What does it mean to have a place where you don’t need to explain your grief - where it’s simply understood?

In this episode of Strathcarron Stories, we visit one of our local Snowdrop Cafés in Denny. Like all the local cafe's these are welcoming community spaces for people experiencing grief, loneliness and loss. Run by local volunteers and supported by our Compassionate Communities team, these groups offer something simple but powerful: connection, conversation and friendship.

You’ll hear from several people who attend the café, as they share what this space means to them. From finding comfort after loss, to rebuilding confidence, routines and relationships. Their stories show how small moments of kindness, shared cups of tea and familiar faces can make a big difference.

This episode is about community, compassion and the quiet strength that comes from not having to face things alone.

For more information on where your local Snowdrop cafe is, or even to set up your own visit: Where is my local Strathcarron Snowdrop Cafe?

Thank you to Jayne Lamond and everyone from the Denny Snowdrop Cafe for welcoming us in and having such lovely conversations.

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By sharing people stories, we help to raise awareness of Strathcarron's services and impact, as well as to reduce the fear of Hospices and encourage more conversations about death and dying. Hosted by Ailsa (from Communications), Ross (from IT) and Katy (from Comms) sees us out and about, speaking to our own staff, as well as people living with life limiting conditions and the families they support. We're nurses, doctors, social workers. We're volunteers, cleaners, cooks & therapists. We're fundraisers, administrators, accountants & physiotherapists. We will share their stories. We also aim to ask and answer your questions. The conversations we’ll have with our teams will be around their roles, impact and how each person supports people with life limiting conditions. We will also speak to volunteers, local organisations, fundraisers, schools - a whole host of people connected to the Hospice too. If you have any questions re hospice or palliative care, Strathcarron Hospice, or would like to be on the Podcast, or have a story to tell, please get in touch via our email Podcast@StrathcarronHospice.net.

In this moving episode of Strathcarron Stories, Ailsa and Katy welcome poet Donna Ashworth and her lifelong friend Lynn Guthrie for their first-ever interview together.

These friends share a deeply personal and uplifting conversation about love, grief, and the care Lynn’s mum received during her final days at Strathcarron Hospice’s Inpatient Unit.

Donna’s first-ever grief poem, “When You Say Goodbye to a Parent,” was written from the emotions Donna had from visiting Lynn’s mum at Strathcarron - a moment that shaped her creative journey.

Lynn reflects on how the compassion shown to her, her mum, and her young son in Strathcarron Hospice transformed their experience of loss, inspiring her to retrain as a grief coach supporting others through bereavement.

Together, they laugh, cry, and celebrate the power of friendship and hospice are. Donna also performs two of her most special poems in this heartfelt conversation about living, loving, letting go and living with grief.

For more information on Donna Ashworth's community and beautiful poems and to purchase her books: (4) Facebook

Lynn runs the The Empathic Therapist Counselling | Home | Stirling | Online Sessions in UK grief couselling.

Thank you Donna and Lynn

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By sharing people stories, we help to raise awareness of Strathcarron's services and impact, as well as to reduce the fear of Hospices and encourage more conversations about death and dying. Hosted by Ailsa (from Communications), Ross (from IT) and Katy (from Comms) sees us out and about, speaking to our own staff, as well as people living with life limiting conditions and the families they support. We're nurses, doctors, social workers. We're volunteers, cleaners, cooks & therapists. We're fundraisers, administrators, accountants & physiotherapists. We will share their stories. We also aim to ask and answer your questions. The conversations we’ll have with our teams will be around their roles, impact and how each person supports people with life limiting conditions. We will also speak to volunteers, local organisations, fundraisers, schools - a whole host of people connected to the Hospice too. If you have any questions re hospice or palliative care, Strathcarron Hospice, or would like to be on the Podcast, or have a story to tell, please get in touch via our email Podcast@StrathcarronHospice.net.