Dying Matters Week Community Events – 13-19 May 2019

31st March 2019

Every year in May, Dying Matters Leeds host an Awareness Week, which gives an unparalleled opportunity to place the importance of talking about dying, death and bereavement firmly on the local agenda. This year’s theme is ‘Are You Ready?’

The Dying Matters Leeds Partnership is a co-ordinated citywide campaign to open the conversation with local communities in Leeds about death, dying and loss and to enable people to plan for the last years of their life. This year for the second time Dying Matters Leeds opened a Community Grant Fund for groups across the city to apply for up to £200 to hold an event during Dying Matters Week. This year Leeds Bereavement Forum has administrated the grants on behalf of the Dying Matters Leeds Partnership. An Event Booklet is available to download which is also available in hard copy from Leeds Bereavement Forum.

2019 Events*

Friday 10 May

Join acclaimed artists from Mexico’s the Faro De Oriente and Leeds’ very own Ellie Harrison for a feast and a sneak-peek at their latest collaboration. Raise a glass of Mezcal, eat a menu that combines the best of Leeds and Mexico and see the brightly coloured sculptures the artists have created with people from across Yorkshire. We think food has the ability to open up difficult conversations around death in a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.

Monday 13 – Saturday 18 May

Bereaved Student Network presents a creative exhibition on death and grief. Original work by students on these themes will be displayed together with an interactive opportunity for personal reflection. The exhibition will be accompanied by a talk, poetry reading and live music on Friday 17 May at 7.30pm. All welcome.

Monday 13 May

Come along to My Last Wishes Cafe, there will be free refreshments and cakes. Free booklet to take away with you which you can fill in with your last wishes. There will be a local solicitor and funeral director available for any questions you may have.

A local gathering for older people to share a healthy well balanced meal and freely discuss the importance of being able to choose what they want when it comes to the later stages of their lives and beyond in a safe and supportive environment

Tuesday 14 May

Listen to a New Orleans Jazz Band, find out about wills, estate planning, lasting powers of attorney and end of life planning, colour a coffin, become an organ donor, sing along with a gospel choir and visit one of many information stalls.

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Wednesday 15 May

*** Unfortunately the event at Belle Isle Elderly Winter Aid has been cancelled ***

We know this can be a difficult subject for many people to talk about, so we are giving everyone the opportunity to come together and view some short films from Dying Matters. We will facilitate discussion and give you your personal form to record your own wishes; take it home, complete and agree the form and then seal it and keep it in a safe place or give it to a loved one for when the time comes.

Event | Compassionate Community – Are We Ready?
Time | 10.30am – 12.30pm
Location | Central Methodist Church, Town Street, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4AH
Organisation | MHA Horsforth Live At Home Scheme
More Information | [email protected] or 0113 259 1511

We will provide a platform for a compassionate community, bringing organisations and ideas together under the theme Are We Ready? These will include Joseph Geldart & Sons Funeral Directors, Pudsey Legal, Manse Financial Advisers, Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Cruse Bereavement, Carers Leeds and Horsforth Churches Together. You will have the opportunity to join in with activities including starting your family tree, memory boxes, life books and contribute to our art feature. Refreshments will be provided.

Thursday 16 May

A creative art workshop led by Ali Smith, Carer Support Worker and Therapeutic Artist. The workshop will be based on the image The Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt, a symbolic image connecting life and death and heaven and earth. The image will be a starting point for participants to add design elements in the form of leaves/fruit/birds/blossoms or other imagery representing those they have lost. The workshop is open to current and former carers.

At a Death Café people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. Library staff will also be offering a vast array of books available to loan relating to death, dying and bereavement and free refreshments will be available.

We will provide a two-course lunch for older people in the Seacroft community, inviting a guest speaker and having information available to support Dying Matters Week.

Friday 17 May

In the morning we will have a session to make memory boxes. In the afternoon we will be running a session on how to make a will, why it is important to make a will and to have support around the grieving process and offering some easy read booklets as handouts. This support is important to help the person with a learning disability understand the written content and also to give them the opportunity to talk about the person who has died, their feelings and to ask any questions they may have

*Please note: All details correct at time of going to print. Please check with organisers to confirm.