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Dance occupies a funny place in the English psyche; can you think of an activity we engage with so enthusiastically and regularly, but also so badly. Why was it banned by Oliver Cromwell and the priest in Footloose? Why was the government so threatened by “music wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”? When society wants us to be cerebral observers of culture, dance allows us to be visceral participants.

We’re delighted to have our very own Alan Gregan deliver a talk on how we in England live, how we dance and how we can use dance to explore and practise different ways of living. Alan is a dancer, a teacher and a Sunday Assembly community member. He has been learning styles under the swing umbrella for 12 years and teaching since 2015.

We will also have Emma Fisher deliver a movement workshop that explores what it might be like to tune into the language of our bodies, developing internal connectivity to allow for greater outer expressivity, and beginning to re-choreograph narratives about self, other and community. Emma is a professional dancer and registered Dance Movement Psychotherapist. Her performance career has taken her across 5 continents, collaborating with artists and choreographers.

Your host for the assembly is Anj Cairns.

Watch the recording

Improv Your Year

• Sunday 10th January 2021, 11:00am

• Speaker: Pippa Evans
• Poet: Dan Simpson

Happy New Year, and happy 8th birthday to Sunday Assembly! In honour of this special occasion, we’ve invited Olivier award-winning comedian and Sunday Assembly co-founder Pippa Evans to be our main speaker! Pippa has been very productive during the pandemic, performing with the Showstoppers and translating her acclaimed self-improvement course “Improv Your Life” into book form. She realised that life is one big improvisation and all of our interactions with the world are made of quick decisions based on what’s available to us. Pippa will teach us some of the skills she has learned as an improv comedian and how they can be applied to every ‘scene’ in our lives.

Hosted by co-founder of Sunday Assembly and founder of The Lifefulness Project Sanderson Jones, this assembly will also have poetry by Dan Simpson, a member of the community talking about how they’re “Trying Their Best”, and fun sing-along songs by the Sunday Assembly Band. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Po5L2HFV8

The Words That Move Us

• Sunday 24th January 2021, 11:00am

• Speakers: Nick Makoha, ddregalo
• Poet: Robin Lamboll

At Sunday Assembly, we love poetry. In honour of Burns Night on 25 Jan, we’d like to take some time to think about the importance of poetry in our daily lives. We are delighted to welcome internationally renowned London-based poet Nick Makoha as our main speaker. We will also have as our special guests poet Robin Lamboll performing some of their original work and artist ddregalo talking about his mural in Shoreditch which features poetry.

This assembly will be co-hosted by Maddalena Tralli, the organiser of our poetry club Lively Poets Society, and Anj Cairns, founder of We Wrote a Poem. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXe42esjJUo

The Truth About Mindreading

• Sunday 7th February 2021, 11:00am

• Speaker: Stuart Nolan
• Poet: Leonora Nicholson

How do your thoughts affect your body? Can other people see what you’re thinking? Isn’t mindreading just a bunch of mumbo jumbo? To separate fact from myth, our main speaker is Stuart Nolan, a performer, scientist, and PhD researcher exploring the history of mindreading and how it relates to new neurotechnologies. Stuart will teach us a few mindreading techniques and explain why they work, and he’ll also tell us how this exciting field can be useful in modern medicine.

What’s better than one Stuart? Two Stuarts! Community member and street art blogger Stuart Holdsworth (@inspiringcity) hosts. We’ll also hear poetry by Leonora Nicholson of Unheard Poetry and some great songs that will get your mind and body moving. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

A Place to Call Home

• 21st February 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Rachel Hamilton

No one deserves to be homeless. And many of us wish we could help but don’t know how. It seems like an impossibly large problem. Based in Camden, the C4WS Homeless Project has been tackling every aspect of the homeless problem head-on since 2005. From winter housing to mentoring, English classes, creating a social support network, and jobs guidance, this heroic team of over 700 volunteers reaches out in all the ways that people need to get off the streets and into a permanent living situation. Rachel Hamilton, who runs their Home From Home project, will talk to us about how people with spare bedrooms can help by providing short-term accommodation to guests from their shelter while they wait for their permanent housing to be ready.

This event will be hosted by Sanderson Jones, co-founder of Sunday Assembly and founder of The Lifefulness Project. In addition to the main talk we will have some rockin’ songs about love to sing along to in celebration of Valentine’s Day, and a special musical performance. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

When Women Move Mountains

• Sunday 7th March 2021, 11:00am

• Speaker: Lee Webster

When women take action together, they can change the world. Raising each other up, they can reach higher and farther. On International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate the achievements of women. Our main speaker is Lee Webster, women’s rights activist and Deputy Director of International Development at ActionAid, an international charity working with women and girls living in poverty. In Lee’s two decades of experience working in international development, she has seen time and again that real change happens when women and girls stand together to raise their voices, claim their rights and hold governments to account.

This event will be hosted by Anj Cairns, author and poet at WeWroteAPoem. In addition to the main talk we’ll have our usual rockin’ songs to sing and dance to, poetry, and a special guest performance by Gemma Rogers! Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

We’ve Come a Long, Long Way Together

• Sunday 21st March 2021, 11:00am

A Year to Reflect

• Sunday 4th April 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Leonora Nicholson
• Poet: The Oratist Artist

What does ‘community’ mean to you? If we’re not all in the same room together, are we still a community? Over the past year, we’ve learned through our virtual assemblies that our community can be sustained, and in some ways thrive, without a shared physical space, because we still have the same goals we’ve always had: to live better, help often, and wonder more.

We are so pleased to welcome back Leonora Nicholson, founder of Unheard Poetry, as she takes us through a short version of her “Take a Break” sessions, helping us to write down our thoughts and feelings about how the past year has impacted each of us. Make sure to bring a pen and paper!

This event will be hosted by street art blogger Stuart Holdsworth (@InspiringCity). And as always, we’ll have other good stuff: sing-along songs, poetry, and a few words from community members. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

Is There Life on Mars?

• Sunday 18th April 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Jon Chase
• Poet: Robin Lamboll

On 18 February, NASA’s exploration rover Perseverance landed on Mars. Its mission is to seek signs of ancient life on the surface of our celestial neighbour. But why are scientists looking for life on Mars, and what impact will it have for all of us back here on Earth if they find it? Would we even recognise alien life if we saw it?

