Posts Tagged ‘hsowy’

Last month, we celebrated 50 years of West Yorkshire Humanists.

Founded in 1967, the society has been through several different names and venues. We’re still going strong, as the local group for Leeds, Bradford and the surrounding area that is affiliated with the British Humanist Association and National Secular Society.

To celebrate in style, we booked our a carriage in Middleton Railway, the world’s oldest working railway, before finishing up with a banquet meal at Brasserie Blanc.

A total of 27 people joined us for the event, including one of the founding members of the group, Bob Tee. Bob served as treasurer of the group for 37 years, so I still have a long way to go to catch up to him!

I would like to say thank you to everyone who came along and made the day so special. See you in 2067 for the next Jubilee!

Earlier this month we did a stall for West Yorkshire Humanists at Summat New.

For the October meeting of the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire, Brian Quinn presented a talk “why does god hate women?” It was delivered in Brian’s usual eloquent style, with plenty of very dry humour and well-researched well-sourced information.

For the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire’s summer social, we organised a trip to Thwaite Mills Watermill, a working watermill located on the River Aire just outside the city centre.

Earlier this month, the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire held their AGM. Congratulations to Moz who was re-elected chair, Chris who was elected secretary, Martin who was elected social secretary and Brian who was elected Bradford SACRE rep, as well as Paul and Bob L who will be staying on as well as myself as treasurer.

It was a momentous occasion as Bob T stepped down after 34 years as secretary. That is longer than I’ve been alive! He was a founding member of the society 46 years ago and also served 18 years as treasurer – an incredible service to the society! Bob is now moving to York and we wish him all the best.

As a small token of our appreciation, we presented him with engraved tankards for himself and partner Mavis.

After the AGM, Gerald presented a talk entitled “Interned as His Majesty’s Pleasure” in which he described how his family was interned on the Isle of White during World War II. This is despite his family being Jewish and hating Hitler more than we did! Sadly, this was the case for many German Jews who had fled Nazi Germany.

For the March meeting of the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire, Jim Hatfield presented a talk entitled “Good and Evil in the Gospel Myth”.

What did I do for Valentine’s Day this year you ask? Why, I went to the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire to listen to a talk about death.

To be fair, I then went home for a romantic meal and some quality time with Elina, but the talk itself was well worth attending too – the speaker Matthew Simpson, is a Celebrant and talked us through his take on death and how the Humanist approach differs from that of the religions.

Last month, Paul Hopwood presented his talk “You Know Less Than You Think.” I have already blogged about it, but this time, I’ve got pictures. Also, if you missed the talk, don’t worry as it was the 2012 Worfolk Lecture, so you can watch the Leeds Skeptics event online.

Last week, Paul Hopwood delivered a talk to the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire entitled “You Know Less Than You Think”.

Though, for the sake of those being busy, he included a more accurate title that went something along the lines of “you may or may not know more, less or the same as you may or may not think you know.”

It is a really interesting talk and one that he has previously given at Leeds Skeptics, as well as round the country. So interesting in fact that I actually went away from the event and read The Invisible Gorilla – one of the books Paul recommends in the talk.

I think what it comes down to is that Paul is just a really interesting guy. We went for a couple of drinks after the talk and settled in to some fascinating conversations – it was only realising I had to be at work in eight hours that made me call it a night.

If you missed it, don’t worry, you can see the version he gave to Leeds Skeptics online via Worfolk Lectures. Or, why not see it in person – Paul will be speaking at Sheffield Skeptics on 28 January!

This week saw the first meeting of the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire for this academic year. We run in academic years due to our venue following an academic calendar (it being an education centre and all, though with it being an adult one, that still seems a little strange).

It was rather manic with me having taken over as treasurer. Lots of people wanting to pay and I’m still not clear on everyone’s name in the society, so we ran out of time in the end and I’ll need to hand some of the membership cards out next meeting. All in all, lots of money collected though, which is the important thing.

The talk was interesting, Dr Bruce Turnbull talking about synthetic biology, but I had heard it before, as he had already given the talk at Leeds Skeptics earlier this year.