Past events

Opera has traditionally been associated with grand theatres, formal dress and expensive tickets. What if it belonged in pub gardens, schools and community spaces too? 

Mezzo-soprano, director and writer Bronwen Harding told us how her company Rogue Opera brings extraordinary music and stories to unexpected places, breaking down barriers and opening up opera to new audiences.

We discovered how singing can bring people together, challenge expectations and help us find our voices. Together we also sang an adapted chorus from Madame Butterfly! 

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. They all took inspiration from classical pieces:

• All By Myself – Eric Carmen (1975); covered by Celine Dion (1996)
• Memories – Maroon 5 (2019); inspired by Canon in D, Johann Pachelbel (c.1690)
• A Groovy Kind of Love – Diane & Annita (1965); as covered by Phil Collins (1988); inspired by Piano Sonatina Op.36 No.5, Muzio Clementi (1797)
• Never Forget – Take That (1995); samples from Messa da Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi (1874)

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.

A change to our assembly schedule from 2027

From January 2027, Sunday Assembly London’s assemblies will be once a month. To find out why, how everyone benefits and how our community can keep supporting us, read our announcement here.

→ Our next assembly: Alien on Stage, 15th November
← Our previous assembly: Ghosts and dragons, 18th October

Halloween is the ideal time to confront the things that scare us, including our own minds. What if getting to know our monsters can help us better understand ourselves, our relationships and what we really want?

Adela Apetroaia – lecturer, writer and psychotherapist – returned to Sunday Assembly London for a playful exploration of our inner demons. Drawing on dream work, existential kink and internal family systems, she explained the hidden motivations and inner conflicts lurking in the shadows. If you’ve never confronted your negative emotions by visualising them, personifying them, interrogating them or singing about them, give it a try!

We also got to enjoy Sunday Assembly London’s own Kay Scorah putting the poet into poltergeist with original poems about ghosting, love and witches.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and connected to today’s theme and Halloween. Three of them were from Sunday Assembly’s founding year:

• Wake Me Up – Avicii (2013)
• Riptide – Vance Joy (2013)
• Demons – Imagine Dragons (2013)
• Time Warp – from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Community craft session

This assembly was followed by a Hallowe’en themed community craft session led by our Community Lead Tanya.

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.

→ Our next assembly: Rogue Opera, 1st November
← Our previous assembly: Rainbow Plaques, 4th October

Exploring London and other cities, millions of people set eyes on the circular blue plaques that honour significant people, locations and events. But you may not have seen the even more colourful plaques bringing overlooked stories to light.

David Robson, Rainbow Plaques project lead from the London LGBT+ Forums’ Network, explained how the programme has worked to honour LGBTQ+ figures and their heritage, at a time when the community continues to deal with exclusion and hostility.

As the ideal accompaniment, queer disabled poet George Parker (they/them) returned to our stage to weave words into messages of pride and protest.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and connected to today’s theme:

• The Whole of the Moon – The Waterboys (1985)
• True Colours – Cyndi Lauper (1986)
• Rainbow Connection – Kermit the Frog (1979)
• Freedom! ’90 – George Michael (1990)

The lyrics were projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.

As a secular community that welcomes all, we’re proud to host events where our LGBTQ+ members, volunteers, speakers and poets give each other a sense of belonging.

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.

→ Our next assembly: Ghosts and dragons, 18th October
← Our previous assembly: The Fullness Factor, 20th September

We have access to more food that any generation before us – so why are we hungrier than ever? We digested the answer…

Laz Ranasinghe is an award-winning doctor, personal trainer and nutrition coach: the ideal speaker to help us explore the science of hunger and satiety, and to explain what happens when the evolutionary biology that once helped us survive scarcity meets a modern food environment designed to keep us consuming.

Laz drew on his observations of diet-related disease, alongside evidence on ultra processed food and appetite. We found out what’s happening in our bodies, why some foods leave us wanting more, how knowing about fibre and whole foods can help us make more informed choices.

We also welcomed back Joe James to meet our craving for bittersweet poetry, from the travails of the food diary to the conspiracy of non-rhyming food words.

Our singalongs

Music is the food of love. So, as usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and connected to today’s theme.

• Hungry Eyes – Eric Carmen (1987)
• Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran (1982)
• Raspberry Beret – Prince (1985)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something (1995)

The lyrics were projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.

→ Our next assembly: Rainbow Plaques, 4th October
← Our previous assembly: The Joy of Pests, 6th September

Here’s a question you may not have been asked yet this year: could you be happier checking mousetraps than mailboxes? 

Recent research reveals that professional pest controllers experience surprisingly high levels of job satisfaction. What does this tell us about how ‘dirty work’ is valued in society, and what are the unexpected qualities that make labour enjoyable and meaningful?

Dr Hannah Fair is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Southampton. As part of her Economic and Social Research Council funded project SPIDER (Situating Pests: Impacts, Disgust, Expertise and Responsibility), Hannah explores everyday and often unwanted experiences with nature in our homes, from rats and mice to moths and bed bugs.  

