Golders Green Unitarians

Vince is with Golders Green Unitarians today (Sunday 17 March) at 11 am with his puppets to talk about tolerance. Do join us and meet him. Tamerline and friends.

Vince McCully is bringing his hand-made puppets to Golders Green Unitarians this morning to talk about tolerance. Here he is yesterday with me, Jim Corriigall and John Bates at the London district gathering of Unitarians.,

An internationally-renowned peacemaker and spiritual teacher from Nazareth, Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, will be speaking at a special event at Golders Green Unitarians on Tuesday 20th February at 7pm. His focus will be the current crisis in Israel/Palestine and its effects beyond the region.

And a multicultural arts group ‘Arts at the Intersection’ will be performing at the event, together with their special guest, the Jewish storyteller and singer Hanna Yaffe from Jerusalem.

An evening not to be missed! It’s part of a tour organised by the UK-registered charity Spirit of Peace, and is supported by Golders Green Unitarians and the LDPA.

For many Christmas time is a joyful time for renewing connections and being together. For many others it is a painful time because of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the longed for connections. May we find courage and compassion to be with our own pain and grief and to sit with fellow travellers in theirs that we may find a kind of healing. Rev. Michael

We’re be having our Christmas carol service tomorrow (Sunday 17 December) at 11am. You are warmly welcome to join us and to stay for mulled wine and mince pies. Among the carols we shall sing will be It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. We shall close the service with Joy to the World, a carol of hope. People of goodwill of all faiths and none who can’t resist singing a carol at this time of year, we’d love to see you at Golders Green Unitarians, Hoop Lane, NW11 8BS.
Directions: Edgware Branch of the Northern Line to Golders Green. Turn right out of the Underground station into Finchley Road. A five-minute walk up Finchley Road (or one stop on the 102 or 268) towards the crossroads with Hoop Lane. Turn left at the crossroads. We are just along from the Central Hotel.
On Wednesday 20 December at 6.30 pm we shall be having our Carols by Candlelight celebration. More about that in a separate post.

• Friday 15 December, 6.30 to 8.30 pm: Circle dancing in celebration of light in darkness.

• Sunday 17 December: Christmas service in person at 11 am led by Rev. Michael.

• Wednesday 20 December at 6.30 pm in person: Carols by candlelight followed by mulled wine and mince pies.

• Sunday 31 December service at 4pm led by Rev. Michael.
Loosing our anchors and finding them afresh.

ONLINE READING OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Saturday 9 December, 7 pm on Zoom.
Rev. Feargus O’Connor and Rev. Michael Allured are planning an online reading of Charles Dickens’s 'A Christmas Carol'. Feargus will read the voices of the narrator and Scrooge and Michael will present all the other characters.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83565748592
Meeting ID: 835 6574 8592
Donations in aid of the British Red Cross Gaza Emergency Appeal will be warmly welcome. Please see British Red Cross Website https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territory-appeal

A vigil for peace and healing for Israel/Palestine. Rev. Michael will be opening Golders Green Unitarians in Hoop Lane, London NW11 8BS tomorrow, Friday 13 October, from 3 to 5 pm. Please come to sit with the silence and candles for peace.

Looking forward to seeing lots of you at the opening of the LGBTQ+ Unitarian Voices Exhibition at Golders Green Unitarians (GGUs)on Saturday 9 September at 4pm. Peter Tatchell is coming to talk about his memories of Dudley Cave who was assistant to the then minister and active in setting up Gay Switchboard and the Gay Bereavement Project.

Paul Klog and his son Daniel take Dudley's memorial bench for sanding and a fresh coat of varnish ahead of the service on 10 September at which the bench will be rededicated.

The sun was shining today in Golders Green. In the times in between chores Rev. Michael took time to notice how lovely GGUs garden is looking. Here are some photos in honour of the garden's beauty.

Golders Green Unitarians and Rev. Michael are getting ready for a wedding on Saturday. In between making tea for the workers installing our new noticeboards today Rev. Michael cleaned and tidied.

It's been an exciting day for Rev. Michael at Golders Green Unitarians today. Mark and Neil arrived to install two new notice boards in the front garden. This collection of photographs shows a) Michael anticipating their arrival, b) the view from the entrance to the chapel, c) Neil and Mark digging the ground to make holes for the spurs to take the main noticeboard, d) the newly installed wayside pulpit and e) the spurs in the ground awaiting the installation of the main noticeboard tomorrow. Rev. Michael is looking forward to creating the display that will be GGUs' 'window for the world'

I've just come across this photo of Feargus with Joanna Lumley at a charity book launch. He's doing one of his favourite things: presenting cheques for Animal Free Research UK to Joanna, who is a patron of the charity.

Feargus presenting cheques for £414 to Joanna Lumley on 9 March 2017 from members of his St Albans and Golders Green Unitarian congregations for the Dr Hadwen Trust's Gandhi Schweitzer Universal Kinship Appeal, which Feargus founded, The donations were in support of the Queen Mary University of London Animal Replacement Centre (ARC). The ARC is the first ever medical research institute in the UK dedicated to important human- related medical research without any animal experiments. The first programmes are dedicated to research into breast, prostrate and skin cancer. Feargus will be talking about this at the Unitarian General Assembly Annual Meetings in Birmingham on 12 April. Photograph by Jim Philpott www.jimphilpott.co.uk

LGBTQ+ Voices Exhibition is coming to Golders Green Unitarians on Saturday 9 September. Peter Tatchell will be talking about his memories of Dudley Cave, pictured here giving a same s*x blessing at GGU in the 1980s.

