‘Empowerment Charity host ‘Celebration of Life’ event in partnership with Blackpool Council

Blackpool based charity Empowerment has partnered with Blackpool Council to create the Celebration of Life event for people in our community who have experienced bereavement through suicide.

The event is the first of its kind for Blackpool and will be held at Blackpool Cricket Club on Saturday 21 May from 1pm until 3pm. It aims to give a space for people in our community to reflect on the lives lost to suicide as well as launching a series of regular, weekly activities.
Discussions to host an event came about through the work of the Suicide Prevention Board of which representatives from Empowerment Charity and Blackpool Council sit. The board is made up of professionals who are working together to help tackle suicide and issues surrounding this in the town.

There will be a variety of short talks during the afternoon including a reading from Layton Library Manager Jane Berry, a safe space to share personal life stories for reflection and celebration as well as the chance to meet new people.

In addition, there will be support from AMPARO and local therapeutic counsellor Sarah Thornley. The faith forum members have also been invited.

Empowerment Charity is an innovative charity based in Blackpool, which has made a long term commitment to supporting our local communities and improving lives through lived experience.
Linzi Cason, Empowerment service manager, said: “We hope that this event will be an opportunity for people to come together and share their experience – or just listen to and support others. We wanted to create a range of different ways that people can get involved as we understand that everyone’s experience is different. Our main aim, through the activities before, during and after the event, is to bring a meaningful connection to people who have experienced or are experiencing bereavement through a suicide loss. And we hope that this is just the first of many.”

Engagement events include:
– Working with Blackpool Library Service, we are launching a new reading group called ‘Turning the Page’ at Layton Library on Wednesday 4 May 2pm – 3pm. The group will meet weekly and take inspiration, kindness and lived experience stories from books available to take away from the library.
– ‘Seaside Strollers’ is a walk and talk group launching on Thursday 5 May 10-11:30am at the Empowerment Charity Base. The group will be facilitated by Active Blackpool and we are encouraging people to come for a stroll through Bispham and back to Empowerment for a brew at Elliot’s Place building that sits within the Empowerment grounds.
– An exclusive one-off art workshop held at community café ‘Curiositea’ in Layton on Thursday 12th May where we will encourage people to share their favourite food stories and recipes. These recipes will then create a free to all ‘Comfort Food’ book, celebrating those memories and special times. Blackpool Adult Learning will facilitate further workshops in the summer using recipes from this book.

To find out more information about the Celebration of Life Event, please call Linzi Cason on 0300 32 32 100 or email Linzi.cason@empowermentcharity.org.uk Alternatively visit https://empowermentcharity.org.uk/bess/