13th – 19th May is Dying Matters Awareness Week, a campaign that exists to encourage conversations about death, dying and bereavement. Through our work caring for families living with terminal illness, we know how important these conversations are. Talking about death doesn’t make it happen; instead, it empowers people, offers a sense of control, and can make a challenging time that little easier. Accepting our mortality can help us to live our lives more fully and focus on the things that matter to us.
This Dying Matters Week, there are some great opportunities for you to get involved in Sussex.
Join us in Uckfield for an evening of stunning cinema and relaxed group discussion
Support your local hospice during Dying Matters Week as we host a special screening of stunning documentary, ‘Island’, filmed at Mountbatten Hospice on Isle of Wight. The award-nominated feature, showing at the Uckfield Picture House on 15th May, follows four patients during the last year of life. Enjoy a complimentary glass of wine and stay for a relaxed group discussion afterwards if you wish. BOOK YOUR SEAT.
Share your funeral wishes – traditional or adventurous – at ‘Big Deal, Small Talk’
Our friends at Freeman Brothers Funeral Directors in Hurstpierpoint are opening their doors on Thursday 16th May from 1pm- 4pm for ‘Big Deal, Small Talk’. Bring your family and friends, meet the team, and enjoy a chat about your funeral wishes. Whether you’d like a traditional service, or have more adventurous tastes, they’re happy to help facilitate a discussion. BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE.
Listen to one of the world’s leading keynote speakers and learn how to live well
Pete Cohen is one of the world’s leading keynote speakers. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world have been motivated and inspired by Pete’s presentations. He has a natural ability to shine the light on what we are good at whilst teaching us to be grateful for the now. For Dying Matters Week, Pete will be at Randolph’s Farm from 7pm on Thursday 16th May, teaching us how we can have our cake and eat it and live life to the full in a way that works for us individually. Your ticket price includes beer and curry… Does an evening out get much better?! BOOK TICKETS.
Drop into Westgate Chapel for a Dying Matters exhibition
On Saturday 18th May, from 10.30am – 3.30pm, Richard Green Funeral Service are hosting a relaxed drop-in exhibition at Westgate Chapel, Lewes. This is a free opportunity to discuss dying and funerals and to explore the many options available to you in a friendly setting. You can meet your local funeral director, hospice and Coroner’s Officer, as well as celebrants and a grief and loss counsellior.There’ll be talks, Q&A sessions, short films, and of course… Lots of tea and cake!
Find out what St Peter & St James Hospice is really like
Once you’ve had a wander round the Lewes exhibition, or if you fancy an afternoon in the sunshine, we’d love to see you at St Peter & St James Hospice for our first ever Open House and Garden event. We’ll be open from 1.30 – 5pm on Saturday 18th May. Spot birds and butterflies in our Woodland Walk, take a tour of the hospice, and explore our beautiful hospice grounds. You can also meet the hospice donkeys, learn more about hospice care, and admire stunning local artist exhibits from the diversely talented Attic Art Club and inspiring painter, Jane Allison.
