|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Meetings Reports Great Eccleston 17 February 2010 How Green Is My Funeral ? Just when you thought you knew all you needed to know about funerals along comes David Hollinshead to tell us about so many aspects of the most inevitable of decisions the majority of us have never even heard of – let alone thought about. In ‘How Green Is My Funeral’ David led a very well attended meeting in a fascinating, informed and entertaining discussion on Wednesday evening [17th Feb]. We heard about the environmental impact of various coffins, caskets, baskets, boxes and Eco-pods. We learned about regular burials, woodland burials, burials in private gardens, burials at sea; funeral pyres, recomposing and even pariahs. Then there were Cremations, Resomations and Promessions to talk about. And (of course) the most useful recycling of all – donating organs or whole bodies … Post mortem [naturally J]. We were also treated to a slide show of amusing and innovative uses of coffins people had purchased before their death: such as making book-cases, settees and even coffee tables out of them … (or should that be coffin tables?) – and novel, rickshaw style, hearse! The fact that we had input from Funeral Directors only added to the depth and breadth of the stimulating discussion which followed David’s presentation … added to which David provided a handy list of web-sites from where more detailed information could be found.
Meeting at Blackburn on 20 May 2009
Blackburn and Back Again
Well - it was a long time in the planning but our project team - Ken Hayes, Julie Humphreys, and David Hollinshead deserve a great deal of praise for sticking to the task, for searching out the venue, for deciding on the format and all the other detail that had to be addressed in order for an event such as this to go as smoothly as it did - but it was all worthwhile! Around 50 people attended The Hornby Theatre at 7pm on Wednesday 20th May to participate in the ‘Humanism - Any Questions?’ event - and ‘participate’ they did! It proved to be a very entertaining, at times lively, but never hostile debate - [and Julie’s expert ‘chairing’ played no small part in keeping it that way]. Added to the 50 attendees there were apologies from ten people who wanted to attend but were unable to ... and four ‘no-shows’ (people who were coming but - for one reason or another - didn’t get there). The Subjects: ‘Origins & history of humanism’ (Kath Wayland): ‘What makes a humanist - a personal view’ (David Hollinshead): ‘What humanists stand for - and against’(Linda Parkins): ‘Humanism & morals’ (John Wayland): ‘Humanist campaigns’ (Ken Hayes): ‘Humanist ceremonies’ (Ian Abbott) ... Were well received by an attentive audience and no ‘prompting’ was required when it came to ‘questions’ primarily to the speakers but quickly moving to general debates between various guests. Representatives of Blackburn Cathedral were among the audience - and they fully participated in the event [and- to be honest - took a great deal of flak too!] I was especially struck by one gentleman who told us ‘This is the first time I’ve been allowed to voice my opposition to religion in a public meeting - and not been booed and jeered at’ Lots of pamphlets and leaflets were taken away by many of the visitors - including almost all of our ‘Application Forms’ to join LSH ... [Should’ve taken lots more - Ed.] There has been encouraging feedback. One e-mail said: “I found Wednesday's meeting at Blackburn very informative & interesting. I'd read about the meeting in the Lancashire Telegraph and had no idea what to expect. I could not have hoped for what happened. I learned a lot about Humanism and was glad to see that other people think like me and a few of my friends. There were a lot of interesting people and thoughts, both on stage and in the audience. I’d very much like to know more - I've been reading the BHA website as well as the literature I picked up on the night. As with all such meetings ‘time’ was (again) the enemy; the conversations between LSH members and the guests that developed after the meeting ended could have gone on much longer - fortunately one or two intrepid souls ventured into the night and (eventually) found sanctuary [near the Cathedral] where they enjoyed a relaxing glass of ‘something’ whilst chatting with a few ‘new faces’ who attended the meeting before going their separate ways•
2008 Annual General Meeting LSH AGM was held at The Great Eccleston Village Centre on Wednesday 15th October 2008. The meeting was well attended (for an AGM). [Present] Ian & Zelda Abbott; John & Kath Wayland; Rachel Coupe; Joanne Barker; Peter Angus; Ken Hayes; Marie Renner; David Hollinshead; Julie Humphrey; Linda Parkins; Don Burnett and Chris Ward. [Apologies] Scarlett Rodd; Pam & Graham Jones; Georgina & David Coupland and Deliah Baxter. Everybody was welcomed and thanked for attending; the agenda was adopted and apologies noted. Ian delivered the Secretary’s report on our 2008 activities (separate article below) The group expressed appreciation that, throughout the year, the range of subjects and format have been wide and various which added greatly to the enjoyment. It was felt that, where possible, for future events we should adopt the room layout used by Bill Dawson in our inaugural meeting which was to circle the seating rather than sit in rows. It was much easier to participate in the debate and give due attention to other speakers without craning necks. We will probably continue to use the downstairs lounge at the venue rather than meet in the lounge for coffee / tea and ‘notices’ then adjourn to the ‘meeting room’ as we had been doing in the past. There was some discussion about the falling-off of invitations to participate in The Blackpool Faith Forum but felt that our inclusion in their ‘Faiths in Blackpool’ brochure was our original objective and that was quickly achieved … even though they are extremely tardy about updating ‘contact’ details. This discussion then led on to a debate about how best to categorize ‘Humanism’ in things like Faith Forums; R.E.; SACRE’s and the many community information catalogues. There was discomfort over the fact that those who produce these documents have great difficulty in categorizing Humanism as something other than ‘A Religion’. This in turn led to a lively debate about RE in Schools in general and the wearing of Religious Symbols. Enjoyable as the debate was Ian dragged the meeting back to the agenda … which is the AGM.
