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Taking a Leap

• 3rd July 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Chairman Kato (later known as Kato Wong)

Hackney resident Chairman Kato is known as an artist and musician, but for many years he also had a double life working as a doctor in Accident and Emergency. It was an arrangement that worked well for much of that time but Kato became increasingly conflicted about his future and felt trapped in between two worlds. He knew he wanted to become a full time artist but couldn’t see how he could make it happen.

Then one day, at the start of 2014, Kato woke up one morning and abruptly ended his medical career, shocking his colleagues by announcing that he was now working as an artist. He had unwittingly made the biggest decision of his life.

Since then he has steadfastly dedicated himself to spreading the message about creativity. He passionately believes that not only are we all artists, but that it is our universal birthright to express ourselves. Since becoming a full time artist Kato has coached many people through their creative blocks, helping them tap their artistic potential. He also runs a weekly support group called The 100% Club, providing a confidential and encouraging environment for anyone looking to recover their creativity.

At his Sunday Assembly address, Kato will be talking about creativity, and what the joy of self expression teaches us about personal freedom and authentic living.

As well as this inspiring talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Sharing

• 17th July 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Benita Matofska

Come and join us and chief sharer, Benita Matofska on an extraordinary journey into the Sharing Economy (a system built around the sharing of human and physical resources — think cars, goods, skills…).

Benita is a global award-winning social entrepreneur, innovator and public speaker. She is a worldwide expert, speaker, writer and consultant on the Sharing Economy and the Founder of The People Who Share – a social enterprise that helps people and companies discover the Sharing Economy and the pioneer behind Global Sharing Week.

Discover how and why this new economy is changing the world as we know it. From individuals, to communities to multi-national corporations, she is witnessing a sharing transformation that is shaking society to its core. Do you dare to share? If you do, then read on about our Share Table that will happen during teas and coffees!

As well as this inspiring talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteer Lauren Harris.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all! Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Share Table
Bring an item in good condition that you no longer need and share it with our Share Table, where you’ll find all sorts of treasures that you do need! With over £3.5 trillion worth of unused goods in the world, the Share Tables show that sharing not only helps to save the planet but it’s fun too! You can bring any items such as: a book, DVD, accessory, item of clothing, household goods – anything you like as long as it’s in good condition and can easily be carried!

Mental Boundaries

• 7th August 2016, 11:am
• Speaker: Kasper van der Meulen

We are feeling beyond lucky to announce that Kasper van der Meulen, a Dutch author and lifestyle adventurer is coming from Holland to speak at Sunday Assembly. He wowed us at the Sunday Assembly Conference Called Wonder in Utrecht this year and has agreed to come to London to speak to us about how a young deaf girl taught him how to teach music.

He takes a no-nonsense, skill based approach to personal development through all kinds of exciting adventures and creative experiments. Always on the hunt for new ways to optimize mental fitness and to cultivate focused awareness, and for innovative ways to teach these principles in a fun and bitesized manner. At the Sunday Assembly he will be speaking about boundaries – especially the mental boundaries that we put on ourselves – and asking: what keeps us from limitless self-expression?

As well as this inspiring talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

The Power Hour

• 21st August 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Indra Adnan
• Poet: Joshua Idehen

We’re not just thinking power ballads here guys, this week we are joined by the incredible Indra Adnan who is going to talk to us about Soft Power and how we can use it in our lives.

For over twenty years, Indra has been writing and consulting in the international arena of soft power, conflict transformation and integral leadership. She is the founder/Director of the Soft Power Network, the founder/Director of The Downing Street Project for balanced leadership and a freelance project director for Compass think tank. She’s worked with the World Economic Forum, Indian government, the British Council, the Scottish Executive and the ICA. As well as all of this, she writes regularly for The Guardian and The Huffington Post!

