Festival 2024
The To Absent Friends festival took place across Scotland from 1-7 November 2024.
It was an opportunity to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died. To Absent Friends, a People’s Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance is an opportunity to revive lost traditions and create new ones.
Below is a list of the events that took place.
Space to Remember
Organised by The Junction – Young People, Health & Wellbeing’s Creative Express Service
Wednesday, 6th November, 4.30pm – 6.30pm
82-86 Great Junction Street, Edinburgh, EH6 5LL (green door)
This FREE event is for young people aged 12 - 21 years, living in Edinburgh
We will be providing a supportive session where young people can reflect and remember someone who has died. There will be creative activities to engage with and prompt discussions - including materials to make a memory box.
Participants can take space to create alone or choose to join in with others, with no pressure to make an end product. There will also be plenty of chilled chat and snacks.
If you or a young person you know would like to engage in the activities, but don’t feel comfortable attending a group, get in contact and we will do our best to set up a one-to-one session for you instead.
In addition to this event, The Junction will undertake a project wide focus during the To Absent Friends Festival week, raising awareness around grief and loss - inviting young people to consider its impact on their lives - carrying this theme into our regular structured one-to-ones, open access services and school outreach, all with thanks to financial support from the To Absent Friends Fund.
Places are limited and can be booked by emailing aprilwendy@the-junction.org or texting 07526204317.
Rodge Glass - “Joshua in the Sky"
Organised by Glasgow Life Libraries
Tuesday 5th November, 6:30pm
Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
To Absent Friends Week (1st - 7th November) is an annual Scotland-wide festival of remembrance and story-telling which provides an opportunity to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died.
To mark To Absent Friends Week 2024 we welcome Rodge Glass to the Mitchell Library on Tuesday 5th November to discuss his memoir Joshua in the Sky.
Rodge’s nephew Joshua died the same day he was born, from a blood condition they both share. This book charts the five years around Joshua’s life and death to tell the story of Rodge’s attempts to make sense of this loss. Having spent a lifetime using reading and writing to both hide from and face the world, Joshua in the Sky serves as a kind of reckoning, asking the questions: whose life deserves to be remembered? And how?
Register and find venue accessibility information at the Glasgow Life website.
Glass Panel Unveiling
Organised by Ardgowan Hospice
5th November
Ardgowan Hospice, Inverclyde
This event is open to the Ardgowan Hospice community.
A local artist has volunteered to paint a themed glass panel that will be unveiled on 5th November.
Members of the My Life group within Ardgowan Hospice will be invited. There will be live music, poetry, memories shared and of course lots of cake!
Hospice staff will also cooperatively develop a playlist that will be played in our Quiet Space or cafe throughout the day of 5th November.
Photo credit: Jess Bailey via Unsplash
Eternal Blooms
Organised by the Glendale Women’s Cafe
Tuesday 5th November 10.30am to 12.30pm
Glendale Women’s Cafe, 423 Shields Road, Pollokshields, G41 1NY
This event is open to visitors of the Glendale Women’s Cafe
Pot decorating, bulb planting, tea and chat
GWC’s cafe visitors are invited to decorate pots and plant bulbs together, while reflecting and remembering absent friends and family.
The session will offer the chance to talk about and remember loved ones who have died, while planting flowering bulbs in remembrance of them. While planting the women can share stories about their loved ones, and how they have impacted their lives.
As the plants grow and flower through the year, they will provide quiet moments for reflection and remembrance.
This session is made possible with funds from To Absent Friends.
Life after Loss: The Late Great Johnny Ace
Organised by AGL & The Alchemists
Tuesday 5th November, 7:30 - 9:30pm
The Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street Edinburgh EH2 2AA
This event is open to the public. It is free but ticketed.
Everyone responds to deep loss in their own way. When Annie lost Johnny – the love of her life – to cancer, she got a band together and began to write & play songs about him, about the life they shared together, and to explore, through music, her experience of grief.
In this show, Annie & her band will take you on a journey through love, loss, sorrow, joy & hope, playing a mix of funk, soul & rock cover versions, as well as original material. Of course, there will be some tender moments. But overall, this is an evening that’s upbeat, uplifting & celebratory.
“An amazing, joyous, life enhancing evening”
“One of the most magical evenings, filled with love”
“What a voice, what a band. Heart & soul in every moment”
“Heartfelt and heartwarming”
There is no charge for tickets, however if you enjoy the show, and can afford to do so, please consider making a donation to Marie Curie, who will have staff on hand at the end of the evening. Thank you.
This show is pleased to be part of the “To Absent Friends“ festival of storytelling and remembrance.
Book your free tickets on Eventbrite.
Photo credit: courtesy of AGL & The Alchemists
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