11:00 am, June 20 2021
Online
Speaker: Lots
Poet: Lots
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.