On top of Indra’s inspiring talk, we have Joshua Idehen from Benin City doing spoken word, we’ll hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/coffee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

The Happiness of Being You

• 4th September 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Danny Bent

Oh my goodness, we cannot contain our excitement about this one! We have the very excellent Danny Bent coming to speak at Sunday Assembly this week!

Danny was voted one of the 100 happiest people in the UK, and one of the 50 most inspirational people in London. He is an award winning author and journalist, Guinness World Record holder, and celebrated adventurer and community leader.

Motivating people to be the best version of themselves is Danny’s passion and trade. Encouraging them to do more, give more and live more. Living dreams, facing fears, and loving themselves, others and life with abandon are his tool kit.

Come and find out what it’s like to wake with maggots in your hair and beard, to be held at gunpoint, to fall head first off a cliff and still be one of the happiest people in the country.

AND…We’re going to have a Sunday Assembly Project Awesome afterwards so come in you most 80s neon workout gear ready for some energetic fun! Have a look here for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/148638378907799/

On top of Danny’s talk, we have Becks and Caz pulling some moves with some Swing Dancing, we’ll hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

[Video: https://www.facebook.com/events/135617203547484/?active_tab=about ]

Being Amazed

• 18th September 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Neil Monteiro

With the recent discovery of a potentially habitable world within our interstellar back-garden, we should ask in a world of everyday miracles, what does it really mean to be amazed – and why does it matter?

Join Neil Monteiro – science demonstrator, outreach lecturer at Imperial College and explorer – to really think about what makes the world amazing. Learn about the latest planet to be found and hear from members of our community about their own amazement.

All that plus power ballads, guest slot from Sarah Nade and we’ll all drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

Death

• 2nd October 2016
• Speakers: Rupert Callender and Claire Callender-Phillips

Come and join us for a Sunday Assembly all about Death!

Claire and Ru Callender are self taught, self proclaimed radical green undertakers, ritualists and sextons (graveyard managers) who run The Green Funeral Company. They have been undertakers for 17 years, and sextons for 3 and are coming to speak at Sunday Assembly about death, bodies, ritual and grief.

Through their work they have seen that what happens in between a death and the funeral is often more important than the funeral itself. Together with the family, they co create, write and hold the ceremony. They don’t employ bearers to carry the body, they don’t embalm, they don’t have a fleet of fancy cars. They do everything through the relationship formed between themselves and the family.

Ru and Claire are campaigning to change crematoriums and are part of a campaign to re legalise outdoor funeral pyres. They cite rave and punk as their influences.

(pretty cool huh?!)

As well as this mind bending talk, we’ll sing our hearts out, hear stories from members of the community, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life (and death) with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Storytelling

• 16th October 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Sebastián Castro Sasso

Oh yes!

We are being joined by the very awesome Sebastian Castro Sasso, a former CNN reporter and founder of ECHO. Seb is on a quest to improve the storytelling skills in our everyday lives so we can connect deeper with our communities.

In this talk, he’ll step outside his comfort zone and share his thoughts on emotional intelligence, romanticism (and how it’s making us miserable), and the power of acknowledgement.

As well as the brilliant Seb, we’ll sing our hearts out, hear stories from members of the community, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

War: What is it Good For?

• 6th November 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Mark Vernon

Big news people!

Pippa Evans is back and will be hosting this remembrance inspired assembly. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we have the incredible Mark Vernon joining us. He will be speaking on Inner and Outer War and will explore how war could be a projection of our internal conflicts.

Wowsers!

We’ll also be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/cofee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

An Equal Difference

• 20th November 2016, 11am
• Speaker: G.S. Motola aka Gabrielle Motola

We are so delighted to announce that we have the excellent G.S. Motola coming to speak at Sunday Assembly on the 20 November.

After hearing about Iceland’s insightful reaction to the financial crisis of 2008, i.e. to ‘feminise banking’, photographer and writer G.S. Motola travelled to Iceland to photograph and speak with women there. What she found kept her returning over the course of the next three years and eventually publishing a book including men and women called An Equal Difference.

