Light Up a Life Day (5th December) is a time for reflection, remembrance, and connection. Whether you have lost a family member, friend, or someone who made a difference in your life, this day offers a moment to honour their memory and celebrate the love they brought into the world.
For many people, days like this can bring a mixture of emotions — comfort, sadness, gratitude, or a sense of longing. That’s why finding the right local support can make such a meaningful difference.
Find Local Bereavement Support on The Essex Map
Across Essex, many charities, hospices, community groups, and organisations provide compassionate support for those coping with loss. To help residents easily find this help, The Essex Map brings together local services in one accessible place.
Whether you’re looking for a quiet space to reflect, a group to share memories with, or professional guidance during a difficult time, The Essex Map can help you find what you need close to home.
🕯️ Supporting Light Up a Life Day in Your Community
Light Up a Life Day encourages individuals and communities to come together and celebrate the lives of those who have passed. Many local groups hold remembrance events, candle-lighting ceremonies, tree-decorating activities, or moments of collective reflection.
If your organisation is taking part or offering support around this day, The Essex Map is a valuable place to make your services visible to residents across Essex.
✨ Are You a Bereavement Charity or Support Group?
If you provide bereavement support, counselling, remembrance events, hospice care, or any other related services, you can list your organisation for free on The Essex Map.
Adding your service helps local people find the support they need, especially on days like Light Up a Life Day when many seek comfort and community.
👉 Add your organisation to The Essex Map here:www.essexmap.co.uk (navigate to the “Add a Listing” section) or email: communications@essexalliance.org.uk
By joining the map, you’ll be contributing to a county-wide network of support that ensures no one has to face loss alone.
🌈 You Are Not Alone
Light Up a Life Day reminds us that while loss is deeply personal, support is something we can share. Whether you’re remembering someone special or looking for ways to support others, The Essex Map is here to help you connect with services that care.
Author: Emily Smith
Posted:
Categories: Events, News
The Government has now launched its public consultation on proposals for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)across Greater Essex. This represents a significant opportunity for organisations, community groups, businesses, and residents to help shape what the future of local government could look like in our county.
Announced on 19 November 2025, the consultation covers all four unitary proposals submitted by councils across Essex, Southend-on-Sea, and Thurrock. It will run until 11 January 2026, giving organisations across the voluntary and community sector vital time to feed back their views.
These proposals aim to simplify how local councils work, strengthen local decision-making, and improve the way services are delivered. This includes ensuring councils reflect local identity, operate efficiently, and deliver high-quality public services.
This is a unique opportunity for the VCS to influence decisions that will affect communities for years to come.
Why this matters to Essex Alliance members
Local Government Reorganisation has the potential to reshape:
how services are delivered
how local priorities are set
how communities engage with decision-making
the future structure and scale of local authorities across Greater Essex
Your insight—as organisations working closely with communities—is key to ensuring these proposals reflect local needs.
All the councils in Essex are working together to propose changes to how they are run. Each council – whether district, borough, city or county councils – might have their own ideas to share with the government.
These proposals are based on:
making sure decision making is as close to communities as possible
delivering value for money and efficient local services
what’s good for local businesses and voluntary sector organisations
Some ideas will be the same, but some will be different.
You can read the four proposals that councils in Greater Essex have sent to government HERE.
3rd December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities — a reminder of how important it is that everyone can access the support they need in their community.
The Essex Map brings together local disability-friendly groups and services, from social clubs and peer support to accessible activities and wellbeing resources.
Are you part of a great group that isn’t listed yet? Add it HERE to help others find them or email: communications@essexalliance.org.uk and we can add it for you.
Looking for support? Start searching on The Essex Map today.
On Wednesday, 26 November, from 6–8 PM, the Lakeside Theatre at the University of Essex will host REFUSAL, an experimental, one-night-only participatory event bringing together an eclectic group of artists, sound practitioners, filmmakers, and researchers. The evening explores fragmentation, glitch, and disruption as creative strategies—an invitation to step outside normative regimes of spectacle and into a space of exploratory, collective encounter.
Working across sound, moving image, sculpture, performance, animation, and computational experimentation, the participating artists each offer a unique approach to storytelling and media. While their practices vary widely, they are united by a shared commitment to openness, curiosity, and refusal of fixed narratives. Following the performances, attendees are warmly invited to join an informal discussion—an opportunity to reflect on the relationships between media, consciousness, materiality, and the unknown.
Featured Artists
The programme includes contributions from:
Elena Botts Artist and researcher at Essex whose work interweaves glitch, sound-field recording, and site-disarticulation to propose “networked sonic rupture” as a gesture toward other worlds.
E.G. King Creator of semi-improvised sound and movement collages using analogue and digital tools to explore mindful creativity.
Pat Nininger Composer of harmonic and noise-based sound ecologies that dismantle linear listening through rupture and saturation.
Hadiyan Yusuf Kuntoro Yogyakarta-based experimenter and researcher whose interdisciplinary practice bridges scientific inquiry, design, and fine art.
aly,willamina cutler-gear Artist working between statistical linguistics, computation, and composition, here performing with homemade software reanimating dormant Norn lifeworlds.
