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Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, February 2 2025

Men’s Sheds: Craft, Connection and Community

In 1999, in a rural area of Australia, a woman noticed that many of the retired, local miners and veterans were suffering from a sense of isolation and purposelessness; missing working with their fellow men. Coinciding with a developing awareness of a crisis within men’s mental health, a pilot workshop was put together, inviting men to come and restore furniture and fix appliances, allowing them to connect with the people around them, and learn new skills.

‘Men’s Sheds’, as they came to be known, are now a global phenomenon, with nearly 3,000 sheds operating in 12 countries, including Ireland, UK, New Zealand, Canada, US, Kenya, and South Africa.

In 2014, Professor Barry Golding coined the term “”shedagogy”” to describe “a distinctive, new way of acknowledging, describing and addressing the way some men prefer to learn informally in shed-like spaces mainly with other men”

We are joined by Founder and Life President of the UK’s branch of MSA, Mike Jenn, who has worked in practical social innovations for 50 years across community education and relieving deprivation. He shared with us how the charities’ “shedagogy” continues to grow and change lives; fostering community, creativity and tackling life-shortening isolation for many.

We were also treated to some ‘Shedding your inhibitions!’ games by our resident Games Master, Matt!

Men’s Sheds UK

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, January 19 2025

The Art of Healing: Transforming Mental Health Hospitals

Our guest speaker: Tim Shaw

It was a recognition of this grim state of affairs that led to the foundation of Hospital Rooms, the UK arts and mental health charity, which aims to bring creativity, colour, and kindness to mental health hospitals and transform them into places of hope, dignity, and recovery for all.

Co-founder Tim Shaw was with us to talk about the charity’s collaborations with artists, service users, and the NHS, to craft innovative artwork and creative programmes while dispelling stigmas and advocating for culture and creativity in mental health as a universal human right. Hospital Rooms has worked with artists such as Richard Wentworth, Anish Kapoor and Sonia Boyce and were awarded Quality Improvement Project of the Year 2018 by NAPICU.

Hospital Rooms

Our guest poet: Rachel Lewis

Rachel Lewis’s website

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, January 5 2025

Joy To The World! Sumptuous Resolutions for the New Year

Happy 12th birthday Sunday Assembly! And Happy New Yeeaaarr!

Along with the requisite fireworks, bubbles and the dash for snogs at midnight, the idea of New Year also brings forth the pressure of New Year’s Resolutions.

Whether it’s to lose that last ten pounds, quit smoking or finally take up the Cha Cha, more and more people are realising that the conventional idea of New Year’s Resolutions, are all based on external measures, and can actually be harmful to our wellbeing. Even when they are about health and fitness, the underlying purpose tends to be for something outside of ourselves, putting us under pressure to be ‘better’.

Following a 16 year career in social work, Tamu Thomas is now a leading somatic specialist, leadership coach, author and workshop facilitator with a specialism in combating ‘toxic productivity’. In this talk she invited us all to consider resolutions that make us feel vibrant and alive rather than as a covert means to fix ourselves.

Living more sumptuously is about feeling full, satiated, satisfied, and Tamu believes that when we each do this individual work, we collectively benefit from a more positive, productive, and purposeful culture.

Tamu Thomas’s website: Live Three Sixty

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, December 15 2024

Nature Needs Us: How to Be a Guardian of the Natural World

Our guest speaker: Paul Powlesland

In August 2024, environmentalist and barrister, Paul Powlesland made history, by becoming the first member of a UK jury to swear an oath on a river: his beloved River Roding, where he both lives and spends time restoring. A co-founder of the River Roding Trust, Paul has also worked with locals to plant hundreds of trees, remove over a thousand bags of rubbish and hoist precisely 75 shopping trolleys from the Roding’s clay-thick riverbed.

We were thrilled to welcome Paul to Sunday Assembly today to share his journey and his wisdom on the things that we can all do to be better stewards to the natural world. Paul is also co-founder of Lawyers for Nature, an advocacy group calling for the UK to grant rivers a legal right of protection.

Guest poet: Esme May Finch

We were also excited to have some spoken word from Esme Fay Finch, a poet, children’s author and forest school teacher, whose project Ways of the Wild inspires and educates children about environmental matters through storytelling, art workshops and dance.

Not-just-Sunday ActivitiesPast events

7:00 pm, December 13 2024

Yule Rock 2024

‘Hark! Come all ye mirthful to Sunday Assembly London’s annual seasonal singalong, Yule Rock!’

Whilst we had been settling nicely into our new home at the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green, for one night only we returned to the famous Conway Hall for the most festive night of the year!

We sang along to all your favourite Christmas classics once again, from Wham! to Wizzard, with our inimitable live band. We also hosted a silent auction and raffle, with a delectable array of prizes on offer to get you even more in the festive mood.

We had a cashless bar serving alcoholic and alcohol-free beverages as well as the requisite mince pies.

We were absolutely thrilled to have as our host this year comedienne, songwriter, science presenter and ‘Voice of an Angle’ Helen Arney. Helen features regularly on TV, radio and in theatres across the world with her unique mix of stand-up, songs and science, with credits including QI, Blue Peter and the science comedy phenomenon Festival of the Spoken Nerd.

Thanks to everyone who came dressed in their Yuletide best! Sparkles, baubles, tinsel and of course, questionable Christmas jumpers were actively encouraged.

