Festival 2026
The To Absent Friends festival takes place across Scotland from 1-7 November 2026.
It is 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 taking place around Scotland and online.
These listings are live, so new events will be added in the coming weeks. If you have an event or activity you’d like to add, please email details to samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk.
To Absent Friends Afternoon Tea
Organised by Headway East Lothian
Thursday 5 November, 12.30pm – 2.30pm
Hallhill Centre, Kellie Road, Dunbar, EH42 1RF
This activity is for the Headway East Lothian community. Please register in advance.
Join together for a special afternoon of remembrance, connection and community. Over complimentary sandwiches, cake, tea and coffee we will come together to honour the members of our Headway East Lothian family whom we have lost over the years.
A photo memory book will bring together their names and photographs, giving us time to speak their names, celebrate the qualities that made each person unique, and share treasured memories of them and their families.
You will also be able to add thoughts, words and drawings to the table coverings. These contributions will later become a lasting community collage that can grow alongside our collection of photo memories.
The event will offer a safe, accessible and welcoming space where everyone can take part at their own pace—chatting, moving around and connecting with others without judgement or pressure.
Come and share, remember, celebrate, laugh, cry and take comfort in the company of others.
Contact Joyce at headwayeastlothian@live.co.uk to book your free place.
Thanks to the support of a To Absent Friends small grant.
Online Grief and Remembrance session
Organised by Grief Tending in Scotland
Thursday 5 November, 7 to 9.30pm
Online via Zoom
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
You are welcome to spend some time together in community. We will have time to sit quietly, internally; time to connect, share our stories and have them witnessed.
We will be using 6 gates of grief initiated from author and Soul Activist Francis Weller’s book ‘The Wild Edge of Sorrow’.
”Maturity knows how to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other. When the two reside together we’re in the prayer of life.”
Douglas Guest will lead this online session, Douglas 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.
To book your place for the online session, please email douglas_guest@yahoo.co.uk.
Our Coastal Voices: Collective Works
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
Wednesday 4 November 2026, 7-9pm.
The Law Pub upstairs room, North Berwick
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Absent Friends Week is a national festival of storytelling and remembrance - a space to remember those who are no longer with us and share the stories that keep them present in our lives. This year, Coastal Community Connections explores Legacy Burdens – the expectations, beliefs and behaviours around grief that we inherit from our families, communities and wider culture. These can shape how we think grief should look, what we feel able to express and what we learn to keep hidden.
Join Our Coastal Voices Community Writing Group as we launch and share a collection of writing, creating through workshops led by award-winning poet and playwright Hannah Lavery, with music from renowned folk musician Ciaran Ryan.
Find out more and book your free place here.
40 Years On…
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
Wednesday 4 November, 2-4pm
Hope Rooms, North Berwick
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Absent Friends Week is a national festival of storytelling and remembrance - a space to remember those who are no longer with us and share the stories that keep them present in our lives. This year, Coastal Community Connections explores Legacy Burdens – the expectations, beliefs and behaviours around grief that we inherit from our families, communities and wider culture. These can shape how we think grief should look, what we feel able to express and what we learn to keep hidden.
In this workshop Annemieke takes us on a personal voyage, exploring the shaping factors surrounding a father’s death. Drawing on what she has learned, and continues to learn, from her own journey, Annemieke shines a light on an often-overlooked aspect of bereavement: how losing a parent during childhood can continue to influence and shape us throughout our lives. This event is for all but may be of particular interest to adults who experienced bereavement during childhood.
Find out more and book your free place here.
A Day to Remember
Organised by Families Outside
Wednesday 4 November 2026, beginning at 6pm on Zoom, with Candle Lighting at 7pm
Across Scotland, with families taking part from wherever they are, plus an online gathering on Zoom.
This activity is for the Families Outside community. Please register in advance for the Zoom session.
Families Outside is the only national organisation in Scotland dedicated to supporting families affected by imprisonment. We also support families following the death of a loved one in custody, offering compassionate support through a period of grief that can be complicated by investigations, inquests and unanswered questions.
On 4 November, we are creating a shared national moment of remembrance for families across Scotland who have lost someone in custody. Because families live all over the country and often face barriers to travelling, we are bringing people together in a different way: one shared time, many individual places.
Families we have supported will receive a candle and a remembrance card, and will be invited to light their candle at 7pm that day. Each person can mark the moment in their own way, whether sitting quietly, looking at a photograph or simply taking time to remember. Families Outside staff will light candles at the same time. For those who would like to gather with others, we will also host a Zoom session on the day. We want to thank To Absent Friends, for their grant, which has allowed us to create this event.
Taking part is entirely voluntary, and nobody is expected to attend, speak or share publicly. If you have lost someone in prison, please join us in lighting a candle and remembering your loved one at 7pm on 4th Nov. Families who wish to can share a photograph of their lit candle on social media, helping to show candles being lit across Scotland. Please tag your photos with #asharedremembrance
If you would like to join this online session, please email Support@familiesoutside.org.uk and we will send you the link to join.
Please know that if you have lost a loved one who has died in prison there is support available: please contact the Families Outside helpline on 0800 254 0088 Mon-Thu 10-4 for further info. Please also note the “Support and Information for families following a death in custody” booklet, available on the SPS website.
Website: https://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/events/
This activity is supported by a To Absent Friends small grant.
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