Please find below listings of national and local sources of help and support, also information on coffins and burial grounds wells as websites, books, podcasts and films on all aspects of death and bereavement that might be helpful.
This resource list has been compiled by our team member Marisa Picardo. A big thank-you to her for all her work in compiling it. If you have any organisations or sources of help you can recommend send it to info@deathfest.co.uk
Local and national support.
End of life care, death and funeral arrangement.
Bereavement and grief support for lose of love one including child, baby and pet.
List of charities and trusts
for specific illness.
Funeral, coffin and burial ground
suppliers list.
If the service you are looking for is not listed below or if you would like
support in finding the service that is right for you, please call Health
Connections Mendip for further information or to make a one to one, free
appointment 01373 468368.
The Royal British Legion-Frome Branch
The Royal British Legion is helping the Armed Forces community in the
Frome area. Providing a range of Branch Community Support to veterans
and any serving personnel as well as their families, Including:
Telephone buddies, Home and Hospital visiting, Bereavement support,
Legion Awareness Events and local information. If you’re not sure where
to turn, please get in touch.
www.counties.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/frome
Friends in Grief Group- Shepton Mallet
Friends in Grief Group meet at the Shepton Mallet Brasserie, High Street,
Shepton Mallet every Wednesday 10am – 12pm. Dorothy House staff are
available at meeting for support and advice.
Comfort Club Bereavement – Wookey near Wells
Wookey Hub, High Street, Wookey Nr Wells. 2nd Wednesday of the
month 2pm – 3.30pm.
Revd Paul Clarke 01749 677078
Evercreech Bereaved Friends Group
All are welcome to join this friendly group who meet on the Third Sunday afternoon of each month in The Back room of the Village Hall starting at 3pm. You don’t have to live in Evercreech, you don’t need to have come before, nor does coming to one meeting mean that you are committed to coming again. We welcome all to come and go as you please. Revd. Rosey Lunn (830322), Helen Nicholls (860321), or Nick Sommer (830060) 01749 830322
RUH Bereavement Support Service
The Bereavement Office provides a service for the newly bereaved families of patients who die at RUH; Call the Bereavement Office Manager or email for more information – Monday – Friday 08:30am – 4.30pm.
https://www.ruh.nhs.uk/patients/advice_and_support/patient_affairs/index.asp 01225 824015 01225 824315
Musgrove Park Bereavement Support Service
The Bereavement Office provides a service for the newly bereaved families of patients who die at Musgrove Park. To arrange an appointment with one of our Bereavement Support Officers please ring the number below.
01823 343753 http://www.tsft.nhs.uk/patients-andvisitors/chaplaincy/bereavement-support/
Bereavement – self help guide Somerset Partnership have put together self help guides on a number of topics including bereavement. See link below. http://www.selfhelpguides.ntw.nhs.uk/somerset/
Pregnancy Crisis Support – Mendip We offer a confidential place to come to talk through your worries. We give supportive help for those facing a crisis pregnancy, or needing postabortion counselling or baby loss recovery support, or for pregnancy related issues. Please ring for an appointment. We’re open Monday to Saturday for appointments only. Please ring and leave a message, or send an email, and we’ll get back to you discretely to arrange an appointment at a convenient time.http://www.g-pccc.org.uk/ 01458 830355 * Answer-phone checked daily 07929867638
St Margaret’s Hospice Committed to providing specialist palliative care, advice, support and respite to patients and their families living in Somerset and parts of neighbouring counties. Our care is available for those who have a terminal or life-limiting illness, for example cancer, motor neurone disease and chronic lung disease. For general information and advice, or for healthcare professional referrals to all patient services, there is now only ONE number to get help.
