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This festival of living and dying, created in 2012 by Liz Rothschild, was the first festival outside London to explore the subject of death, bereavement and life. Now she is working with a strong team of people who share the vision that life becomes better when we admit that death is part of it.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Mindful Moment
Dear friends, I very much look forward to sitting in mindful meditation with you as we ground ourselves in our intentions for our two-day gathering. We will allow our bodies, minds, and spirits to settle in the present moment and in our community. We will invite our hearts to open to our own experiences and the experiences of others and our Mother Earth and rest in the collective field of our community that will hold us throughout the festival.
With Sunčica Getter
Sunčica Getter Sunčica (Nuna) Getter, MCC, MA, is a systemic coach, consultant and educator, and mindfulness and meditation teacher, with a strong focus on nurturing cultures of vitality and well-being. She is a co-founder of Inbeing, a platform that offers science-based, integrative experiences that foster well-being and transformation of the mind, heart, body, and spirit.
Their mission is to foster connected, compassionate and thriving lives and communities. Sunčica has worked globally with a broad range of leading organisations, including tech start-ups, VC firms, the United Nations, the European Commission, Volvo, Lloyds Bank, Médecins Sans Frontières, The Clore Leadership Program, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the National Lottery Community Fund, Louis Vuitton and YouGov. She has supported successful CEOs, COOs, entrepreneurs, academics, and artists to grow their leadership capacity, to transition and thrive. She advises companies and institutions on implementing systemic coaching, systemic thinking and mindfulness for personal, organisational and community development. Sunčica is the Director of Continuous Development for CRR Global and a UK Faculty Lead and Senior Consultant for Performance Consultants International. She has been a guest lecturer at the University of Belgrade, University of Bath, University of Kent and American University in Paris.
Getting Ready
Good planning not only brings peace of mind to your friends and family, but also to you. Expert legal, practical,financial and digital advice from our experienced panel.
Contributors
Alexandra Lewis (Chair)
Mark Barclay
Sofia Galic
Jane Duncan Rogers
Alexandra Lewis (Chair) Alexandra has worked with families in transition following separation or divorce for nearly thirty years. Her focus is on holistic solutions and win-win outcomes for the whole family. She was one of the first UK lawyers to train in collaborative law and all issues mediation and has a background in psychology and psychotherapeutic techniques. She believes in the transformative power of effective and compassionate communication in exploring issues and path finding. Alexandra enjoys nothing more than combining the practical and legal aspects of any situation with creative thinking and a focus on building a better future for our planet and future generations. Her intention during this festival is to unlock the power of legacy and to rethink the tool of the everyday will and make it a document that will truly reflect your legacy and ensure that the benefits are maximised, and mistakes avoided. www.alfl.co.uk. www.divorceandfamilymediation.co.uk
Mark Barclay Mark specialises in financial planning, focusing especially on death and tax and appropriately setting up finances for the benefit of loved ones. Mark's specialties are setting up IHT-efficient schemes, trusts and completing legacy planning and intergenerational wealth planning to aid with gifting and planning. www.mbarclay.co.uk
Sofia Galic Sofia qualified as a solicitor in 2008 after studying law at university. She trained at a local Oxfordshire firm and has since worked at both local and regional sized firms in and around the county. Sofia specialises in Wills, Probate and Lasting Powers of Attorney. Sofia is an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and is currently undertaking the STEP qualification. Sofia is multi-lingual, speaking intermediate French and Italian and fluent Croatian. Sofia lives in Oxfordshire and in her spare time enjoys travelling and experiencing new cultures. When Sofia is not flying somewhere, you may see her riding around on her motorcycle. www.woodstocklaw.co.uk
Jane Duncan Rogers Jane says “I was devastated when my husband died – this was not in our plans! My greatest fear had come true, my life had completely changed, I was on my own again at age 54, too young to be an old widow, but too old to be a young one. However, little did I know that 3 years on I would be publishing a book called Gifted By Grief. How could I be gifted by this terrible loss? And yet I was – and that has led me directly to what I do now” Jane’s background of 25 years in the psychotherapeutic and training field has been perfect for the company she founded, Before I Go Solutions. With their team of trained End of Life Planning Facilitators, they offer products and programmes to help people complete their end of life plans, something 90% say is essential, but only 14% actually do anything about. Jane lives in the north of Scotland, got married again in between lockdowns, and she and her new husband are building not only a new life but a new eco-house together. www.beforeigosolutions.com
Life, Almost
Miscarriage, Still Birth and Motherhood
Jennie Agg, journalist and mother, experienced a series of miscarriages leading her to question how society views miscarriage and wonder why the medical profession does not explore it more. Why is this experience not taken more seriously?
