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.
Vitality of Remembrance Workshop
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
7 November, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Online
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Join psychotherapist John MacFadyen as he explores the importance of “Embracing the Vitality of Remembrance”.
All of our events are free, but ticketed, and open to everyone. To book your place
please email: admin@nbc-communityconnections.org.
Photo credit: Liset Verhaar via Unsplash
Forever in Our Hearts
Organised by Milan Senior Welfare Organisation
Wednesday 6th November 2024
Hibs Supporter Association, 11 Sunnyside, Edinburgh.
This event is for the Milan SWO community.
This will be a remembrance event for all our service users we have sadly lost over the years.
We will be displaying photographs and messages written by service users on canvas to create a beautiful memory wall.
Service users will share stories and poetry to celebrate the lives of those no longer with us and talk about their feelings and the things they miss the most of the people we have lost.
After the event, the memory wall will be displayed in our daycare provision.
This event is supported by a To Absent Friends small grant.
Image credit: Milan Senior Welfare Organisation
Death Cafe @ St Vincent’s Hospice
Organised by St Vincent’s Hospice
6th November, 3pm - 4pm
The Hub @ St Vincent’s Hospice, Midton Road, Howwood PA9 1AF
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
You’re invited to join us at The Hub @ St Vincent’s for a cuppa and cake and share an informal, open, inclusive conversation about death and dying. This isn’t a counselling or therapy group, but just a conversational space where we can talk openly about a subject that’s all too often considered taboo. There is no obligation or pressure for attendees to say anything at all – you can feel free to join us to hear from others.
Places are free of charge, but limited to 10 for the session, and can be booked at the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/death-cafe-the-hub-tickets-1054934660969
Remembering and Celebrating Those We Care For
Organised by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Planning Your Care
6th November 2024, 6.30-7.30pm
Online (MS Teams)
This session is for health and social care staff.
Unfortunately this event has now been cancelled. We are looking at ways to reimagine the event in order to create a useful resource for people who wish to remember and celebrate those they have cared for.
For more information please email ggc.HomeFirst@nhs.scot
Photo credit: Victoria Prymak on Unsplash
Mallaig Memories
Organised by Linthouse Housing Association
Wednesday 6th November
Community Flat, 39 Mallaig Road, Linthouse, Glasgow
This event is open to tenants of Linthouse Housing Association.
Thanks to the Absent Friends Small Grant Scheme, Linthouse Housing Association’s older tenants will gather together to commemorate the family, friends and pets that they have loved and lost.
Our regular coffee morning takes place on a Wednesday morning each month and our November coffee morning, during the Absent Friends Festival, will be dedicated to making memory boxes to remember and celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost and to have a keepsake to store our treasured memories.
The session will be open to tenants of Linthouse Housing Association and will take place in the common room at our amenity housing flats in Mallaig Road from 10.30am to 12noon.
Image credit: Linthouse Housing Association
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