Prospect Hospice will be among the thousands of groups holding events focused on death next week.

It is one of more than 15,000 members of a national coalition called Dying Matters, which aims to change public knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards death, dying and bereavement. It encourages people to talk about what matters to them about how they live and how they die.

This year, Dying Matters Awareness Week takes place from May 14 to 20. Prospect and other groups will be taking a dedicated vehicle to different places to talk with people and provide information. People can meet them on Tuesday, May 15, from 9.30am in Highworth High Street and then from 1pm outside the atrium at Great Western Hospital; and on Thursday, May 17, at Wharf Green from 9.30am and from 1pm at the Orbital Centre outside North Swindon library. On Friday, May 18, they will be at Prospect Hospice joining the carers course.

Also on the Tuesday at 12.30pm at the Arts Centre, as part of the Swindon Festival of Literature, Sue Brayne and Liz Rothschild will be discussing Sue’s book, The D-Word. Celebrant for marriages, namings and funerals, Liz Rothschild is founder and keeper of Westmill Woodland Burial Ground near Swindon. Tickets are £5 (£4 concessions).

Call 01793 614837 for more information.