With Jennie Agg Jennie Agg is an acclaimed health and science journalist, whose work has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, the Mail, the Telegraph, Red, Grazia, Women's Health and elsewhere. Her book Life, Almost: Miscarriage, Misconceptions, and a Search for Answers from the Brink of Motherhood was published earlier this year. www.jennieagg.com
Weathering the Storm what can we learn from Covid?
Five speakers addressing this question from widely different angles interspersed with vivid stories from Liz Rothschild's second book, Weathering the Storm – Stories of Love, life, loss and discovery in the time of Covid.
Contributors
Liz Rothschild
Hasina Zaman
Mandy Halsey
Lisa Mitchell
Estephanie Dunn
Lucy Selman
Liz Rothschild Liz Rothschild set up the Kicking the Bucket Festival in 2012 as it became clear to her through working as a celebrant and burial ground manager that it was essential to talk with people before a bereavement in order for people to feel able to ask for what they really need.
A performer and writer, she regularly performs her show Outside the Box – A Live show about Death. Her book Outside the Box was published by PCCS in 2020 – drawing on a cornucopia of stories sad, inspiring, informative and uplifting alongside expert commentaries and resources. Her second book Weathering the Storm: Stories of love, loss and discovery during Covid 19 was published in February 2023. She passionately believes that life gets better when we admit our own mortality. www.woodlandburialwestmill.co.uk www.fullcircleproductions.org.uk
Hasina Zaman Hasina Zaman is Director at Bless Funerals, a female-led funeral service that sets out to better serve the diverse communities of the UK. Hasina is focused in providing a bespoke funeral service for bereaved clients which keeps beliefs, wishes and values at heart. Hasina and her team worked diligently throughout the pandemic period. This was an extremely difficult time, and in retrospect this built resilience within the community. www.blessfunerals.com
Mandy Halsey I have had a varied working life from out-patient ambulance work to teaching Art and Maths at secondary level. I moved to the Peak District in 2017 and started a new post as a maths teacher. I joined a local running club and discovered the joy of running across the Peaks and Dales, regularly covering 10 -15 miles a week and feeling fitter than ever. I contracted a mild case of Covid, at school, just as we went into lockdown #1. Recovery was good and I continued with my normal life including running, although with a little discomfort in my lungs. After a very wet, and cold, bus duty at work I became quite ill and struggled with every part of normal life from then onwards. I was diagnosed with Long Covid in January 2021… my life is now very, very different.
Estephanie Dunn Estephanie trained initially as a General Nurse and worked in a range of clinical settings before moving into Nurse Education at the University of Northumbria. She returned to clinical practice as a Lecturer Practitioner in Child Health and moved into General Management as Senior Nurse/Business Manager for Children’s Services, then General Manager for a City wide Adult Learning Disability Service. Estephanie worked as a Director of Nursing within a PCT prior to working in interim Director and Project Manager roles across the public and independent sector. She joined the RCN on the 17th March 2010 as Operational Manager for the Northern Region and took up the post of RCN Regional Director for the North West Region on the 22nd August 2014.
