I was honoured to be asked to deliver a Remembrance address to the staff of the Scottish Government at St. Andrew’s House in Edinburgh yesterday.
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Is Thought For the Day boring?
John Humphrys seems to think so. In an interview with the Radio Times, he said the slot is “deeply, deeply boring”, and argues for the inclusion of thoughts for the day from secular thinkers. It’s not the first time that this claim has been made, but the BBC doesn’t agree, and it’s unlikely if Thought … Continue Reading
A celebrant’s role is not always about celebration
I was pleased to see my article in The Scotsman earlier this week: if you’d like to read it please click here
Speak the speech, I pray you – Jim and Becky’s wedding at the Caves Part II
I was delighted to see this story in the current edition of the Scottish Wedding Directory: what Jim and Becky did was a great way to use poetry which allowed them to involve lots of their guests at the same time! You can find out how to do that if you read my original post … Continue Reading
Humanists offer choice in a rapidly changing world
This is the first time I’ve read a Leader article on Humanism, and I think the writer strikes just the right tone in today’s edition of The Scotsman. “But if humanists did not provide an alternative, marriage itself might be in significant decline, which should be a genuine concern for mainstream religions. The figures do not … Continue Reading
It’s Officlal – or is it? Humanist Weddings More Popular than Church of Scotland in 2015
For some time now, the media has predicted that 2015 would be the year that humanist weddings became more popular than religious weddings. The Registrar General of Scotland recently published their annual statistics, which show that to be the case. Today’s edition of Christian Today says “Humanist weddings outstrip Church of Scotland weddings for the … Continue Reading
A Time To Give
When my colleagues Julie Reid and Andy McSorley set up the Caledonian Humanist Association, they chose a different path. They decided we would focus on serving our local communities, keep our costs as low as possible and give away any surplus funds to local charities. CHA is now a year old, so for my first … Continue Reading
I love my job!
I was very pleased to see this story in The Daily Record today – now for the next thousand!
Wedding No. 1,000
It was quite a day at Prestonfield House yesterday, when I conducted the wedding of Robyn and Paul. As luck would have it, theirs was my 1,000th legal marriage, so I gave it to them as a wedding present. We were very lucky. The guests were glam, and the weather was on its best behaviour. … Continue Reading
10 years of legal Humanist marriage
It’s amazing what’s changed since June 18th 2005, when Karen Watts and Martin Reijns were married by Ivan Middleton at Edinburgh Zoo. Then there were only 12 celebrants authorised to conduct marriage. Now the HSS has ten times that number. Then the society could have counted its membership in the hundreds. Today there are more than 10,000 … Continue Reading