Death Café in St Albans is the perfect way to lift a weight off people’s shoulders, says facilitator, Amanda Blainey.
Amanda, 46, who lives in St Albans, runs the event once every two to three months to allow people to open up about death and their personal experiences with it.
Amanda said: “Death, one way or another, touches everyone and people sometimes don’t like, or don’t know how to talk about it.
“These pop up events allow people to open up about their personal experiences or struggles with death.
“We socialise, we eat, drink and talk. And once they start talking, they don’t stop which is really rewarding.”
Death Café has been running since 2011 and was started by John Underwood in the basement of his home. John suddenly died at the age of 44 in 2017 and the initiative has been running in his honour ever since.
Amanda said: “There are 7,600 Death Cafés’ in 64 countries, which shows the worldwide issue about opening up about death.
“People shouldn’t see it as a counselling group, it’s a social event just talking about things that people usually don’t.
“We talk about people that have died recently and some come in to open up about a death that happened a long time ago and some come and talk because they are scared of death.
“Everyone really enjoys it, just in different ways, but they all walk out feeling better than they came in. Some ask me ‘Is it wrong to say I’ve had a really good night talking about death?’
“Everyone is welcome to attend.”
Death Café is being held at Fleetville Larder, 129 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL14JS on Wednesday, February 27 between 7.00pm to 9.30pm.
Tickets are free, but a £5 donation on the night is needed to cover venue cost. Tickets can be reserved on eventbrite.co.uk and then search Death Café, St Albans.
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