Lisa Mitchell Lisa Mitchell is Head of Public Engagement and Programmes at the History of Science Museum (HSM) in Oxford. One of her current projects is project managing a series of Covid-19 related exhibitions – dealing with themes such as public perceptions of science, what its like to be a scientist thrust into the limelight, clinically vulnerable communities and shared feelings of isolation and long term effects of those worst hit by the pandemic. HSM are very interested in the role of community in the pandemic, a theme explored in our current exhibition at the museum. New communities formed, and existing communities were strengthened as we supported our neighbours more. Volunteering and feeling part of communities gave us strength and improved wellbeing. We explore how different communities, particularly the vulnerable or disadvantaged, had very different pandemic experiences. Indeed, we show that for vulnerable people such as those with weakened immune-systems, the pandemic is not over. Through objects, videos, oral history, artworks and interactive elements we explore the experiences both of Oxford scientists working to improve lives and local people discussing what gave them hope during the pandemic. This work has also raised pertinent questions about what themes should be covered in a History of Science Museum and question when is the right time to look at the pandemic, and contemporary issues, through the lens of history.
Lucy Selman Dr. Lucy Selman is Associate Professor in Palliative and End of Life Care at the University of Bristol, where she coleads the research group. In 2020 she founded the Good Grief Festival, which has now reached over 30,000 people through online and in-person events, a YouTube Channel and Resource Hub. With Co-Principal Investigator Emily Harrop, Lucy led a national study of bereavement during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been short-listed for a 2023 ESRC policy impact award. Other research interests include treatment decision-making and communication; family caregiving; widening access to palliative care and bereavement services; and public health approaches to end-of-life care and bereavement support.
Deep Listening for Assisted Dying
(Numbers Restricted) We will gather in a small and supportive group to learn about and practice personal and cultural decolonisation/detraumatisation around the topic of Assisted Dying. You will be guided and supported in exploring your personal and cultural trauma around this topic in a space which will facilitate deep sharing and learning. We will begin with silence, grounding and meditation and then divide the remaining time equally for sharing. Within the shares we are invited to speak from the heart when sharing our personal experiences and perspectives and to listen to others from the heart; to avoid interrupting and judgement and to keep what is said confidential.
With Kat Soares
Kat Soares Kat Soares is a recovering sustainability professional who has adopted a ‘slow living’ lifestyle on a small piece of land in Northern Aberdeenshire where she and her husband are enjoying learning about growing and preserving food, foraging wild foods, and keeping chickens. Kat's passions have always been people, planet and laughter and she dedicated her professional life to restoring nature and natural spaces and to helping communities connect with nature to realise their ambitions for their local spaces. Relationships are at the heart of everything Kat does and as such, she has cultivated strong skills in facilitation, deep listening and authentic relating as well as other modalities to support reciprocal relationships.
C Shells
The C shells have been a feature of the Suffolk coast for a few years, but for most of that time under a different name, “The Shell Line”. I bumped into them originally in 2012 but didn’t learn the story for another two years. I have had a strained relationship with cancer since my father died when I was 13 so the discovery of the line and its story lit a fire in me that led unstoppably to the creation of the film “C shells." The deep friendship, the extraordinary coincidence, the unexpected creation of something Lida and Els refuse to call a work of art, all of it was a story screaming to be told. Their conversation is frank and insightful. The medium of film allows the consequence of their work to be seen in a unique way.
Contributors
Jeremy Gugenheim
Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley and Els Bottema
Jeremy Gugenheim Jeremy Gugenheim has been making films since 2014. He has lived and worked in the UK and Australia. While specialising in documentary filmmaking, he has also worked on music videos, commercial promos and several feature films in a variety of roles. His work has included filming workshops and interviews at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, a number of food related films (activist and instructional) and the story of two Dutch women surviving cancer. He frequently films in Europe for the UNHCR. Jeremy has experience in small film crews in many roles. He used to fly helicopters for fun and has lived in the same house in Suffolk since 1986 with his wife; their three children having left home now, though mercifully the dog has remained. jeremy@gugenheim.net jeremygugenheim.co.uk Invisible Man Productions
Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley and Els Bottema Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley studied graphic design at the Royal Academy in the Hague before joining lettercutter David Kindersley in 1976 as an apprentice in his Cambridge Workshop. She and David later married and worked together until David’s death in 1995, whereupon Lida took over the running of the Workshop. Lida remains wholly dedicated to the increase of good lettering in the world, particularly through the cutting of letters in stone and other materials to this day.
