THIS EVENT HAS NOW PASSED.
***All ticket booking is now closed***
Spaces are still available on the day for Rachel Hawthorn’s film at 3:15pm and Q&A afterwards in East Chapel.
If you have booked but now can’t attend, no problem, we just ask they you go back to EventBrite to release your tickets for others. On the day, gather in the West Chapel near the catafalque in the far corner of the room to meet your guide on the day. There may be some tickets become available on the day so please make yourself known to the staff if you want to add yourself to the waiting list. They will also call out 5 mins before the tour and as the tour gathers to alert people to come to the meeting area:
West Chapel all day
Handle and learn about human bones
Guided drawing of a human skull
Chat about planning your death
Meet and greet Cambridge Death Cafe
(LPAs, Wills, old age care and feeding plan)
Play a life size game of “Operation”
Play the highly competitive “fun things to do when you’re dead” game
Video of the Sacred Stones site
Meet Woodland Wishes‘ cycle hearse
Try out a cardboard coffin for size
Chat about body donation for science
Send a letter to the dead
Art display of skulls, books and mini-coffins
The Great Art Giveaway! Take away one of the many mounted original photos of real human skulls – and please consider making a donation to Dying for Life to help us put on future events!
Workshops and guided activities
12:00pm – East Chapel – Everything you ever wanted to know about human bones – learn to identify age, likely sex and other facts about human bones
1:00pm – West Chapel – Play “Gravestones and Dry Bones” game with inventor and artist Cally Trench
1:30pm – West Chapel – Forensic Facial Reconstruction – how to find the face that fits a skull – learn the techniques and science behind facial reconstruction and try your hand at the skills yourself. Take your results home for a donation.
3:00pm – West Chapel – Play “Gravestones and Dry Bones” game with inventor and artist Cally Trench
3:15pm – East Chapel – Luddenham Shroud – Showing of the film of the making of a hand felted woollen shroud by Rachel Hawthorn for her friend, Janet. A unique collaboration process exporing death, grief, and nature.
4:00pm – Q&A with shroud creator Rachel Hawthorn
Crematorium behind the scenes tours booking links below and are now open for booking:
- 12 noon to 1pm Crematorium tour booking link
- 2pm to 3pm Crematorium tour booking link
- 4pm to 5pm Crematorium tour booking link
More details about the day
This event is free to attend, and you can drop in whenever you like. The behinds the scenes tours of the crematorium tend to fill up so we have a pre-booking system for them. Everything else you can just turn up and enjoy. Many people come along thinking they will just pop in, and then find a fun activity or an interesting conversation means they stay for a few hours.
The event is hosted in the Cambridge City Crematorium, just off the A14, accessed via the A1307 between Bar Hill and Dry Drayton junctions. There is ample free parking with step free access to the Crematorium. Maps of where to find things within the West Chapel displays will be available at the entrance, as well as friendly staff and volunteers to help you, and signs for the human bones display, the cardboard coffin to try, Death Cafe to chat to and so on. If you need a quiet space, there is a separate seating area in the West Chapel Waiting Room, where you can also enjoy tea or coffee or squash and a selection of cakes. If the weather is agreeable there is also bench seating in the outside courtyard with some cover.
The West Chapel will be made into an open space with various activities going on. You can wander freely between them, and join in as you feel. Everyone is here to try to find fun ways to talk about the difficult subject of death, but we encourage open honest questions and tackling anything you want to know but thought you shouldn’t ask.
In the West Chapel there will be an articulated human skeleton and loose human bones (a so-called “half skeleton” used by medical students for study). These are from people who died over 100 years ago. These are for the public to be able to freely view, touch, hold, draw, sketch, photograph and otherwise enjoy in a respectful manner. We encourage interaction with the bones as it is a rare opportunity to feel and connect what human bones feel like and recognise what remains of people long after their death. Seating and art materials and a knowledgeable artist guide will be on hand for your questions.
Most activities in the West Chapel you can just join in with; chat to people from Death Cafe Cambridge, try out a cardboard coffin, view the beautiful video of Sacred Stones’ resting place, have a go at the giant game of Operation. The board game that Cally Trench runs will have various starts through the day – ask her if you wish to join in, or listen for call outs in the West Chapel for the next game starting.
If you want to learn facial reconstruction from a skull it would be best to join when the activity starts at 1:30pm in the West Chapel there will be a dedicated table, and a shout out to the crowd before it begins. else it may be hard to catch up. This activity will involve having your own 3D printed skull front to work on, adding a malleable wax or plasticine by hand or with tools to the skull to build up muscle shapes, fat and skin to try to recreate the face.
There are a couple of events happening in the East Chapel – the talk about human bones at 12 noon and the showing of the film at 3:15 which we ask people try not to walk in and disturb whilst in progress.