During the course of making this book she experienced several actualisations. They gave her further insight into her own internalisation of gender constructs and caused her to rethink the concept of equality. One epiphany in particular greatly affected her photography, in particular the images she chose to publish. The perspective she has gained on herself, society and its influence on gender constructs has not only revolutionised her photography but her mindset as a person.

What a treat we’re in for! And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Family Time

• 4th December 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Jamie Catto

It’s December! Let’s start talking about what happens in this brilliant, mad and fun month.

We are being joined by Jamie Catto who is speaking to us about how we can treat all the challenges, triggers, and crazy head-trips of family time as mirrors and invitations to self-awareness.

For millions of people, once they are through the mundane commercialisation of December in the 21st century, the month itself can really suck. A minefield of projection, reactivity and semi-conscious hysteria, any notions of inner progress built up throughout the year are often quickly forgotten.

Yet amidst the chaos of the festive season in 2016, there lies a golden opportunity!

Instead of intensely striving just to get through, we invite you to transform this time that may be spent with family, into the liberating excuse it can be – and give yourselves something else: Self-Awareness and Lightening-Up.

Come and tune up your festive neurology so you’re ready to float serenely through your family’s dysfunction and disconnection.

And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

Nothing: The Best Present (Festive Finale!)

• 18th December 2016, 11am
• Speaker: Laurence Shorter

For the last Sunday Assembly London of 2016 we are joined by the amazing Laurence Shorter. In his quest to understand the secrets of happiness, he has authored a bestselling book on positive thinking (The Optimist, 2009), written and performed his own one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival, and created the Lazy Guru, the world’s first cartoon guide to mindfulness and flow.

In a world that never stops, Laurence will talk about the importance of rest and his lifelong quest to find creativity by making space for it to flourish on its own. He will share everything he knows about genius, inspiration and the effortless art of making good things happen.

As well as Laurence, we have the wonderful Natalie Charles Trying Her Best and some of our favourite festive power ballads to belt out with your friends and family!

Afterwards we will be drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits.

BSL interpretation will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all and saying cheerio to 2016!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

It’s our 3rd Birthday

• 3rd January 2016, 11:00am

It’s time to party!

The Sunday Assembly was started by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two comedians who were on the way to a gig in Bath when they discovered they both wanted to do something that was like church but totally secular and inclusive of all—no matter what they believed.

The first ever Sunday Assembly meeting took place on January 6th 2013 at The Nave in Islington. Almost 200 people turned up at the first meeting, 300 at the second and soon people all over the world asked to start one.

Three years later there are 68 Sunday Assembly chapters in 8 different countries where people sing songs, hear inspiring talks, and create community together.

Come and celebrate with us and hear stories of how Sunday Assembly has created something beautiful, complete with epic songs and cake!

Happiness

• 19th January 2016, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sir Anthony Seldon

This week we’re talking about happiness, and we have a pretty amazing speaker – Sir Anthony Seldon, co-founder of Action for Happiness and author of 25 books on contemporary history, politics and education, including biographies of Tony Blair, “Trust” and “An end to Factory Schools”.

He will be talking about finding your inner song or unique purpose in life.

Read more about him and how he threw out GCSE’s and brought in a happiness curriculum at Wellington College here.

We’ll also sing brilliant songs, celebrate life and drink tea together. Come join us and find out how to live better, help often and wonder more.

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Utopia

• 7th February 2016, 11:00am
• Speaker: Paul Sochaczewski

“What would your perfect country look like?”

Individuals start countries all the times, for many reasons. Some of these folks are grumpy and impatient. Some folks are dreamers and want to establish a community where there is peace, harmony, and lots of sex/drugs/classical music. Some country-creators are individualists or wannabe royals. Often it’s a combination of all of the above.

Paul has been intrigued by the idea of creating your own country since he was invited to join a modern version of the Knights Templar, which was planning to buy, and govern, an island in the Caribbean.

