Tender Funerals Canberra Region

16/04/2026

Celebrating the life of

Lesly Gorbach

8/11/1926 ~ 6/4/2026

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Lesly Gorbach, who had reached her 100th year.

Lesly was a sociable, generous and charitable person ,a fond wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and she was very focused on her family in her final years.

A service to celebrate Lesly’s life will be held at St Thomas Aquinas Church, Lhotsky St, Charnwood on Wednesday the 29th of April commencing at 12:00pm

Please join us for a wake to send her off with joy at the Canberra Labor Club, at the Charnwood shops.

Many thanks to The Canberra Hospitals and Tender Funerals.

20/03/2026

Look who we found at Volunteering ACT 's Expo - it's Mary from Good Omen Goodeze Inc with her own Emotional Support Chicken (and emotional support snail?)! I told her about Pat and Patsy, our much loved knitted chickens. Just one of the many amazing organisations you can volunteer with, all out at UC Canberra for the Expo until 6pm today.

19/03/2026

In 2018, Richard Fidler interviewed Tender Funerals founder, Jenny Briscoe-Hough for ABC Conversations. Today, it was rereleased as an encore episode. Jenny has been the most wonderful mentor, friend and support to the Tender Canberra team as we have established ourselves (and is also merciless when it comes to snaffling good bargains on Marketplace for stylish additions to our decor!) Jenny shares her touching and inspiring story, both about starting Tender and so many other things from her life, and we thank her for it. If you have not heard this wonderful episode, please do add it to your playlist.

Jenny Briscoe-Hough on the uncomfortable truths which saw her set up Australia's first ever not-for-profit funeral home (R). After her mother died, Jenny Briscoe-Hough had an epiphany about the business of funerals. Although her family brought in their own flowers and had a simple service, the bill....

14/03/2026

What a wonderful Shroud-Making Workshop! Thanks to Michele Elliot for taking us through a beautiful day of creativity, conversation and contemplation. Apart from sharing some of her own wonderful textile creations, Michele showed us how to make botanical prints using both the tapping and steaming technique. We all had a 'tester' kit to try our hands at quilted and stitched panels. And we tried a few shrouds on for size, so we knew what measurements we'd need for ourselves. Our participants were a combination of general public and volunteers, so it was great to have some new members of our Tender community.

With periods of both quiet contemplation and much discussion, we explored the range of what a 'shroud' can be, from a simple sheet to a more complex construction. We discussed ways to create and use beautiful textiles in smaller ways than a full shroud, such as using plainer fabric but making more decorative ties, or creating a panel for a larger shroud, or using the fabric for some other memorial purpose. We talked about the different materials we can use; one participant is planning repurposing a particularly eye-catching printed sheet from an op shop, one is using items of clothing from her family and other of us are still pondering all our many options.

Michele was formerly the artist in residence at Funerals Illawarra - A Community Undertaking and it is very special to have yet another connection to the 'mothership' of the Tender network.

It got us all thinking about future projects we can do and hopefully make part of our Creative Community Care Program. We are certainly excited about a coffin decorating workshop with Wagtail Workshop and maybe some other ideas we've cooked up... watch this space.

Thank you, Michele, for sharing your knowledge, skills and experience and thank you to all our participants for taking a day to be with us in the wonderful world of intentional death care and creativity.

12/03/2026

Last weekend Catherine, our GM, recorded an interview with Sarah from Radio 1RPH about what's changing in our options for funerals. We really appreciated the invitation, because the Radio1RPH community have been great supporters. The interview is available to listen to as a podcast on their website.

Catherine is the General Manager of Tender Funerals Canberra Region.

Catherine joined Tender Funerals Canberra Region because she has a strong interest in how Australians deal with life transitions and change. She wants to improve our community connections and capacity to deal with dying, death and funerals. She brings many years of experience in the community arts, educator, start-up and philanthropy sector as a team member, manager and board member. Catherine also volunteers for organisations that support our youth, our elders and people living with disabilities.

