Our assemblies in January-June 2023

Sunday Assembly London is 10!

• 8th January 2023, 11:00am

We turned 10!

Sunday Assembly London has grown from a tiny egg of an idea from comedians Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones into a totally rad double-digits ten-year-old. And like all the cool kids, we had a birthday party to celebrate!

Like all the best parties, there was cake, games, candles to blow out and a magician. Yes, we partied and have a good time with a real-life maker of magic.

We also sang along to some much-loved classic pop tunes, as voted for by members of the community.

Living Your Quest Life

• 22nd January 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sam Furness

In a hectic, money-driven society it can sometimes seem impossible to live creatively, reconnect with our imaginations and ponder the everyday wonders of our world.

In 2016, our speaker Sam Furness of Channel Twelve set himself a challenge. He would immerse himself in a different form of creativity each month, in his spare time, for a year. And so Sam began an awfully big adventure which eventually led him to launch his own company and help others live creatively and expand the way they see the world, through monthly Creative Quests.

As well as finding out how you too can live your Quest life, we’ll be singing along with the Sunday Assembly band to some rockin’ tunes, listening to poetry from the wondrous Kay Scorah and lots more.

And of course there will be singing, mini talks to listen to and tea, coffee and cake at the end.

Blowing Hot and Cold

• 5th February 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Phil Wiles

There’s more to a fridge than meets the eye.

Sunday assembler Phil Wiles loves talking to people about how the world works and what makes us human. He also likes drinking large quantities of coffee. Phil will be combining these super likes to tell us how fridges changed what we eat, what diseases we get and the climate we live in. And he’ll spill the beans on how fridges work and the surprising role they could play in future energy crises.

And of course there will be singing, mini talks to listen to and tea, coffee and cake at the end.

The Science of Poetry

• 19th February 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Dr Robin Lamboll

Poetry explores the limits of language – but how good is it at actually communicating? Do poetic constraints change what poems say? We explore how to think about communicating information scientifically, how different languages communicate ideas and what that means for trying to spread scientific concepts through poetry.

Dr Robin Lamboll researches climate change at Imperial College London, and writes poetry inspired by the intersection between the human and natural world. Robin has won the UK, Vogon and Madrid International poetry slam finals, and came second in the World Cup of Slam in 2019. They have given a TEDx talk on poetry and science communication and performed everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall and music festivals to universities and COP26

Your host for the assembly is Matt Lockwood. Please stay after for tea, biscuits, and engaging conversations with members of our community. 

Embracing Equity

• 5th March 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Miranda Grell

As we get ready to celebrate International Women’s Day it raises questions as to how we promote inclusivity and recognition of each other’s unique experiences within our daily lives

To lead us in this exploration we are delighted to be joined by Miranda Grell. Miranda is a barrister at Staple Inn Chambers, she was awarded the Law Works Pro Bono Award in 2017, she is also an equality advocate and is advisor to the civil rights organisation Black Equity.

Miranda will share her experiences both as a professional and a campaigner to look at what embracing equality means in an intersectional context particularly with regards to women’s rights and racial justice, including black transwomen. Miranda will explore how these overlap and how allies such as ourselves can play our part in making the world a better place.

Your host for the assembly is Emily Rowan.

Common Threads

• 19th March 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Leonora Nicholson

Leonora Nicholson is the founder of Unheard Poetry, an organisation with a mission to make poetry more accessible. Unheard Poetry strives to put poetry in unexpected places and this time that unexpected place will be a coat! They have worked with poets across the UK to collect 38 poems which have been turned into an actual walking piece of poetry.

Come along to hear about the creative process, change your perspective on poetry and get a exclusive look at the poetry coat.

Your assembly host will be Andrew Hoerlein.

