Workshops

I conduct workshops, fairly close to home, by arrangement. If you are interested in the possibility of arranging a workshop please be in touch.

What makes a Funeral? | Preparations for Dying | Fun-eral Parties

What Makes a Funeral? workshop

There is a huge array of choice around funerals. You can take control of the entire process if you wish. You're not limited to bite-sized pieces of input in funeral planning, such as a poem, a favourite hymn or reading.

Those who participate in the 'What Makes a Funeral?' workshop acquire more information, ideas and confidence to help create a personalised funeral; begin to consider what they might want for their own funeral; and become more comfortable talking with friends and family about death and funerals.

In the course of the day we consider why we need funerals, a range of alternative venues beyond the obvious church and crematorium, who funerals are about, and how to make each service or ceremony unique. With the range of possibilities opened up we spend some quiet time reflecting on our own funeral or that of someone close. At various points, space is given for sharing in pairs or small groups and with the whole group, which is never more than eight in number.

Cost: £40 (concessions £30; couples on one income £30 each)

Testimonials

The change I noticed from the beginning to the end of the day was a lightness - the heavy, sad element had shifted. So, though grief is inevitably still part of death and funerals, there is a lightness about it. Definitely more humour and more simplicity. The idea of complexity is not there but has been replaced with a keenness to spend more time on this – to make my funeral box, to gather poems, pictures, ideas, and to knit a shroud or something to be wrapped in. Sheila, Frome

The course was a revelation, a great bunch of people shared stories, with assistance from the effervescent presence of Margie McCallum we worked through a plan of how our own Funeral Ceremony would be a Celebration! Why would you think about a funeral, well to be quite honest, after my Father's dour affair, I wanted to make sure that mine reflected my own spirit! This workshop certainly made me realise that every Celebration could be individual! Great Margie, Dead Good workshop! John, Frome

From being quite embarrassed to talk of funeral arrangements I feel I now am more equipped to raise the subject or maybe help someone expressing difficulties in approaching their own or a close friend/relative's death and funeral. Lovely pictorial stories of real or imagined funerals. Sarah, Frome

As a result of the day I recognised death as part of me, the living, vibrant being. I found a tone, a vibration, from which to speak to other family members about death which is more balanced and joyful and less likely to frighten them. Thinking about and planning my own funeral I found could be a fun, poignant, ongoing project. I have learned to make more of the living, my living and others', the joy of living and gratitude for what I have and have had. Jane, Warwickshire

Mini Workshops : Preparation for Dying

I offer two different mini workshops based around a series of documents, some produced by The Natural Death Centre, and some by me.

The first has you looking at your end-of-life choices:

Advance Care Plan (also referred to as a Living Will or Advance Health Care Directive, about the type and degree of medical intervention you want when you are dying)
End-of-Life Choices (about the environment and atmosphere you’d ideally like as you are dying)

The second is more about what happens after death:

Funeral Wishes (about the setting and form of your funeral ceremony and how you wish your body to be returned to the elements)
Making a Will and Lasting Power of Attorney (about who you’d like to benefit from your worldly belongings, and to whom you want to entrust your financial and personal welfare arrangements if you can’t manage them yourself)

Charge: £20 pp (2-2½ hours)

The charge includes one or two follow-up emails or phone calls, if you wish, to see how you're getting on with completing the forms and getting them signed and witnessed.

Testimonials

Your workshop gave me confidence to look calmly at the subject of dying, and the value of knowing I have made some provision and saved my family some of the uncertainties, far outweighed any fears I had about preparing for death. I’d recommend it to people at any stage of life or health as you can respond as much or as little as is appropriate for you, and maybe build on it later, or use it to support friends or family in their needs. I felt empowered by completing the workshop, and I love your Pink Coat approach - it definitely took the gloom and “black” aspect out of it all. Jac

Lovingly supportive & a wonderful approach to something I thought would be difficult, but turned out to be a positive experience. Thank you. Lisbet

I considered taking responsibility for my life's ending as something important. In Margie's workshop I was able to consider all the issues and gradations that can come into play at a time which is probably our most vulnerable since our birth. The atmosphere was relaxed and open and I came away with the right information and a usable document. A while later I talked to a friend whose sister had had an awful last few weeks with people arguing over her head as if she wasn't in the room. If an advance care plan had been prepared, she could have protected her sister against excessive intervention. I am grateful I am able to spare myself that suffering when my time comes. Thank you, Margie. Ellis

Margie created a safe and supportive space for me to explore my ideas for my end of life plans, she gently encouraged me to deepen those ideas during the workshop then afterwards stayed in touch to help bring them into a real finnished plan. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experiences of working with those who are dying - may your voice be heard far and wide. Weeza

You could have a Fun-eral Party!

For weeks, every time I wrote ‘funeral’ I saw and heard ‘fun-eral’. And that led to this rather wild idea of a Fun-eral Party.

Here’s the idea:

You get together a bunch of friends who are prepared to creak open the door to conversation around funerals (and death even!)
You make sure you have between four and eight of you, not too many and not too few, but any age or sex.
You make a date and time (making sure I can be there, of course), allowing approx. 2 hours.
You provide some drinks and nibbles to suit your friends, or a simple meal if you’d rather.
And you tell them this is a party where they pay for the privilege of talking about the last taboo. (£10 each)

I bring to the party my:

sense of fun
delight in getting death and funerals into the open
sense of ‘anything goes’
ability to make sure everyone is heard
experience and knowledge if you want it
some evocative questions