I'm looking forward to hosting the LGBTQ+ Unitarian Voices Exhibition at Golders Green Unitarians between 9 and 16 September. It's an honour to the pioneering free spirits at GGU in the 1970s and 80s who led the way in standing for fairness, for humanity, and dignity. Dudley Cave, who found the Unitarian faith, was an amazing man. He was active in setting up Gay Switchboard and the Gay Bereavement Project in the 1970s. With Rev. Keith Gilley he established Integroup, a safe space for gay and straight were able to meet and through conversation and friendship, understand there is dignity in diversity. Dudley fought in the Second World War and was a prisoner of war by Japanese forces. He later wrote about his sufferings in the prisoner of war camps and worked to bring about reconciliation between former prisoners of war and their prison guards. There are archive records at Golders Green Unitarians of his journey to Japan on a peace reconciliation mission. He lived with his partner Bernard around the corner from GGU and there is a memorial bench to them both in GGUs back garden. What is extra special about the memorial bench is that it also carries the name of Bernard's former wife June, who, knowing her husband was gay, encouraged Bernard's and Dudley's. relationship. The three of them shared a house together just around the corner from GGU.

Peter Tatchell welcomes LGBTQ+ Unitarian Voices Exhibition to Golders Green Unitarians

Peter Tatchell, legendary human rights campaigner, is speaking at the Unitarian chapel in Hoop Lane, Golders Green, on Saturday 9 September to launch the arrival of a new exhibition of LGBTQ+ Unitarian Voices Exhibition.

The Exhibition tells the story of LGBTQ+ Unitarians and the place of Unitarian pioneers in the struggle for equal rights from the pre-1960s to 2014.

The exhibition includes material on GGUs’ pioneers of faith, Dudley Cave, co-founder of Gay Switchboard and the Gay Bereavement Project, and GGUs’ then minister, Keith Gilley.

The online exhibition features interviews with Rev. Dr Ann Peart, who came out as Le***an while minister with GGUs.
Since Ann went on to be the first woman principal of a theological college GGUs has been served by two openly gay ministers, Rev. Feargus O’Connor and Rev. Michael Allured, who married each other in 2015 at GGUs’ sister Unitarian Chapel in Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead.

Join us on 9 September at out launch event, where secular and sacred meet. RSVP to Rev. Michael Allured, the minister with Golders Green Unitarians, at [email protected]

The launch lasts around an hour and afterwards there will be time to look at the Exhibition, including some of GGUs’ archives, and for conversation and sharing memories over refreshments.

GGUs is in Hoop Lane, NW11 8BS. Take the Northern Line (Edgeware branch) to Golders Green Underground. It's is a 5-minute walk up Finchley Road.

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Journeys of becoming today at Golders Green Unitarians at 11 am. Celebrating the Summer Solstice and Pride
In your strength and your fragility, come into this sanctuary and help make it a place of hope. May you find here the warmth and friendship of a close but not a closed community.
May the values by which we aspire to live with each other and in the world give to us the courage to help and not hinder the potential of our humanity in the ongoing journey of our lives.

Download Proudly Banner Royalty-Free Stock Illustration Image Download this free illustration of Proudly Banner Equality from Pixabay's vast library of royalty-free stock images, videos and music.

Journeys of becoming at Golders Green Unitarians Celebrating the Summer Solstice and the journey of Pride
In your strength and your fragility, come into this sanctuary and help make it a place of hope. May you find here the warmth and friendship of a close but not a closed community.
May the values by which we aspire to live with each other and in the world give to us the courage to help and not hinder the potential of our humanity in the ongoing journey of our lives.

Download Proudly Banner Royalty-Free Stock Illustration Image Download this free illustration of Proudly Banner Equality from Pixabay's vast library of royalty-free stock images, videos and music.

At Golders Green Unitarians (GGU) today Rev. Michael continues his reflections on 'journeys' our theme for the month. As June is Pride month today's gathering is a celebration to honour the role of Unitarian pioneers among them Dudley Cave in the struggles of LGBT people for dignity and equality. We have travelled far though the journey continues. The service begins at 11 am.

Rainbow Flag Free Stock Photo - Public Domain Pictures The rainbow flag, also known as gay pride flag or LGBT flag against blue sky

Looking forward to welcoming Rev. Sue to Golders Green Unitarians for her Service for Peace at 3 pm today, Saturday 12 November.

A Service for Peace will be lead by Rev'd Sue Woolley, our National Unitarian President, at Golders Green Unitarians on Saturday 12 November at 3pm.

She will then represent the Unitarians and Free Christians at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Sue is also the District Minister of the Midland Unitarian Association and a published author of fiction and non-fiction. She is also a spiritual director and secretary of the Unitarian Peace Fellowship.

Please do come along to welcome Sue and find out about her witness for peace and why the Unitarians are represented at the Cenotaph.

Tonight Golders Green Unitarians pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II for her life of service to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. When she was 21 she dedicated her life, whether it be long or short, to the nation and was living out that promise until only two days ago. That takes commitment, stamina, courage and stoicism. We all knew her as 'The Queen' and her presence is woven through so many of the life events of individuals and of the nation. The Queen was a symbol of stability in a changing world, though she evolved with the world. And yet Queen Elizabeth was mortal, sharing the human feelings that all humans experience. Her faith was important to her and a source of strength to help her carry out the duty to which she dedicated her life. People from across the generations are gathering together in shock and sadness that an era has come to an end. We offer our condolences to her family and a prayer for King Charles III as he succeeds his mother in these uncertain times. ' May the road rise with you and the wind be always at your back. May the rain fall softly on your fields and the sun shine warmly on your face. Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of God's hand'.