admin@st-margarets-hospice.org.uk 0845 070 8910 www.somerset-hospice.org.uk
We Hear You (WHY)
If you are affected or have been bereaved by cancer or another life threatening illness, We Hear You provides free, professional counselling (also on-line counselling). We support children, young people and adults in Mendip from our various locations including Frome Town Hall, Christchurch Street West. We also work in various locations across the area including, The Royal United Hospital Bath, Bradford On Avon, Midsomer Norton, Street, Trowbridge and Warminster. WHY is also running a new therapeutic support group for those living with and beyond cancer (LWBC) in Frome. The groups run for between 10 – 12 weeks. 10.30 – midday at our offices in Frome Town Hall. The aim of the LWBC group is to support those who have experienced cancer through therapeutic discussions and conversations. We have no more than 10 people in the group which is facilitated by two WHY counsellors. Anyone who is interested should contact WHY on 01373 455255
Bereavement Well-Being - Frome
Group Meet others who are in a similar situation in a friendly and informal setting. Drop in group on the second Monday of the month 9.45-11.45 noon. Held upstairs at Frome Medical Practice, Enos Way, Frome. info@thebereavementcentre.co.uk 07834 449069
Yeovil Hospital Bereavement Service
The Hospital Bereavement Service will provide you with as much guidance as you need during the early days of a hospital bereavement. The service is available between 9am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday on 01935 384746 or 07990671855. Specialist advice and information is also available for parents who lose a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, please contact the Hospital Bereavement Service on the above numbers for guidance. 01935 475122 https://yeovilhospital.co.uk/patients-visitors/bereavement-services/
Somerset Cruse
Offering support, advice and information to children, young people and adults when someone dies and work to enhance society’s care of bereaved people. Please contact Somerset Cruse on 01458 898211, leave your name and address and Cruse will send you some information along with a referral form. somersetreferrals@yahoo.co.uk somerset@cruse.org.uk 01458 898211 local number 0808 808 1677 national number
Sweet Track Centre- Glastonbury
low cost counselling
https://sweet-track-counselling.co.uk › sweet-track-counselling-agency
A low cost counselling agency at the Sweet Track Centre It offers an opportunity to benefit from counselling if you are on a low income or face a long wait for other services. Young people are welcome as clients, as well as adults, as we have counsellors with experience in working with young people.
Wells, Glastonbury, Frome affordable counselling
Connect Counselling has rooms in Wells, Glastonbury and Frome and offers short, medium and long term counselling which is accessible and affordable to all. We offer help and support to adults and young people experiencing a range of personal problems.
making mental health matter, a local charity based in Highbridge, Somerset. We work to support young people aged 11- 25 in a variety of ways. Our main support is through one to one counselling.
Marie Curie Helper Service Marie Curie helper service support people living with any terminal illness, and their families. We offer expert care, guidance and support to help them get the most from the time they have left as well as support for the carers. somersethelper@mariecurie.org.uk 0800 090 2309 www.mariecurie.org.uk
08000 21 44 66
Dying Matters is a coalition of 30,000 members across England and Wales which aim to help people talk more openly about dying, death and bereavement and to make plans for the end of life. Helpline and free leaflets online, including "5 things to do before I die". Holds a list of events for the public to attend and promotes the UK's Dying Awareness Week in May each year.www.dyingmatters.org
At a death cafe, people drink tea, eat cake and discuss death. www.deathcafe.com
0131 2722735
Good life, Good Death, Good Grief
Scottish website dedicated to promoting openness around the subject of death. www.goodlifedeathgrief.org.uk
LA based, a collective of funeral professionals promoting death acceptance and positivity. see also Caitlin's 'ask a mortician' series in the video section. www.orderofthegooddeath.com
01736 799231 Transforming perceptions around death and dying; supporting people in rediscovering the deep understanding of ourselves and of life that death gives us.
0300 1231107 information about donating organs
spiritual and holistic companions to those facing end of life. www.soulmidwives.co.uk
0800 169 6565 - Age concern & age UK working together for older people.
FCN volunteers provide pastoral and practical support for as long as needed – helping people to find a positive way forward through their problems.
mail@fcn.org.uk 03000 111999 www.fcn.org.uk/
What to do after a death checklist as well as signposting to further advice. www.hmrc.gov.uk/bereavement
Registered Charity
Help, support, advice or guidance planning a funeral, either for yourself or for someone else.
01962 712690, contact@naturaldeath.org.uk www.naturaldeath.org.uk
Independent, not-for-profit information resource. 01372 436595 www.goodfuneralguide.co.uk
Support to organise an affordable and meaningful funeral, or reduce the impact of funeral related debt. A quaker social action - practical action against poverty since 1867 tel 020 8983 5055 downtoearth@qsa.org.uk
USA site Caring for Our Own at Death, A Home Funeral and Green Burial Resource Center
Crossings manual for home funeral care
http://www.crossings.net/resourceguide030109.pdf
The leading directory of funeral celebrants in the UK.
http://www.pagan-transitions.org.uk
Pagan funerals, Pagan celebrants
Professional Celebrants
www.professionalcelebrants.org.uk
A national charity working to inform and empower people to exercise their rights and choices around end of life care.
