A Café of Reminiscence is a way of bringing together friends, family or members of a community to reminisce and share anecdotes of dead loved ones.
It is an opportunity to share stories and memories of the people we have loved who have died, in a welcoming environment over tea and cake. It can be held among friends, but can work even better among strangers.
Good Life Good Death Good Grief and Just Festival ran a Café of Reminiscence to mark the first To Absent Friends festival in November 2014.
We have put together a Conversation Menu to help get the discussions started.
The menu can be printed off and used as it is, or used as the basis for you to create your own unique conversation menu. Structured in three 'courses' the menu asks a variety of questions about those who have died, for example 'If you had one last day with them, what would you do?'
Guests might also wish to bring something with them that reminds them of a dead loved one - a ring, a book, a photo - to help get the stories started.
The menu is available to be downloaded here: