Festival 2024
The To Absent Friends festival takes place across Scotland from 1-7 November 2024.
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.
We welcome new events as part of the festival. If you’d like to get involved, check out the information and resources here: Get involved in the TAF festival 2024.
To add your event to this listing, or for any other questions, please email samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk.
See below for information about some of the events taking place all across Scotland during the festival.
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......
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dinner with the Dead
Organised by Newtongrange Development Trust
Sunday 3 November 2024 – 6.00pm – 8.30pm
NDT Building, 67 Gardiner Place, Newtongrange EH22 4RT
This event is open to the local community.
Newtongrange Development Trust is a charity led by local residents to improve the wellbeing of everyone in Newtongrange village. We are holding a ‘Dinner with the Dead’ – a light-hearted evening remembering loved ones who have died. Guests to bring a photo of people who have died who they wish to remember. They will also be asked to bring a few small items representing some of those people’s interests in life. They will be invited to stick the photos (or a photocopy of them) onto a specially decorated display board and to place the items onto a display beneath it. As we tuck in to take away dinner together people will be invited to share stories of what connects items on the display and their people who have died. This will open conversation on our loved ones and give a chance for people to talk about them and enjoy sharing memories together. We will also have a further remembrance or craft activity to bring these memories together in gratitude.
Cambuslang Death Café
Organised by Cambuslang Death Cafe
Sunday 3rd November 2024, 12.00-1.30pm
Cambuslang Parish Church, 1 Arnott Way, Cambuslang, Glasgow G72 7JQ
This event is open to the public.
Death is a part of life, so why don’t we talk about it more? This cafe offers a safe space for the community to come together and talk about something which affects us all. Whether you are newly bereaved, some time into your grief journey, or are just curious about what comes next, this is your space to say as much or as little as you would like. People are welcome from anywhere and everywhere, so whether you live locally or not, please feel free to join us for some tea, chat, and cake! The cafe is hosted in the halls of Cambuslang Parish Church however the cafe has no religious angle. People of all faiths and none are welcome to join us.
Music Makes My Memories Magical
Organised by Peacock Nursing Home
3rd November, 11 am
Peacock Nursing Home, Eliburn, Livingston
This event is open to the Peacock Nursing Home community.
Peacock Nursing Home will be coming together to remember loved ones who have died as part of the To Absent Friends Festival, a Scotland-wide festival of storytelling and remembrance.
Remembering Our Loved Ones
Organised by Caroline Cormack and Brenda Rafferty
Saturday 2nd November, 11am – 12.30pm
Westhill Library Meeting Room, Westhill AB32 6FY
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
As part of Scotland’s To Absent Friends festival, we are holding a small event for anyone wanting to come and share a cuppa and talk about their loved ones who have died.
Absent Friends on Parade
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Organised by ACVC Hub
Saturday 2 November, 11:30am - 2pm
ACVC Hub, Unit 4a, Moorpark Industrial Estate, Orton Place, Glasgow, G51 2HF
This event is open to to the Armed Forces Community (Veterans, serving, families and carers).
The ACVC Hub warmly invites you to join us for a special afternoon of remembrance and reflection at our “Absent Friends on Parade” event. Since the onset of COVID-19, we have sadly lost several veterans who were part of our Armed Forces community, and this event is dedicated to honouring their memory and the impact they had on the Hub.
Forget Me Not
Organised by Women’s Aid Orkney
2 and 3 November 2024
Orkney
This activity is not open to the public.
Women’s Aid Orkney are offering a ‘forget me not’ session for the children & young people within their service. The group will take place within their confidential office space and allow a safe & welcoming space to discuss some of life’s trickier transitions and feelings around loss and grieving those most important to them. We are planning to offer a few activity options such as; Fire pit in Garden where will be writing wishes to lost love ones & having hot chocolate & toasted marshmallows, Skull tealight holders to link with other cultures, i.e Day of the Dead, glass stones to decorate for loved ones & forget me not seed bombs to take home and plant in memory of someone.
