Diary
Cherry Tree Inn, Woodbridge
Monday, Jun 21, 2010On the opposite side of the B1438 to Nottcutts Garden Centre, at 73 Cumberland Street, Woodbridge.World Humanist Day
Monday, Jun 21, 2010A belated post on World Humanist Day, the beginning of Humanist Week, but some of us have been busy window-dressing. We’ve put together an exhibit in one of the display cases at the County Library in Ipswich (Northgate Street) to mark Humanist Day and Week, so if you’re in town, take a look. While we were assembling it all (or while Andrew and John were assembling it – I supervised), a couple of people stopped to talk about it, expressing approval.Educational confusion
Saturday, Jun 19, 2010I enjoy visiting schools and talking to students but I’m so glad I’m not a teacher any more. All the teachers I know have complained about frequent changes of government policy, masses of paperwork, and SATs testing (Standard Attainment Tests), which have reduced young children to gibbering wrecks with the stress. I’m glad I’m not the parent of a school-age child either. There’s been a lot of talk about parental choice, but from what I’ve read, your choices have been limited.Leaving SACRE
Friday, Jun 18, 2010After many years as a Humanist representative on Suffolk’s Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), a full member* for the last two years, I resigned at today’s meeting and recommended Andrew Morrison, our group chairperson, as my replacement. I’ve enjoyed my involvement with SACRE, though there are so many changes in the offing that I’m happy for Andrew to deal with them. He’ll be fine! I’ll provide a full report for members in the next newsletter.RE is inadequate in one in five schools
Monday, Jun 7, 2010The BBC has reported an Ofsted report on the teaching of RE in secondary schools, which describes it as “inadequate” in one in five secondary schools. They say, “Its study suggested many teachers were unsure of what they were trying to achieve in the subject.” I’m not surprised. A few years ago, a report was presented to Suffolk’s SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) by a middle school teacher who’d been given a grant from an independent body for a sabbatical to research RE provision in the county.June Newsletter ready now
Saturday, Jun 5, 2010Our June newsletter is ready for you to download now. Contents include: Humanist weddings can be fun (and one of them was for our chairperson); A visit to Down House with the U3A; Changes at Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource; Our car sticker designs – you choose; Dates for your diary, including a pub lunch and a trip to the seaside. [Click here to download the newsletter](http://www.suffolkhands.org.uk/files/1/2010 SH&S News June.pdf “June newsletter pdf”) (pdf).Facebook group closed, Facebook page open
Friday, Jun 4, 2010As notified to all the Facebook group members, our Facebook group is now closed. Instead, we have a Facebook page. Feel free to sign up there. www.facebook.com/suffolkhandsAlternative medicine: trick or treatment?
Wednesday, Jun 2, 2010Edzard Ernst is the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the United Kingdom. In 2008, Ernst and Simon Singh published Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial. Professor Ernst will be the inaugural speaker at Ipswich Skeptics in the Pub.A Visit to Down House
Monday, May 31, 2010I’m not one for traipsing round stately homes, being of the opinion that once you have seen one Queen Anne chair and polished mahogany table you have seen them all. However, when the Woodbridge U3A group planned a visit to Down House the home of Charles Darwin I thought this might well be worth a visit. And indeed it was. The house is important because it was there that Darwin not only wrote his masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, but applied scientific reasoning and performed numerous experiments to confirm that his ideas were sound.Humanist Week
Thursday, May 27, 2010International Humanist Day is on 21st June, the summer solstice. This year, British Humanists will be marking Humanist Week from 21st to 27th June with a variety of events. We’ll have a display in one of the cases at the entrance to Ipswich Central Library.