Jon Underwood at Death Café wants to open a permanent, community owned, not for profit Death Café in London. He says:
“Until now, all of our Death Cafes have been pop-up events in local homes or venues. This project is to set up ‘Death Cafe London’, a coffee shop in central London offering people the opportunity to engage with death, however briefly.”
Jon went to see Bernard Crettaz, the originator of the Death café format, in Switzerland to talk the idea over with him. Bernard counselled caution:
“I am scared of creating a new space that becomes a new specialist or a ghetto of death.”
Jon says:
“Though I am personally very keen to progress this, it does not make sense unless there is widespread support from those connected with Death Café — I think the project will be beneficial for society and a chance for a lot of learning and discussion. I have confidence that it will be enjoyable. I think the time is right for this and by offering a place where people can come and engage with death we’ll be doing something we’ll be proud of. But I can’t proceed unless I know that there are at least a significant number of you with me.”
If you’d like to consider this in more detail and contribute to the discussion, you can do so by going here.
I know Jon would be extremely grateful. I think we all know how much we owe him.
http://deathcafe.com/blog/118/
Jon Underwood with Bernard Crettaz
