Dying Matters Week is a really important campaign from Hospice UK. It is a time for communities across the UK to come together and start conversations around death, dying and bereavement. In previous years, Rosedale has marked Dying Matters Week with community events and educational talks, but we also encourage conversations all year.

If you would like to talk about your funeral wishes, or you have any questions around death, dying, funerals, funeral plans then please don’t hesitate to contact any of our branches to talk through your questions.

Watch the short film

Pauline, Lawrence and Berna are volunteers with St. Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney. They have come together to share their experiences around grief, dying and bereavement and also explore together what the culture of dying means to them.

The three questions they discuss are:

-How did your upbringing shape your understanding of death?
-What have you learned from different cultures’ approaches to funerals?
-What can different cultures teach us about life after death?

“‘Dying Matters’ is so important to talk about”

Lucy Coote, Rosedale’s Community Ambassador and bereavement support group facilitator is passionate about encouraging conversation around death and dying and offering support before and after a bereavement.

She has worked in the funeral profession for more than a decade. Early on she realised how hard it was for the bereaved to find effective and understanding support and in 2012 she trained as a bereavement support facilitator. Subsequent to that, she developed an eight-week bereavement support programme which she delivers out, personally supporting hundreds of bereaved families.

She is also one of the ambassadors for the charity ‘At A Loss‘ which helps provide specialised bereavement support.

“Having worked with the bereaved and delivered bereavement support training to many professions I know the importance of signposting. My belief is getting the right support at the right time can ensure that people do not get stuck in their grief.”