He’ll review some of the more imaginative “micro-nations,” offer the legal perspective (yes, there’s an international convention that applies) and tell you how his Knights Templar adventure worked out.

As well as this amazing talk, we meet to sing great songs, hear inspiring talks and drink tea together. Come join us and find out how to live better, help often and wonder more.

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

Let’s Got Bored

• 21st February 2016, 11:00am
• Speaker: Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Come and join us at Sunday Assembly London to hear all about boredom.

The fantastic Linda Rodriguez McRobbie is a writer and journalist who is fascinated by getting bored! She will be asking “Why do we get bored? And have we always been doing it?”. Have a read of her article for the Smithsonian mag to get you excited!

As well as our super smart speaker, we have the generally fabulous Jennifer Lack who will be talking about how she’s trying her best and we’ll be pulling some shapes and singing some tunes to boot. Don’t forget that we drink a vat of tea/cofee and a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Vision

• 6th March, 11:00am

On March 6th we want you to join us for an Assembly with a twist. We want to speak to you about Sunday Assembly in 2016 AND we want to hear from you about what YOU want.

That’s right on Sunday March 6th we are going to spend a day casting a vision of Sunday Assembly London, and part of that vision is you.

Sunday Assembly London is nothing, nada, zip, rien without our incredible community. That’s you – you beautiful hunk of meat, bones and brain. We have done so much since we started but at the same time we are just getting going. We are on the foothills, on March 6th we’re going to try to have a look at the top of the mountain!

The question is: is this vision assembly for you? To help you out we’ve come up with a handy test.

Are you regular? This is for you
Are you semi-regular? This is for you.
Are you occasional? This is for you.
Are you new? This is for you.
Did you join the Facebook group by accident? This is for you.
Did you get the point? This is for you.

We want as many folk there as possible as we lay out the incredible journey that we want to go on with you, what you can expect from us and how we can build a loving community where everyone lives life as fully as possible.

This is the first assembly of this type that we’ve ever done – we’d be honoured to have you there.

Play

• 20th March, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr. David Bramwell

Come and join us for a Play themed Sunday Assembly!

Our speaker is the fantastic play fanatic, Dr. David Bramwell. He’s not only a Sony-award winning presenter for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 but also an award winning performer, picking up ‘Best Comedy’ and Outstanding Theatre’ at Brighton Fringe Festival. He will explore the role of the trickster in myth and real-life, arguing that chaos, deceit and amorality are qualities to be celebrated!

David is the author of the No9 Bus to Utopia and host of Brighton’s Catalyst Club, where everyday folk share their passions with a live audience.

Don’t forget it’s also our Bake Sale this Sunday. We’re raising money for the awesome homeless charity The Choir with No Name – so please get your apron on and start baking!

Together with the talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs and drink a vat of tea/coffee and a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

The Joy of Not Knowing

• 3rd April, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr Harry Cliff

This week we are joined by the very amazing Dr Harry Cliff. He is a particle physicist at Cambridge University and the Large Hadron Collider as well as the in-house physicist at the Science Museum.

Dr Cliff will be speaking to us about ‘The Joy of Not Knowing’. The more we learn about the world we live in, the more we realise just how spectacularly ignorant we are.

Science is full of big unanswered questions; what is the invisible 95% of the universe made from? Can consciousness be explained by neuroscience? Is there life on Mars? Particle physicist Harry Cliff will explain why he finds not knowing the answer exciting, and discuss some of the deep mysteries of fundamental physics.

Wow!

Together with the talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs and drink a vat of tea/coffee and a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

Your Mind: From Frenemy to BFF

• 17th April, 11:00am
• Speaker: Michael Matania

We are being joined by our speaker Michael Matania, who works on behalf of the Mental Health charity Mind, where he spends his days spreading awareness on tools and techniques that help people to stay happy, healthy and well whilst coping with the challenges of life. Michael also co-founded The Present Moment Project, a social enterprise that seeks to make mindfulness training widely accessible to the most marginalised and hard to reach groups.

