Humanist Groups Network
Discussion
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Humanist Groups Network |
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Discussion
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The Group Representatives' Annual Meeting
was held in the
Fenner Brockway Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1
on Saturday 5 November 2005 .
GRAM 2005 was an interesting, pleasant and convivial occasion. It was extremely well organised by David Williams (Berkshire) starting from quite a late date (June). He made it clear that he would recommend that who ever is doing next year's GRAM should start a few months earlier He also said that the task was not very onerous and was interesting. He said that it had meant that he had made contact by email and phone with humanists from all over the united kingdom.
I don't think anything of great importance occurred at GRAM but there was a useful exchange of views on various issues, provision of information and quite a lot of socialising .
Before lunch Sue Lord (Bromley) (sorry, I thought I had taken a better photo but it didn't come out) gave an extremely competent, interesting, entertaining, simple and effective Power Point presentation. She talked about how one can make greater use of the Internet and also how with a simple laptop, even using just the laptop screen, particularly for small meetings, one can make interesting presentations for local groups. She took the uninitiated through aspects of creating websites, linking to other sites and made a plea for greater use of the experience of the humanist movement that people such as herself have and which she makes available from her website www.secularsites.freeuk.com . |
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| Sue Lord also brought along a series of leaflets, pamphlets and some CDs which generated a lot of interest. They included five pamphlets about education, health, transience, sex and belief which are very nicely produced and would certainly stimulate discussion and debate |  |
A superb buffet Lunch ( sandwiches, salads, quiche, flan, wine, biscuits, coffee and tea) was provided by the BHA.
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The afternoon continued with presentations from local groups. Barrie Berkley (North East) spoke about a project that they have been working on. He mentioned in passing the continuing success of library displays as a means of promoting humanism but as he had talked about this at GRAM 2004 he said he wasn't going to go on about it again but if anyone were interested he would welcome enquiries.
Instead he spoke to us about the North East Humanist working party that inspired by the Amsterdam Declaration had been set up:
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The project seems a very interesting one. I took a handout which set out in three columns the following:
Barrie gave a couple of examples from the 14 outlined. It is he explained a work in progress and John Hodge who is the convenor of the working party would, Barrie said, welcome comments. Barrie also mentioned that their group was actively encouraging the formation of new University groups. He mentioned Newcastle and Northumbria but said that it was still very much at the early stages.
Next there was a presentation by David Savage from a fairly new group Farnham. He told us how their group was progressing. They seem very active. I think he said they number around 30 members and were pushing on all sorts of fronts. The Great Farnham Debate on faith schools, with the Bishop of Guildford, Lord Dearing, Marilyn Mason and Dame Tamsyn Imison, was also brought to GRAMs attention. Representatives were impressed by what they anticipated was clearly going to be an exciting event.” |
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Alan Hayes (Leicester Secular Society) couldn't make the GRAM but sent a Power Point presentation, which David Williams gave. It was mainly about the Leicester Secular Hall which is owned by the Society and which they are planning to renovate with the help of lottery funds etc. The Leicester Secular Society claims to be the oldest in the UK having started in 1851. (DAW pointed out that the South Place Ethical Society claims to be the oldest freethought community in the world founded in 1793) |
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Hanne Stinson made clear how much the BHA positively supports local groups and encourages the formation of new groups. She said that Jemma Hooper was disappointed at not being able to be with us. The meeting sent Jemma good wishes and signed a get-well card, which Hanne said she would give to her later in the day. Hanne indicated that the BHA was working to encourage the formation of other humanist groups within political parties not only the big three. She spoke about how the BHA had been invited to participate in a commemorative event for the Tsunami disaster (she mentioned that this was not without its uncomfortable moments for her due to its religiosity) but the BHA was not even contacted by the organisers of the recent remembrance service in St Pauls re 7/7. |
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The meeting, I sensed, found this particularly shocking particularly in the light of the fact that an active humanist the late Chair of the Havering group, Giles Hart, was one of the victims. Hanne said she would be following it up. It was noted that the Archbishop of Canterbury did however make mention of humanism in his address Hanne thought this might indicate some sensitivity on his part to the omission of the BHA.
JK information: Since Jemma joined the BHA the following new groups have been formed (not all directly as a result of her but with her active support without which they probably would not succeed)
David Williams expertly stage managed GRAM from behind an impressive array of projectors and speakers and a laptop. He updated us on some of the latest group statistics. He told us how many groups there were and produced a map illustrating the geographical location of the groups. He gave us some official and unofficial statistics for groups' membership and so on. Hanne remarked how the distribution seemed quite even across the country but we were all agreed that we could do with more groups. |
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| A very embryonic group UKAFHA (UK Armed Forces Humanist Association) was represented by Ian Roberts He told us about the need for the association and differences between the navy, army and RAF. He received a warm welcome from GRAM. |
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Marilyn Mason gave a brief outline of BHA work in supporting and encouraging membership of local SACREs. She will be retiring from her post as Education Officer at the BHA early next year and GRAM expressed its warm appreciation for all the magnificent work she has done over the years. She reminded representatives how different things are in respect of Religious Education in schools from what most people remember of their experiences. |
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MM invited any members, prospective members or potential members of SACREs to the BHA SACRE representatives' meeting on November 26 but contact Marilyn first at education@humanism.org.uk . She had organised a table full of some of the BHA resource material. She also spoke a little about Faith schools and stressed how important it was for there to be local vigilance in this area. |
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Note:Also on display were two syllabuses Brent and Islington both of which have a great deal of humanist content. The humanist input in these syllabuses can be viewed online at http://hampstead.humanists.net/brent.htm and http://hampstead.humanists.net/islington.htm .
Sam Rimmer and Hanne then invited questions from the group representatives about the ceremonies network. There were only a few officiants at GRAM but there was considerable interest from all present in this important aspect of humanist activities. Hanne outlined some of the facts and figures. In 2004 there had been over 6000 ceremonies conducted by officiants accredited to the BHA. However not only are there some officiants who have left the BHA network and are no longer accredited but there is now considerable competition from other organisation such as Civil Ceremonies and even CofE vicars who are offering humanist funerals. |
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A working party has been set up to look into the reasons why people have left the BHA ceremonies network. We were told that the working party hopes to report early next year. Hanne made it clear that she would like to see reconciliation happen if possible.
David Williams was formally thanked by John Catt (Family Network) for all his work in organising GRAM. David reminded people of the need to volunteer soon to organise next year's GRAM and asked us all to consider the timing and location of the next GRAM. He said that the Leicester Secular Society had offered to host GRAM at Secular Hall and this might be something we would like to consider.
All present seemed pleased with GRAM. Danny Collman (Birmingham) did however point out the difficulties of getting from outside of London to Conway Hall in time for a 11.00am start.
There were just over 30 people who attended GRAM this year and 17 groups were represented.