The meeting received the financial report for L.S.H. with a current balance of £318.34p in an Interest Account and £230.48p in a Treasurers (day-to-day) Account. The meeting was asked to bear in mind that there was still over £100 to be taken debited as a belated refund to Peter Angus who had already paid for our web-presence. Furthermore it also owed Ian & Zelda £65.96p for 11 DVD’s, £20 for Humanist leaflets and a presently unknown amount for purchasing food for Augusts Pecha–Kucha BBQ The meeting was reminded that at our next AGM the group will decide how much of our residual funds will be handed over to our nominated charity … which will be some £100’s. This AGM marks the end of an exciting inaugural year for Lancashire Secular Humanists. It seems impossible to imagine that our initial meeting at Great Eccleston was over a year ago; when Bill Dawson (from Liverpool Humanists) delivered a talk, then led a discussion on Humanist Ceremonies as a way of launching the then newly formed LSH. That was in September and only intended as a ‘taster session’ to get a feel for the interest such a ‘County Wide’ group might generate.
January … Encouraged by an attendance of over 40 people to Bill’s meeting a fledgling LSH was launched with a talk from Dignity in Dying who campaign for the right to a Doctor assisted death for those who choose it. February … Andrew Copson, the BHA’s Education Officer travelled from London to lead an open-forum debate on Faith Schools. Despite broadcasting invitations since September it seems that there were no representatives of any faith group who were available to participate in the debate so Andrew entertained us with a ‘Cooperesque’ style of presenting both sides of the arguments for and against Faith Schools himself. March … In a similar fashion to Faith Schools every Religious Chaplain engaged in Hospital, Prison, Armed Forces and University Chaplaincy rolls locally was unavailable to deliver a talk to a group of Humanists about what provisions are put in place for the non-religious who form part of these various institutions. So Ian interviewed the Chaplain at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and delivered an overview of the depressingly scant acknowledgement that non-religious people even ‘need’ some degree of Chaplaincy support. April … [Ian (again) … only this time ‘planned’ instead of having to step in]. The talk was on Religious Education within the state education system and the compulsory nature of Collective Worship Assemblies, School Prayers, Hymns and participation in RE itself. This then led to a good discussion among all present about the many and various experiences of RE both in the past and now. May … LSH member Mike Quinton (himself a minister of religion from 1956 to 1974) had prepared to speak on “Some of Humanism's closest cousins can be found amongst liberal Christians - comments from a one who has been both” but unfortunately Mike’s ill-health prevented him being able to deliver this eagerly awaited talk so, falling back on our library of DVD’s the meeting watched the award winning film “The God Who Wasn’t There”. June … Ken Hayes delivered a talk based on the BHA publication ‘The Case For Secularism’ which then led to a lively debate proving (once again) that getting free-thinking Humanists to agree can indeed be like ‘herding cats’ sometimes. But also proving that we are not only capable of delivering our opinions, we can listen to the conflicting opinions of others too and happily consider what they think and re-consider our opinions as a consequence. July … Quiz Night! … This was something different for us and a fun way to decide on the Charity we would adopt for our fundraising activities throughout the coming year. The quiz was won by ‘Darwin’s Descendants’ and the charity chosen was The Rosemere Centre at Royal Preston Hospital … plus £77:40p was added to our charity coffers. August … Another First! A Pecha Kucha Night. Several Talks and a BBQ enjoyed in the award winning gardens of The Great Eccleston Village Centre. September … An evening of Seminars. Various LSH members delivered five short talks on the subjects of: Secularism – The History of Humanism – Humanist Values – Current Campaigns – The Future of Humanism. These were no only informative and interesting in their own rights but led on to a broad discussion in which everybody present participated and contributed. As well as our regular monthly meetings Various LSH members have participated in