Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief 13 July 2018

The Club’s biggest ever event, with over 300 attending, was held on 13 July 2018 in Ayr Town Hall.

Following a presentation to the Club in 2017 by Dr Kirsty Muirhead from the charity Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, it was decided to help promote the work of the charity by using the power of the local Rotary clubs to spread the word, and attract a sufficiently large audience to fill the Town Hall.

John Ewing was the main driving force behind it, and he organised a series of meeting with Rotary clubs from Prestwick, Cumnock, Alloway, Troon and Girvan to move it along. John and his team put a huge effort in to publicise the event using leaflet distribution, posters, email invitations, Facebook and local and national press including the Sunday Post.

With a limited seating capacity in Ayr Town Hall, for fire safety reasons, we needed to control the numbers attending. Eventbrite Ticketing system was used, so everyone attending had to register for a ticket (which was free).  We attracted generous funding from Funeral Partners Ayr, to help defray costs, and teas were provided by the Salvation Army.

 

The three speakers were Kirsty Muirhead from the charity itself, Tara Cameron from Funeral Partners, and Nigel Martin from Martin & Co, Solicitors under the chairmanship of the inimitable Rev Fraser Aitken. Local organist, Matthew Hines played the famous Town Hall organ. The vote of thanks was delivered by Douglas Haddow.

 

 

 

The event set out to provide practical advice to help people prepare for death and bereavement. Too often the death of a loved one and its consequences are never discussed until it’s too late. Some of the topics mentioned were:

  • What type of funeral do they want?
  • Did they request organ donation?
  • Did they have a joint bank account?
  • What is the password for their computer?
  • Where are the assets held e.g. bank accounts, stocks and shares
  • Have you prepared a will and Powers of Attorney?

And much more…..

 

The event was considered a great success and demonstrated how The Rotary Club of Ayr can pull off something of this size which helps to local community. Thanks to everyone involved including the assistance from South Ayrshire Council and staff for providing the venue.

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