Upcoming Event: 'Forgiveness at the Dinner Table'
Online Seasonal Event: Forgiveness at the Dinner Table
While the spirit of the holiday season encourages celebration and connection, forgiving family members can be one of the most challenging aspects of this time of year.
Join our team and members of our community of storytellers at a participatory virtual ‘dinner table’, where we will offer a ‘menu’ of questions exploring the everyday aspects of forgiveness. We hope this final event of 2024 will provide some useful perspectives that can support future gatherings with friends and family.
Date: Wednesday 11th December
Time: 4.30pm-5.45pm GMT
Location: Online via Zoom
Tickets will be offered on a ‘pay what you can’ basis and the price of the ticket includes access to the recording for one week.
In Reflection: Building Bridges Across the Divide
On October 16th, our founder Marina Cantacuzino hosted a discussion with Jo Berry and Patrick Magee to mark the 40th anniversary of the Brighton bomb. The conversation focused on Jo and Patrick’s 24-year journey of reconciliation, which began after Patrick’s release under the Good Friday Agreement. Their work together has become a key example in peace studies and conflict transformation.
In collaboration with Jo's organisation Building Bridges for Peace, this event was also a poignant celebration of our own 20th anniversary and marked our first in-person event under the leadership of Marina and Sandra. We were grateful for the wonderful turnout, which included both long-time supporters and new faces.
We want to extend special thanks to the staff at St James’s Church for their invaluable support, both in the planning of this event and its delivery on the night.
Speaking after the event, Jo shared the following:
“I appreciate you all for enabling my dream to happen. It was very emotional and meaningful to speak at Saint James's with Pat Magee on the 40th anniversary of the Brighton bomb. As I sat there looking around, I was very in touch with the 27-year-old me who had sat on a pew and made a silent commitment to bring peace out of the violence.
I'm very grateful that we partnered with the Forgiveness Project, and the two charities came together to create a powerful evening. Marina was an excellent interviewer, and the audience asked insightful questions. We covered relevant tricky subjects, such as how we empathise with each other and what we can all do to make a difference. How do we reach a point of hating people so much that we can hurt them, and how can we break the cycle of violence and revenge?”
We welcome feedback from those who attended - please email us at info@theforgivenessproject.com!
In case you missed this event, you can listen to The F Word Podcast where Marina talks to Jo and Pat about finding healing through understanding in the aftermath of the Brighton bomb.
Listen to Marina Cantacuzino in conversation with Rachael Cerrotti on the Along the Seam Podcast
Recently, Marina was invited on the Along the Seam podcast, and spoke to creator Rachael Cerrotti about her personal reflections, experiences, and lessons learnt during her two decades of work under The Forgiveness Project.
"People do often ask “how do you live with these stories?”, but I do find that restorative narratives have this ingredient of hope, of restoration, and healing...I think that's what makes it possible for me to keep telling them." - Marina Cantacuzino
You can listen to Marina’s episode via the button below or find it on all major streaming platforms.
James Graham wins the Longford Trust’s Kevin Packenham Prize for Punch!
A huge congratulations to BAFTA and Olivier recipient James Graham for winning the Longford Trust's Kevin Pakenham prize for Punch, his stage adaptation of the memoir Right from Wrong by our storyteller Jacob Dunne.
We would also like to express our overwhelming gratitude to James for his endorsement of our work, and for also generously donating the prize money to our organisation! The Forgiveness Project is delighted to receive such an offer, especially from an award which reflects the incredible journey Jacob has taken, alongside us and many others, to be where he is today.
Speaking on his win, James said:
“Given the themes in Punch around forgiveness and finding new ways to process your anger and grief within the criminal justice system, I could think of no other worthy recipient [of the prize fund] than The Forgiveness Project, who I know that Jacob and other people in story of Punch worked with on their grief in their story and meant a huge amount to them in terms of their processing of what happened.
I think their work is remarkable, so I would really love to donate that prize money to The Forgiveness Project, and I look forward to working with them and you guys moving forward on new ways to find drama, art and entertainment to gain access to these stories.”
The award was accepted on James's behalf by Jacob, and you can watch both of their speeches in full via the link below.
Quote of the week
“I’d not heard of the term restorative justice then but in that face-to-face meeting, which lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes, 16 years and 10 months of misery was just wiped away.” - Anne Marie Hagan