Rachel Garfield Professor of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, known for video works exploring lived relationships and shifting subjectivities.
Lu : Lucille : hebe Brownrigg A warm-blooded mammal working with voice, breath, and biological resonance, exploring contamination, melody, and microbial possession.
Yun Lu Animation researcher investigating technical failure, nonlinear temporality, and beyond-human animation
The evening will consist of a sequence of short performances and screenings, including video works, sound performances, talks, and hybrid forms. Each piece offers its own mode of epistemic humility—inviting viewers to inhabit uncertainty, complexity, and the refusal of closure.
The Senior Centre Café, run by HSPS, takes place on the last Friday of every month, offering a friendly and welcoming space for older residents.
📅 Next Session: Friday28 November 2025 🕐 Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM 📍 Location: The New Senior Centre, The Hub, Gilden Park, Fieldfare Way, Harlow CM17 0GJ (Behind the Linden store — free parking available along the road)
Attendees can look forward to an engaging afternoon featuring:
Chair Yoga
Refreshments & Games
A Health Talk from the Vision and Eye Research Institute on Diabetic Retinopathy, highlighting ways to reduce the risk of blindness and addressing global inequalities in eye health.
This session aims to:
Raise awareness about diabetic retinopathy and prevention strategies
Empower individuals and families to better manage diabetes and protect their vision
Everyone is welcome, and residents are encouraged to bring a friend along to enjoy the community atmosphere.
This half-day session is for anyone who has previously completed the Qualified MHFAider® course.We recommend that MHFAiders® attend a Refresher course every three years.
The four-hour MHFA Refresher course gives you the chance to:
✅ Renew your skills
✅ Update your knowledge of mental health support
✅ Practice applying the Mental Health First Aid action plan
✅ Access three years of MHFAider® Support and Benefits
Find out more about Mental Health First Aid training here.
Essex County Council are pleased to announce the launch of two new resources this week designed to strengthen our collective work in reducing youth vaping and supporting young people affected by nicotine dependency.
1. Youth Vaping Toolkit for Education Settings and Youth Professionals
Developed collaboratively by Essex Public Health and the Essex Safeguarding Children Board, and co-designed with secondary schools, this toolkit provides practical guidance, information, and tools for staff working with children and young people. It aims to support early intervention, informed conversations, and consistent approaches across education environments.
2. Youth Vaping Toolkit for Parents and Carers
Created by the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service – Healthy Schools team, this resource has been shaped directly by insight gathered from parents and carers. It offers clear, accessible information to help families understand youth vaping, spot signs of use, and support young people to make healthy choices.
These toolkits form part of our wider youth vaping pilot programme and will sit alongside a new Essex Public Health youth vaping campaign, currently being developed in partnership with primary education settings.
An overview of how to spot, and help, people with debt or money worries.
Helping Clients in Problem Debt: Recognising Early Signs and Helping Clients Before Crisis
Debt and financial pressure affect millions of people, yet the early signs often remain hidden. Many people do not recognise their situation as problem debt, or feel embarrassed to talk about it until things reach a crisis point.
This practical and informative session is designed for frontline staff, support workers, housing teams, carers, community organisations, and anyone who regularly works with people who may be struggling financially. The session reflects real examples and insights from Citizens Advice work with clients across the region.
You will learn how to spot early indicators of problem debt, understand how financial stress affects wellbeing, and confidently start supportive, non-judgemental conversations that help clients get the right help sooner – recognising always that full, structured and options based advice can only be provided by providers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (such as ourselves).
What the session covers
What problem debt looks like in everyday life
The difference between priority and non-priority debts and why it matters
Early behavioural and financial warning signs
How the debt spiral develops and how it affects physical and mental wellbeing
How to have sensitive, supportive conversations that build trust
Effective signposting and referral, including when to escalate and how to avoid overstepping into regulated advice
Local trends, common vulnerabilities, and real-life case studies
Practical tools and resources to help clients stabilise their situation
Self-care guidance for frontline workers who handle difficult conversations
Who this event is for
Anyone working with clients or service users, including:
Housing and tenancy teams
Carers and health professionals
Community and voluntary groups
Support workers and caseworkers
Charity staff and advice partners
What you will leave with
Greater confidence in recognising early signs of financial distress
Practical strategies for supportive and constructive conversations
Knowledge of trusted referral pathways and free debt-advice services
Insights that help prevent crisis and improve client wellbeing
A stronger understanding of client vulnerability and the impact of financial stress
Parents 1st are pleased to announce our new Stretch and Relaxation group for pregnant and new parents in Southend.
Join us for 6 weeks of yoga. Suitable during pregnancy and after birth. (Please note: These groups are free for a trial period only).
Connect with your growing belly or baby with an hour of quiet bonding. Strengthen your body, improve your posture, and release tension through breathing, mindfulness and gentle low impact movement.
What to expect from our Stretch and Relaxation group:
Sessions will include 45 minutes of stretch and relaxation
Gentle, low-impact movement
Exercises to help strengthen your body and improve your posture
After the class, there’ll be 15 minutes of peer support and conversation
Be part of a supportive community of parents
No experience necessary. Mats provided. Just bring a water bottle, blanket for relaxation and any baby essentials if you’re bringing your baby.