a number of ‘Outreach’ activities throughout the year. October 07 … Ian was invited to participate in two full-day RE Seminars at two Schools in Macclesfield which were very well received by students and staff alike. He was invited back to repeat the event this October but, due to the distances involved, passed the schools on to their local Humanist Group (South Cheshire & North Staff’s Humanists). November 07 … Five LSH members travelled to Leeds to take part in the BHA’s Local Development Initiative presented by Pepper Harrow. December 07 … Ian was studio guest of BBC Radio Lancashire’s Joe Wilson Show 7am – 9am on Sunday. February … LSH members joined L/pool Humanists in marking Darwin Day with a day spent at Chester Zoo accompanied by a talk on Darwinism by a Professor from L/pool John Moore’s University. May … LSH members travelled to Pendle to accept the invitation from ‘Building Bridges Pendle’ to participate in their Inter-Faith Seminar where we shared the stage with a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Quaker and a B’ahai We have also had a chance to build our own bridges with the Isle of Man Freethinkers when Ian went to the I.O.M to conduct a wedding ceremony on the island. We have featured in a number of Newspaper articles regarding the WBC & YMCA partnership in Community owned leisure Centres; The Bishop of Lancaster’s opinions on Faith Schools The application by Blackpool Tower for a license to conduct wedding at the top of the tower; and John Wayland’s persistent and eventually successful pressure to feature a non-religious view in the Lytham St Annes Express. Added to that LSH is now a member of West Lancashire Community Volunteer Services; we are frequently invited to attend Lancashire SACRE meetings and Ken Hayes has been I contact with WBC Equality & Diversity Team. Our web-presence is growing we have a members only forum and our Library of Humanist-themed books and DVD’s is truly impressive. Later this month Ian is invited to Preston FM’s Chat City. Preston’s newest Community Radio Station for an interview about all-things Humanism.
All in all … a busy year … a lot done … but a great deal more that can be done!
John Wayland queried whether or not we should have the accounts audited. There was an acknowledgement that, as we are not a registered charity, there is no obligation to have the accounts audited, and it was not something that has been done in the past. Neither do we raise money direct from the public and so it is (after all) just our own money. Having said that there is no objection to having the accounts audited but there was a reluctance to incur any costs. It was decided to hold, in abeyance, the matter of auditing but if an accountant could be found who would do it for no charge then we will review the matter.
Details of the November meeting were relayed to the meeting.
The prospect of our 2008 Winter Solstice ‘get-together’ was discussed. There was a discussion about future ‘outreach’ activities as well as suggestions for future meetings.
We discussed our ‘Darwin Day 2009’ activities.
The election of officers Chris Ward greed to continue as our Librarian; John Wayland was confirmed as the group’s Press Officer; Ian will continue as Chair & Treasurer; Zelda will continue as Secretary and Linda Parkins agreed to act as Membership Secretary.
There were no other matter to be discussed under A.O.B. and, having run out of time, the meeting was adjourned and those of us who wanted to went across the road for a well-earned pint.
16 July 2008 ‘Darwen’s Descendents’ Decide Difficult Dilemma!
Narrowly beating ‘The Dimwits’ … by just half-a-point … ‘Darwen’s Descendents’ were the winning team of our ‘Charity Quiz Night’ which took place in Great Eccleston Village Centre on Wednesday 16th July.
In order to resolve the tricky problem of which charity should be adopted the winning team not only won a cash prize of £20 but also earned the honour (burden?) of choosing the LSH charity from the short-list of three arrived at by nominations from members.
‘Graham & The Babes’, ‘The Lost Souls’ and ‘The Golden Oldies’ also put up a good fight but; after hearing brief final arguments from the proposers of the short-listed charities, and following earnest consultation between themselves, ‘Darwen’s Descendents’ decided on The Rosemere Cancer Centre at Royal Preston Hospital as LSH’s adopted charity for 2008/9 … then generously donated their winnings to help our fledgling charity fund find it’s feet.
