Death Café

As a result of support from The FHE Community Partnership, three Death Cafés have taken place in Frodsham in 2023/4 and two in 2025. Our next one is planned to take place in National Grief Awareness week, the first week in December.

Death cafés do not provide bereavement counselling. Some who attend have never experienced bereavement but are interested to be in a safe space where death can be discussed openly. 

The description of a Death Café, from the founders themselves is: “At a Death Café people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. Our objective is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives. A Death Café is a group-directed discussion of death, with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session. Death Cafés are always offered on a not-for-profit basis, and in an accessible, respectful and confidential space with no intention of leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action.”

So, for clarity, Death Café is not a therapy group, professional bereavement support, nor a grief support resource. Every effort is made to ensure it is a safe space, but it is essentially our community coming together in random groups, to talk and listen. There are no staff, and no professionals there, in their work capacity. Every group is different, and, if you come more than once, your experiences will vary.

We request that you come with the intention to be accepting of others, and to listen actively, with no need to ‘fix’ anything, or give advice. You’ll be welcome to speak if you want to, or not, if you prefer to remain silent.

Death Café gives us the permission we often don’t experience in day-to-day life; to talk about the one thing that is certainly going to affect us all.

Facing death and talking about it can help us to embrace life more fully.