Month: November 2025

On October 25th 2025, our dear friend Owen Elias was laid to rest at Ludford Memorial Meadow, with a wake held at the Beacon Room at Ludlow Castle. Owen was a longtime member of Ludlow and Marches Humanists. Another of our members, David Trotter, spoke in tribute of Owen’s full and varied life and we wanted to publish those words here.

My Name is David Trotter.

I was honoured and touched to be asked by his family to say a few words about my friend Owen Elias.

Owen died at his home on Wednesday 1st of October at the age of 97. It was his wish to be buried in the Ludford burial ground next to his beloved wife Joan who died in 2016.

Continue reading “In memory of Owen Elias – 1928 to 2025”

October 21^st, 2025

In this event report, Malcolm Rochefort summarises the thought-provoking talk by Jeremy Rodell, Dialogue Officer for Humanists UK

We last had Jeremy talk to us over 10 years ago, so it was a pleasure to see him return to Ludlow.

He began by outlining what he would talk about – the national and local landscape for belief systems in Britain, covering challenges and some worrying developments, and the dialogue necessary.

In looking at a measure of religious belief, three aspects were important – belief, behaviour and sense of belonging.

Belief: some surprising answers have come from recent surveys: Only 34% of UK Christians believe “Jesus was God in human form, who lived among people in first century CE Palestine”. 33% think he was “a prophet or spiritual leader, not God”; 16% “a normal human being”, and 15% “don’t know”.

Continue reading “Event Report: Religion, Division and Dialogue in Britain”