November 2024
The Silent run – To Absent friends memorial run (or walk) at HMPG and in the community for celebrating people who died in prison or prisoners’ loved ones. Organized by Runforever in collaboration with HMPG, ACE Voices and with the support of To Absent Friends and Athletics Trust Scotland.
Many runners dedicate their marathons and long distance runs to the memory of a loved one. They might write stories, poems or eulogies to print on their T-shirts or bring memorial objects with them on their runs. This is very poetic and coherent with Runforever’s interpretation of running (and Feldenkrais®-awareness through movement) as an artistic and healing practice leading to a spiritual path.
The Silent Run is in fact
“Not a race
A ritual for remembering
with no finish line.”
celebrating people who died in prison or elsewhere,
because running is not just running.
Running is dwelling poetically!
Following Runforever’s commitment to bridge the inside with the outside, this memorial run has taken place in two parts, to involve and connect both the prison community and the community outside the prison. People have been invited to join and dedicate their run (or walk) to someone they love, or to remember and celebrate absent friends, family members or loved ones who died, in prison or elsewhere.
In the community
Heathryburn School, Northfield – Aberdeen
Saturday 2nd NOV 24
The Outside session featured a performance by Aberdeen’s Intergenerational Choir directed by Alec Thompson-Miller and supported by Twisting the Rainbow (record Travel these Ways, dedicated to people in prison), a social club, and a collaboratively designed run around the playground.
In Prison
HMPG Peterhead
Thursday 7th NOV 24
The Inside session (7th November) featured art practice and tribute-making sessions, the ACE Voices choir, and a memorial run.
The Silent Run at HMPG – Thursday 7th November 2024
The Silent Run offers us the opportunity for opening a wider conversation about death within the prison and works as a starting point for opening/allowing a space for grieving for people in custody (without grieving properly, loss and death can become a trauma). Through this event we aim at creating the ground for a culture around death which is equal and just especially in marginal context like prison, in recognition of the fact that end of life care, funeral provision and post-death care need to be considered part of healthcare.
The Silent Run therefore will not be a one-off event. Together with HMPG and partner organisations, we will keep it as a common goal for next November 2025 to provide a focus for our activities.
The Silent Run has been part of To Absent Friends Festival 2024