two memorial services for families. Unfortunately due to restrictions, residents won't be able to join in, but the Care Home is also buying Memorial Benches, giving the families, staff and residents somewhere to sit and remember their loved ones.
At a later date, when restrictions ease, they plan to have an event bringing residents and families together, to include live music, food and lots of reminiscing.
Remembering our patients
Critical Care Bereavement Support Team, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow
This year the bereavement support team are unable to hold their usual annual remembrance service to give families of patients who have died the opportunity to come together and remember their loved one.
Instead, they will send relatives a letter along with a 'we remember' poem. Families will be invited to contribute a message of remembrance to a remembrance tree inside the hospital. Relatives will also receive a wooden remembrance heart for them to keep.
We Will Remember
University Hospital Wishaw, throughout November
At a time when there are so many restrictions in place, we can and will still remember and celebrate our precious loved ones who have died. For ‘To Absent Friends’ week and the whole of November, those connected with University Hospital Wishaw will be encouraged to honour the lives and memories of patients, staff, friends and loved ones who have died, in a project called ‘We Will Remember’.
The Sanctuary will be open as a safe space for quiet reflection and for sharing images and stories of loved ones in our memories gallery, as well as the opportunity to write a leaf for our memorial tree. Please contact Healthcare Chaplains Harry or Ali on 01698 366779 or ali.pandian@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk for more details.
To Honour Absent Friends
Organised by Breathe Easy Clackmannanshire
In a replacement for their regular To Absent Friends festival gathering, Breathe Easy Clackmannshire are staying connected by putting together monthly newsletters. The newsletters are one way that the group is staying in touch with each other while unable to meet in person.
To mark To Absent Friends, their Novermber newsletter will include a feature commemorating members of the group who have died.
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Solas Day Centre, Stornoway, throughout November.
This year the Solas Outdoor Memory Garden will be lit up with individual LED outdoor lights - each light will represent someone who has died and a message can be left on our digital remembrance book.
To join in this event please contact us with the name of the person you wish to remember and your message. You can email this to mmacinnes@alzscot.org
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