Helping us better understand the deeper questions about space exploration is our main speaker, science communicator and rapper Jon Chase, who has appeared on BBC’s Bitesize and performed his science raps at places like The Science Museum and the Royal Society. This assembly will also feature poetry by physicist and UK slam champion Robin Lamboll, and a couple of surprises from the Sunday Assembly Choir!

Hosted by our resident King of Nerds, Matt Lockwood, we’ll sing to some out-of-this-world songs and hear a few words from members of our community. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

A Helping Hand

• Sunday 2nd May 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Rich Walker

For many years, Rich Walker’s idea of a ‘helping hand’ was a robotic one: he’s the managing director of the ethically-minded Shadow Robot Company. But last year, the world changed dramatically, and Rich realised that there was an overwhelming need for a more organic form of assistance. After joining a local mutual aid group, he founded the St Ann’s Food Hub, which provides over a hundred boxes of fruit and veg a week to those who need it- nearly 2/3 of which are donations. Over the past year they have donated nearly 3,000 boxes! #helpoften

Hosted by Anj Cairns, author and founder of We Wrote A Poem, this assembly will feature rocking sing-along songs performed by our band and choir and talks by members of our community. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

Leave Better

• Sunday 16th May 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Jane Morgan, Sandra Greenyer

Daniel Defoe once famously wrote “‘Tis impossible to be sure of anything but Death and Taxes.” (Yes, we had to look that up.) In these uncertain times, it can feel like most aspects of our lives are outside of our control. We don’t know when our time will be up, but there are ways to plan for it.

Jane Morgan, funeral celebrant and director of the Good Funeral Guide, and Sandra Greenyer, end-of-life doula and Death Café host, came together in 2019 to launch London’s first Coffin Club. They will speak at our assembly about how to confront some of our fears and worries about death, as well as how to think practically about making a plan for our own eventual ends.

Hosted by Sanderson Jones, co-founder of Sunday Assembly and founder of The Lifefulness Project, this assembly will feature some of your favourite sing-along songs performed by our band and talks by members of our community. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

Your Opinion Matters

• Sunday 6th June 2021, 11:00am

• Speaker: Alastair Lichten

What do you think of opinion polls? (Choose one answer.)

1. I love to give my opinions to anyone who will listen.
2. They provide essential feedback to organisations who want to better meet the needs of people who use their goods or services.
3. They trick people into giving away personal information that will be used to advertise to them.
4. The data is skewed, because anyone who agrees with #3 won’t participate in polls, so you’ll only get responses from people who agree with #1 or 2.

Alastair Lichten, head of education at the National Secular Society, has been fascinated by the formation and measuring of public opinion since studying politics at university. Alastair has been involved in the use, research and commissioning of opinion polling in various capacities, including student writer and activist. He believes opinion polling is a valuable tool to understand the world, but that we need to improve the ways we design and use them.

Hosted by street art aficionado Stuart Holdsworth (@InspiringCity), this assembly will feature sing-along songs that are statistically proven to be absolute bangers! We’ll also have poetry and a talk from someone who is Trying Their Best. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome. For accessibility, we will have live captioning at this event.

Letting Loose

• 20th June 2021, 11:00am
• Speaker: Danni Emery

Have you recently gone out into the real world and suddenly realised you’ve completely forgotten all of your social skills? As restrictions ease and we return to some of our pre-pandemic activities, some of us may feel apprehensive about interacting with others. How can we let loose and enjoy ourselves with all of these insecurities getting in the way?

For our last virtual assembly before summer break, we are delighted to welcome Danni Emery, aka “Officer Emery Bored” of The Insecurity Guards, as our main speaker! She will talk about this fantastic troupe who help people confront and release their insecurities.

Hosted by poet and founder of “We Wrote A Poem”, Anj Cairns, this assembly will include sing-along rock and pop songs to go wild on in the comfort of your own home, poetry that will move you, and some words from members of our community to remind you that you’re not alone. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!) and lively conversation with our community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome. For accessibility, we will have live captioning at this event.

World Wide Pride

• 5th July 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Ché Feenie

We welcome all to our annual Pride Assembly! Our main speaker is Ché Feenie. Ché is a lifelong trailblazer in LGBTQ+ rights activism and the Director of Social Impact at KeyoPass, an app that helps people engage in ‘social good travel’. Keyo Pass has benefited nonprofit ‘local heroes’ around the world.

The Sunday Assembly Band and Choir have been working hard on putting together some amazing sing-along videos for us. As always, we will also have a poetry reading and we will hear from a member of our community about how they’re Trying Their Best.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms.

Because of the lockdown, we cannot meet at Conway Hall, so our meeting will be held on Zoom instead, and livestreamed to YouTube. By turning your camera on, you agree to have your image included in our livestream, which will be recorded and stored on our YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-vW4hckpAQ

Asking Deep Questions

• 19 July 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Kyrill Potapov

Sometimes we get so caught up in our everyday lives that we forget to stop, look up at the stars, and think about the Big Picture. Why are we here? What makes us human? What does the future hold?

Every summer, Kyrill Potapov takes young people on a journey of self discovery. As co-director of Camp Quest UK, he believes that a summer camp can be more than a place to enjoy outdoor activities. By working together on completing mental and physical activities, Kyrill encourages his campers to marvel at the universe while developing a critical eye and a love of learning. He will help us ‘Wonder More’ by demonstrating one of the camp’s philosophy activities with us.

Hosted by co-founder of Sunday Assembly and creator of Lifefulness Sanderson Jones, this assembly will also have poetry by Olivia Hall, some rocking tunes for you to sing along to, and a talk from a member of our community who is Trying Their Best.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45bl4Ns2iMU

‘Meet The Unbelievers’: Online Film Premiere w/ DAN SNOW & SANDERSON JONES

• Thursday 30th July 2020

The online premiere of ‘Meet The Unbelievers’ – three short films about unbelief. Filmmaker Sanderson Jones will be interviewed by Dan Snow.

