Although it is inevitable for all of us, Death is one of those subjects we tend to avoid talking about. And yet on terrestrial TV channels are swarming with adverts about funeral planning and life insurance.

During the dreadful lockdowns in 2020 to limit the spread of Covid attendance at the funeral of loved ones, even visiting them in their last days was extremely limited. Perhaps it was then that many people began to realise how important it is to mark the passing of a life.

Two women in Orkney Ceri Dare and Helen Woodsford-Dean are hoping to address some of our reticence about the subject of our mortality by setting up a ‘Death Cafe‘.

They explained: “The purpose of a Death Café is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’. We will be meeting socially, as a group, to discuss death with no agenda, objectives, specific topics, set questions, nor themes. Death Café is not intended to be a grief support or counselling session (although we can provide sign-posting for those services if needed).”

And they stressed that ” Death Cafés are run on a not for profit basis, in a respectful and confidential space, without leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action (expressly: we will not be promoting or selling any funeral services, nor will there be guest speakers).”

Orkney’s Death Café will be held in Room 1, the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall, on Saturday 28^th January 2023, starting at 10:30am.

Helen and Ceri pointed out that “The room is booked until 1pm, if you cannot get to us at the start, please come along and join us at any time before 1pm. Depending on how the first Death Café is received, we will agree amongst participants whether we wish to hold further sessions, how often, and where.”

You can find out more by clicking on these links:

https://deathcafe.com
Facebook: facebook.com/deathcafe
Twitter: @deathcafe

‘Don’t think of it as dying,’ said Death. ‘Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush.’

Terry Pratchett, Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch