Festival 2026

How to Say Goodbye with Paul Duffney

Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections

Sunday 1 November 2026, 2-4pm

Abbey Church, North Berwick

This activity is open to the public. Please book 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. 

Local writer Paul Duffney illustrates the sometimes dramatic changes in our social trends, describing the changing ways in which individuals and society have coped with the loss of our loved ones. Paul hopes to share his fascination with tracking society’s changes, with surprising, and sometimes humorous, insights.

Find out more and book your free place here.