We were treated to an insect-themed musical extravaganza ‘Guess the Earworm’ medley courtesy of our Community Lead and keyboard queen Tanya!

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band. Three were connected to today’s theme, one was a tribute to a late, great singer-songwriter:

• Everyday – Buddy Holly and the Crickets (1957)
• Wind of Change – Scorpions (1991)
• Fields of Gold – Sting (1993)
• 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton (1980)

The lyrics were projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.

→ Our next assembly: The Fullness Factor, 20th September
← Our previous assembly: Adult ADHD, 19th July

Though ADHD in adults is talked about more and more, it’s still being misunderstood. Whether we have first-hand experience or not, there’s a lot to gain from understanding that ADHD isn’t just about distraction or restlessness, or only about coping: it’s about rebuilding self-worth and creating a more connected, meaningful life.

Guest speaker: Kyriakos Fiakkas

Kyriakos is the author of Adult ADHD: From Survive to Thrive (under the name George Stephens). His talk explored the challenges of living with ADHD, from time management and focus to relationships and the often overlooked ‘ADHD tax’. He also highlighted the strengths that can come with ADHD, and offered practical ways to navigate daily life.

Guest poet: Joe James

We welcomed back Joe, whose witty and thoughtful poetry gave us new perspectives, particularly on the distractions that may occur during a therapy session.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band:

• Brass in Pocket – Pretenders
• Stand By Me – Oasis
• Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
• Shine – Take That

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.

→ Our next assembly: The Joy of Pests, 6th September (after our August break)
← Our previous assembly: Queer Disabled Joy!, 5th July

Guest speaker: JP Seabright (preferred pronouns: she/they)

How can poetry enable representation for marginalised people? Where do bodywonky, neurospicy types fit into a community that often prizes physical looks and sexual performance? This London Pride weekend and Disability Pride Month, we found out.

JP Seabright is a queer disabled author who explores gender, sexuality and disability through poetry, prose and experimental forms. As co-editor and organiser of the Arts Council-funded project eff-able, alongside our guest poet George Parker, JP helps to spotlight the intimate lives and erotic experiences of disabled, chronically ill, d/Deaf and neurodivergent members of the queer community – helping more of us to know their voices.

Guest poet: George Violet Parker (preferred pronouns: they/them)

George, co-creator of eff-able, is the nominee and winner of multiple awards, bringing their first-hand experience to today’s celebration of queer disabled lives.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and reflecting today’s themes. All four songs were originally written and/or recorded by LGBTQ artists:

• I Only Want To Be With You – Dusty Springfield (1963)
• Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan (2024)
• It Must Be Love – Labi Siffre (1971; in the style of Madness, 1982)
• Grace Kelly – Mika (2007)

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.

→ Our next assembly: Adult ADHD: Beyond the Label, 19th July
← Our previous assembly:  Ending Racism in Science is Everyone’s Business, 21st June

Science shapes almost every part of our lives, from the technologies we use to the resources we depend on – yet many scientific spaces still remain shaped by exclusion and racism.

Speaker: Chris Jackson

Chris Jackson is Technical Director at WSP, Visiting Professor at Imperial College London, and an internationally recognised geologist whose work explores how we can safely and sustainably use the Earth’s subsurface to access critical resources and store hazardous waste.

Drawing on personal experiences from his own career alongside a wider look at the culture of science, Chris reflected on why representation matters, what is lost when voices are excluded, and what it might take to build a more open, inclusive and human scientific community.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and reflecting today’s themes:

• Wonderful World – Sam Cooke (1960)
• Rhinestone Cowboy – Larry Weiss (1974; made famous by Glenn Campbell, 1975)
• Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan (1963)
• Radioactive – Imagine Dragons (2012)

The lyrics will be projected on screen and everyone was welcome to sing (and dance) along.

→ Our next assembly: Queer Disabled Joy!, 5th July
← Our previous assembly: Words & Therapy: The Healing Power of Poetry, 7th June

Guest poets have always been a mainstay of our assemblies. At this assembly, we explored how poetry can become a powerful tool for expression and healing.

Guest speaker & poet: Claudia Colella

Claudia is a humanistic-integrative counsellor and somatic therapist. She drew on her work using poetry within therapy to help give voice to experiences that are often hard to put into words.

Via insights from contemporary neuroscience and practices such as trauma release exercises (TRE) and sophrology, we found out how poetic language can engage both mind and body – supporting nervous system regulation, deepening self-awareness, and opening up new ways of connecting with ourselves and others.

While often we have a guest poet after our talk, this time we were the poets! Our Community Lead Tanya led us in a collaborative poetry writing activity, using sensory metaphors to tell a story of bad experiences becoming good.

Our singalongs

As usual, there were four pop songs performed by our Sunday Assembly London band and reflecting today’s themes:

• Everybody’s Talkin’ – Fred Neil; covered by Harry Nilsson
• Talk – Coldplay
• More Than Words – Extreme. Watch our performance!
• Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield

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 short card/board games at the pub.

→ Our next assembly: Ending Racism in Science is Everyone’s Business, 21st June
← Our previous assembly: Woodshop of Recycled Delights, 17th May