Poppy Mardall of award-winning Poppy’s in Tooting explains how they’re marking Dying Matters Awareness Week, May 13th to 19th.

Are you in the dark about funerals? Do you know what a funeral director does or if you even need one? What choices are available when you or somebody close to you dies?

Find the answers to these and other important questions about funerals at the Poppy’s Open Morning on Thursday 16 May 10am-12pm at our HQ in beautiful Lambeth Cemetery.

This is just one of series of events Poppy’s is organising or taking part in for Dying Matters Awareness Week, a nationwide event designed to put talking about dying, death and bereavement firmly on the agenda.

If you feel uncomfortable starting conversations around death and dying you are not alone. A recent survey found that 18 million of us will go out of our way to avoid the subject. About 1% of the UK population dies each year – that’s about 3,200 people in Wandsworth and each of those deaths will affect many more people in different ways. Considering that death will touch all of us sooner or later (97% of adults in the UK have experienced bereavement and more than 40% of adults have experienced the death of more than one person close to them), we are surprisingly ill-equipped to talk about it.

Fewer Londoners (24%) have discussed funeral wishes or made a will (27%) than anyone else in the country. Put it down to embarrassment, or a stiff upper lip, but holding back from difficult conversations doesn’t help anybody. That’s where Dying Matters Awareness Week comes in. It’s a chance to stop skirting around the subject and address death head on. This year’s theme is “Are We Ready?” and throughout the week, our award-winning team of funeral directors will be out and about in Tooting and beyond busting common myths about funerals and providing you with all the facts you need to make informed decisions and giving you opportunities to start conversations about death.

There are lots of ways to join in and express yourself. Take your pick from panel discussions and debates or talks and advice sessions. Or if you prefer to broach the subject over tea and cake then come along to our pop-up Death Café, or try your hand at coffin decorating at Hazelfest.

At Poppy’s we want the public to make informed choices when it comes to funerals. We see it as our mission to get people talking about death, dying and bereavement. If you’ve never met a funeral director before this is your chance. To see our full programme of Dying Matters events visit https://www.poppysfunerals.co.uk/dyingmatters 

We’re giving away 7 tickets to Wandsworth residents for Deathbed Skiing at Tara Arts Theatre on 10th May. To apply for your free ticket please email enquiries@poppysfunerals.co.uk by 9am on Tuesday 7th May with your name, telephone number and postcode. We will only use this information to distribute the tickets and will not retain it thereafter.
 

Poppy’s is a modern, award-winning funeral directors based in Tooting, and one of our valued Community Partners. Find out more on their website and follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Find out more about our Community Partners here.