Meet The Unbelievers: Online Premiere
Dan Snow interviews filmmaker and presenter Sanderson Jones about 3 Short Films on Unbelief.
‘Meet The Unbelievers’ is a groundbreaking series of three short films, written and presented by Sanderson Jones , into what so-called religious unbelievers do believe.
The films were directed by J on Drever ( Super Bob , his production company won a Oscar for Documentary) and produced by History Hit, and make use of exclusive access to research from the world’s largest study of atheism and agnosticism – ‘Understanding Unbelief’ (University of Kent).
The films will premiere on July 30th in an online event where Dan Snow , the Creative Director of History Hit and BBC presenter, will interview Sanderson Jones.
Sanderson Jones is the co-founder of the worldwide Sunday Assembly movement of non-religious congregations, and an internationally recognised change-maker. He was elected to the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in 2017 for his work.
Each film looks at a different aspect of life as an ‘unbeliever’:
* Childhood – Sanderson Jones goes into a primary school to find out what non-believing children do believe, drawing on pioneering research by Anna Strhan and Rachael Shillitoe. At the end of the episode the children lead a non-religious school assembly.
* Superstition / Belief – Sanderson Jones entices non-believers into a superstition store, to test their how superstitious they really are. But these rational atheists, who say they don’t believe in spirits, balk at signing a contract for Sanderson to buy their soul.
* Death – The final film explores how atheists and agnostics negotiate the end of life. In this moving film, Sanderson interviews atheists with late stage cancer to speak to them about how they understand their passing.
There are 1.17 billion people in the world who are not part of any religion (if they were a religion – they’d be the third largest in the world) but, academically, they’d be relatively little research into them. Find out what makes them tick, when you watch Meet The Unbelievers.
We’d love to have you attend the premiere, and are pleased to be raising money for Sunday Assembly – the community building charity. If you would like to give a donation, please do. 

Picnics

• 2nd, 16th and 31st August 2020, 12:00pm

In lieu of regular assemblies, Sunday Assembly London has an annual tradition of hosting picnics in August. This year our picnics will be held at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in Holborn. Grab a blanket, some food, and acoustic instruments and join us in the middle of the park!

We’ll be sitting right in the middle of the park. Due to the pandemic, we need to do things a little differently this year. We request that people try to form groups of 6 on the lawn and stay with that group as much as possible. We will all still be near each other, but just a little further apart than usual. During or shortly after the event, we would also like all participants to complete the form on our website to comply with the NHS Test and Trace System.

Sit on the Fence or Take a Stand?

• 6th September 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Lindsay Jordan

Sometimes the world seems completely binary. We are perpetually pressured to pick a side, join a team, raise a flag, and declare our allegiance. But if we are open-minded and can rationalise both sides of an argument, we often find ourselves sitting on the fence with our toes dipped in two worlds. Which is better, having convictions or empathy?

Lindsay Jordan, a senior lecturer at UAL, wrote her PhD thesis on the ethics of understanding and the connection between contradiction and disillusionment. She will talk to us about the controversy of fence-sitting and how it impacts our daily lives.

Tuning in all the way from New Zealand, Singaporean slam champion, poet, and multidisciplinary artist Deborah Emmanuel (@deborahthepoet) will be our guest performer.

Hosted by street art blogger Stuart Holdsworth (@inspiringcity), this assembly will also have some rocking tunes for you to sing and dance along to and a talk from a member of our community who is Trying Their Best.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWiNPBBVb1I

All Together Now – a Mega Assembly

• 20th September 2020, 11:00am

A whole load of lovely UK based Assemblies have joined together to use their combined powers of goodness to bring you a MEGA ASSEMBLY!

There’s going to be ALL the stuff – interesting speakers, poetry, singing and dancing, sparkles (please wear your best sparkly clothes, hats, headbands) and more hosts than you’ve had hot dinners (we might be exaggerating there).

[Plymouth, Manchester, Sheffield, Brighton, Edinburgh, London, East End]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Xwccx1smY

A Whole New World: Lessons We Learn From Musical Theatre

• 4th October 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Ray Rackham

Musical theatre gets a bad rap. People say it’s corny, it’s too big and cartoonish, and characters burst into song and dance, seemingly out of the blue. Performers from other disciplines look down on musical theatre performers as being jacks of all trades and masters of none. But the worst accusation of all is that musicals are pure escapism and don’t tackle modern problems. The reality is that time and again, musical theatre has pushed the boundaries of what topics can be addressed in a public forum.

We are delighted to have Ray Rackham, writer, director, and owner of the popular London piano bar Overtures, as our main speaker. He will tell us about the ways musicals can not only entertain, but also teach us and challenge us to be the best we can be. Through musicals, we gain a better understanding of the world around us and how we can be a part of it.

Hosted by our own song-and-dance man, Sanderson Jones, this assembly will have a bunch of showstoppers for you to belt out, thanks to the Sunday Assembly London band and choir. And to celebrate National Poetry Day on 1 October, we will have special guest Fay Roberts doing a poetry reading.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aer2SrO1LlY

Why Money Matters

• 18th October 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Nikki Ramskill

Talking about money makes many of us feel uncomfortable. We know we need it, but we wish we didn’t. We don’t want to know who has more or less than us. We’re not sure if we use it correctly, and often we feel shame over our irresponsible handling of money. And perhaps the most challenging thing about money is learning to place a clear value on our own time and skills.

To help us clear the air and make us feel better about money, our next assembly will feature a talk by “The Female Money Doctor”, Nikki Ramskill. Nikki is a NHS doctor specialising in women’s health, who in her spare time coaches people on financial matters on her award-winning blog and in one-to-one sessions. She believes that many physical and mental health issues are brought on by prolonged money problems that are ignored.

We’ve got some great money-themed songs lined up for you to sing along to, as well as a special performance by the SAL Choir. This assembly will be co-hosted by Stuart Holdsworth and Maddalena Tralli.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew_9X4mKANU

The Miseducation of Britain

• 1st November 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr Nadena Doharty
• Poet: Sam El-bahja

Every October, we celebrate the lives and accomplishments of notable Black people, and acknowledge the heavy toll Black people have taken throughout history for no reason other than the colour of their skin. But what happens on 1 Nov? Does Black history end? Do we return to ‘just history’?

Dr Nadena Doharty, a sociologist of education and lecturer at the University of Sheffield, believes Black History Month and the way it is approached in schools is too often tokenistic and deficit informed. In her talk, she will help us to understand how British schools and teachers, while they may have the best intentions, may still be reproducing these narratives, and what they can do to improve the curriculum to better incorporate the histories of people of colour.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RajBBKg7IU

“The Gangs Matrix” Screening and Q&A with Kairon Edwards

• 1st November 2020

Please join this meeting for a special screening of the 20-minute documentary “The Gangs Matrix” and stay after for a Q&A session with director Kairon Edwards.

