Good Grief Weston festival to help people cope with loss begins

The Fandangoe Kid and The Loss Project are opening the festival with a grief rave

An eight day festival designed to encourage conversations about death and grief has started.

Good Grief Weston is offering a range of activities to help people deal with bereavement.

It was created by Dr Lucy Selman who is an associate professor in palliative and end of life care.

She said the event was designed to "bring grief, loss and bereavement into the open and create a community to bring people together."

For the past 17 years, Dr Selman, from the University of Bristol, has been researching people's experiences of serious illnesses, end of life care and bereavement.

In 2020, she led a national study looking at people's bereavement experiences during the pandemic.

Dr Lucy Selman said having conversations about end of life, before it happens, can help others with the grieving process

She also founded the virtual Good Grief Festival with Dr Lesel Dawson.

Dr Selman said it's "really important" for people to discuss death.

"People worry about bringing up the end of life, but when those conversations happen before a death it's much easier for families and much easier in bereavement", she added.

Good Grief Weston is the first in-person festival produced by Culture Weston, in association with the University of Bristol and the newly established Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Weston-super-Mare Community Network.

The network says its aims to tackle inequalities and reduce social isolation in end-of-life care and bereavement.

The aerial comedy "The Guy in the Luggage Rack" will close the festival on 8 May

Over the course of eight days, Good Grief Weston is hosting 30 workshops and activities, including a grief rave along the high street, a cooking class for bereaved men and an aerial show.

Fiona Matthews, creative director at Culture Weston, said: "Good Grief Weston offers multiple creative opportunities for people to connect, talk and discover new support systems where they live.  

"We know love and loss are hard to talk about, and we hope the range of experiences and perspectives presented by artists and organisations from near and far will offer different touchstones for people."

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