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 SUTTON HUMANISTS
Monthly meetings and other activities
Chair: Yvonne Bracken-Kemish is a music teacher and singer. She has conducted research into educational methods and given talks to our group on that topic. She conducts Humanist weddings and parental commitment ceremonies. With 5 month old twins her activities have had to be somewhat curtailed recently!
Vice Chair: Debbie Chay lectures in law at Brunel University as well as helping to run a family business. A keen supporter of Charter 88, she has given us talks on various aspects of legal practice and public policy, including the plans to reform the House of Lords.
Secretary:. Treasurer: Brian Dougherty, a retired civil servant, now works in the field of social research. He is our prime contact for Humanist ceremonies, and is in increasing demand to conduct funerals and other ceremonies.
Monthly meetings and other activities
Our public meetings have been held for many years at Friends House, Cedar Road, where we are the guests of the Sutton Meeting of the Society of Friends. We do not share their religious convictions, but find that we have much else in common. We are extremely grateful for the help and understanding they continue to show us.
We meet on the second Wednesday of every month except August. Doors open at 7.30pm and the business of the meeting starts at 8.pm. The topics covered by our meetings range from matters of international concern, such as the role of the United Nations and "third world" poverty, through social and humanitarian issues, philosophical and scientific discussions to questions about the role of Humanism itself.
'Sutton for Peace and Justice' - What is it, what are its values, what does it do?
Speaker Saleh Mamon, Chairperson Sutton for Peace and Justice.
Group members and their friends meet at 12.00 noon on the first Sunday of every month to eat and drink together whilst enjoying relaxed conversation. The venue is 'The Moon on the Hill', a Wetherspoons pub in the centre of Sutton. We meet in the main bar and, as we begin to arrive at opening time have always managed to secure the tables in what we term the 'H. G. Wells corner' - there is a framed picture with some details about Wells's brief residence in Sutton.
Every summer we enjoy a 'summer solstice' garden party which is currently held at the Downs Lawn Tennis Club. There are refreshments, games for people to play and stalls selling items of interest but, as ever, the main pleasure is the opportunity for relaxed conversation.
We also mark the winter solstice with a dinner, usually just after the New Year.
Sutton Humanist Group was founded late in 1955 by George and Marjorie Mepham. It held its inaugural public meeting on Sunday, 15 January, 1956. Since then it has maintained a regular programme of meetings and discussions. It also raises funds for charities and holds various social events for members and friends.
Below are the boards made by the late Peter Heales that are so useful when mounting a display on humanism.
George Mepham created a tradition of raising funds for good causes, usually for charities that could use our donations for the benefit of the people of Sutton, although we have also supported suitable ventures further afield, like the Atheist centre in Bombay.
Our main fund raising event is now our annual concert at the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre in Carshalton. It is arranged each year by Yvonne Bracken-Kemish, who presents a varied programme performed by a company of young and more experienced musicians. We have sometimes had dancers, magicians and other types of performance as well. This year's concert will be held on Sunday 19th October
Over the years, Sutton Humanists have given talks in and around the borough. Requests have come from many groups and societies seeking information about Humanism. Members have also taken sessions in schools wanting to broaden their pupils' perspectives. All our talks are informative only; we respect the right of others to differ from us and do not try to convert them. The Group will provide a speaker to any group interested to learn about Humanism.
Modern technological advance poses ever more complex moral questions, which extend traditional ethics to its limits and beyond. The "secularisation of society" is part of the process of coming to terms with new social realities. The vast majority of people seek, as ever, to maintain moral standards, but the old formulae no longer suffice. We have to think more radically than ever before. Sutton Humanist Group is open to all people who have serious concerns about personal and social morality and do not wish to express them through religious affiliation. We provide opportunities to meet like-minded people and, where appropriate to co-operate in practical action.
A co-founder of Sutton Humanists, George Mepham (1917-1995) exemplified very fully the Humanist way of life. He worked tirelessly for his humanitarian ideals and participated keenly in many of the voluntary organisations in the borough. He was well known in and around Sutton for conducting non-religious funerals. His sudden death in may 1995 at the age of 78 sadly prevented him from witnessing the fortieth anniversary of the Humanist group to which he dedicated most of his free time.
Frank Dickinson, the designer and builder of Little Holland House in Beeches Avenue, Carshalton, lived by Humanist principles. On a beam in his living room he carved the legend: Serve Humanity, the Gods We Know Not.
Dickinson and his wife Florence made their vows at the Ethical Church in Bayswater. In his unpublished autobiography, Dickinson describes how, after visiting the register office, they went to the choral service in a hall "filled with members of the church, relatives and friends, also members of the local socialist group." He goes on: "The service ended, refreshments and dancing followed, the Principal leading the dance with the bride who was carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The whole service was everything that could be desired, reverence and rejoicing in complete harmony...."
The "Principal" that Dickinson mentions was almost certainly Stanton Coit. He transformed his original West London Ethical Society into and "Ethical Church" because he valued ceremony as a complement to rationality. There was no theology and the congregation did not worship God. This "church" is one of the important antecedents of the British Humanist Association.
Little Holland House is now owned by Sutton Borough Council and is occasionally open to the public - usually on one Sunday each month.
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