Once You Were A Dinosaur Snack

• 2nd April 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Richard Robinson

Scientists have spent years puzzling over the history of humanity. Other scientists are curious about our mysterious oddities: why we yawn, what are goosebumps and hiccups, or what’s the point of sunbathing. Lo! We find the answer to one is the answer to the other. You see once upon a time you were a fish, then a mouse, then a monkey… and your body keeps memories of those times. Your 14 billion year story is full of adventures.

Richard Robinson (founder of the Brighton Science Festival) will uncover, with those oddities as clues, along with demonstrations, videos, chat, games and tricks (you will learn how to waggle your ears!)

People and Places

• 16th April 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Olivia Evershed

Relationships are formed via a connection with place – or more specifically, land and earth. What’s even more fascinating is the far-reaching impacts of climate change and the way in which these changes in the planet influence how people live and interact with one another.

We’re delighted to have Olivia Evershed talk about how such change has helped to forge and strengthen relationships between communities, and also how people without a deep connection to the land and the place they are living can learn to invest in the environment through group programmes as well as individual acts. She has experienced such things first hand in her valuable work with various communities.

Your assembly host will be the wonderful Matt Lockwood.

Goodbye Furry Friend

• 7th May 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Sieske Valk

Losing your pet hurts. For some people, it hurts more than losing a human relative. And we can’t just “get another one” as some people around us might suggest. The loss of pets is still a very unacknowledged kind of grief and we feel awkward if our heart feels broken for longer than the allowed few days society permits it.

Sieske Valk will be talking about why we should become more comfortable around talking about our pets getting older and eventually passing away and why now is the right time to start.

She is the founder of Autumn Animals, London’s first holistic mobile veterinary clinic that specialises in improving the quality of life for injured, ill and elderly pets – and their families. With twenty years of experience in veterinary care and working as an End of life Doula for pets, Sieske has been on both sides of pet loss and is not afraid to start the difficult conversation.”

Dance is Radical

• 21st May 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Alan Gregan
• Poet: Emma Fisher

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.

Guessed List: Predicting In Real Life

• 4th June 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Nathan Young
• Poet: Hannah Deasy

Sometimes life is a coin toss. Sometimes it’s a foregone conclusion. The problem is telling the difference, but this is a skill you can improve. Whether you want to know how your next date will go or who will win the US election, you can learn when to be confident and when to be uncertain. Nathan Young, a forecaster at the Swift Centre, has a few tips for adding predictions into your toolkit. You’ll enjoy it. Probably.

Nathan predicts events in geopolitics, AI and pandemics, and builds forecasting tools online. He also founded the Coronavirus Tech Handbook. Beyond that, he likes singing and hosting community dinners. If you have an idea for a forecasting question, he’d love to hear it at @nathanpmyoung on twitter.

We’re also very much looking forward to Hannah Deasy in our poetry slot! Hannah offers hard -hitting, vulnerable and often hilarious spoken word. Unpredictable, raw, warm and not afraid to dish the dirt on the state of her mental health, she holds crowds gripped with her personal true stories, skilfully intertwined with supremely well observed jokes.

We’ve Got Pride

• 18th June 2023, 11:00am
• Speaker: Chris Fitchew
• Poet: Tom Ana

Chris Fitchew is part jester, part comedian, full joy alchemist and space holder who has travelled the world to hone his crafts, including working with plant medicines in Peru, vortex energy healing and working with many great teachers and Wisdom Sharers. He believes that one of the greatest access points in finding our purpose and self-healing is through laughter, joy, and play; for ourselves and our communities.

Chris brings his life story to this Sunday Assembly London Pride special, as he shares how he managed to pivot and transmute a childhood of shame to a life of pride, and fears a plenty into Joy in abundance.

Tom Ana will be the guest poet for this Assembly. They are a nonbinary writer and facilitator from the North of England, and run the Queer Poetry Circle, a space that aims to create a new oral tradition through exploring poetry; Queer Spiritual Explorers, a group for interfaith exploration for LGBTQ+ people, and are a co-facilitator at the Queer Death Café.