A Death Café is being held at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week in May. Death Cafés are events for people to come together to talk about death in a relaxed, safe and social environment.

The Death Café will be held from 3-4.30pm on Wednesday 10 May at Raleigh Galley Restaurant, Level 0, NDDH.

Tea, coffee and cake will be provided.

Members of the public are invited to come along to this free event, which is being led by Pop-Up Death Café Devon, who regularly run Death Cafés across North and Mid Devon.

Karen Moss, clinical nurse specialist in the palliative care team at Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted to have Pop-Up Death Café Devon come and run a Death Café during Dying Matters Awareness Week (8-14 May).

“During the week we want to help people talk more openly about dying, death and bereavement, and we will be signposting people to the support available to them.”

During a Death Café, people can come together and share personal experiences, explore and discuss what death and dying means for them, as well as what we may need to consider if we or someone we know is dying.

The event will be led by Annee Bury of Befriending Dying and Nixie James-Scott of Unique Ceremonies, who facilitate Pop-Up Death Café Devon. Attendees will sit and chat in small groups of five or six people.

Annee said: “Death Cafés are an opportunity to talk about a topic that we often don’t feel we have permission to discuss – it is a very personal exploration. They aren’t therapy sessions, and aren’t a replacement for bereavement counselling.”

Nixie said: “Talking about dying won’t make it happen. Instead it can help remove our fear of death, and far from being morbid, these events are open and supportive, and sometimes even funny!”

The Trust is also running stands at NDDH and community hospitals offering a range of information leaflets during Dying Matters Awareness Week.