A row broke out in a Moray shopping centre yesterday after a coffin was displayed in a window.
Jane Duncan Rogers and Kate Clark had organised an event at then St Giles Centre in Elgin to raise awareness about thdeath.
The pair had lined up three days of talks, and were offering information about planning for the end of life.
But within a day of a willow coffin being put in a shop window, the event was cancelled after other businesses complained.
Ms Duncan Rogers, who had wanted to break one of life’s final taboos, said: “We put it in the window because we thought it would be attractive for people to look at. It’s a beautiful work of work of art.
“In retrospect we could have been a little bit more sensitive, not everybody thinks like us. That’s why we were doing it in the first place though.”
Talks were being run as part of the event to encourage people to talk about death and prepare.
Other venues in the centre were offered to the group by management, but a compromise could not be reached.
One St Giles Centre shop manager said: “If they had put it at the back of the shop it would have been fine.
“For people who have recently lost a member of the family, feelings can still be very raw and it can cause upset.
“People don’t want to be sitting having a cup of coffee and looking at a coffin. It could have been more tactful.”
Another shop manger described the display as “inappropriate” for the shopping centre.
It is understood a willow basket mistaken for an infant-sized coffin also caused upset. Alternatives are now being investigated to hold the event in a different format in the future.
Kate Clark, from Roseisle, who works as a nurse with people who are dying said the display was not designed to provoke a reaction.
She said: “We’re not a bunch of people trying to do something weird. Death Awareness Week is recognised nationally. When we’ve held events before people were cautious but found it helpful.”
Elgin City North councillor Patsy Gowans said: “In France you can pick up a coffin at a city market. Maybe it’s about how we look at death.”
The St Giles Centre was approached to comment but nobody was available.