Events Programme Update: September–December 2014

DH Programme Oct - Dec 2014Dorset Humanists’ latest events programme is now available for download. It covers the period to the end of December 2014, and, as always, includes stimulating presentations and discussions with a great line-up of guest speakers. In this programme we cover subjects as diverse as inequality, Scientology(!), some inspiring secular schools in Uganda, and humanism in the plays of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Everyone is welcome to attend our public events whether they are a member or not, so if you enjoy discussing some or all of these topics with like-minded people please come along. Our members and visitors are people with lively minds who want to learn, explore, discuss and debate, while ensuring our society is guided by sound values based on reason, evidence and compassion. We hope finding a group such as ours will also be a source of great friendship and fun!

If you like what we do, and share our aims and values, please consider our optional annual membership, which helps financially support our group and enables you to participate in determining future group activities, vote on constitutional issues, and elect committee members.

http://dorset.humanist.org.uk/dorset/Programme%20Oct%20-%20Dec%202014.pdf

The American Nightmare

American Nightmare 26th November 2014Wednesday 26th November 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

‘Heroic Failure in the drama of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller’ with English Tutor John Hubbard

Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller are arguably the greatest American playwrights of all time, and in this presentation John Hubbard shares his passion and enthusiasm for their work, and explores the themes and characters that have made their plays so popular with audiences worldwide.

The longevity of interest in Miller’s and Williams’ plays is testimony to their ability to seek out the most interesting themes from American life and to find the best dramatic means of presenting them. Focusing on Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, John Hubbard will suggest they used the elusiveness of idealised personal success to depict a deeper and more complex humanity than that allowed for in the 'American Dream', and that the fatally flawed nature of many of their characters, as measured against American aspirational culture, makes them rounded tragic figures with whom we can fully sympathise.

John has taught English and Drama at Bournemouth grammar schools over the last twenty-five years, and been a course tutor for the U3A.

Join us for a highly enjoyable evening for devotees of these playwrights, as well as a great introduction for those coming to them for the first time

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Another easy way you can help our group grow is by indicating your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and the opportunity to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Singer-songwriter Shelley Segal at Bournemouth Sunday Assembly on 26th October 2014

clip_image002Sunday 26th October 11.00am 
Rooper Hall, 5 Victoria Park Road, Bournemouth BH9 2RB

Bournemouth Sunday Assembly are delighted to announce that Australian singer-songwriter Shelley Segal will be performing for them at their service on Sunday 26th October.

Shelley accompanies her “mercurial voice” on acoustic guitar and her songs contain an eclectic mix of “brilliant pop melodies”, intimate story-telling and biographical lyrics. She has been performing original music internationally for the last twelve years, and recorded her first EP in 2009. In 2012 she released her forthright, ‘An Atheist Album’, a folk-pop protest record that embodies her thoughts on religion and highlighted her versatility as a singer and song writer. The album rapidly gained her a following among the international atheist movement.

The theme for this month’s Sunday Assembly is "Helping each other grow", and as always they will have a guest speaker, and a selection of awesome songs to sing along with. They will also be collecting food for a local food bank, so if you are able to spare any dried or tinned food, it will be much appreciated.

Sunday Assembly’s motto is “Live Better - Help Often - Wonder More”. Their aim is to have “all the best bits of church without the religion”, but they qualify this to include everyone, whatever their beliefs may be, by stating “we don’t do religion, but we don’t mind if you”.

We understand that the local groups’ first Sunday Assembly on 28th September was both well attended and well received, and we wish them every success in the future.

Here’s a direct link to this event on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1474003892865468

(updated) Sunday Assembly have recently set up a website at http://bournemouth.sundayassembly.com/

If you don’t use facebook, you can register your interest with a free ticket from eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sunday-assembly-bournemouth-helping-each-other-grow-tickets-13899669285

(edit:updated on 25th October 2014 with Sunday Assembly website details)

Create Your Own Cult: The Scientology Way

Create Your Own Cult - The Scientology Way 8th November 2014Saturday 8th November 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

A presentation by Dr Martin Poulter

Scientology has been described in the United States as “ruthless, litigious and lucrative” and in this country as “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”, yet it has gained the approval of many A-list Hollywood celebrities, and accumulated enormous quantities of money. Thanks to the internet, it now faces unprecedented global opposition, but how did it all begin?

Skeptic Martin Poulter has been keeping a close watch on L. Ron Hubbard’s secretive cult since 1995 when he was threatened with legal action over Scientology material he had posted online, and in this presentation he’ll be revealing how it all began, its subsequent development, its recruitment methods, and many of its most disturbing secrets.

Martin will also be providing us with a checklist of useful points to keep in mind if you ever decide to create your own successful and highly lucrative cult!

Join us for an entertaining examination of what may be Sci-Fi author L. Ron Hubbard’s weirdest creation - the cult of Scientology.

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Martin Poulter has a Philosophy and Psychology degree from Oxford University and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Bristol. He is a key figure in Bristol Skeptics and his current main interest is in promoting critical and scientific thinking. He also gives talks on cognitive and social psychology.

Another easy way you can help our group grow is by indicating your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and the opportunity to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

October Bulletin

DWOur big news in this month's Bulletin is that Professor A C Grayling will be hosting our 2015 Darwin Day celebration. Professor Grayling has written numerous books related to Humanism and is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association. Make a note of the date (12th February) in your diaries and we will release further details in due course.

Another date for your diaries is Sunday November 9th when Dorset Humanists will again be taking an active part in the Bournemouth Remembrance Service. Do please come and support our presence there. More details next month. 

Also in this month's Bulletin we bring you news of Bournemouth Sunday Assembly, a report on the British Humanist Association's AGM, and how Dorset Humanists are helping get Humanism into the school syllabus - not just locally but across the UK!

http://dorset.humanist.org.uk/dorset/DH-Bulletin-October-2014.pdf

We hope to see you soon.

David Warden
Chair, Dorset Humanists