Three Raffle prizes of Richard Dawkins book ‘The God Delusion’, a bottle of Red Wine & a bottle of White Wine were also donated and a total of £77:40p was raised on the night. A good start for our worthy cause! And what’s more, a very enjoyable and entertaining way to spend an evening with friends.
Further raffles and other fundraising events will take place throughout the rest of 2008 and 2009 and the final amount will be announced and donated at our Oct 2009 AGM.
The Case for Secularism report on our June meeting… by Rachel Coupe
Word about the monthly LSH gatherings continues to spread, enabling us to welcome five new faces to Wednesday night’s meeting and to what turned out to be one of the most insightful and vigorous meetings so far.
Retired TV producer / journalist, (& LSH member) Ken Hayes, presented a succinct précis of ‘The Case for Secularism’ made in a pamphlet of the same name from BHA Philosopher’s Group.
Acknowledging that getting free-thinking Humanists to agree on anything is akin to herding cats Ken coaxed his audience as they discussed their own approaches to achieving recognition for humanism and secularism in public and private life and how best to make progress towards achieving the shared aim of a secular state. Everyone offered widely differing opinions!
Encouraged by Ken, a robust exchange of views were shared during a healthy debate where everyone acknowledged the opposing opinions of others and supported their right to express them.
We agreed on the necessity to separate state from religion to achieve a more peaceful, fair & respect-fully coexisting society but had different views on the language used to desc-ribe ourselves and our views; from passive & coercive to assertive & indignant.
An extremely important new ritual was instigated after this meeting when eight members rounded off the evening in the pub. There we continued a more relaxed discussion over mainly soft drinks (as most were driving).
Hopefully this will continue to be a new but optional feature of meetings in the future.
For the statisticians among you this (June) meeting was the first time women have outnumbered men (by one) and saw a spread across the age range of over 50 years so we really are appealing across the board and across Lancashire.
20 February 2008 report by Ian Abbott "Faith schools should form no part of the state education system" There was certainly a god-shaped-hole in Churchtown on Wednesday evening (20th February).
Lancashire Secular Humanists were entertained by a well informed and skilfully argued presentation entitled ‘Faith Schools should form no part of the state education system’ delivered by the British Humanist Associations education officer Andrew Copson at Kirkland & Catterall Community Hall.
Despite the fact that Lancashire has more faith schools than any other region of England & Wales and, having invited a large number of religious and faith school representatives to engage Andrew in what was always planned to be an open debate in a public forum chaired by a neutral education professional, the very people who claim such ‘sectarian schools’ somehow benefit rather than segregate society were glaringly conspicuous by their absence.
Fortunately Andrew was well versed in the various arguments frequently put forward in defence of maintaining (and increasing ) the number of faith schools and so, playing both parts, he firstly put the case on behalf of the defence before comprehensively rebutting each ‘reason’ point by point.
After speaking Andrew took questions from the floor and was inundated with a stream of comments, questions, and suggestions from an equally articulate audience and the evening evolved into a well mannered but nevertheless lively and agreeable debate.
Sadly, having run out of time, the chairman was compelled to bring the evening to an end by thanking Andrew, who was warmly applauded by an appreciative audience.
