South West London Humanists Christmas Party

We Humanists are a sociable lot and the SW London Humanist Group has several events each month where like-minded people can meet and talk.

I am new to the group (but not to Humanism) and had only been to a couple of talks prior to the Christmas Party. It seemed like a good opportunity to get to know the group better and, besides, The Old Ship is one of the better pubs in Richmond (they sell Young's) and is easy for me to get to.

It all went rather well.

The ice-breaker was the "who am I game" which I did not win on time but as I was Nelson Mandela I am claiming a moral victory. I felt sorry for the people who were Margaret Thatcher (unpleasant) and Dr Who (confusing). The game worked well and I spoke to several people about more than just the names written on our backs.

The drinks were kept flowing via the small upstairs bar. They did not have Winter Warmer on tap but the Ordinary was good enough, as always. I am fairly certain that our barmaid was Sandra Bullock but other people were less convinced.

The buffet was neatly arranged in three sections, Vegan, Vegetarian and Meat, of equal size which meant plenty of choice for me as a vegetarian. I played fair initially and took just from the vegetarian table as I hate it when, in the more usual buffets, there is a limited vegetarian option and meat-eaters take most of it. I forgot to take a picture of my food but I think I had a leek tart, some breaded mushrooms, an onion ring or two and some bread and cheese.  Later on I went to the vegan table to help myself to some spicy chickpea bites.

We all sat down to eat and that helped the conversations to get deeper. I was a little (but only a little) surprised how left-wing my table was and there was a ringing endorsement for the nationalisation of key public services like energy, railways and the rapidly-privatising NHS.

Somehow it was suddenly 10pm and people started to drift away. I did so too but rather slowly speaking to more people on the way out.

With the South West London Humanists Group I have found another friendly tribe of interesting people and I look forward to spending more time with them.