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.
Remember, Remember
Organised by local members of End of Life Doula UK
Monday 4th November 2024, 1.30-3.30pm
Stirling Central Library, 3 Corn Exchange Road, Stirling FK8 2HX
This event is open to the public.
November...we remember Guy Fawkes on the 5th November, those who have died in wars on Remembrance Day on the 11th November......
But on Monday 4th November, here at Stirling Library it’s all about YOU.
Who would you like to remember & celebrate?
Drop into Stirling Central Library on 4th November for an opportunity to remember an absent friend, pet or family member in whatever way YOU choose. Words...arts and crafts...silence.
No booking is necessary for this drop-in event. All age ranges are welcome. If you’d like to express interest and help us make sure we have enough cake, please message 07906565816.
This event is in association with End of Life Doula UK and supported by a To Absent Friends small grant.
Image credit: El Ledingham
Queen Margaret University: Remembering absent friends – an open book
Organised by members of the QMU Bereavement Charter working group
4th-7th November 2024
Queen Margaret University (Foyer of Main building), Queen Margaret University Drive, Musselburgh, EH21 6UU
This event is open to staff and students at the university. It will be an in-person event but with an opportunity to contribute electronically.
With thanks to the support of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief as part of the To Absent Friends Festival, we are providing the opportunity for students and staff within the university to remember those important to them who have died.
Hans K Clausen, visual artist, will invite members of the university community to contribute ‘a page’ to a pop-up gallery of remembrance. The content may be written, drawn, collaged or any form of creative mark making that commemorates an absent friend. The gallery will be displayed and added to across the duration of the week, in the foyer from the 4th – 7th November. At the end of the four-day event the pages will be bound into a book, creating a permanent collective remembrance book, to be kept and displayed in the university library. The event will be hosted by Hans on the opening day, for the remainder of the week the space will be self-managed.
This event is supporting by a To Absent Friends small grant.
Dancing On
Organised by Dance Base
Exhibition running 4 November - 31 January
Dance Base, 14-16 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2JU
This exhibition is open to the public.
Dancing On is a photographic exhibition and series of events celebrating the legacies of older dancers. Highlighting Dance Base’s rich history of dancing through age and loss, the exhibition will feature photographs of dancers who have taken part in the organisation’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme, Dance Base’s elder’s performance company PRIME, and 24 Carat, a community dance group for over 60s. Dancing On will also include community-building café events that will bring together invited guests from Dance Base’s communities of dancers, as well as the families and friends of dancers featured within the exhibition, to share stories and view the exhibition over a cup of tea and some cake. Presented at Dance Base on Edinburgh’s iconic Grassmarket, the exhibition will launch on Monday 4 November and will be open to the public until Friday 31 January.
This event is supported by a To Absent Friends small grant.
Painting memories: creating a community memory garden
Organised by Art and Spirituality CIC
3rd November, 2-4pm
Art and Spirituality Centre, 6-8 Alexander Drive, Edinburgh EH11 2RH
This event is open to the public. Please reserve in advance.
Honour. Reflect. Connect.
We warmly invite you to join a unique and heartfelt event at the Art and Spirituality Centre. This gathering offers a peaceful, supportive space for you to create personal tributes in honour of loved ones who have passed.
Event Highlights:
- Begin with a guided calming meditation, connecting your heart to the memories of those you’ve lost.
- Paint stones to honour your loved ones, sharing their names, memories, or symbols.
- Together, we will create a Memory Garden in nearby Westfield Park, arranging your decorated stones and flowers to create a meaningful space.
- Return to the studio for a sharing circle with stories, reflections, poetry, and a warm cup of tea.
This workshop holds deep personal meaning for us. As members of the international community living far from home, many of us share the experience of losing loved ones without the chance to grieve in person. This event is dedicated to providing a space for our international community to reflect, remember, and honour the final moments shared with those dear to us. However, everyone is welcome to join us in this space of remembrance and connection.
Free to attend – all materials provided.
Sign up now to reserve your place. www.artandspirituality.co.uk
The event is supported by a To Absent Friends small grant.
Image credit: Art & Spirituality CIC
Grief tending in the community and death & remembrance café
Organised by Grief Tending in Scotland
Sunday 3rd November
Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury road Edinburgh EH16 5AB
This activity is open to the public.
A grief tending in Garden from 11-1.30PM and a death & remembrance cafe in art room from 2 - 4.
For the morning session we’ll be in the garden; around the fire for check-ins. 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’ - Francis Weller on Grief (2013) You don’t need to have read the book.
The afternoon will be a Death and Remembrance Cafe - At a Death Cafe people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. Our objective is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’. A Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes.
You can attend both or one of the events, each event will be have a max number of 20 participants.
What to bring:
- Suitable clothing for being outside for two & half hours during the morning
- An object or picture that for you has connection with grief
Facilitators
Douglas Guest has over 30 years’ experience of working in the public and 3rd sector, and has been running men’s groups and grief tending in community events for several years. He has led on seminars and conferences in an number of fields, written national training programmes, and co-created Year of the Dad for Scottish Government.
Maeve Butler works in psychotherapies and third level education. She has been connected with the Salisbury Centre since 2012, and has been engaged with various forms of grief work since 2019, including Grief Tending in Community.
For more information and/or to book your place, email douglas_guest@yahoo.co.uk.
Thanks https://www.toabsentfriends.org.uk/ to their small grants makes this possible.
Photo credit: Douglas Guest
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