Dignity in Dying 16 January 2008 report by Ian Abbott
"I helped my son to end his life" … a revelation which left the audience at the Lancashire Secular Humanists meeting temporarily speechless as they absorbed the immense courage and compassion demonstrated by Heather, who accompanied Susie Vane-Tempest of Dignity in Dying (DiD), when they addressed the LSH meeting at Great Eccleston Village Centre last Wednesday evening (16th January). Heather (also a member of DiD) told of how two of her five children had inherited Huntington's Disease. One son, a gifted artist, had made the decision to end his life once his condition had deteriorated to such an extent that not only was he no longer able to paint but was finding it almost impossible to care for himself; even though, despite continuing unpreventable deterioration, he would in all probability survive another five to eight years. He was a man who valued greatly his independence and abhorred the very idea that 24 hour nursing care was ultimately inevitable; consequently he had been discussing his decision to end his life (at a time of his choosing) with his loving family over a period of two years and on the occasion of his last birthday he informed his mother that this was the day he had chosen to die. He told her he had persuaded friends to supply him with the only birthday present he truly wanted – heroin- so as to end his life, and that he’d taken an overdose (which he eventually resorted to swallowing due to the fact that, despite many attempts, his condition made it impossible for him to inject) and that even though he had no wish to die alone he would fully understand if she did not want to stay. But; if she did stay, she had to promise that she would not allow his suicide to be unsuccessful. Of course she wasn’t going to leave him alone! Heather made him comfortable then lay down on the bed beside him and they talked about all he had done in his life, the happy family times they’d enjoyed and all the other things their family will never forget; and continued talking until he fell asleep. Heather fell asleep herself and when she woke his breathing was erratic and shallow; his face was white, his lips blue … but he was still alive. She took a pillow and placed it over his face until she was certain he was dead, and then phoned the police and an ambulance. She never attempted to deny, or in any way mitigate, what she had done but at her trial, forensic experts on both side concurred that it was his overdose that killed him and therefore her actions could not be construed as murder or manslaughter; however she was convicted, on her own admission, of assisting in his suicide. Her story was truly moving and there were more than a few tears shed in the audience as her story unfolded. Emotions were mixed between admiring her undeniable and unwavering love for her son; but tinged with outrage that the law in this country is such that both he and she had been forced into such a situation; and that Heather herself should then be branded a criminal having acted entirely out of love for him, respect for his wishes and compassion for his predicament. Heather went on to explain how another son, also with Huntington's Disease, is an entirely different character. He has no desire to end his life prematurely. A decision that is absolutely respected by all his loving family who will continue to do all they can to make his life as rich and fulfilling as possible until his inevitable death. Susie Vane-Tempest explained how, despite DiD’s support, The Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill (ADTI) Bill was narrowly defeated last year, almost entirely due to the Bench of Bishops turning out in force and voting in unison; despite the fact that every opinion poll in recent years consistently indicates that 80% of the population agree that *mentally competent, terminally ill people with six months or less to live who make persistent, well informed, voluntary requests and are suffering unbearably should be able to choose to receive medical help to die*. [*The entire scope of the Bill*] Interestingly 81% of those who describe themselves as Anglicans and Catholics support that wording; which begs the question; who are the Bench of Bishops supposed to be representing? Susie described how, in addition to the narrow parameters of who should have access to ADTI (if they so choose) there are over 20 safeguards built in to the Bill to protect the vulnerable. She then informed her audience about Living Wills and various other assistance and advice that DiD can supply. Suzie & Heather waived any travel expenses LSH were planning to give them asking instead for that money to be sent to DiD; with that the audience held a collection which was added to the LSH cheque and forwarded to DiD HQ. Anybody seeking further information can access it a www.dignityindying.org.uk … or via LSH’s own website www.lancashiresecularhumanists.co.uk or come to future LSH meetings and pick up DiD literature there.
Inaugural Meeting 12 Sept 2007 report by Ian Abbott A flock of Humanists descended on Great Eccleston on Wednesday night! The inaugural meeting of Lancashire Secular Humanists was a great success. The meeting was opened by Ian Abbott who explained that the primary aims of this meeting were two-fold. On the one hand it was intended as a dry-run to identify any glitches that may occur when our meetings begin in earnest in January 2008; and on the other, it was to give people an opportunity to come along, have a look at us, see what we’re all about and maybe take away any literature they wanted. People there had travelled from as far afield as Clitheroe and were pleased to be given the opportunity to meet with so many other like-minded people from around the county who had come to listen to Television Screenwriter and University lecturer Bill Dawson; a Humanist Celebrant accredited by The British Humanist Association. So many people attended that the extremely helpful staff at the new Great Eccleston Village Centre went to great lengths to help the meeting move into a much larger room just to accommodate the numbers. And all those who attended agreed that the journey was well worth the effort. Bill entertained his audience with stories about how, many years ago, he had attended the very disappointing church funeral of his Uncle Billy in Liverpool and came away convinced that he couldn’t possibly do it any worse and feeling that he could probably do it infinitely better. He described how he made contact with The British Humanist Association and was accepted by them for training in Humanist ceremonies and then talked about the huge variety of ceremonies he has conducted. There were stories both tragic and humorous about some of the predicaments he’d encountered including his own, real life version of the Dead Parrot Sketch. He talked about his own (recent) very moving Humanist Wedding ceremony and of some of the wonderful people whose weddings he has been privileged to have officiated at, and some of the strange and unusual locations where they have taken place. And Bill’s genuine enjoyment in conducting Baby-Naming ceremonies was obvious for all to see. Everybody present had the opportunity to throw questions at Bill about Ceremonies in particular and Humanism in general and, at the end of the evening he was roundly applauded by a very appreciative audience. Forthcoming events already planned will include
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
