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We have also seen some wonderfully


creative uses of the written word. The Final Chapters writing competition was the first public competition to take dying, death and bereavement as its subject. Anyone touched by dying – whether directly,


or as a relative, friend, colleague or carer – was welcome to submit up to three pieces of prose or poetry, which would be judged by an expert panel including playwright Nell Dunn, poet and academic Yasmin Gunaratnam and author Diana Melly, widow of the legendary jazz musician George Melly. The response to the competition was much


PHOTO: Beth Lloyd-Williams


greater than we had hoped or expected, with an astonishing 1,400 entries over the space of just a few months. Chair of judges Roger Kirkpatrick, tasked with whittling down the entries, commented on the quality of writing received. “Many entries were strikingly original and some – not being professionally polished for effect – were particularly affecting,” he said. “The flood of entries has shown the hunger that the general public has to articulate emotions associated with dying, death and bereavement.” When so many people find it difficult to talk about dying, our experience is that having a creative outlet like writing can be of enormous benefit. Rebecca Goss, a prizewinner in the competition, said her poems gave her a vehicle to verbalise the loss of her daughter. She said: “My poems are my armour, my beekeeper suit, to enable me to talk about my daughter Ella. Without my poems, I would find it much harder.” Another artist who has captured experiences of the end of life is Antonia Rolls, whose project A Graceful Death started in 2007 when her partner Steve was dying. Her portraits of Steve on his deathbed formed the start of an ongoing collection. The exhibition, which has toured


extensively for six years, now includes more


than 40 paintings, including some of people approaching death, undergoing treatment, and survivors of both illness and bereavement. “When I show the paintings, and talk about


them at presentations, the audience seem to enjoy meeting and hearing about the people in the exhibition,” says Antonia. “It is as if we are allowed a glimpse into a private and difficult world, where there is also much love and laughter, and are given the truth about how each one of them faces death.” Not all artistic works around death and dying


involve the more traditional forms of art. In 2012, the Dying Matters team attended “Death: A Festival for the Living” at the South Bank Centre in London. On display for visitors to marvel at was a


selection of colourful, unusual and downright strange coffins, from the famous Pa Joe workshop in Ghana and Crazy Coffins of Nottingham. This was just one part of a weekend-long exploration of death and dying encompassing poetry, music, lectures and much more. Another way in which thinking creatively


can affect people’s experience of the last years of life is in the world of technology, and there are a host of projects and companies offering innovative end of life products and services. In 2007, just after he discovered he was


Winners of the Final Chapters writing competition, at the awards evening held at BT Tower


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Farewell Magazine


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