The Power of the Pen

• 15th November 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: LJ Flanders
• Poet: Khushi Kantha / David Breakspear

L J Flanders was a budding entrepreneur who found himself in a bit of tight spot: he had been sentenced to 14 months in prison. When you have a lot of time and only a small amount of space, what do you do? You look at the materials you have to hand: a pen, some paper, and your own body. With these three things L J developed his Cell Workout, which he turned into a book and self-published. L J will share his inspiring story with us and teach us how to find our own power.

Hosted by writer/poet Anj Cairns, this assembly will feature poetry by another former prisoner, David Breakspear, and of course rocking sing-alongs by the Sunday Assembly Band. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fymyGs-_gYs

Everything is Awesome

• 6th December 2020, 11:00am

• Speaker: Abbie Headon

Most of us played with Lego when we were kids. Some of us even grew up to be AFOLs- Adult Fans of Lego. Regardless, it’s hard to ignore the impact this one toy brand has had on global culture. What is it that makes it so compelling? Author Abbie Headon (Build Yourself Happy: The Joy of Lego Play) believes that Lego can be used as a tool to practice mindfulness, releasing us from our perceptions that play time is wasted time.

Co-hosted by writer/poet Anj Cairns and all-around nerd Matt Lockwood, this assembly will feature poetry provided by our amazingly creative community as well as fun sing-alongs by the Sunday Assembly Band. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mUL8uEWtpQ

Matt’s Merry Quizmas

• Tuesday 8th December 2020, 7:30pm

[ …]

Write for Your Life: writing for self-discovery and creativity

• Wednesday 9th December 2020, 6:30pm

I’m delighted to be supporting Sunday Assembly London’s ’12 Days of Giving’ – All fees for this workshop will go to Sunday Assembly London.

Come along for fun writing exercises and discussion, for self-discovery and creativity.

We use free writing and discussion to explore different topics and themes. This combination of writing and sharing (always optional) never fails to connect those taking part in the joys and challenges of being human. It can also be a lot of fun and a great creative outlet.

Workshops are great for stress relief, confidence, and uncovering different perspectives and sometimes surprising insights. It’s also a lovely way to celebrate your ‘you’-ness and realise that you’re never alone when you have a pen in your hand.

No writing talent, knowledge or experience – and definitely no grammar – is required.

Registration for this event is only through RSVP’s to the Meetup event listing. This is to ensure security when using Zoom.

Writing can be insightful, and we might share things we write (always optional), but please note, this is not a therapy group and isn’t suitable for replacement of individual/group therapeutic work.

About me:
I’m Claire, a Write-for-Life Coach who helps people find, come back to and express themselves through writing. I’ve been running writing workshops and coaching for more than two years.

If you sit next to me long enough, I’ll have you doing a freewriting exercise, or two. I believe writing is the most useful tool we have, either to find, come back to or express ourselves. Oh, and to have fun.

I’ve been using freewriting for myself and to work with others for just over seven years.

You can find more info at https://www.cpsdayoff.com/ 

Christmas Jingles with Tanya

• Thursday 10th December 2020, 7:30pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/177704110692092

Christmas Jumper Day

• Friday 11 December 2020

Mitsky’s Festive Board Games

• Saturday 12th December 2020, 2:00pm

Welcome to the Board Games Group! This will be our 33rd boardgames session during lockdown. So far we’ve played Drawfull 2, Spyfall, Can’t Stop, Codenames, Yaniv, Solo, Perudo, Hanabi, Saboteur and Sushi Go.

DM Mitsky for the zoom link.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it at the start as we generally play short quick games so people can join in at anytime.
It is worth having 2 devices charged as we use Zoom to communicate and play the games on the other screen.
Ideally use the larger screen/device to play games and the smaller for zoom.

If you haven’t already, setup a free account on https://en.boardgamearena.com/ as we often play games there.

This event is part of Sunday Assembly London’s “12 Days of Giving” and a suggested donation of £12, or whatever you can afford, will go towards this great charity which builds community – never been more needed!! https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days 

12k walkathon

• Sunday 13th December 2020

Due to current restrictions, the Sunday Assembly London Walking Group is not able to organise a walking tour as we usually do. Instead, we are inviting everyone to do a 12K Walkathon as part of Sunday Assembly London’s “12 Days of Giving” campaign.

Here’s out it works:
1) Plan a 12K-long route anywhere you like.
2) Do the walk anytime on 13 Dec.
3) Post pictures of your journey on this page. You can also include screenshots of travel trackers so we can see the route you took.

You can set up your own personal fundraising campaign on JustGiving so your friends and family can cheer you on: https://www.justgiving.com/sundayassembly
(click on the “Fundraise for us” button)

Or you can donate on the “12 Days of Giving” page: https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days

Happy Trails!

Wake up and Dance with Claudia

• Monday 14th December 2020, 7:30am

Dance your way into your day! This bitesize session will get you moving and celebrating life in whatever style you like! Wake Up & Dance is hosted by Claudia of Nobody’s Watching, who is starting a 30 day Wake Up & Dance challenge on January 2nd.

This event is in aid of Sunday Assembly and a suggested donation of £12, or whatever you can afford, will go towards this great charity which builds community – never been more needed!! https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days 

Shake the Day Off with Claudia

• Monday 14th December 2020, 6:30pm

Whatever day you’ve just had, this evening session will get you bouncing. We love to dance and cannot wait to shake Monday off and welcome the evening! The party will be hosted by Claudia of Nobody’s Watching.

Poetry Workshop: Giving

• Wednesday 16th December 2020, 7:00pm

Join the Lively Poets for a workshop exploring what giving means, and all the ways we give.

The event is in aid of Sunday Assembly London and a suggested donation of £12, or whatever you can afford, will go towards our great charity which builds community – never been more needed!! https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days 

Laughing while Crafting

• Thursday 17th December 2020, 7:30pm

Join people from the Sunday Assembly London community for a fun evening of socialising and crafting activities. No previous experience required, but we will provide a list of materials you will need to make some of the crafts.

This will be a social evening whilst having a go at making some simple Chrismas decorations. Please have scissors, string, glue, cardboard – old cereal box and paper (even old newspapers) to hand and we can share our skills and stories.

This event is part of Sunday Assembly London’s “12 Days of Giving” and a suggested donation of £12, or whatever you can afford, will go towards this great charity which builds community, something that has never been more needed!! https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days 

2021 Resolution Workshop with Annie

• Friday 18th December 2020, 7:00pm

2020 has been one for the history books! Instead of looking back, it’s time to look forward. Annie will guide us as we explore our hopes and goals for the next year to come up with individual resolutions for what we want to achieve.

