Main meetings: normally last Monday of the month, upstairs at The Old Ship pub, 3 King Street, Richmond, Surrey - opposite House of Fraser (formerly Dickens and Jones) (Map).
Other regular venues:
Coffee mornings: normally 2nd Thursday each month (excluding August), 11am at the Rose Theatre cafe, 24-26 High Street, Kingston KT1 1HL. Click here for map.
Pub lunches: normally 3rd Sunday each month, 12.30pm at the William Web Ellis, London Road, Twickenham (between Twickenham Railway Station and the town centre). Look for the "Happy Human" logo - we usually sit near the front windows.
To give you a flavour of what we do, here aresome of the topics covered in our meetings since we started in 2007:
- What is Humanism? - “The God Delusion” - is Richard Dawkins an asset to the Humanist cause? - Taking Offence - The Ethics of Eating - Happiness is Overrated - Shariah Law versus human rights (included raising money for the "One Law For All" campaign) - Humanism & Education - Is the Good Life Possible without God? - dialogue with a Catholic priest - Humanists Celebrants' perspectives of weddings, baby namings and funerals - Approaches to Interfaith Dialogue - Climate Change – An Inconvenient Truth - Ritual – are the Non-Religious Missing Out? - Faith and Atheism - Shared Values or Irreconcilable Differences? - Evolution versus Creationism: A Very American Conflict? - Ancient Chinese philosophy: a humanism for our time? - Can Humanists be Spiritual? - Africa - Is it just a basket case?
Among the other activities we've been involved in: - Running stalls at local fairs, and raffles at Group events, to raise money for our selected charities, which since mid 2008 have been: Practical Action and Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. - Participation in local community events including Interfaith Week and Remembrance Day.
We've also delivered a Humanist "Thought for the Meeting" for Richmond & Twickenham Council and contribute to the Kingston Council's Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE) and the Richmond Inter Faith Forum.
We support British Humanist Association campaigns to counter religious privilege in areas such as education (for example, opposition to faith schools), bishops in the House of Lords and resistance to the introduction of Creationism and Intelligent Design into science lessons. And members are BHA Local Development Volunteers in Kingston and Richmond.
Social events have included walks, theatre and cinema trips, a visit to Darwin's home (Down House), summer and Christmas parties, as well as regular coffee mornings and pub lunches.