0800 999 2434 www.compassionindying.org.uk
The home funeral Network UK offers support, education and guidance for those involved in arranging a home-based, family-led funeral.
This site is dedicated to helping people to arrange a meaningful, significant and sincere funeral or end of life ceremony for a loved one by providing
A charity working to raise awareness of Advance Decisions (‘living wills’) and to help people complete them.
Sort your paperwork, make plans, leave instructions, live life to the fullest.
0845 2001132 www.finalfling.com
Information about hospice care nationally
02075208200 www.hospiceuk.org
Divine Ceremony is a small, independent Undertakers, serving Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area
Women Funeral directors South Petherton
Support & Care After Road Death Injury
0845 123 5541 www.scard.org.uk
Support after Murder and Manslaughter
0845 872 3440
support@samm.org.uk www.samm.org.uk
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide
0844 561 6855 survivors of bereavement by suicide exits to meet the needs & break the isolation of those bereaved by the suicide of a close relative or friend
Sobs.amin@care4free.net www.uk-sobs.org.uk
0844 8030 240 www.counselling-directory.org.uk
0844 477 9400 www.cruse.org.uk
020 7479 7730
Aims ‘to make it legal for a competent adult who is suffering unbearably from an incurable illness, to receive medical help to die at their own considered and persistent request’. Pioneers of the Living Will. www.dignityindying.org.uk
24-hour confidential support for those in despair, distressed or suicidal.
Helpline 116 123 www.samaritans.org
Email jo@samaritans.org
WAY is the only national charity in the UK for people aged 50 or under when their partner died. It’s a peer-to-peer support group operating with a network of volunteers who have been bereaved at a young age themselves, so they understand exactly what other members are going through. www.widowedandyoung.org.uk
The Bereavement Advice Centre supports bereaved people on a range of practical issues via a single freephone number. We give practical information and advice and signposting on the many issues and procedures that face us after the death of someone close. If we do not know the answer to a concern or query we will research it and call back within an agreed period of time or signpost to another organisation which can give the information required. We welcome calls from bereaved people and the professionals and volunteers who support them. Bereavement Advice Centre helps many people every day and aims to give straightforward, useful advice when you need it.
info@bereavementadvice.org Freephone 0800 0821215 www.bereavementadvice.org
Our trained volunteers offer comfort, support and practical advice to the
bereaved from 6pm until 10pm. If the line is engaged,
please ring 0800 9177 416.
0800 435 455 www.bereavement-trust.org.uk
Offering practical support and guidance to bereaved children, their families and professionals.
Helpline 08452 030405 www.winstonswish.org.uk
Supporting bereaved parents, siblings & grandparents after a child dies.
0345 1203785 www.tcf.org.uk
National helplinefreephone 0800 02 888 40 National organisation supporting families & training professionals in a wide range of child bereavements. www.childbereavement.org.uk
enquiries@childbereavement.org.uk provide confidential support, information and guidance to families and professionals throughout the UK. Our professionally trained bereavement support workers are available to take calls 9am – 5pm Monday-Friday.
0800 282 986
contact@childdeathhelpline.org
Child Death Support Helpline Helpline for anyone affected by the death of a child of any age, from pre-birth to adult, under any circumstances, however recently or long ago. Monday to Friday 10am to 1pm, Tuesdays & Wednesdays 1pm to 4pm, every evening 7pm to 10pm. 0800 282 986 (or 0808 800 6019 from a mobile) www.childdeathhelpline.org.uk
01480 276088
enquiries@childfuneralcharity.org.uk www.childfuneralcharity.org.uk
Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity
SANDS Stillbirth & Neonatal death charity SANDS offers support for anyone who has been affected by the loss of a baby. helpline@sands.org.uk 080 8164 3332 020 7436 5881
helpline@uk-sands.org www.uk-sands.org
020 7802 3200
info@lullabytrust.org.uk www.lullabytrust.org.uk
Miscarriage Association
Losing a baby during pregnancy can be a very unhappy, frightening and lonely experience. The Miscarriage Association helps by offering support and information for anyone affected by miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk 01924 200799 www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk
Helping children through Bereavement
Helpline 020 8371 8455 www.griefencounter.org.uk
Papyrus 0800 068 4141 A national charity dedicated to preventing young suicides. www.papyrus-uk.org
Together 4 short lives Together for short lives is a UK Charity for children and young people who are expected to have short lives. www.togetherforshortlives.org.uk
Bristol-based 0808 8088 100 / 0117 989 7820
Saying goodbye-
saying goodbye.org- baby loss
Committed to assisting in relieving distress, whether mental, physical, spiritual or emotional, caused by the bereavement of a child
contact@rosiecranetrust.co.uk 01460 55120 www.rosiecranetrust.org
ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices) ARC offers non-directive information and support to parents before, during and after antenatal screening; when they are told their baby has an anomaly; when they are making difficult decisions about continuing with or ending a pregnancy, and when they are coping with complex and painful issues after making a decision, including bereavement.
