RIP-ROARING FESTIVAL TO EXPLORE LIFE AND DEATH

A GROUND-BREAKING festival in Birmingham is taking place across a wide range of venues - from tattoo studios to libraries, from pubs to undertakers and from country parks to art galleries.

- 

Organised by community interest company BrumYODO, A Matter of Life and Death from May 5-17 offers author talks, walks, art installations, poetry workshops and discussions across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.

BrumYODO, a volunteer-led group based in Birmingham, aims to create safe spaces to think and talk about death and dying. Coinciding with the national campaign Dying Matters Awareness Week, BrumYODO has been running A Matter of Life and Death since 2016 and is getting ready for another event.

Helen Tomblin, one of the BrumYODO board members, says: “This year's festival hosts some regular events such as a tour of an undertakers, a Birmingham death-related walk, an interfaith walk, an author event and numerous ‘Death Cafes’ and ‘In Memory’ events. Also this year, new venues and contributors have joined the festival including Lucky Rabbit Tattoo Studio and Lickey Hills Country Park.”

The programme kicks off with an annual festival favourite, a Death Cafe at The Sun Rising Burial Ground, near Warwick, on May 6.

In the evening, Birmingham undertakers A Natural Undertaking will open up its new premises in Hall Green for ‘Making Uncomfortable Conversations More Comfortable’, an informal discussion over cheese and wine led by Evolve & Flourish's Suzanne McArthur.