Events
Ouseburn Trust Winter Talks
I’m looking forward to working with the Ouseburn Trust as one of the speakers on their Winter Talks series. My talk will be about the Wheel of the Year - a calendar of ancient seasonal festivals that mark and celebrate the turning of the year, which I draw on a lot in my work as an end of life doula. In this talk, I’ll look at the current renewed interest in these old traditions as an antidote to the demands of modern life.
27th January 2026 at 6pm at 51 Lime Street, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Book Club with a Difference
I’m really excited to be collaborating with Collected Bookshop in Durham to host a Book Club with a Difference, discussing Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry. This is a memoir in which the author reflects on the death of her father-in-law and what it taught her about the ordinary, and extraordinary aspects of both life and death, and how they are not always what you’d expect. This will be an evening of open, honest conversation with opportunities to gently explore our own ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life, death and grief.
Wednesday 4th March at 7.15pm at Collected
Interactive introduction to talking about death
Come along to a practical, interactive workshop at Conkers Life, a beautiful outdoor space in Hamsterly Mill. During the session we will get more comfortable talking about the end of life, death and grief. We will look at the choices that can come up in end of life care and funeral planning and how you can put plans in place to make sure your wishes are followed. We will make use of the beautiful outdoor setting, including sitting together around a fire and exploring how rituals can help us at key times in our life.
21st March 2026 from 3.30pm – 5.30pm at Conkers Life
Tickets £35 from Conkers Life.
email: info@conkerslife.com
WhatsApp 07535850078
Find out more on Conkers Life Facebook page
Wheel of the Year writing circle
The Wheel of the Year is a calendar of seasonal festivals that mark and celebrate the turning of the year. The focus is on connecting to the shifting energy of the seasons and working in harmony with it.
A writing circle is just a group of people who come together to spend time exploring ideas through writing. This Wheel of the Year Writing Circle is an opportunity to reconnect to nature, to ourselves, to the places we love and to each other.
Starting again soon on a Wednesday from 1pm to 3pm at a venue in Sunderland
Three Magpies Death Cafe at Earthlings
A Death Cafe is an opportunity to come together for an open discussion about the end of life, death, bereavement and grief. They are gentle, life-affirming conversations in a welcoming setting.
I host seasonal Death Cafes at Earthlings - the Healing Cafe in Newcastle upon Tyne. The dates of my 2026 Cafes are
Sunday 15th February
Sunday 22nd March
Sunday 3rd May
Sunday 14th June
Sunday 2nd August
Sunday 27th September
Sunday 25th October
Sunday 6th December
All 10.30am to 12.30pm.
It is free to attend but places must be booked on Eventbrite.
Latest news from Tending Three Magpies
Tending grief through singing
Tending grief through singing
Tending grief through singing
I went on a residential singing weekend run by folk band The Unthanks and found many unexpected opportunities to tend to my grief. I created a Substack post about it, exploring how as an end of life Doula, I need to deal with my own stuff before I can support anyone else, and why creativity is a key to accessing emotions.
Soul-stirring visitations
Tending grief through singing
Tending grief through singing
News! I am developing a new project to explore how we can tend our grief through dance. Using Border Morris as a starting framework, we will choreograph eight new dances to take us through the Wheel of the Year festivals, exploring how our grief changes. You are invited to get involved.
Shapes of Grief
Tending grief through singing
Why 'Tending Three Magpies'?
I have now completed the award winning Shapes of Grief training. This online training curated by Liz Gleeson brings together people from around the world who are leading the way in supporting people in their grief. This learning will be woven into my upcoming seasonal grief sessions.
Why 'Tending Three Magpies'?
Make sure your wishes are known
Why 'Tending Three Magpies'?
Why do I call my work Tending Three Magpies? It's all about the tidings the magpies might bring according to an old folk song.
Find out the full story by reading this article I published on Substack
Citizen Network
Make sure your wishes are known
Make sure your wishes are known
Citizen Network is a global non-profit cooperative movement formed to create a world where everyone matters, where everyone can be an equal citizen. For me this means equality in death as well as in life. As a Citizen Network Fellow I work collaboratively with colleagues around the world to come up with solutions to social inequalities.
Make sure your wishes are known
Make sure your wishes are known
Make sure your wishes are known
I have written an article about the process I went through after setting up my Lasting Power of Attorney. It was quite easy to do the legal bit. But then I had to let my Attorneys know what my wishes would be for my health, if I was unable to make decisions for myself. That was a lot harder! Read more here