Discussing the soundtrack to your life

Beechworth’s Kath Buckingham led an intriguing conversation with a cohort of 18 people on the topic of funeral music at last month’s Death Café meeting hosted by the local Good2Go Collective. ‘My Way’ by American singer Frank Sinatra has been rated as the top of three songs chosen for funerals in Australia. ‘Am I ever going to see your face again’ by Australian rock band The Angel’s took out second position while ‘Ring of Fire’ by American singer Johnny Cash ranked number three. Kath said in researching the topic, among some songs tickling a sense of humour included ‘Return to Sender’ by Elvis Presley, ‘Highway to Hell’ by AC/DC, ‘Is that all there is’ by Peggy Lee and ‘See you later alligator' by Bill Haley. “We had fantastic engagement with conversations and everyone contributed with diverse ideas,” Kath said. “I hope the group started to think about the music they would like at their funeral or celebration of life. “It’s good for people to have some control over what is happening at the end." With planning, Kath suggested people specifying the type of music and songs wanted such as a cover or to have someone to sing. Good2Go Collectives Lori Callahan said the group discovered collectively about more than the song wanted to be played at a funeral. “It maybe the music you want to play when you're in the hospital, or music you want to play when people are visiting you,” she said. “Then there's the music when people walk into the funeral, during and at the end, and at the party afterwards.” Beechworth’s Jo Tucker said the Death Café is a great place for people to get information. “Information is so varied from legal to personal to giving ideas on how people wanted their funeral to be,” she said. “The legal side of things has been interesting to me when wills, power of attorney and assisted dying have been spoken about. “I think it’s interesting because there's so much information that I didn't understand when I first came to the meeting. “It gets you thinking about having everything together in one place. “Information is power, and there are options.” A frequent visitor from Melbourne to Beechworth, Bob Freestone, attended the Death Café for the first time. He said the session had been a chance to join in to see how it worked, what it's all and get to know some locals. “It's better than what I expected,” he said. The Death Cafe hosted by the Good2Go Collective about reclaiming the narrative around death, dying, grief and loss are held monthly at Beechworth Lodge of St John, 19 Loch St. Email: g2gcollective@gmail.com for information.

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