Blue Cross Pet Bereavement
The significance of the death of a well-loved pet, often a person's dear companion, is often underestimated. The talk will cover aspects of pet loss and the service we provide. We hope that people will understand that grief in pet loss is important to normalise and understand. There will be an opportunity at the end for a short Q&A.
With Diane James Diane James is currently the Head of Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service (PBSS). Blue Cross offers a free helpline service which supports any type of pet loss, by phone, email and web chat, running for nearly 30 years. Diane heads a large team of staff and volunteers, who are the real heroes of the service. Diane has experience in training and HR in both private and public sector. She enjoys public speaking and media work, including radio and television, as it raises awareness about the service the Blue Cross charity offers. (In 2024, PBBS is going to be renamed Blue Cross Pet Loss Support.) www.bluecross.org.uk
Grieving for Our Planet Duncan Forbes in conversation with others about how they resource themselves and how lamentation and other practices can help us find the strength we need in the face of climate change and environmental destruction.
Duncan Forbes Duncan’s paid work has included NHS management, time as Bursar of an Oxford college, and for the last seven years before retirement, running a hospice. From the latter developed voluntary work in end-of-life care, leading into his current engagement with emotional and psychological responses to climate change. Duncan approaches the latter from a perspective of faith, in his case the Christian one. He believes that the faithtraditions of the world have much to offer in helping people come to understand and acknowledge the severity of the threats that humanity now faces. The way people find resilience when faced with a life-limiting diagnosis can provide useful lessons for living in a time of crisis. In 2023 Duncan’s short book on this topic, “An Ecology of the Heart”, was published by slg Press Oxford. www.slgpress.co.uk Learning how to grieve, individually and collectively, is an important and often neglected element of our journeys as mortal human beings. It is this theme that Duncan will be particularly exploring at the Festival. www.borrowedtime.earth
Caroline Hickman Caroline Hickman has a background in mental health social work and psychotherapy studying with ‘Revision’ & archetypal & cultural psychology with ‘Thiasos’ qualifying in 2000. Currently a lecturer at the University of Bath researching children and young people’s emotional responses to the climate and biodiversity crisis internationally for 10 years examining eco- anxiety & distress eco-empathy, trauma, moral injury, impact of climate anxiety on relationships and developing psycho-educational models to work with eco-anxiety. She is co- lead author on a 2021 global study of 10,000 children & young people’s emotions & thoughts about climate change published in The Lancet Planetary Health. www.caroline-hickman.com
Panu Pihkala Panu Pihkala (b. 1979, he/his) is a Finnish researcher of eco-emotions and a workshop leader, who earlier also worked as a pastor. He has applied grief theory and practice to workshops and written material. Pihkala has written several influential articles on eco-emotions and has just completed a long article manuscript on ecological grief. For some of his earlier work on ecological grief, see his 2020 BBC essay (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200402-climate-griefmourning-loss-due-to-climate-change) and his Process Model of Eco-anxiety and Ecological Grief (December 2022) (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16628 ). Among other positions of trust, Pihkala serves as an advisor for the Finnish national project on social and health sector responses to eco-anxiety (www.ymparistoahdistus.fi). He hosts the podcast Climate Change and Happiness together with Dr. Thomas Doherty (https://climatechangeandhappiness.com/ ) and often co-operates with artists and educators.
Elouise Mayall Elouise is a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen researching goshawk dispersal in Scottish forests. She is also researching the impacts of climate anxiety on children and young people and is a co-author of the 2021 quantitative global study on the topic published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health. Outside of academia, she is a member of the UK Youth Climate Coalition, whose mission is to mobilise and empower young people to take positive action for global climate justice.
Where Have We Come From and Where Are We Going?
