Category: Resources

Humanists take part in Ludlow ceremony

Members of the Ludlow and Marches Humanists took part in the wreath laying at Ludlow Peace Memorial on Remembrance Sunday, November 12th, 2023.

An informal talk by Father Christopher Walsh
April 18th, 2023

In this event report, Ludlow and Marches Humanists Chair Malcolm Rochefort reflects upon the insightful talk by Father Walsh about Pope Francis and his influence on the Catholic Church.

Father Christopher Walsh, of the Catholic Church of St Peter’s in Ludlow, kindly agreed to give us a talk on ‘Why is Pope Francis special?’. We had the impression, as observers of the Roman Catholic Church from the outside, that Pope Francis had brought something different to the church over the past few years, and his views did not appear to be universally appreciated within the church, so we appreciated an insider’s view on this.

Continue reading “Event Report: Why is Pope Francis special?”

A talk by Igor Kennaway, local pianist, conductor and music teacher
21st March, 2023

In this event report, Ludlow and Marches Humanists Chair Malcolm Rochefort, offers his perspective on Igor’s absorbing multi-media exploration of music.

Igor now lives locally in Wigmore, and is a conductor, pianist and music lecturer. He graduated in history from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and then received a Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust bursary to attend the Royal Academy of Music. During that time he was mentored and became lifelong friends with Vaughan Williams’ widow Ursula Vaughan Williams.

Continue reading “Event Report: Music is the language of our silence”

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises John’s talk about his experiences as a humanist celebrant

John’s journey

John was brought up with a Baptist mother and was baptised when he was 16. His church was part of the ‘Jesus’ movement. When at Sheffield University he joined the Christian Union but lost his faith and became strongly not religious.

His career was in IT and management consultancy. When he retired, he thought what now? He was attracted to humanism and checked on the website that he was indeed a humanist. He felt he could use his skills of presentation and experience of meeting people to become a humanist celebrant and looked into the training.

Continue reading “Event Report: February 21st meeting with John Leaman – an Introduction to Humanist ceremonies”

Humanists UK launches a new membership recruitment drive, fronted by an animated film from its patron, Stephen Fry

As well as being an actor, broadcaster, director, and writer, Stephen Fry is also a humanist, and a proud patron of Humanists UK.

In this new video, Stephen looks at the work Humanists UK does to help people live full, satisfying lives without religion. From campaigning for an education system free from discrimination, to providing popular humanist weddings, as well as pastoral care in hospitals and prisons, humanists work for the good of everyone to promote a fairer society.

Joining Humanists UK is an opportunity to engage with a thriving community of like-minded people who think for themselves and act for everyone.

For more information, please visit: humanists.uk/join

Humanists take part in Ludlow ceremony

On Remembrance Day, 13th November 2022, a small group of us gathered at the Ludlow War Memorial and we laid a wreath on behalf of the Ludlow and Marches Humanists.

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises the fascinating and topical talk given by Dr. Kelcey about the history of vaccination.

Colin has spent the last two years working with the Oxford AstraZeneca team. The team mutually supported each other by phone. Someone hacked a member’s phone and obtained the numbers of all the team. Team members were rung, often at very inconvenient times, haranguing them and calls were often very abusive. E-mails were also sent to the team members in a similar vein. Colin started to look into the anti-vax movement.

Continue reading “Event report: October 18th meeting with Dr. Colin Kelcey – Blossom and the Origins of the Anti-Vax Movement”

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises the thought-provoking talk given by Robert about Humanists’ work towards inclusive education

Robert has been in this post at Humanists UK since last November. Education is their biggest campaign. Robert gave some examples of their work. They have exposed concerns about illegal religious schools with practices such as physical abuse for alleged profanities which could be something like mild blasphemy. There are also sometimes concerns about religious indoctrination in legal faith schools. On this, Robert said much depends on the will of the Head who may be highly religious.

Continue reading “Event report: September 20th meeting with Robert Cann, Education Campaigns Manager for Humanists UK”

A growing library of over 270 videos, delivered by some of the world’s greatest thinkers

From science, to philosophy, history, literature, and beyond, the Humanists UK YouTube Channel is an absorbing and entertaining window into the many diverse subjects that fascinate humanists.

Click this link to see what the channel has to offer: https://www.youtube.com/humanists_UK

In this event report, Malcolm Rochefort summarises Marie’s insightful presentation on the issues and arguments for an assisted dying law in the UK

On 19^th April we had a talk from our local Shropshire representative of Dignity in Dying, Marie Yates on ‘Why we need an assisted dying law in the UK’. The campaign’s purpose is to change the UK law to allow the choice of an assisted death for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

This was an excellent explanation of the background and case for an assisted dying law to be passed in the UK, and was accompanied by a very detailed presentation. My apologies if this article is longer than normal, but I make no apology for reproducing Marie’s arguments from her presentation as I believe they make a very powerful case for a change in the current legislation.

Dignity in Dying was founded in 1935 and its early supporters included HG Wells and GB Shaw.Attempts to legalise assisted dying were made in 1936 and 1950, after which it became a membership organisation. The most recent attempt to legalise was in 2015. Dignity in Dying currently has 25,000 paid-up members, 200,000 supporters on its e-mail list, and 500,000 supporters on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). There are 50 local groups.

Continue reading “Event report: April 19th meeting with Marie Yates, Shropshire representative for Dignity in Dying”