As a non-religious community with a history of big festive pop singalongs (Yule Rock), we know how meaningful Christmas is to so many people. What if we marked other points in the year with the same level of ritual? What traditions could we revive or create? Today’s Winter Solstice was the ideal time to explore it.
Guest speaker: Alan Gregan
Alan is a long-standing member of the Sunday Assembly London community, an atheist physics teacher and founder of the Fountayne Fire Society. What started as folk songs round a bonfire has since swelled into elaborate ceremonies to mark solstices, equinoxes and other major moments.
Our singalongs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. It’s that time of year, and our Yule Rock 2025 spectacular was fresh in our minds, so we joined in on some festive favourites.
Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) – The Darkness
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Wizzard
Stay Another Day – East 17
Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade
As always, the lyrics were projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
From Christmas playlists in every café to the festive hum of the high-street, sound seems to move all around us at this time of year.
Understanding how we experience sound in space goes far beyond the mechanics of the ear. But how do our brains make sense of it all? This ‘Sound Day Assembly’ was an opportunity to find out.
Our guest speaker: Tommaso Perego
Dr Perego is a composer, sound designer and senior lecturer at the University of East London. His research explores sonic movement; how we perceive sound in motion and space and how that shapes everything from performance and architecture to multimedia and art.
He gave us a playful exploration of sound, space and perception and we discovered why even the Christmas jingles that chase us through the shops can tell us something fascinating about being human.
Our guest poet: Yvonne Murray
Yvonne is a Murray poet, inspirational motivator and author who loves to manipulate words into stories, hurts into lessons and to empathise with those who share similar paths.
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and reflecting today’s theme.
Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon
Sound of the Underground – Girls Aloud
Footloose – Kenny Loggins
Don’t Stop Movin’ – S Club 7
The lyrics were projected on screen, with everyone welcome to sing (and dance) along.
Winter Fayre
We invited our community to display (and sell if they wanted) their creations at our Winter Fayre. The stalls were open either side of this assembly i.e. 10:20 to 11am, 12:15 to 1pm.
Thank you to all our makers – from cards and crocheted toys to games and hats – and to all our shoppers!
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
From Hollywood heroes to social media influencers, our culture today is full of mixed messages about what it means to be a man. These myths of toughness, dominance and emotional silence have shaped generations and left many men disconnected from themselves and others.
By unpicking these stories, we can live more thoughtfully and supportively.
Our guest speaker: Kris Genijn
Kris Genijn leads De-Masking Masculinity workshops at transformational festivals like Medicine, Nowhere and Burning Nest. He blends humour, vulnerability and cultural critique to ask: what have we lost in trying to “man up”?
Kris invited us to consider how tenderness, play and presence can be reclaimed as strengths, helping us move beyond stereotypes.
He also led us through a series of energy alchemy exercises: using breathing and movement to help us shed our inhibitions and release our energy.
Our singalongs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and reflecting today’s theme of masculine identity.
Piano Man – Billy Joel
The One and Only – Chesney Hawkes
Father and Son – Cat Stevens (Yusuf)
All These Things that I’ve Done – The Killers
As always, the lyrics were projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.
Thank you to our band for adding versality to virtuosity, with multiple lead vocalists and instrumentals.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Stress touches every one of us – shaping our health, our relationships, and the way we experience daily life.
Our guest speaker: Neil Shah
Ahead of National Stress Awareness Day on 5th November, we welcomed Neil Shah, founder of the Stress Management Society and a leading voice on resilience and wellbeing.
Neil is the driving force behind Stress Awareness Month, a national campaign raising awareness of the impact of stress and how we can manage it together. His mission: to empower people to live happier, healthier lives.
Neil explained how his own mental health experiences have motivated his work, and how suicide rates and stress have increased in recent years as community cohesion has decreased. He also gave the first public performance of a poem on these themes, expressing how what we may see as breakages are ways to let the light in.
We were also treated to a performance by the newly formed Sunday Assembly London choir. Following their rehearsal on 22 October, they performed Focus Is Power by Self Esteem.
Our songs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They had lyrics reflecting today’s theme.
Three Little Birds – Bob Marley and The Wailers
Hand In My Pocket – Alanis Morrissette
I’ll Stand By You – Pretenders
Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Did you know some people can taste words or see music? Welcome to the fascinating world of synaesthesia: a unique way of experiencing the world where the senses blend together.