To Absent Friends Concert
Organised by Edinburgh Brass Band
Saturday 2nd November 2024, 7:30pm-9:30pm
St John’s Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 4BJ
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Edinburgh Brass Band have performed a free concert as part of the To Absent Friends festival every year since it launched. We hope you will be able to join the band once more to celebrate and remember people we love who have died.
Portobello ‘To Absent Friends’ Remembrance Beach Campfires
Organised by Action Porty in collaboration with life celebrant Loretta Dunn
Saturday 2nd November, 2pm to 4pm
Foot of Bellfield Street, by the Swimming Pool and the ‘Wee Green Van’, Portobello Beach, Portobello
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Join us for a heartfelt afternoon of storytelling and remembrance in honor of loved ones who have passed away. Now in its fifth year, this special gathering offers an opportunity for healing as we share memories, photos, and stories around campfires. Decorate a stone in memory of your loved one and place it in the sea as the event draws to a close.
COWL Remembers
Organised by Carers of West Lothian
Saturday 2nd November
Carers of West Lothian, Sycamore House, Quarrywood Court, West Lothian EH54 5HW
This activity is for the Carers of West Lothian community.
Our To Absent Friends event will take place on Saturday 2nd November. This will be our first time taking part and it will be open to all bereaved carers within our organisation, where they can pay their respects and honour their loved ones. The event will consist of planting a rose bush, providing a feature within our garden specifically for remembrance to those loved ones no longer with us, and listening to a playlist of their favourite songs. Following this we will then come together over lunch where the conversations and memories will continue to be shared in an emotionally safe, compassionate, and familiar setting.
Yoga For The Dead
Organised by The Kali Collective Yoga Studio
Saturday 2nd November, 4:00-6:00pm
The Kali Collective Yoga Studio, Unit 203, 54 Washington St, Glasgow G3 8AZ
This event is open to the public.
“Awareness of Death is the very bedrock of the path” the Dalai Lama
Memoir Writing Workshop
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
2 November, 10:30am -12:30pm
North Berwick Library
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Following the success of her session with NBCCC last year, author Catherine Simpson brings her fantastic memoir writing workshop back to North Berwick.
A Day to Remember
Organised by Families Outside
Saturday 2 November 2024, 11am - 2pm
Glasgow (venue is fully accessible)
This event is not open to the public.
Families bereaved through a death in prison often grieve alone – a ‘disenfranchised grief’ unsupported in wider society. This remembrance event brings these families together through this shared experience to commemorate their family members through mutual support and without judgement.
Trees for Trustees
Organised by FEAT Trading CIC
Friday 1st November, 12-2pm
Silverburn Park, Leven, Fife
This event is for the Silverburn Park community.
FEAT Trading CIC have taken on the management of Silverburn Park for community benefit and to restore it to former glories after years of neglect. On Friday 1st November from 12-2 pm we will pay respects and acknowledge the efforts of three long-serving volunteer Trustees who are sadly no longer with us. Brian Robertson, Rose Duncan and Gordon Mitchell were instrumental in shaping a vision for the Park, restoring it to former glories under community ownership after years of neglect.
Trees of Remembrance
Organised by Battlefield Community Project
1st-7th November 2024
Finns Place, 167 Ledard Rd, Glasgow G42 9QU and Cambuslang Parish Church, 1 Arnott Way, Cambuslang, Glasgow G72 7JQ
These events are open to the public.
We are helping to mark To Absent Friends Week this year by giving people in our communities the opportunity to remember someone special. Located at Finns Place in Battlefield and Cambuslang Parish Church, there will be mini trees available to hang names and stories of your special person. These will be on display for the entire week, and culminate in the creation of memory books which will include all of our tree “leaves”.
An Evening of Conversation
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
1 November, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
North Berwick Golf Club
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Join author Catherine Simpson, Dr. Deborah Ritchie and John MacFadyen for a discussion on “The Unspoken Aspects of Parting: Grief, Death & The Unexpected”, chaired by Mike Falconer of Saltire Radio.
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