Category: Resources

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”

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I’m writing to let you know that Tony Mason, a long-time member of Ludlow and Marches Humanists died on 23rd September at the age of 96, I believe.

Tony and his wife Joan were two of the founder members of the Welsh Marches Humanist Group, as the Ludlow and Marches Humanists were originally called, back in 1994 and Tony went on to serve as the group’s chairman for many years.

Both Tony and Joan have remained stalwart supporters of humanism in Ludlow so Tony’s death, though not unexpected, is a sad loss to all of us.

Joan has told me that Tony had slipped into a coma and had excellent medical care for 3 days before dying peacefully.

There are no plans for a funeral, just a family memorial later in the year.

With regards,

Malcolm Rochefort
Chair, Ludlow and Marches Humanists

September 16th 2025

In this event report, Malcolm Rochefort summarises the intriguing talk by Dr Ian Jefferson, a retired paediatric endocrinologist

Dr Jefferson talk was enticingly entitled ‘Sugar & Spice or Slugs & Snails?’

We’re familiar with the rhyme suggesting that boys and girls are made from different things – pleasant (girls) or unpleasant (boys)! In fact, apart from the obvious external signs of sex, what are the genetic determinators and what do they really affect in terms of sexual development in human beings?

Continue reading “Event Report: Sugar & Spice or Slugs & Snails?”

April 15th 2025

For the April meeting, our humanists group welcomed Bernard North who gave a thought-provoking talk on the history of slavery. With thanks to our friends at the Ludlow Probus Club for the summary.

Bernard commenced by advising that many of our national institutions had connections to slavery – including the Bank of England. Britain’s prosperity today was founded on profits from slavery. We tend to concentrate on the British involvement in transporting slaves from West Africa to the United States. But slavery and slave trading was global, going back thousands of years.

Continue reading “Event Report: A history of slavery and in modern times”

March 18th 2025

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarizes the talk by Sylvia Duffy and Liz Taylor from the Ludlow Fairtrade Town Group.

Sylvia and Liz are from the Ludlow Fairtrade Town Group. Ludlow was first given fair trade status in 2003. At that time, many Traidcraft products were sold in Ludlow but Traidcraft, a UK-based Fairtrade organisation, went into administration in 2023.

Continue reading “Event Report: A Fairtrade Evening”

February 18th 2025

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises the talk by Dr Simon Jenkins looking at the best ways to make a positive impact.

Simon is Associate Professor for Values, Law and Ethics at Warwick University. He teaches ethics and law to medical students and other medical professionals. Effective Altruism (EA) is a social movement, a set of ideas on how to best improve the world and make it a better place. It combines the head and the heart.

Continue reading “Event Report: Effective Altruism”

November 19th, 2024

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd recounts Paul’s inspiring talk about his courageous work to help people in Ukraine.

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Paul has been going in and out of the country taking humanitarian assistance from the UK to support local communities. This is mostly on his own, but he also works with other charities and individuals. He is just back from his 24th trip. These trips each cost between £500 and £600.

Paul showed us a video of him delivering aid in Kharkiv with background noise of alarms going off which he said is “the backdrop every day and night”. He showed us a map of Ukraine, which is the second largest European country in area after Russia, and has a population of 44 million. The map showed which parts of Ukraine Russia has occupied. 3.7 million people have been driven from their homes and many are refugees in their own country. 14.6 million people needed humanitarian assistance in 2024. The big cities are attacked every week if not daily. Paul started by working with Eden Aid, a charity hooking up Ukrainians with sponsors in the UK. He told us Dania’s story who was in Kyiv with her two children and a dog waiting to get to the UK. He drove over and picked them up. She was horrified at the destruction she saw 15-20 minutes away from her home. By the time they arrived in Poland she started to relax. She is now living in Church Stretton sponsored by a person in the Wirral and has her own home, a job and the children are in school.

Continue reading “Event Report: In Ukraine”

We’d like to share the obituary of our dear friend Seonaid Wootton who was a long-time active member of our Ludlow and Marches Humanists group.

Seonaid’s daughter Sarah wrote a touching tribute that was published on The Guardian website on November 6th, 2024. Please see the link below:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/nov/06/seonaid-wootton-obituary

October 15th, 2024

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd provides an
in-depth account of the thought-provoking talk by Phil Cheatle, Lead Campaign Commentator of the campaign group My Death, My Decision (MDMD).

Phil told the meeting why he had become involved in My Death My Decision. It was due to his personal experience with his mother and aunt. His mother aged 93 knew things were not going to get better and asked him to end her life. Doctors could not help her as she wished. She said “make them see sense”.

We are all living longer. A lot of heart disease and cancer are now curable but there are degenerative diseases such as dementia, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are the leading cause of death in England and Wales with 1 in 8 of all recorded cause of deaths and 1 in 4 for women over 80.

Continue reading “Event Report: My Death, My Decision?”