Festival blog

To Absent Friends with Waverley Care

Waverley Care, the charity providing care and support to people living with HIV or Hepatitis C throughout Scotland, will be having a gathering of staff, service users and volunteers to mark To Absent Friends on Monday 2 November. It will offer an opportunity to remember someone who has died and to take a little reflective space to stop and to honour.

The plan is to have a live musician, to offer poems, candles to light and a remembrance wall on which people can leave messages. The wall will be photographed in order to create a permanent record of the event.

There has been a significant increase in the number of deaths amongst service users in the past 18 months and it has had a big impact on staff members, some of whom have known and worked with individuals for more than 20 years. A number of staff have also experienced personal bereavements in recent months. The event will be an opportunity for them to honour those people.