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A community arts organisation has started a monthly meet-up for bereaved people in Caerphilly County Borough to come and create commemorative pieces of art for their loved ones. 

Head4Arts‘ ‘Making and Memories’ meet at Parc Cwm Darran where people can come and be creative, have a chat or just drop in for a coffee. 

There is a need for regular meet-ups like this because grief is still a difficult subject, according to Head4Arts’ creative director, Kate Strudwick.

“There’s a specific problem supporting people who are grieving,” she said, having seen firsthand through other community bereavement projects that people can struggle to access support or talk about their problems.

‘Making and Memories’ aims to give people a way to work through their grief creatively. 

“We work on the principle that the elephant is in the room with us,” said Kate, the ‘elephant’ being the topic of death. “If people want to talk about death [they can].”

They can also come and make whatever artwork is the focus for that month, and these change according to the season. For Christmas, the craft will be a decoration which can be put on a Christmas tree. 

“Items are designed to be commemorative to a special person,” said Kate, so people can come and make something that reminds them of a special person they have lost.

Head4arts has previously worked on short-term bereavement projects in Caerphilly such as ‘Evergreen Art‘ but ‘Making and Memories’ is a permanent meet-up as people often struggle with the loss of a loved one over a long period of time, according to Kate.

“[People] think you should move on,” she said. “Sometimes you just want to talk about the person [you’ve] lost.”

The pandemic in particular has made things worse for people who are grieving in the community. “In the middle of lockdown we realised there was going to be a huge legacy [of grief] through covid,” said Kate.

According to the Bereavement Commission, an estimated three million people faced bereavement during 2020 and 2021 across England and Wales. 

The free meetings take place in the Lakeside View Café in Deri on the third Friday of every month. The venue is accessible and Welsh speakers are also welcome. There are also meetings in Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Merthyr Tydfil. 

The next meeting will take place on Friday, December 16, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.