Special thanks to our brilliant Sunday Assembly crew for another Yule Rock to remember!

Photo credit: Gwawr Thomas

This all-ages party was full of joy for family and friends. Doors opened at 7pm for drinks, with the singing and dancing kicking off at 7:30pm.

About Yule Rock and Sunday Assembly

Yule Rock is brought to you every year by Sunday Assembly London, a secular community that celebrates life under the motto of “Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More”. It is a heart-warming and inclusive gathering, embodying the essence of Sunday Assembly’s core values of community, joy, and wonder. It is the perfect occasion for individuals of all backgrounds to come together, sing their hearts out, and revel in the holiday cheer without any religious affiliations.

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, December 1 2024

Greek Wisdom for the Modern Age

Our guest speaker: John Graves

In our post-capitalist society it is easy to wonder why so many of us are still struggling with a feeling of meaninglessness.

More than 2000 years ago, Aristotle, Epicurus and the Stoics were pondering the same things and providing potential solutions to this dilemma.

John Graves is a teacher of Psychotherapeutic Studies, Life Coach, and life-long philosophy student sparked by the early teachings of his Greek mother.

He introduced us to some of the wisdom from our Ancient Agony Uncles – showing us how relevant these ideas still are and how closely they matched Sunday Assembly’s own three-part philosophy of living better, helping often and wondering more.

Our guest poet: Anna Herber

Watch one of Anna’s Sunday Assembly poetry readings on Instagram

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, November 17 2024

Keep Taking The Tablets – The Story of Antibiotics

Our guest speaker: Dr. Peter Altman

Sniff sniff, dribble dribble, cough cough. As we creep ever more into the cold and darkness of winter, we may all be feeling more under the weather than usual, with an increase in ill health rising significantly over the winter months, when the body is less effective in fighting off infections.

Antibiotics have been a central part of our society’s approach to managing infectious diseases for nearly a century. But how were they discovered, and when and by whom? And does it really involve a 3,500 year old mouldy sandwich from Ancient Egypt?

Dr. Peter Altman is a biochemist, medical researcher and publisher and a veteran magician, having been a member of the Magic Circle since 1984. He shared some of his latest research from his third book, currently in production, Amazing Discoveries in Science.

Our guest poet: Kay Scorah

We were also thrilled to have some poetry from former biochemist herself, Kay Scorah, who brought 70 years’ worth of experiment and creativity to her writing.

Main EventsPast events

11:00 am, November 3 2024

Multicolour Maths

The world of maths is one of the most abstract realms of human understanding. Whilst some of us find it logical, satisfying and beautiful, many of us struggle with the challenges of its concepts, find numbers difficult to comprehend, or may have been discouraged by traditional methods of teaching.

We were joined by artist, musician and numberphobe-turned-numberphile Brook Tate. As someone who severely struggled with mainstream methods of education, he designed a new a unique method to help people of all ages learn, understand and quite possibly, fall in love with maths.

Multicolour Maths is a new method designed to help children and adults learn the foundations of mathematics using only colours and shapes, opening up the world of mathematics into endlessly beautiful patterns and helping students of all ages understand and appreciate the language of the universe.

Since first inventing the method in India in January 2024, Brook has presented it to the Head of Maths Education at Bristol University, the British Society of Research into Learning Mathematics, The British Library’s Inventors Club and the Alan Turing Institute. The BBC is also currently developing a short feature on the project.

Brook also performed a song from his recent musical theatre piece.

Brook Tate’s website

Multicolour Maths website

This assembly was accompanied by our Winter Market.

Not-just-Sunday ActivitiesPast events

12:00 pm, November 3 2024

Winter Market 2024

‘Calling all makers, creators, artists, and artisans among us. We are a creative community, so let’s show off! Please come and display (and sell if you want) your creations at our Winter market, after the Assembly on Sunday 3 November.

If you aren’t planning to run a stall, you have the opportunity to admire our community members’ unique and fantastic creations and get a head start on your holiday season shopping! Come and have a look and talk with the makers from 12 pm on Sunday 3 November. Be ready to be amazed, intrigued, and dazzled!’

Thank you to Astrid for organising our Winter Market, and to everyone who bought something from the wonderful range of items on offer!

The Winter Market accompanied our assembly on Multicolour Maths with guest speaker & performer Brook Tate.

Not-just-Sunday ActivitiesPast events

7:30 pm, November 28 2024

Article Club #65

The point of Sunday Assembly Article Club is to challenge ourselves to read a diverse range of articles, share them with like-minded people and deal with our anxiety that we aren’t reading books.

How Article Club works

1. We meet every six weeks or so in or near the National Theatre.
2. We vote in advance and pick two articles from a short list to read before we meet. Usually one relates to politics/current affairs and the other to history, culture or science.
3. We talk about each one for around half an hour and the beauty of Article Club is that we can think more deeply about the broader themes of a topic, and how well the article gets to grips with them.
4. We each give a score out of 10 for the articles that have been discussed.
5. We set the date for the next Article Club and sometimes adjourn to the pub.

The articles we discussed

Why was the Industrial Revolution British?
Robert Allen
CEPR, 15 May 2009

The only way the Ukraine War can end: Russia has to stop fighting
Anne Applebaum
The Atlantic, 2 October 2024

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