This event is part of Sunday Assembly London’s ’12 Days of Giving’ fundraising campaign and a suggested donation of £12, or whatever you can afford, will go towards this great charity which builds community, something that has never been more needed!! https://justgiving.com/campaign/12-days 

Yule Lockdown Rockdown!

• Saturday 19th December 2020, 8:00pm

Sunday Assembly, a global network of secular communities that celebrates life under the motto “Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More” has a tradition of celebrating the winter holiday season with a big sing-along party (frequently featuring confetti cannons). This year, the pandemic has made it impossible for our beautiful communities to gather in person. So, for the first time ever, we will all come together at the same time around the world for one massive online event, from 9pm in Amsterdam to 9am the next day in New Zealand!

Join your fellow assemblers online! There will be singing, there will be talks, and there will be sharing of good tidings with our global community as we bring 2020 to a close. We welcome Assemblers old and new to come together to celebrate this holiday season.

Sunday Assembly founder Sanderson Jones and SA Nashville organizer Adam Newton will co-host the event as SA chapters from around the world contribute holiday songs, readings, and performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_w4XA2CRI

Hail Santa

• Sunday 20th December 2020, 11:00am

For our last assembly of the year, we want to have a seasonal celebration! Since we can’t have our usual Yule Rock concert this year, we’re inviting members of our community to contribute poetry readings and musical performances that are meaningful to them. There will be a few special guest performances as well to be announced later!

Because of the current government restrictions, we cannot meet at Conway Hall, so our meeting will be held on Zoom instead, and livestreamed to YouTube.

Christmas Day Zoom Meetup

• Friday 25th December 2020, 2:00pm

Hello, lovely people!

If you fancy having a virtual meet up to break-up Christmas day this is where we’ll be!

Pop into the Zoom room and say hi. Bring whatever you fancy to eat and drink or nothing at all. It’s going to be all laid back, so if you’re still in your pjs that’s good too.

If we don’t see you on the day have a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Change of Heart

• 5th January 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Margot Raggett
• Performer: Gecko

Happy 7th Birthday, Sunday Assembly! For our first assembly of the year, we will gather to learn how we can make changes for the better, both in our personal lives and in the world around us.

Our main speaker, Margot Raggett, lived the corporate lifestyle in London for 20 years before undertaking a total change of direction at the age of 40. Seeing a poached elephant changed her life forever and set her off on a path to become one of the world’s most successful conservation book publishers. Margot will share that journey during her talk and why having a purpose has given her more satisfaction than climbing the career ladder ever did.

We welcome the return of comedic singer/songwriter Gecko! His album, Volcano, is available on Spotify.

We’ll sing some epic pop tunes together with our live band and hear from the chair of our board, Sarah Morgan, about Sunday Assembly’s plans for 2020 and beyond. And we’ll end by drinking a vat of tea, eating birthday cake, and talking with friends new and old.

Please remember, 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.

Designed to Care

• 19th January 2020, 11:00am

• Speaker: Julian Siravo

As a new decade begins, many of us are thinking about the passage of time. What have we done over the past ten years? What will happen in the next decade? Who will care for us when we’re old?

Our main speaker Julian Siravo comes from the think tank Autonomy. Julian is an Italian-American architect and urban designer. In his work Julian has explored automated construction, post-familial domesticity and socialised care-work. He will talk to us about the crisis of care-work in an ageing population and the solution he proposed to the Valencian Regional Government.

We’ll also have poetry, pop tunes, and pie (well, tea and cake).

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.

Misunderstood Mammals

• 2nd February 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Michelle Lindson
• Poet: Robin Lamboll

Much like Harry and Meghan, hyenas are in the midst of a PR crisis. Often seen as dim-witted, gluttonous scavengers with a demonic laugh, centuries of literature and folklore have cemented the idea that hyenas are disgusting.

But zoologist Michelle Lindson is determined to set the record straight. Michelle has worked in different areas of environmental science such as animal field work, zoo keeping, and zoo conservation education. Pursuing her interest in nature community work, she is currently the Community Outreach Coordinator at The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, where she manages their ‘Nature and Us’ project. Since the age of 18 she’s been obsessed with spotted hyenas, and after endless hours spent studying their behaviour in the wild in Africa, she feels their negative reputation is totally uncalled for. In this talk she’ll challenge these misconceptions, and fill us in on the often unknown details of their intriguing lives!

We will also be joined by Robin Lamboll, a physicist researching climate science at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College. The UK’s National Slam Champion 2019 and 2nd place winner in the World Cup of Slam 2019, Robin blends science and language to create truly epic poems and spoken word performances.

(Content Warning: There will be some frank discussion involving animal genitalia!)

Ways we Connect

• 16th February 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Margot de Broglie
• Poet: Leonora Nicholson

We all search for connection with other people. It’s hard-wired into us and is essential to our health and well-being. But it takes effort, and it can be painful. We make ourselves vulnerable when we open our hearts and minds to others.

Margot de Broglie, founder of Secret Sunrise London, designs gatherings for people to create meaningful moments that spark real human emotions and inspire them to step into their most authentic selves. In her talk, she will explore the reasons why we need to come face to face with others and make these connections, and demonstrate the power of human connection with some guided exercises.

We have Leonora Nicholson of Unheard coming to share some brilliant poetry with us.

And we’ll celebrate life by singing some of our favourite pop tunes and getting to know each other better over tea and cake.

Paying it Forward

• 1st March 2020, 11:00am

• Speaker: Gulwali Passarlay
• Poet: Fiona Stone

Our main speaker, Gulwali Passarlay, is the esteemed author of the best-selling autobiography, “The Lightless Sky: A Twelve-Year-Old Refugee’s Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half The World”. Since arriving in the UK in 2007 after being forced to leave Afghanistan as a boy, Gulwali has achieved beyond all odds to become a political campaigner for refugees’ rights, social justice and education. The experience of his journey to the UK shaped his future and inspired an insatiable determination and commitment to raise awareness and make a difference for other refugees.

We will also have poetry by Fiona Stone, sing-along pop and rock songs to celebrate being alive, and a member of the community telling us how they’re “trying their best”. Please stay after for tea, biscuits, and lively conversation with other members of the community.