Have you considered what will happen to your body after you die? This question can divide families and cause huge heartache. It is a highly emotional and personal decision. Rites and rituals around death respond to the culture, geography and time in which they're practised. Cremation was considered sacrilegious when it was first introduced. Now it is common practice, though searching questions are being asked about its environmental impact. We will hear about historic approaches to death in the UK, about the blossoming green burial movement and the new ideas for the disposal of bodies being developed in the US and the UK, including human composting. The panel includes speakers from these new industries, academics and the manager of the Natural Death Centre.
Contributors
Helen Frisby
Morgan Georgina Dee Ryding Yarborough Recompose Robinson (Chair)
Rosie Inman-Cook
Helen Frisby Dr Helen Frisby obtained her PhD on Victorian funeral customs from the University of Leeds in 2009. Helen is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath, Secretary of the Association for the Study of Death & Society (ASDS) and a Council Member of the Folklore Society. She continues to research, publish and speak on the history and folklore of death, dying and bereavement, including appearances on the History Channel and BBC Radio. Helen’s book, Traditions of Death and Burial, was published in 2019. Other recent research, with the University of Bristol, investigates the informal occupational culture of frontline cemetery staff. Helen is also Researcher Development Manager at UWE Bristol, with particular expertise in academic writing, qualitative research methods and postgraduate researcher wellbeing.Kat's passions have always been people, planet and laughter and she dedicated her professional
Georgina Robinson Dr Georgina M. Robinson is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Theology and Religion and Centre for Death-Life Studies at Durham University, currently working on a large European Digital Death Project with academics at the Universities of Durham, Helsinki, Aarhus, and Bucharest. Since the final year of her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and Religion, Georgina’s research interests have been grounded in the field of death studies. Over the last few years, Georgina’s research has primarily been concerned with innovation at the end of life. Her PhD research – ‘Alkaline Hydrolysis: The Future of British Death-Styles' – is the first study of alkaline hydrolysis in the United Kingdom and involved transatlantic fieldwork in the UK and US contexts. www.durham.ac.uk/staff/georgina-m-robinson
Morgan Yarborough - Recompose Morgan leads services, ceremonies, arrangements, and at-need death care at Recompose. She has been exploring death care since 2016 and is a licensed funeral director in both Washington and Oregon. In 2022 she received her B.S. in Funeral Service Management, graduating with honors. Morgan leads services, ceremonies, arrangements, and at-need death care at Recompose. She has been exploring death care since 2016 and is a licensed funeral director in both Washington and Oregon. In 2022 she received her B.S. in Funeral Service Management, graduating with honors. Her goal is to support people in choosing meaningful, empowering options when it comes to death care, and she believes that compassion, education, and understanding are paramount in accomplishing this goal. Prior to joining Recompose, Morgan led community events focused on death education and what it means to be mortal through her Oregon-based group, Our Own Hands. www.recompose.life
Dee Ryding (Chair) Dee Ryding is the founder/ owner of Divine Ceremony, an independent undertakers and funeral directors based in Bristol. For more than 15 years, Dee has been supporting families in and around the city and across the south west to create appropriate funerals for their people. Former National Celebrant of the Year/ Most Promising New Funeral Director nominee, Dee has been named a Bristol Changemaker for her work in funeral care. Increasingly focused on where and how we say goodbye, Dee has built up a diverse portfolio of ceremony spaces, and is working on how we can best respond to death in a more sustainable way. www.divineceremony.co.uk
Rosie Inman-Cook For nearly quarter of a century Rosie has been working around death. Firstly as a natural burial ground operator and now as a funeral helpline manager for the Natural Death Centre charity. She answers calls on every imaginable subject, from, "Can I be buried with my dog?" to advising funeral directors wanting to green their businesses - the answer to that has got to be 'stop encouraging people to be cremated'. Rosie also manages the Association of Natural Burial Grounds. The only organisation scrutinising and monitoring these cemeteries. Many around the country cannot meet the ANBG standards and have unfortunately created a 'buyer beware' situation. She helps and guides landowners moving into the sector and is also consulted by local and national government, as well as organisations globally looking to follow the UK's lead on natural burial. www.naturaldeath.org.uk
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