He will be discussing our addiction to thought, talking from his own experience of mental health problems. Michael will explore how moment-by-moment experience is clouded by worries about the imagined future, regrets about the past and a frustration with our present circumstances and will look at how it is possible to flip this situation on its head.

Together with the talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs and drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteers Lauren Harris and Paul Hollingdrake!

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil: Living Life to the Full as a Deafblind Person

• 1st May, 11:00am
• Speaker: Ben Fletcher
• Poet: Raymond Antrobus

Ben Fletcher was born profoundly deaf and also has RP (retinitis pigmentosa), which means that he is gradually losing his sight. And yet Ben is one of the happiest people in London! He will talk about how meditation, positivity and finding his own community have helped him to accept and rejoice in his differences, find inner peace and joy and lead a life he loves. This talk is part of Deaf Awareness Week.

Together with the talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs (which Lauren has chosen) and drink a vat of tea/coffee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

Poetry will be provided by Sunday Assembly favourite Raymond Antrobus – poet, performer and hearing aid user. BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteers Lauren Harris and Kathleen Gillan.

There’ll be a bake sale after the Assembly – so please donate a cake if you can.* We’ll be raising money for Sunday Assembly to attend this year’s Pride march in June.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

* If you would like to donate a cake, please bear in mind: no raw eggs, but fine if cooked. No fresh cream, but butter cream or the stuff can buy in tubs is ok. Also let us know if it contains nuts. They’ll be sold for £1 per item, so please portion into slices beforehand if possible. 

Curiosity

• 15th May, 11:00am
• Speaker: Steve Mould

Our theme for the week is Curiosity and we are being joined by the very brilliant Steve Mould part of the comedy team, The Spoken Nerd.

From mind-bending tricks on BBC 1’s Britain’s Brightest and element-hunting on ITV’s I Never Knew That About Britain, to dismantling a child’s robot to make it talk backwards “like the devil”, Steve’s scientific interests are unfettered by the limitations of specialism. On any given day, Steve might be leading a dubstep subatomic particle safari, putting nail varnish on a pineapple (for maths) or dressing up as a Lego man (also for maths).

Through his curiosity he accidentally discovered a phenomenon that no one could explain. This this the story of gravity defying beads that starts inSteve’s garage and ends 50 meters up a crane outside BBC Broadcasting House.

Together with the talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/coffee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteer Lauren Harris.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t. 

Embrace Yourself

• 5th June, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sofie Hagen

We are over the moon to announce that Sofie Hagan [sic] is our keynote speaker for Sunday Assembly on the 5th June. She will talk about her fat stomach, her wobbly thighs, her floppy arms and all of her chins and fat and how and why she learned to embrace and love every single kilogram of it.

Sofie’s assured, informed and deeply personal comedy has made her a star in the UK and throughout Europe. Last year Sofie won the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer with her debut show ‘Bubblewrap’. The show has since enjoyed two runs at the Soho Theatre, London and has been broadcast on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer as part of the series ‘Live from the BBC’. This year Sofie was invited to perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, adding the ever-expanding list of countries and festivals she has played. With sell-out solo shows and numerous projects in development Sofie is one of the most in-demand new voices going.

Together with Sofie, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteer Lauren Harris.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

Adam Woodhall – This Much I Know – script link

Purpose

• 19th June, 11:00am
• Speaker: Ernesto Moreno

The keynote speaker for Sunday Assembly London on the 19th June is the fantastic Ernesto Moreno.

Ernesto was 9 years old when his mother tragically died in a car accident in which he was also travelling along with his younger brother and sister. However, that was only the beginning of what was to be a very difficult childhood and adolescence, a story that was going to include physical abuse, drugs and alcoholism.