Synaptic Symphonies

• Tuesday 10th March 2020, 7:00pm
• Speaker: Zoe Cormier
• Performer: WondRWomN

Sunday Assembly Lates is back! We’ve talked about sex (baby), we’ve talked about drugs (and got a lust for life), and now we’re going to round out the unholy trinity of pop culture by talking about rock n’ roll. Zoe Cormier happens to be an expert on all three, having written the book “Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll: The Science of Hedonism and the Hedonism of Science”, published by Profile Books. In addition to being an author, she is a journalist, science writer, broadcaster and public speaker with an academic training in zoology coupled with an upbringing in the music industry.

At our event, Ms Cormier will explain how and why humans are able to create music. Did it give us an evolutionary advantage? Why have all civilisations throughout history made music? And why don’t other animals understand music?

To demonstrate just how amazing music is, we will have a performance by WondRWomN! WondR WomN has been bubbling on the UK’s Hip Hop scene for a while, cultivating her own niche style of rap that heavily incorporates lyricism, soul, and boom bap jazzy production.

Doors will open at 7 and the Sunday Assembly Band will welcome you in with a few tunes to get you in the mood before we kick things off at 7:30. We’ll have some killer sing-alongs and a special performance by the Sunday Assembly Choir.

What Are Machines Learning?

• 15th March 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Daniel Zoran
• Performer: Bellatrix

It’s 2020, and we’re living in the future. Smart phones unlock when they recognise our faces, and cars are starting to drive themselves. But sometimes machines, like people, get it wrong. Our main speaker, Daniel Zoran, is a research scientist at DeepMind, the UK based world-leading artificial intelligence company. Daniel holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a post-doctoral associate at MIT before joining DeepMind. His talk will focus on how we teach machines to see, what we think they might be learning and how, sometimes, they yield unexpected results.

And we welcome Bellatrix, a singer and songwriter who also happens to be a Guildhall-trained double bassist and world beatboxing champion. This unusual and multifaceted artist is always engaged in a diverse range of projects for which she wears a multitude of different musical hats.

We will get your Sunday morning booted up with our usual sing-along pop/rock tunes, an energetic host, and a member of the community coming up to tell us how they’re “trying their best”. Please stay after for tea, biscuits, and lively conversation with other members of the community.

Global Goals

• 5th April 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Henry C. Blanchard
• Poet: Annie Perez

Welcome to our first virtual assembly! Our main speaker is Henry C. Blanchard, who left a boring corporate job to create an adventure sports business, set up a charity in rural Uganda, and travel the world. He now shows others how to do the same.

If our current situation has taught us anything, it’s that we are all in this together, for better or for worse. Everything we do has a real impact on others. Henry’s talk will be about how we can achieve amazing things if we cooperate with one another and work towards a common vision.

Sanderson Jones, our co-founder and a pioneer in the field of Lifefulness, will host this assembly. We will have a special poetry reading by Annie Perez, and Sarah Moore will tell us how she’s “Trying Her Best”. And it wouldn’t be Sunday Assembly without some world-shaking pop and rock singalongs!

How to Have More Fun by Flying Less

• 19th April 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Anna Hughes
• Performer: Bellatrix

Could you take a year off flying? In celebration of Earth Day on 22 April, Sunday Assembly invites you to think about your impact on the environment and what changes you can make to slow down the affects of climate change. One of the biggest contributors to our carbon footprint is commercial air travel. A published author of three books about her cycling adventures, lifelong cyclist and environmentalist Anna Hughes talks to us about Flight Free UK, a campaign she started in 2019. Flight Free UK asks people to stop flying for a year to help the environment.

And we welcome Bellatrix, a singer and songwriter who also happens to be a Guildhall-trained double bassist and world beatboxing champion. This unusual and multifaceted artist is always engaged in a diverse range of projects for which she wears a multitude of different musical hats.

Sunday Assembly aims to inspire a sense of community with sing-along pop and rock tunes, an energetic host, and a member of the community coming up to tell us how they’re “trying their best”. Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community using Zoom’s Breakout Rooms feature. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU8ssLhcIXk

Sunday Assembly Dance-Off!

• 26 April 2020, 12:00pm

Forget Strictly, the next big thing is the Sunday Assembly Dance-Off!

Sunday 26 April should have been the date of the 40th London Marathon. Instead, its organisers have asked charities to create their own #stayathomechallenge based around the numbers 2 and 6. See https://www.twopointsixchallenge.co.uk/ for more info.

We’re inviting you, your family, and your friends, to Sunday Assembly’s Dance-Off Challenge on Sunday 26 April to support us during this tough time.

Join our Dance-Off Challenge: 26 minutes of non-stop dancing from 12pm on Sunday 26 April. It’s just you, your best moves, Zoom, and the rest of Sunday Assembly!

Many Voices, One Song

• 3rd May 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: James Sills

If you have a voice, you can sing. You don’t need anyone’s permission. And singing is even more enjoyable when done with others. Something powerful happens when we join our voices- we seem to instantly feel a bond of understanding with others. This is why we sing at our assemblies: it brings our community together.

Our main speaker James Sills is a musician, vocal leader, author, and speaker who is passionate about bringing people together to sing. His book, “Do/ Sing” is a celebration of group singing in all its forms, from football stadiums to choirs to campfires. In addition to his talk about singing, he will also give a short demonstration of how people can sing together online as he does with his Sofa Singers.

And we welcome the return of the Sunday Assembly Choir! It was challenging adapting to virtual rehearsals, but Emma Songeur has done a fantastic job of bringing members of our community together for weekly rehearsals.

As always, we will come together to enjoy sing-along pop and rock tunes, an energetic host, and a member of the community telling us how they’re “trying their best”.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

Cool to be Kind

• 17th May 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Tracy Douthwaite

Mental Health Awareness Week begins on 18 May. This year, the theme is Kindness, a value that is at the heart of what we do as a community. Acts of kindness strengthen relationships and unlock our shared humanity.

Tracy Douthwaite, our main speaker, trains businesses to use a sustainable and effective approach to the mental health needs of their employees, increasing understanding and reducing stigma. Her aim is to embed health and wellbeing into the culture of organisations, ensuring happy, healthy workplaces. She will show us how connecting with others and building communities can support our wellbeing through COVID-19 and beyond. And she will talk about the other kind of kindness, self-kindness, which is often overlooked because we sometimes find it harder to do. Prioritising self-care can have a positive impact even in the most challenging of times.

As always, we will come together to enjoy sing-along pop and rock tunes, an energetic host, and a member of the community telling us how they’re “trying their best”.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDQA4yqQ8rs

The Science of Celebration

• 7th June 2020, 11:00am
• Speaker: Jacques Martiquet

Take a moment to remember some of the best events you ever attended. What made them special? How did they make you feel? They were probably not the ones at which you consumed food, drink, and entertainment and promptly went home afterward. They were more likely the times when you felt a bond with other people over a shared experience and hung around till you were one of the last people remaining because you didn’t want it to end.

