I was born into Wesleyan Methodism. On my mother’s side there were Methodist ministers going back for generations, one was President of the Conference which is the Methodist equivalent to the Archbishop of Canterbury. My maternal grandmother was a formidable and gifted woman who when quite young would preach outside factory gates warning the workers about […]
John and his wife Viv had been active humanists since university days so it wasn’t surprising that they joined Oxford Humanists in 2004 when they moved into the area. I joined about that time too and I remember being disappointed to find it was such a small group. Then in 2006 John was elected to […]
The recent death of Aretha Franklin has meant that the song called Respect, which she made famous, has received a lot of attention. Respect is a concept that, rightly or wrongly, is generally held in high esteem, but it is sometimes used as a weapon to discredit people who are deemed to show ‘insufficient respect’ […]
Our long term member, Paul Surman has produced a new book of poetry, which I am sure we will all enjoy and value. See review below. Places ( ISBN 78-1-906856-79-3) Pat Winslow said of this collection: “These are not just poems of place, they are about our relationship with the natural world; human purpose and design co-exist […]
Message from Simon Nightingale, of Shropshire Humanists, for World Humanist Day. If anyone is up for a trip to Shrewsbury that Thursday let me know and maybe we can have a fun, and useful, day out (Michele) Dear Humanist Colleagues Our regular 21 June Thursday meeting in 2018 coincides with World Humanist Day. We would like to […]
We received a letter from the South East London Humanist Group who are launching a campaign on Tuesday 12 June to get the BBC to include humanists on Thought for the Day, promoting the campaign amongst local humanist groups and encouraging our participation. As they rightly say: “This may seem a bit of an old […]
Our very own John Webster has been actively involved in a campaign to have a memorial to Shelley set up in Oxford. While there is a memorial at Shelley’s alma mater, University College, John believes there should be a more public tribute and has suggested the Lloyds Bank building at the junction of Cornmarket Street and […]
Our monthly OxHums talk on Friday 18th May, was a very interesting presentation by Professor Danny Dorling on ‘Oxford in 2050’ where he gave us his thoughts and ideas for future developments for our area. Three of our members have sent in their synopsis of the talk: “What a unique perspective on Oxford. To be […]