Good Grief Weston Goes to Portishead, Congresbury, Clevedon and Worle
by Rachel Hare
Good Grief Weston has expanded its horizons this year, with fantastic events across North Somerset. From walks to workshops, there are activities for the young, the older, and everyone in between. This part of the programme has been designed by Super Culture’s Arts Development Manager, George Densley, who explains: ‘I am so proud to be able to work with local artists and hold space for deep, playful and curious interactions […] in the heart of the community’. George was bereaved of a parent during her teens and says she struggled with society’s reluctance to talk about death: ‘I really believe that it needs to be de-mystified and held centrally at all ages and stages of life […] and so I am so glad to be part of Good Grief Festival and finding new ways of opening up and normalising conversation around grief, death and dying’.
One exciting event is Laura Porter’s ‘For You’ music workshop at Portishead Library on Friday, 11th October. Laura runs Now Hear This Music centred on ensuring everyone can access inclusive and immersive musical experiences, sometimes using the brilliant sound beam which turns even tiny movements into sound. As she explains in an interview with John Darvall, ‘even if you can only move your lips or you can only move your hands a few centimetres I can programme it so that you can join in just the same as everybody else’.
Laura’s journey to creating Now Hear This Music started in 2017 when she began to use a wheelchair following an injury which was not properly treated. Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, she had a jam-packed schedule playing the clarinet and saxophone in musicals, orchestras, and even an all-female swing band. However, her accident compelled her to reassess her relationship with music – and what she would like it to be. Laura has been diagnosed with CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) after a difficult childhood and complicated family relationships. She realised she’d used music as an escape, but that ‘the people that I was interacting with throughout all these musical activities were almost more important than the musical activity itself’. Adjusting to her new physical disability and understanding of her past at the same time as she experienced some traumatic bereavements, Laura set about sourcing the most accessible instruments and ensuring that absolutely everyone can make music together.
Laura explains that her Good Grief Weston event is a response to her grief journey, as ‘part of the healing process has been acceptance, and finding others to be present with, and feeling safe to allow ourselves to be vulnerable together’. The title, ‘For You’, is ‘an invitation to everyone’: ‘It is for me, for my late dad, for my late best friend, for my long-departed grandmother… But it’s for my community too. To use and interact with in whatever capacity they need to, on the day’.
We’d love to see you at one or more of the events across North Somerset during Good Grief Weston. Visit our website for more info!
Death Café at Portishead Library (Thursday, 10th October, 7.30–9pm) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-death-cafe
Little People Big Feelings story time at Portishead Library (Friday, 11th October, 10–10.30am) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-little-people-big-feelings
For You musical workshop with Laura Porter at Portishead Library (Friday, 11th October, 11am–12 noon) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-for-you-with-laura-porter
Good Grief Nailsea drop in (Friday, 11th October, 1–3pm) – information session with a range of stallholders and contributors at Nailsea Baptist Church, Nailsea, BS48 2DS
Life in Flowers therapeutic gardening at Stanley’s Garden in Worle (Friday, 11th October, 2–3.30pm) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-life-in-flowers
Look to the Skies: A Festival Walk from Congresbury Youth Club (Friday, 11th October, 6–8pm) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-look-to-the-skies-a-festival-walk
Love Letters to My Skeleton creative workshop with Laura Elliott at Clevedon Library (Saturday, 12th October, 10am–12 noon) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-love-letters-to-my-skeleton-with-laura-eliot
Disney Pixar’s Coco at Curzon Cinema in Clevedon (Sunday, 13th October, 10.30am – with free crafts from 9.30am) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-coco-disney-pixar
Embodied Grief – Dance Movement at Jubilee Hall in Portishead (Sunday, 13th October, 2–3.30pm) https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-dance-double-bill-embodied-grief-dance-movement
