Over the summer, 300 years or so ago, I had the privilege to contribute to CIVIC SQUARE Re_ Festival. I have since spent much of the summer working alongside and towards a vision I set out in the festival, building spaces where we hold grief collectively and in our everyday lives. Read on to hear…
Author: Cass HM
Reframing, and noting a moment.
It’s the 2nd of July 2020. I’m writing this as a little note on the back of this painting, to mark the moment I framed over this Wild Thing boat. I’m going to frame the illustrated CHM Thanatology company certificate over this one. For a few reasons, but mostly because the time has come to…
The Green Chair; An Introduction
Introducing The Green Chair; an occasional conversation with Cass. In this audio Cass shares where their work paused in 2019, and where it is picking up now. With a reading from the Birmingham Learning Marathon Showcase 2019 publication, an excerpt from Hermann Hesse’s 1920 Wandering, and thoughts on Dying Matters Awareness Week 2020. See page…
This is Our Wilderness
Step into our wilderness, and listen to the culmination of Cass HM’s Enrol Yourself Learning Marathon, asking the question “How can I show that death, dying and grief can still mean life, love and hope?” Recorded at Impact Hub Birmingham, January 2019 Video by: The marvellous @ridlaapro/@tyrrellfilms; https://www.youtube.com/tyrrellfilms Featured Image by: The awesome @ThomBartley; https://www.thombartley.com/…
Navigating grief in the landscape of COVID-19: Zoom support calls
Offering a virtual space to come together and talk about our missing people and navigating grief in the current circumstances. We are, as I’m sure many of us are tired of hearing, living in very strange times. The implications of the global pandemic we are currently enduring are vast and uncertain, as are the implications…
In Motion
Navigating the Wilderness, and my voice sitting beside it, has been in motion for some time now. It felt like a pause, with posting all but abandoned and apprehension around social media and such public sharing growing into something unmanageable. With our family at the centre, and the contracting and expanding nature of our world,…
Crafted In The Shadow Of Loss
It’s been a little quieter over here since Norah’s birthday. Within our family, most of our key occasions fall in the period of June-July, and whilst the date of this post is insignificant, it feels like a good time to start to get back into the normal rhythms of life. Our time since Norah’s birthday…
Happy First Birthday Norah
To mark Norahs birthday, we wanted to share the words we opened Norah’s birthday picnic with today, on Norah’s first birthday. We wanted to thank you so much for joining us today to wish Norah a very happy birthday. This time a year ago, I was lying in theatre with Dr Rob at my side,…
Norah’s Wild Rumpus; Scafell Pike
Norah’s book has always been ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, by Maurice Sendak, we read it to her throughout my pregnancy, nicknamed her our Wild Thing, and painted scenes from the book to hang in her room. When Norah died, Where the Wild Things Are took on a new meaning; we felt as though a…
Restorative Insignificance
Now that the days are lighter and brighter we are beginning to spend a little more time in our garden. We have never had a garden of our own, before we moved in to our current home we lived in an old chapel which meant our garden was a public grave yard. Although we miss…
Navigating The Wilderness 