info@arc-uk.org 02077 137356 Help line 02077 137486 www.arc-uk.org
Mummy's Star http://www.mummysstar.org/
Mummy's Star is the only charity in the UK and Ireland dedicated to women and their families affected by cancer during pregnancy.
Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service
Our aim is to provide free and confidential emotional support and information to anyone who is affected by the loss, or anticipated loss, of a pet or assistance animal through illness, euthanasia, natural death or other circumstances like theft or attack. We commit to providing this support service every day of the year from 8.30am to 8.30pm. pbssmail@bluecross.org 0800 096 6606 www.bluecross.org.uk
Cat protection
Paws to listen support line
If you are experiencing pet-related grief you can call our free and confidential phone to talk to one of our trained volunteer listeners. While we are unable to offer counselling, we can provide you with a sympathetic ear at this difficult time Mon-Fri 9-5 pm 0800 0249494. And a useful resource page FAQ, providing end of life services and emergency rehousing.
0808 808 00 00 www.macmillan.org.uk
0303 3033 100
info@stroke.org.uk www.stroke.org.uk
020 7812 1601 www.tht.org.uk
is the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, and their families. We provide clinical, practical, financial and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life. We are there from diagnosis onwards and aim to help the whole family deal with the impact of cancer and its treatment, life after treatment and, in some cases, bereavement.
---Funeral Comparison Sites---
Independent & Impartial Funeral Comparison & Booking Service.
Services: Find a Funeral Director, Price Comparison, Pre-Paid Plans, Independent Reviews
online tribute charity
---Cardboard coffins---
01243 786072
Designer coffins in various colours & designs in Cardboard, Wooden & Wicker www.earthtoheaven.co.uk
Greenfield creations
Tel: 01440 788866
Hand-woven by one of their skilled basked makers in their workshops in Somerset. Coffins supplied directly to funeral Directors.
Handmade, eco-friendly Willow and Seagrass coffins. Ideal for green or natural burials. All of the coffins are supplied directly to Funeral Directors. Tel: 01278 437123 www.gadsbywickercoffins.co.uk
The aim is to provide a better online direct to customer experience and help people save money when compared with purchasing from a funeral director.
---Sustainable wood coffins---
John Connell
makes lovely, simple coffins for burial and cremation, from his base in Gloucestershire.
Tel: 0300 303 1022
For Woollen/ Felt Coffins:
Bellacouche on Dartmoor, create a range of unique hand-crafted items from wool felt: from tea-cosies to shrouds and eco coffins - by Yuli Somme. The Leafcocoon & Leafpod are a complete alternative to conventional wooden coffins and are suitable for traditional, natural and woodland burial grounds.
01647 441405
07763 935897
---Funeral Service Stationery---
funeral stationery to the trade
order of service
Westcombe Hill Nature Reserve Burial Site
Endo’Lane
Somertonfield Road
Somerton TA11 6HZ 01458272848
Edmund Hill Green Burial Site
Glastonbury cemetery is owned by the Glastonbury Town Council
Glastonbury Town Council
Town Hall
Magdalene St
Glastonbury
Somerset
BA6 9EL Call: 01458 831769
Email: office@glastonbury.gov.uk
Ham Down Woodland Burial Ground
Beer marsh farm
Shillingstone Blandford DT11 0QY 01258860284
Higher Ground Meadow
Underhill farm Corscombe
Dorchester DT2 0PA 01935891245
Great Bradley Cottage
Calverleigh cross
Templeton Tiverton EX16 8BU 01884256098
Michael’s Woods Burial Ground
Cholderton estate
Estate office
Cholderton Salisbury SP4 0DR 01980 629203
The Arnos Vale Natural Burial Woodland
Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust,
West Lodge, Arnos Vale Cemetery,
Bath Road, Bristol, BS4 3EW 0117 971 9117
vanessa.spencer@arnosvale.org.uk
Memorial Woodlands
Earth City Green Alveston
Bristol south Gloucester
BS35 3TA
01454 414999
Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground
The Sharpham Trust
Sharpham House,
Ashprington,
Totnes,
Devon, UK
TQ9 7UT Telephone: 01803 732542
email Aline sharphammeadow@sharphamtrust.org
Bath Natural Burial Meadow
email: bath@leedam.com post code BA2 7DE
office tel: 01600 716438
fax: 0843 22 77 235
The Natural Death Handbook
dying at home, helping prepare for death and dying, Living Wills, Advance Directives, Advance Funeral planning.
