Inviting Sheffield to talk about death and dying during Dying Matters Awareness Week
St Luke’s is inviting people across Sheffield to get talking about death, dying, and bereavement during this year’s Dying Matters Awareness Week (4–10 May 2026).
To mark this year’s theme, ‘let’s talk about death and dying’, St Luke’s will be hosting a series of community Death Cafés where people can come together to have open and honest conversations about death, dying and bereavement.
There’s no agenda, no judgement, and no pressure to share - just a chance to talk, listen, and reflect.
Talking about death can feel difficult, but having these conversations can help break down stigma and make things feel less scary. Because talking about dying matters.
Every year, people around the UK use Dying Matters Awareness Week, led by Hospice UK, as a moment to encourage all communities to get talking in whatever way, shape or form works for them.
Death, dying and bereavement affect us all. Yet 27% of people find it hard to talk about death with family or friends, and 30% bottle their feelings up.* If we don’t talk about death and dying and bereavement, it can be harder to cope when we experience it.
The mission of Dying Matters is to break down the stigma and taboo of talking about death and dying. But sometimes, it’s hard to know where to start.
This Dying Matters Awareness Week is focusing on the importance of conversations about death and dying – with family, friends, employers, anyone in your life – helping people to get the conversation started.
As St Luke’s marks its 55th year of caring for people with terminal illness and supporting their families, the hospice is choosing to speak more openly and confidently about hospice care – what it really is, why it matters, and the difference it makes to families every single day.
This comes at a time when one in three people who need end of life care still don’t receive it – something St Luke’s is determined to help change.**
As part of Dying Matters Awareness Week, we will be hosting the following Death Cafés:
• Tuesday 5 May, 10:30am - 12pm. St Luke’s Darnall Shop and Information Hub, 199 - 205 Main Road, Darnall, Sheffield, S9 5HP
• Wednesday 6 May, 11:15am - 12.45pm. Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre, Moorland Drive, Stocksbridge, Sheffield, S36 1EG
• Thursday 7 May, 1pm – 2:30pm. Coach House Café, St Luke’s, Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield, S11 9PX
* Research from polling commissioned by Celebration Day in 2025.
** Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, January 2026.