Ernesto’s life was always filled with strong emotional difficulty. The struggle continued and at the age of 23, Ernesto decided to leave his home country, Venezuela, in search of a new life. He arrived in London 13 years ago with only £300 in his pocket, he didn’t know anyone and spoke hardly any English. Ernesto found work collecting the dirty laundry in a hotel and doing the washing up in a restaurant. Three years later he had completed a Masters in Business and had started his first business as well as working as a Management Consultant in The City. Anyone would have thought that at this point Ernesto was a fulfilled and happy man, but he went on to achieve even greater things in the years to come. In 2012, after having built a very successful career as a business consultant working for companies such as PwC, Ernesto decided to quit his job and continue his journey as an entrepreneur and pursue even bigger dreams. Ernesto’s life story is inspiring, a testament of resilience and the constant search for meaning and fulfilment. During his talk at Sunday Assembly, Ernesto is going to be sharing with us his views on Life Purpose as well as some of his own life experiences.

This week Sunday Assembly London is curated by the Earlybird Speakers, a part of Toastmasters which helps people develop their public speaking skills.

As well as this inspiring talk, we will hear real life stories from the community, sing some awesome songs, drink a vat of tea/cofee and eat a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.

BSL interpretation will be provided by volunteer Lauren Harris.

We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!

Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.

It’s time to party!

The Sunday Assembly was started by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two comedians who were on the way to a gig in Bath when they discovered they both wanted to do something that was like church but totally secular and inclusive of all—no matter what they believed.

The first ever Sunday Assembly meeting took place on January 6th 2013 at The Nave in Islington. Almost 200 people turned up at the first meeting, 300 at the second and soon people all over the world asked to start one.

Three years later there are 68 Sunday Assembly chapters in 8 different countries where people sing songs, hear inspiring talks, and create community together.

Come and celebrate with us and hear stories of how Sunday Assembly has created something beautiful, complete with epic songs and cake!

The Best Animal Ever

• 5th July 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Russell Arnott
• Poet: Lisa Kelly

Come hear great talks, sing great songs and celebrate this one life we know we have!

This week’s speaker is Russell Arnott (the science guy), who’ll be speaking about ‘The Best Animal Ever’ (!). There’ll be poetry from Lisa Kelly and our house band is going to play some awesome music for you to sing along to!

Community in London’s East End

• 19th July 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Harriet Salisbury
• Performers: Underbling & Vow, Tim Wells

This Sunday you’re really in for a treat: we welcome Sunday Assembly’s own Harriet Salisbury, author of the book The War on our Doorstep: London’s East End and how the Blitz Changed it Forever. She’ll be talking about the ‘real’ East Enders and community:

“I’m going to take you back to a time when community defined where you walked and where you worked, what you did and whether or not you survived – a time when community was more than a mission statement or manifesto pledge, it was a matter of life or death. Welcome to one of the most demonised and exalted communities of all time – London’s East End.”

We’ll also be joined by music hall time travellers Underbling & Vow for an actual knees-up and the lovely Tim Wells will read us some of his poetry!

As always, we’ll get to sing some fantastic songs (this time by the likes of Blur, Pulp and Madness) and our super talented house band will be there to accompany us.

Recipes for Wonder

• 2nd August 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Alom Shaha
• Poet: Dom Bury

This Sunday is going to be awesome: our speaker will be Alom Shaha, author of The Young Atheist’s Handbook. science teacher, writer and film maker. He’ll be exploring how looking closely at the world, through the prism of science, enhances our appreciation of it.

Look forward to poetry by Dom Bury and singing songs by the likes of Tina Turner and Starship. As always, there will be tea & biscuits afterwards.

Happiness

• 16th August 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Anna Hughes

Come hear great talks, sing great songs and celebrate this one life we know we have!

This Sunday, Anna Hughes, cycling instructor, author and round-Britain cyclist, will be telling us about her 4000-mile, 10-week bike journey around Britain – a life-changing experience.

We will be hearing from Jeff (all the way from Sunday Assembly Los Angeles) in our “This Much I Know” slot. Our fantastic house band are back and will play some fantastic tunes.