Being Mortal:
Medicine and What Matters in the End -Atul Gawande- a modern experience of mortality - about what it's like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn't, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do.
The Soul Midwives' Handbook
The Holistic And Spiritual Care Of The Dying-Felicity Warner
The Good Funeral Guide
Everything you need to know, Everything you need to do by Charles Cowling
The Pagan Book of Living and Dying
Starhawk: Practical Rituals, Prayers and Blessings ... In response to her own mother's death, Starhawk et al
Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life
Megory Anderson
Dying to be Me
Anita Moorjani. An inspirational memoir, Anita Moorjani relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body-overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system began shutting down. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience.
The Light Between Us: Stories from Heaven. Lessons for the Living
By Laura Lynne Jackson - Laura Lynne Jackson is a wife, a mother, a high school English teacher--and a psychic medium. Where most believe an impenetrable wall divides the world between the living and the dead, Jackson sees brilliant cords of light. She has dedicated her life to exploring our connection to the Other Side, conversing with departed loved ones, and helping people come to terms with the loss. In The Light Between Us, she writes with clarity and grace, addressing the eternal questions that vex us all: Why are we here? What happens when we die? How do we find our true path in this life? Laura Lynne Jackson's story offers a new understanding of the vast reach of our consciousness and enlarges our view of the human experience.
Reason to Stay Alive
Matt Haig, part memoir part self-help book.
With the End in MindReal life accounts of deaths attended by the palliative care doctor. Moving and educational. -Kathryn Mannix
Undying: A love Story -Michael faber
In Undying Michel Faber honours the memory of his wife, who died after a six-year battle with cancer. Bright, tragic, candid and true, these poems are an exceptional chronicle of what it means to find the love of your life. And what it is like to have to say goodbye.
Grief Cast
by Carid LLoyd
funny people talking about death and grief= podcast of the year 2018 currently 103 episodes
Dying isn’t as bad as you think. 3 minutes by palliative care doctor Katherine Mannix, explaining how the body knows how to die, just as it knows how to birth.
Island - a documentary following four people at the end of life
A Love That Never Dies - is by the Stroud-based couple Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds documenting their search for a better way to grieve
https://alovethatneverdiesfilm.com They set up the Good Grief Project https://thegoodgriefproject.co.uk/about/
Amour - Michael Haneke’s beautifully observed drama about an elderly couple nearing the end of life
trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL8xkO3aV_o
review https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/18/amour-michael-haneke-review
Grief walker - Stephen Jenkinson- Full movie Griefwalker is a National Film Board of Canada feature documentary film, directed by Tim Wilson. It is a lyrical, poetic portrait of Stephen Jenkinson’s work with dying people. Filmed over a twelve-year period, Griefwalker shows Jenkinson in teaching sessions with doctors and nurses, in counselling sessions with dying people and their families, and in meditative and often frank exchanges with the film’s director while paddling a birch bark canoe about the origins and consequences of his ideas for how we live and die.
Departures- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCJOeRCY33YA newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death. The Japanese title "Okuribito" means "the sending [away/off] people" Japanese film subtitled.
Coco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNCz4mQzfEI2017. Disney & Pixar, Fantasy/Mystery ‧ 1h 49m
Despite his family's generations-old ban on music, young Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colourful Land of the Dead. After meeting a charming trickster named Héctor, the two new friends embark on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.
Re:Member, Where grief & Beauty Co Exists - https://www.rememberdoc.com/A film by Katie Teague- Years after her son’s tragic death, a bereaved mother is on an impassioned mission to un-silence grief in our modern culture that has buried and forgotten the essential art of grieving. Includes in-depth interviews with Francis Weller, Joanne Cacciatore, and Ted Waird
Five Days to Say Goodbye - premiered at a private screening at Norwich Puppet Theatre and could then be used to raise awareness of suicide and grieving. Beverley Bishop, from Cromer, wanted to make the film following the death of her son Jess Fairweather last October.