“A beautiful, surprisingly tender experience”
Good Grief Weston returned for its third edition last weekend, bringing four days of vibrant events and activities to North Somerset and opening up compassionate conversations around death, dying and bereavement across the region.
Though the programme centred on grief and loss, the festival really was alive with joy, laughter and lightness, and reminded us all that remembering can be a celebration.
The festival hub in The Sovereign hosted everything from exhibitions created by North Somerset communities including young people and those in recovery; creative writing workshops with our Poet in Residence, Sophie Dumont; script-in-hand sharings; locally made film screenings; hands-on creative workshops including kintsugi and upcycling; and a Develop Your Roar session with In Between Time that filled the space with intense vocal expression.
“It was lovely and warm” … “It opens a conversation, which is the most important thing of all” – ITV News
The Grand Pier proved the perfect setting for an evening of reflection on Bowie’s final album Blackstar with Dr Leah Kardos. Over 80 people gathered together to listen to the album, indoors and outdoors, as the sea swirled in and the stars shone in the night sky. As Leah said, Blackstar is “about life, and impermanence, and the potential of both”.
Across the Italian Gardens, visitors shared stories in exchange for haircuts with biking barber Dries Desmet, poets took to the stage, and members of local Global Majority Groups led a drum circle as part of a Nine-Night celebration.
We also welcomed Stacked Wonky’s “55” – a dance duet for the two ends of life – ahead of the afternoon’s panel discussion on death, dying and loss with Evie King, Dr Katie Markkanen, Isabel Russo, James Norris and Professor Lucy Selman.
Award-winning international street art collective Kamchàtka made their way through town, and stopped people of all ages in their tracks across all four performances, gathering crowds of passers-by. Their final performance on Sunday brought us all into the Festival Tent for the end of Memento Mori Disco, a moving, stand-out moment of the weekend for all involved.
“Thank you for providing an opportunity to normalise and share grief experiences with others. This has been a beautiful, surprisingly tender experience.”
The wider programme in North Somerset saw a series of creative workshops, including booklet-making, stitching The Homeland Project’s ‘Wisdom of Nettles’, an outdoor session delving into the capacity of nature to sting, evolve and heal, a powerful analogy for the experience of grief. Over in Yatton, floral arrangements and bouquets were made with Natural Being Counselling, creating small posies of beauty whilst discussing the symbolism of flowers.
As the sun began to set on Friday and Saturday, Knightstone Causeway came alight with a luminous thread of flickering lights placed by the public, each representing someone who has been lost or silenced. Created by North Somerset-based In Between Time, this visceral and moving experience immersed participants in lights, sound and landscape.
“An incredible way to find ways of talking about grief and removing some of the stigma surrounding loss.”
On Sunday, we warmly welcomed Global Kitchen, in collaboration with Refugees Welcome North Somerset, Loves Cafe and Next Gen, for one of their stand-out free communal brunches. Friends and strangers gathered together and exchanged stories, whilst tucking into some delicious Levantine-inspired food. More creative workshops followed, alongside a moving one-woman theatrical exploration of forced adoption. Weston Town Quarry also launched the Memento Makers art exhibition in conjunction with This Mortal Life.
The evening wound down with Sophie Dumont‘s letter-releasing ceremony, poetic tributes tenderly dissolving into the sea. Across town, The Common Room and Front Room Theatre welcomed Family Album, featuring powerful photographic exhibitions from and conversations with Colin Pantall and Deanna Dikeman, and memorably ending with John Hegley’s Family Favourites, poetry and song that idiosyncratically drew out the love that sits at the heart of grief.
Thank you for attending Good Grief Weston. While the Festival was warm and welcoming, we know that exploring grief can bring a range of emotions. If you would like further support, please take a look at our Resource Sheet. You can also find further resources and an ongoing programme of online events and courses on end-of-life topics and grief on the Good Grief Festival website.
We would really appreciate it if you could spend a few minutes telling us how you found the festival by completing this survey.
Evaluation of the reach and impact of Good Grief Weston is really important – if everyone completes the survey, we will have a great chance of repeating the festival. The information we receive will also help us make sure the festival meets the needs of the community in Weston.
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Produced by Super Culture in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the Weston-super-Mare Community Network. Good Grief Weston is part of the AHRC-funded Coastal Community and Creative Health project, involving academic and cultural partners from around the UK in a combined initiative to reduce health inequities.
Thanks to generous support from NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board and Institut Ramon Llull this year’s programme foregrounds local creatives and communities, creating connections that can continue beyond the festival.