You learn more about the rest of our team at tenderfunerals.com.au/canberra/our-people. If you'd like to arrange a time to talk to our team about your options for funeral planning, call 6171 6229.

12/03/2026

We're excited to be back at this year's Volunteering Expo hosted by VolunteeringACT!

Whether you've never volunteered before, or been a lifelong volunteer we'd love to talk to you about what we do at Tender and how you can be a valuable member of our volunteer crew.

Hope to see you there!

When: Friday, 20 March 2026
Time: 1-6pm
Where: UC Refectory - 11 Kinnari St, Bruce ACT 2617
(accessible venue and parking available)

05/03/2026

We are so pleased to be so close to our goal of $5000 to help develop our Creative Community Care Program. Thanks so much to everyone who's already contributed. This program will be about meaningfully and positively engaging and reflecting on death and dying through a range of workshops and events. Coffin decorating, shroud making, sewing circles, choirs, memory books and more are all on the horizon! Plus we'll continue our regular Tender Talks, look at other planning series, and do things like our Open Day and Community Picnic. If you'd like to be part of helping this happen, please consider donating today. Thanks for running this great appeal.

Give Where You Live! 💛 Support our of local charities doing life-changing work across our region.

26/02/2026

Are you the next member of our growing team providing meaningful and affordable funerals to our community? Or do you know someone who'd be fantastic? Experience is welcome, but not critical; we need the right person, not a specific resume. More information on applying at: https://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/members/tenderfuneralscanberraregion/funeral-director-1?locations=15

26/02/2026

U3A Canberra Forum - The Changing Face of Death: New Approaches to Dying and After-Death Care

We were very glad to be invited by Alex at U3A Canberra to be part of his Tuesday Forum next Tuesday March 3 at 12:30pm via Zoom.

Alex will be speaking to Catherine, our general manager, and Estella from Your Sunset. We'll discuss evolving approaches to death and dying. To register, please contact forums@u3acanberra.org.au

24/02/2026

We are delighted to see the new updates to the Canberra Health Services booklet, When Someone Dies. This was always a very valuable resource to support families trying to navigate their way through an expected or recent death, but some great additions have been made. These include talking about options for participating in the care of your person after their death, empowering people to ask questions and get quotes and more. The checklist that used to be in there now can be pulled out, and a 'Who Will Do This?' column has been added to encourage families to share the roles within their community. We're also very glad to be listed in this issue (the last one was done prior to our opening). Thank you, Canberra Health Services, for such a great community resource and for the opportunity to provide feedback when developing this new booklet.

12/02/2026

Celebrating the life of

Roslyn Avril Byrne
22 April 1947 – 5 January 2026

Beloved partner for 48 years of Roger Wettenhall (dec).

Sister of Graham (dec), Lawrence, Louise, Nola, Colin and sister-in-law of Viv and Barry.

Proud aunt of Sonya, Mark, Rachelle, Kirrilee, Andrew, Bevan, Kelly, Daniel, Carl and Nancy.

Remembered fondly by Roger’s children, Irene, Lynn, Dean and their families. Also by her special friends, Lois and John, and Ruth and Sam.

Celebrated educator, mentor, coach, advocate and friend to many, particularly during her long career at the University of Canberra.

Family, friends and colleagues are invited to Ros’s Celebration of Life, Friday 20th February 2026, 3pm at the Inspire Centre, Building 25, University of Canberra, followed by refreshments.

Please register your intention to attend at https://RosbyrneCelebrationofLife.eventbrite.com.au

16/12/2025

Heidi came out to visit us at Tender a few weeks ago and asked so many useful questions. It's easy to forget in the midst of the grief that usually comes with dying and funerals that there really are many opportunities to find peace, healing and even joy when families are able to take the time and space to find what's meaningful for them.

https://purposemediacbr.au/but-i-didnt-know-you-could-spend-time-with-your-person/