This colourful re-burial celebration in Madagascar may not take on here, but more's the pity, I say... because it's wonderful! Click HERE for the BBC video...

If you were watching BBC Breakfast News yesterday morning, you may have seen film director Steven Eastwood being interviewed about his new film 'Island'. It's 'a life-affirming phenomena of dying' as he follows the last 12 months of four terminally ill patients at the Earl Mountbatten Hospice in Newport on the Isle of Wight, bravely including the moment of death.

I wanted to find out more about the film, and about Steven, and came across a feature he wrote for The Independent last week. In response to his experiences of filming and meeting the patients, he says...

"We fear proximity to death will change us, depress us, forge lasting negative associations with people we love. But it doesn’t. What was it like and how did I feel, when Alan died? I felt elated. Beautiful, unspeakable and strange. To my mind [the film] isn’t harrowing or burdensome. I felt uplifted and empowered by the extraordinary events I was fortunate enough to be invited to bear witness to. I hope that something of that feeling of empowerment has translated to the screen."

The film premieres at the BFI London Film Festival this weekend and I'm hoping it will be available to view in the months to come. In the meantime, if you want to see the full Independent article, you can read it HERE.

"The suits don't make me mournful about Dad. They give me strength and confidence."

Flora Gill, daughter of the late AA Gill, has found a way to feel closer to her father who died of cancer last year aged 62 – she has had his famous suits tailored to fit her. What a fantastic and really moving tribute to him. See her wearing the suits and talking about what inspired her to wear them HERE... 

Flora Gill in one of her father's suits tailored for her.

Flora with her father, the journalist AA Gill.

Given the opportunity, I'll always promote the beautiful benefits of organ donation. I know not everyone feels the same, which is why so many people still haven't signed up to the Organ Donation Register. But to me, it's something I signed up to without question, for two reasons. First of all, knowing that my organs could help someone live after I've died is a wonderful thing. I don't need them, they do. So as one life ends, another continues. That's such a gift. And so is my second reason... knowing that my heart will still beat, my eyes will still see – even in someone else's body – gives me comfort, knowing that part (or parts) of me, literally, will live on.

That's why I let out a little cheer when this story appeared on the news last week Girls Organs Help A Record Eight People. Not being insensitive to the tragedy of poor Jemima's death at only 13, but appreciating that her parents realised how something positive could come from such an event. And that it was on the news so others could read about it and, I hope, be inspired to add their name to the list. 

According to recent statistics, 457 people died last year waiting for a transplant. And there are currently 6,414 people on the transplant waiting list, including 176 children. If more people signed up, then we can have more of these lovely stories where death brings life. Read more about organ donation here...