Norwich Death Cafe at House Cafe
A write up of Norwich Death Cafe at House cafe
On the afternoon of Sunday 15th September, 7 people attended a Death Cafe at House Cafe in Norwich, facilitated by Su, Kayla and Beth.
We had used this venue before, and it worked ever so well as we had the whole run of the cafe, which was otherwise closed to the public, making it a comfortable and safe environment for our conversations.
Originally we had planned for this Death Cafe to focus on 2 set topics, but in the week beforehand we read the new guidelines as published on the new website and realised this would not be suitable - so we relaxed our plans and looked forward to unlimited discussion.
There were a couple of people there who had attended Norwich Death Cafes before, and the rest were new faces, including Nigel George from Bury St Edmunds Death Cafe who it was a pleasure for us all to meet.
We began with a short monologue performance from 'Find me plant me bury me' by Kayla St Claire - it was an excerpt from her one women show, about grief, gardening and how connecting to the soil can transform the grieving process.
This sparked some initial discussion from everyone as an entire group, about burial and cremation grounds, including local services, and the different ways physical location can be important to dealing with death or grief.
This flowed neatly into people naturally forming smaller conversation groups. People spoke of their personal experiences as well as discussing larger, more general topics. Discussion ranged from birth and death to the problems around being near to death. People also talked about attitudes to death, burials and the scattering of ashes, endings and loss in life (not just physical death). Dr Kate Granger came up in conversation and Nigel had brought with him a copy of her book 'The Other Side' which was passed around with much interest.
On our evaluation sheets, words used to describe the Death Cafe included: welcoming; openness; helpful; thought-provoking; relaxed; accepting; comforting; stimulating and supportive.
Comments
Where can I find notice of further meetings?
Posted by Patricia Ann