Study after study has shown that our need for human connection is just as essential as our needs for food and shelter. The reason we celebrate together is not to consume substances, but to connect with others. So why do we often engage in unhealthy habits to try to make an experience more ‘fun’? Jacques Martiquet, founder of Vyve, is an expert on the science of celebration, having produced hundreds of substance-free events that focus on providing a unique and memorable shared experience. He will give us some of his science-backed advice for bringing joy to our most joyous events.

Hosted by Anj Cairns, author and creator of communal poems (@wewroteapoem), this assembly will include some of your favourite songs to sing along to, as well as a special performance by The Sunday Assembly Choir, and Gareth Dee from SA Brighton telling us how he is “Trying His Best”.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LITc7ZCFmw

How to Care Intensively

• 21st June 2020, 11:00am

• Speaker: Jay Jayamohan

Our main speaker, Jay Jayamohan, is a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, star of two highly acclaimed BBC documentary series following the work of neurosurgeons, and author of the 2020 autobiography “Everything That Makes Us Human”. Jay will tell us what it means to care intensively: advocating for patients who can’t speak for themselves, guiding families through end-of-life choices no one wants to make, helping people feel empowered to make essential, life-changing decisions when there is no time to waste.

Hosted by Stuart Holdsworth, author of the street art blog Inspiring City (who will likely make a few ‘dad jokes’ in honour of Father’s Day), this assembly will also feature poetry by Clare Potter, pop and rock songs to get you up and moving, and community member Jennie Sutherland telling us how she’s “Trying Her Best”.

Please stay after for tea and biscuits (provided by you!), and lively conversation with other members of the community via Breakout Rooms. Everyone is welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcYBDfkxQZw

6th Birthday Celebrations

• 6th January 2019, 11:00am
• Speakers: Tiu de Haan, Shamash Alidina

Our first assembly for 2019 AND our 6th ‘golden’ Birthday! What a date!

Join us in kicking 2019 off with a bombastic BANG and celebrate the past 6 years of Sunday Assembly with 6 of our favourite people from the past year on the 6th of Jan!

It’s a total treat and call us greedy, but, to celebrate this momentous date we will be having not one but TWO speakers, TWO poets and TWO Trying My Best speakers from yesteryear! Don’t say we don’t spoil you!

We are so excited to have Tiu de Haan back to talk to us about the importance of rituals and lead us in a Sunday Assembly ritual. Tiu is a ritual designer, creative facilitator, inspirational speaker, voiceover artist and musician. She creates experiences designed to connect us to our creativity, to each other, to ourselves and to the possibility of wonder.

Our second speaker is Shamash Alidina, co-founder of the Museum of Happiness, author of Mindfulness for Dummies and all round expert on Kindfulness! Shamash will be leading us on an extra special mediation to get our heads in the right space for the year ahead!

This Sunday Assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones and we will have two of our favourite poets from 2018 performing.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Trusting Your Superpower

• 20th January 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: CK Goldiing
• Poet: Laurie Bolger

It’s time to take a little look inwards and onwards to 2019 and beyond!

So, let’s cut to the chase, what are your superpowers? And are you expressing them in your daily life?

For our next assembly we have CK Goldiing coming to teach us all to TRUST OURSELVES and how to live out our superpowers TO THE MAX!

Our speaker this week is writer, creator & presenter, CK’s uplifting stories have been championed by BBC, Huffington Post, Red Bull, Metro & Evening Standard. Fascinated by the psychology of everyday people, his projects are rooted in his spontaneous interactions with strangers – ordinary people he encounters in his everyday life.

In 2018, his debut short film, ’61 HUGS’ is CK’s most personal story yet, revealing what happened when he approached 61 total strangers in the street, and asked each for a hug.

A self-confessed overthinker, forever battling his own crippling self-talk, CK comes to Sunday Assembly London to share how he overcomes his intrusive inner dialogue and finds the will to create such bold, ambitious, inspiring stories.

This Sunday Assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones and we will have the amazing Laurie Bolger doing some poetry for us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Running For a Reason

• 3rd February 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Ivo Gormley
• Poet: John Wheeler

With January now over, maybe all of your very well intended health/ fitness/ wellbeing goals have taken a bit of a back seat, as the reality of 2019 sets in… Are you looking for a reason to get back on track? A ‘Reason To Run’, perhaps?

This week we have the Ivo Gormley from the GoodGym coming to help us get up, get out and get motivated! This assembly is all about Living Better and Helping Often! Pow Pow!

Goodgym is a growing movement of runners who run to help older people and community organisations. As well as starting that, Ivo has worked on increasing user participation for technology startups and public services in the UK and US. He directed the documentary film Us Now, an exploration of participatory culture which was broadcast around the world and his film The Runners has been watched by millions!

This Sunday Assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones and we will have the wonderful John Wheeler doing some poetry for us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Living With OCD

• 7th February 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr David Adam
• Poet: Christy Ku

Have you ever had a strange urge to jump from a tall building, or steer your car into oncoming traffic? You are not alone. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder comes in many shapes and forms and affects around 1.2% of the UK population.

This week we are very excited to have best selling author Dr David Adam coming to speak with us! David is the author of Sunday Star Times best seller ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Stop – The Truth About OCD’.

David will teach us about what it’s like to live with OCD and explore the weird thoughts that exist within every mind, and how they drive millions of us towards obsessions and compulsions. This assembly will be sure to challenge the way you think about what is normal, and what is mental illness.

This Sunday Assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones( his last assembly hosting for a few months!) and we will have the wonderful Christy Ku doing some poetry for us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

There’s More To Reading Than Words

• 3rd March 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Anj Cairns
• Poet: Esi Yankey

I’m going to assume that (unless you have some futuristic dictating technology or someone is reading aloud), if you’re reading this right now, you can probably read.

Reading is part of our society, we read to learn, we read to stay connected, to keep updated with the world around us – to broaden our horizons. Reading empowers us. But imagine how shut off and disconnected from society you would feel if you couldn’t read?

This Sunday we are so excited to have Anj Cairns the CEO of Shannon Trust – an organisation which supports thousands of prisoners a year to transform their lives by unlocking the power of reading. They inspire and train prisoners who can read to teach prisoners who can’t.