We’re also holding a BAKE SALE in aid of the Nepal Appeal. So please bring some cake if you’re any good at baking and buy some if you’re better at eating.

Improve with Improv

• 6th September 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Pippa Evans
• Poet: Danny Scott

Come hear great talks, sing great songs and celebrate this one life we know we have!

This Sunday, our very own Pippa Evans will explain how the principles of improvisation can be applied to live a full life. Just back from Edinburgh Festival, doing A LOT of improv, she clearly knows what she’s talking about!

There will also be poetry from Danny Scott.

Sing along to some awesome pop songs, listen to poetry, drink tea with lovely people and just have a nice time!

Communication and the Pen

• 20th September 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sharon Little
• Poet: Maitreyabandhu

We have the wonderful poet Maitreyabandhu coming to share his words with us and our very own Sharon Little talking about Thinking Of You Week – an initiative by the Greeting Card Association to encourage people to write to those who we haven’t been in touch with or people who might be isolated.

Work

• 4th October 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Katie Duckworth
• Poet: Stuart McKenzie

Come hear great talks, sing along to some awesome pop songs, listen to poetry and celebrate this one life we know we have!

This week, our speaker is Katie Duckworth of ‘Be The Change’ and there’ll be poetry from Stuart McKenzie.

Justice

• 18th October 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sarah Coope

Our theme for this Assembly is Justice and the headline speaker is Sarah Coope from the International Justice Mission. As the UK marks Anti-Slavery Day UK, Sarah will be exploring the challenge of confronting issues of injustice that impact the lives of the poor, including modern day slavery. She’ll discuss the hope for a better future that is emerging through collaboration, partnership and a movement of people.

We will have a poet to entertain or console us and the lovely Hannah Mottram will be ‘Doing Her Best’.

Nicking Ideas from Nature

• 1st November 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Yaniv Peer
• Poet: Christine Webb

Yaniv Peer will talk about Biomimicry and The Moebius Project

There’ll be poetry from Christine Webb, Ruth Moir will be ‘trying her best’ and as usual, the band will be playing some fantastic songs for you.

How to Wire the Brain for Joy

• 15th November 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Gianna de Salvo
• Poet: Julia Bird

Happiness may be fleeting, but the brain can be rewired for lasting joy. Recent studies have found that by doing many of the things you are doing already – being kind to others, making and maintaining friendships and giving without asking for anything back – your brain begins to create new neural pathways around positivity and you, in turn, begin creating more joy in your life. This talk will discuss why this is the case and will introduce a simple exercise that you can do to help this process along.

We also have poetry from the awesome Julia Bird. On top of this you can join us at the end for tea and cake!

Secular Spirituality in the Age of Reason

• 6th December 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Andy Gibson

Andy Gibson thinks secular people should be able to have a spiritual life too. After launching Mindapples to help everyone take care of their minds like they take care of their bodies – he is now on a quest to help people develop their spiritual side in a non-religious way. He’ll be asking what it might mean to be spiritual without the supernatural and exploring how we can put the soul back into secularism.

Following this Assembly, we’re having another bake sale, this time in aid of Crisis at Christmas. If you like baking – bring a cake. If you like eating cake – buy and eat some cake on the day! Santa and all things yule are optional but welcome. As always, please no fresh cream or raw uncooked eggs in the icing or filling and let us know if anything contains nuts. Happy Baking (and eating)!

Family!

• 20th December 2015, 11:00am
• Speaker: Maria Peters

Before the festive break and the possibility of spending a lot of time with family members, we thought it would be good to hear from our speaker, Maria Peters. She likes people and laughing and runs personal communication workshops for people in the working world, covering topics such as conflict management, personal impact and influencing. She also teaches and performs improvised comedy.

As well as this awesome talk, we will be celebrating the Yuletide with some belters of festive songs and enjoying some much deserved tea and cake afterwards.