Our guest speaker: Mary Spiller
Mary Spiller, Senior Lecturer at the University of East London, offered us a glimpse into this wondrous phenomenon.
Mary’s research explores how our senses can cross-wire in surprising and creative ways, opening up fresh ways of seeing the world.
Our guest poet: Lydia Daisy
We’re thrilled to welcome Lydia back. Artful in her words and her performance, she expressed her defiance of a system that treats creativity as a threat.
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They reflected the title of today’s talk.
Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
Red Red Wine – UB40 version
True Colours – Cyndi Lauper
Gold – Spandau Ballet
Halloween Bake Off
Thanks to everyone who took the time to bake delicious treats for our bake off, with flavours ranging from pumpkin to banoffee. They were both eerie and cherry. Some of the treats went so fast it was almost like they were never there…
Our next Autumn Awesomeness activity will be our one-shot choir, performing on 2nd November.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
We believe firmly in the wonder of singing together. Today we welcomed another organisation using the power of collective song to empower, build connection, confidence and joy.
Our guest speaker: Kate Wareham
The Choir With No Name is a unique community choir made up of people who have experienced homelessness or marginalisation. Kate Wareham, their CEO, shared some of the community’s moving stories about how music creates a safe, inclusive space where people find their voices.
Kate has a PhD in music psychology, focusing on music and homelessness. Before Choir with No Name, she worked in community and arts organisations including The Children’s Society, Yorkshire Dance, St John Ambulance and Home-Start.
We were also led through some fun games by our resident Games Master Matt Lockwood.
Our songs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They reflected today’s theme.
Sing – Travis
Make Your Own Kind of Music – Mama Cass Elliot
Your Song – Elton John
Scare Away the Dark – Passenger
And talking of choirs…
Would you like to join our next community choir: rehearsing on 22nd October and performing a song at our assembly on 2nd November?
Or perhaps you like to make something for the Halloween Bake Off that’ll be taking place at our assembly on 19th October? Find out more about our assembly-adjacent activities here.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
We live in a weird world! And according to polls, over half the UK population believes some it may be down to paranormal phenomena.
Every ancient society we know of had some kind of supernatural belief system. Statistics suggest, even today, a steady increase in interest in this realm of enquiry.
But can belief in, and reported experience of, paranormal phenomena, actually be explained in terms of psychological factors?
Our guest speaker: Chris French
We welcomed back Professor Chris French, Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. Chris talked about the remarkable field of anomalistic psychology: the psychology of strange experiences and behaviours.
Chris’s entertaining, insightful talk demonstrated the scientific backing for healthy scepticism.
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They reflected today’s theme and today’s date.
Bad Day – Daniel Powter
Ghost Riders in the Sky – Johnny Cash
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
September – Earth, Wind & Fire (it’s about the 21st of September!)
Thank you to the volunteers who stepped up to become our impromptu singers alongside our band. A true Earth, Wind & Choir Day!
Autumn Awesomeness
Talking of choirs, would you like to join our next community choir: rehearsing on 22nd October and performing a song at our assembly on 2nd November? Or perhaps you like to make something for the Halloween Bake Off that’ll be taking place at our assembly on 19th October? Find out more about our assembly-adjacent activities here.
Thank you
What a great blend of attendees we had today too. From regulars who’ve been coming since Sunday Assembly London started in 2013, to first-timers, to visitors from Sunday Assembly Brighton and Sunday Assembly LA!
There’ll be even more intercity assembling at Sunday Assembly’s annual gathering happening next weekend in Glasgow. Details here.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Conflict is unavoidable in life: in our relationships with family, friends, colleagues or and strangers. How can we manage it better?
Our guest speaker: Katie Goldfinch
Katie Goldfinch is a broadcaster, mediator and host of the podcast How Not to F*** Up Your Kids.
Katie specialises in conflict resolution for neighbourhood disputes and intergenerational family dynamics. She is also currently working on a global peace building project with the Institute of Global Negotiation to disseminate conflict resolutions tools internationally.
By encouraging us to explore our own and each others’ definitions of conflict, and to practise active listening, Katie helped to us to understand how we can improve the quality and outcome of conflict at the personal level.
Yvonne is a Murray poet, inspirational motivator and author who loves to manipulate words into stories, hurts into lessons and to empathise with those who share similar paths.