We will also have the wonderful Esi from Poetry Prescribed reading some poems to us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

The Science of Living Longer

• 17th March 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Richard Faragher
• Poet: Elie Karslake

What causes ageing? How does it make us ill? Can we all extend our lives beyond 120 years in good health? What will it cost? If we could, would we want to? And if not, why not? The answers are both simple and more complex than you might think.

Our wonderful speaker this week is Richard Faragher – Professor of Biogerontology. Richard works on the relationship between cell and organismal ageing. He is past chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing, the International Association of Biomedical Gerontology and the American Aging Association. He has won the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Medal for his research into the accelerated ageing disease Werner’s syndrome. He is the first scientist to be honoured by Help the Aged for his championship of older people and holds the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead Medal for services to gerontology.

This assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones. We will also have the amazing Elie Karslake from London Laughter doing poetry for us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Why We Dream

• 7th April 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Alice Robb
• Poet: Daniel Piper

Following the success of our Sleep assembly late last year, we have decided to delve a little deeper into our night-time lives. For the next Sunday Assembly we are asking, Why Do We Dream? And what are dreams?

To answer these questions we are SO excited to have Alice Robb – who has come all the way from New York! Alice is a journalist and the author of Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey, which has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian, Vogue and Elle, and will be translated into thirteen languages. She graduated from Oxford with a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology and lives in Brooklyn.

This assembly will be hosted by our co-founder Sanderson Jones. We will also the wonderful poet Daniel Piper doing spoken word for us.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, an awesome spoken word artist, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Let’s Talk About Drugs

• Thursday 11th April, 7:30pm
• Speakers: Stephen Reid, Dr Will Lawn
• Performer: Gemma Rogers

The third Edition of our ‘Lates’ series is coming to Conway Hall this April! And to keep in line with the more risqué subjects we are tackling in this series – It’s all about drugs!

This is an adult only evening gathering, which is ticketed to raise funds for Sunday Assembly London!

If you sometimes struggle to get up on a Sunday (or know someone who does) and would love to come to a Sunday Assembly where we can talk about things that aren’t suitable for children’s ears, this one is for YOU!

For this Edition of SUNDAY ASSEMBLY LATES we have Co-Founder of the UK Psychedelic Society, Stephen Reid. Stephen is a social entrepreneur, activist and public speaker. Previously, he served as a board member of Greenpeace UK, co-founded the New Economics Foundation’s New Economy Organisers Network and worked as a technology consultant for organisations including the Labour Party, the Green Party and 350.org. Stephen has Masters degrees in Physics from the University of Oxford and Complexity Sciences from the University of Bristol.

Our second speaker is Dr Will Lawn – Post-Doctoral Research Associate at University College London. Will we be talking about his research into the effects of cannabis on the teenage mind & brain and the risk of addiction to various drugs. He has also worked closely with the Global Drug Survey team, investigating the use of novel psychoactive substances.

As we as that we have the AMAZING Gemma Rogers coming to perform for us! What a treat!

Them as always, we’ll have our band welcoming you through the doors, some awesome power ballads and all the best Sunday Assembly joy (but at night!).

We will also have a donation based bar so you can enjoy a drink while you listen/ sing/ dance/ sit.

Come have fun while raising some pennies for this fantastic community!

Accepting Your Body

• 5th May 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Becky Young
• Other guests: Melanie Bloch

Are you too fat? Too thin? Too tall? Too short? How do you feel about your body? Your appearance? Do you Accept Your Body?

After a short break in April, we are back at Conway Hall on the 5th May and we are talking BODIES! We are SO excited to have Becky Young coming to speak with us. Becky is the founder and director of the Anti Diet Riot Club, who a stirring things up in the world of Body Positivity!

The 5th of May is also WORLD LAUGHTER DAY! So to celebrate that we will also be having Melanie Bloch and the Museum of Happiness along leading us in some laughs!

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Out of Your Comfort Zone, But Within Your Own Boundaries

• Sunday 19th May 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Yaron Engler
• Poet: Jah-Mir Early

We are often being told to ‘go outside of our comfort zone’ but sometimes that’s not so easy to do. It can feel overwhelming at times and out of touch from where we are at. This week we are so excited to have Yaron Engler from UpBeat coming to speak with us. Yaron is a professional drummer who has performed in front of over 500,000 people all around the world.

He is the founder of UpBeat Performance where he helps
organisations of all sizes to boost the levels of trust,
confidence and engagement of their people towards better
results and well-being.

At this assembly Yaron is going to create a space which will allow us to push ourselves, think differently, act differently and remove our defences – but all within the comfort of our personal boundaries.

We also have the Sunday Assembly favourite – Jah-Mir Early coming to perform some spoken word for us!

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Embracing Your Weirdness

• 2nd June 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Steve Chapman

The outsider’s time has come! In a society that is stuck in loops of common sense where we have an unhealthy attachment to expertise and logical, linear thinking, something counter-intuitive is needed. It is time for a creative revolution. One in which the outsider sits at the table alongside the experts. Where the passionately inexpert play a vital role in unsticking stuckness. All that you need to bring is your own unique and beautiful weirdness!

Our speaker for this assembly is the wonderful Steve Chapman! Steve is an artist, writer, philosopher and speaker who is interested in creativity and the human condition. He has spoken around the world on creativity, written a couple of books and exhibited his art alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and David Shrigley. He spoke at Sunday Assembly London way back in 2014 and is very much looking forward to returning. He is at his best when he does not know what he is doing.

We’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.

Digital Distractions

• 16th June 2019, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr Anastasia Dedyukhina
• Performer: Lonan Jenkins

Do you check your email or social media just for a second, and then two hours later find yourself mindlessly clicking on yet another cat video? How about reading something online, and then immediately forgetting what it was about? You are not alone.

This coming Sunday we are so excited to have Dr Anastasia Dedyukhina speaking with us. Anastasia explores, how the internet is changing our brain. Quoting the latest neuroscience research, she explains how digital distractions are preventing us from good decision making and innovative and creative thinking, and will give practical tips on how to coach your brain to stay focused in the age of digital distractions.

Seeing as it’s Father’s Day we also have the wonderful Lonan Jenkins coming to do some father themed story telling for us! AND our very first Sunday Assembly father, Rich Kershaw, doing a Trying My Best!

Then we’ll also be doing our usual: Mass singalongs to some of our favourite power ballads, hearing stories from a number of our community and drinking a vat of tea afterwards.