Out of the Box "Death Café"

When: Wednesday, 5 September 2018, 7:30 pm to 9:15 pm
Where: Sandford Heritage Hall, Old Sandford Church, Sandford Road, Sandford, WAREHAM BH20 7AJ.

What: This meeting is our 'Out of the Box' Dialogue Group for Humanists and Christians. Everyone is welcome to attend whatever your beliefs or lack of belief. Entry is free although we generally ask for a donation of a pound or two. At a Death Café people gather to eat cake, drink tea or coffee and discuss death. The objective of a Death Café is 'to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their finite lives’. It’s a group-directed discussion of death with no set agenda. It’s a discussion group not a grief support or counselling session. Death Café aims to be accessible, respectful and confidential with no intention of leading people to any particular conclusion or course of action.

Web designer Jon Underwood from Hackney, East London, founded Death Café in 2011. He died in 2017 at the age of 44. The Death Café model was developed by Jon Underwood and Sue Barsky Reid, based on the ideas of Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz. “When people sit down to talk about death, the pretence falls away, and people talk very openly and authentically. And they say things in front of strangers which are really profound and beautiful” (Jon Underwood).

Dorset Humanists had a successful Death Café recently with 25 participants. We think that it will be particularly interesting for Humanists and Christians to discuss this topic informally over tea, coffee, and cake.

More: Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/Dorset-Humanists/events/254117142/