Yvonne read three of her poems, Peace in Pieces, Punchbag and Fight the Fight Good, moving us with her imagery and empathy. The third poem was specially written for our assembly and you can watch a video on Yvonne’s Instagram.
Our songs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They reflected today’s theme of conflict.
Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting – Elton John
We Can Work It Out – The Beatles
Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Here at Sunday Assembly London, kindness is one of the qualities that we value the most and try to cultivate within our community and beyond. Today we welcomed expert on kindness to help us continue to spread the love!
Our guest speaker: Bernadette Russell
Bernadette Russell is a storyteller, performer, and expert on kindness and hope. For over a decade she has toured the US and UK speaking about the life-changing experience of practising kindness. This was her fifth time speaking at Sunday Assembly London.
With wit and poignancy, Bernadette told us about how London’s 2011 riots inspired her to spend the following year doing an act of kindness every day, touching others’ lives and her own in unexpected ways. She extended her kindness to us by giving us sunflowers and teacakes!
Our guest poet: Adam Lind
Adam Lind gave us the rare privilege of hearing him perform his poetry. He connected with us through three authentic poems whose themes included perceptions of masculinity and setting an example to future generations.
Thank you to Bernadette and Adam for being so appreciative of our Sunday Assembly London community. Their latest books, Conversations on Kindness and Floating Home, are available via our online bookshop.
Our songs
As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They reflected today’s theme of acts of kindness.
With A Little Help From My Friends – The Beatles
All The Small Things – Blink 182
Lean On Me – Bill Withers
Shine – Take That
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
Stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Live Better is a value we hold dear at Sunday Assembly London, but what if your dream turns to crisis? Many LGBTIQ+ people move to London to live as themselves and find connection among a larger population – only to struggle without stable work, housing and social networks. One special organisation has led the way in helping them since 2017.
Our guest speaker: Carla Ecola, The Outside Project
The Outside Project was founded as the UK’s first shelter, centre and domestic abuse refuge for the LGBTIQ+ community. This London Pride weekend, we were honoured to welcome The Outside Project’s co-founder and director Carla Ecola.
Carla is a queer homelessness activist who saw the gap in crisis services for LGBTIQ+ people whilst working as an Outreach Worker in their twenties.
We found out how they support LGBTIQ+ people in London without a home or a place to feel safe – driven by Carla and the team’s own personal experiences – and hear about the challenges they’re facing today.
Our guest poet: Annie Hayter
We were also thrilled to have some spoken word from Annie Hayter, who delights in writing about queer transformations and flatulent saints. Their work has been found in The Big Issue, Rialto, MAGMA, Time Out, and on BBC Radio 3.
Annie’s verses took us from grandparents to geese with a blend of lightness, elegance and honesty.
Today’s songs
The Outside Project takes its name from a George Michael song. In celebration of that, our Sunday Assembly London band performed four pop songs from LGBTIQ+ artists for us to sing our hearts out to. It was hard for some of us to resist a dash of dancing too.
Love Shack – The B-52’s
A Little Respect – Erasure
Pink Pony Club – Chappell Roan
Freedom! ’90 – George Michael
As always, we projected the lyrics for everyone to follow. But if you’re not into singing, there’s no pressure at all to join in.
About Sunday Assembly London
Sunday Assembly London is your regular and reliable stop for a welcoming, accessible and inspiring Sunday community, where you can hear talks and poetry, sing songs and make new friends.
We’re proud to host events where LGBTIQ+ members, volunteers, speakers and poets give each other a sense of belonging within a secular community that welcomes all.
After the assembly
We invite everyone to stay after for tea, biscuits, and chat in the Backyard Comedy Club. Then to join us for a local meal, picnic, or a drink and card games at the pub.
Our lunch venue this time was Love Shack, a wonderfully welcoming vegan restaurant that recently joined the Safe Space London directory of trans-friendly businesses. (We chose the venue, then we chose the song!)
What if one small act of kindness, every single day for a year, could ignite a light in the darkness? Bernadette Russell gives us an insight into her extraordinary 366-day journey of discovery and connection.
What’s happening in August?
August is when we take a break from hosting assemblies, but not from being a community! We have a range of other get-togethers. They include picnics in Lincoln’s Inn Fields on 3rd and 17th August, lido swimming, Article Club and an ice cream crawl. Keep an eye on this page and our social media for details.
We love hearing your ideas too, so please post them on our social media or email us anytime!
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