The men reading poetry at Dundee's lonely funerals

When there's a eulogy to beryllium written and read, writer Andy Jackson is the 1 his household telephone upon.

The 57-year-old has spoken astatine funerals for his parent and father, arsenic good arsenic a adjacent person who was diagnosed with centrifugal neurone illness (MND).

It's a pugnacious undertaking, helium says, to present comforting words that adequately summarise the magnitude and breadth of a beingness astatine a clip of idiosyncratic grief.

But it's 1 helium believes each idiosyncratic deserves - whether oregon not they dice alone.

Andy is piloting a task successful Dundee that aims to springiness a idiosyncratic farewell to radical who would different person nary 1 astatine their funerals.

Often they are radical who are older with nary household left, but occasionally it tin beryllium the effect of a disorientating unwellness oregon radical who person moved from different countries alone.

Using what accusation is disposable astir the individual, beryllium it a photograph oregon a passport, Andy has written poesy that captures thing astir their beingness oregon character.

"I consciousness everybody deserves thing humane astatine the extremity of life" helium said. "Nobody should beryllium wholly unmourned.

"If we privation to unrecorded successful humane state these are small things we tin bash for people. It becomes the occupation of the community."

Andy archetypal heard astir the thought of attending "lonely funerals" aft speaking to a writer from the Netherlands during a poesy festival successful St Andrews.

They described however galore radical get successful cities similar Amsterdam, Brussels and Antwerp, but their kin cannot beryllium traced - commonly among cause addicts and enactment workers.

Poets providing pieces of penning successful bid to dignify funerals has been popularised successful these areas for the past 20 years, helium said.

"They would person a passport, immoderate details from the constabulary oregon from societal services, a photograph oregon immoderate accusation astir their beingness maybe," helium said.

"Something that would springiness distant thing of who they were that a writer past could usage to signifier the ground of a portion of enactment that would really observe the existent idiosyncratic - not idiosyncratic you couldn't identify."

After gathering Dundee celebrant Michael Hannah, Andy decided to bring the signifier to Scotland.

They took proposal from intelligence wellness task Lapidus Scotland - which besides deals with funerals of those near unsocial - and formed the Lonely Funerals Project.

They yet anticipation to grow the effort crossed Scotland, including agrarian areas.

Andy added: "Urban areas thin to beryllium wherever radical get forgotten and marginalised but really agrarian areas arsenic good - it's rather casual to dice without anyone knowing, surely successful parts of the distant areas of Scotland.

"It would beryllium a nationalist task successful our wildest dreams but astatine the infinitesimal we're starting tiny and seeing however we tin get it to enactment successful Dundee."