2012 has been fantastic for Death Café.
At the start of the year we’d held 4 Death Cafes in the
basement of my house. As of today we’ve held 46 Death Cafes in 6 different
countries! Our guide
to running a Death Café has been downloaded hundreds of times. Over 400
people have been to a Death Café so far and as you can see from our blog they’re consistently lovely events.
I’m grateful to be working with so many amazing people to
offer Death Cafes and now seems like a good time to express this. So, a massive
thank you to all who have been along to a Death Cafe, supported us or told
people about what we’re collectively doing.
Especial thanks to those of you who’ve run Death Cafes yourself
– you’re an amazing bunch! In particular thanks to Lizzy Miles who was has been
instrumental in helping Death Café to spread.
Death Café is part of suite of death related projects I call
Impermanence and when I started
this a family member said to me “The trouble is Jon, no one wants to talk about
death.” I think the community of people who are now involved in this work
proves him wrong! Death Café feels like a movement and it was great to see us
referred to as such in the Independent.
2013 is looking exciting too. There will be Death Cafes far
and wide. We will move to a lovely new website. We’re looking to offer new
projects that positively change the way we deal with death. Please do get in
touch if you’d like to work with us.
Wishing you a very happy festive season.
Jon
Thank you for starting the idea. I have now been to my first Death Cafe and am going to help a friend do one somewhere else. I've always liked talking about death and wished more other people did. Now you've lured them out of the woodwork I'll get the chance of plenty more conversations. What really hit me when I attended my first Death Cafe was the fact that its something we all have in common - not just the bereaved. Its something every one of us will do one day and until then, there's no certainties about what it will like. Thanks
ReplyDeleteJon
ReplyDeleteIts a great project you have started. 2013 is going to be an interesting year. I look forward to working with you and other on it
Nigel
Check out the amazing article on Death Cafes that was just published in Tea Magazine.
ReplyDeletehttp://teamag.com/articles/death-cafes%3A-tea,-cake-and-understanding/
Dan Bolton
Publisher
Amazing achievement, Jon. Honestly - dare I say this? - I never thought Death Cafes would fly ("The trouble is..."). I am so happy for the success of your initiative -- which has so much of you about it. And that's the point, really. At that bumping-along-the-runway stage, it was all down to the unique, quirky but zeitgeisty, vision of the occupant of the cockpit. All the best for 2013!
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