Search Results for: celebrant services

HumanistSG Celebrant Service

Humans are accustomed to rituals.

Different stages of life, with their different milestones, are usually marked by celebrations or commemorations.

The Humanist Society (Singapore) has conducted several of these services before, and is now confident to roll this out as a service to its members and friends. There are a few types of services to choose from:

Wedding (with ROM solemnising , or without)
Baby naming
Funeral
Celebration of life
Others

Book with us, and enjoy the presence of good company and good sense at your event.

Write to ceremonies@humanist.org.sg to tell us about your humanist celebrant needs.

Our first celebrant service

5 September 2016 by humanist

By Tan Tatt Si

On August 28, the Humanist Society (Singapore) performed our first celebrant service. While we had other humanist services in the past, this was the first time we are doing it in our organization’s name, ushering in a new chapter in humanist celebrant service here. [Read more…]

Announcements, Blog

The place for the non-religious in Singapore

9 July 2021 by humanist j

[Read more…]

Blog, Featured Articles/Letters, Press

Minutes of Humanist Society (Singapore) Annual General Meeting 2021

14 April 2021 by Dan Thio

Date : 20 March 2021, 1400 – 1630 Hrs

Venue : Zoom

Attendance:

The Humanist Society (Singapore) (‘HSS’) Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) was attended by 25 people, 21 of whom were members with voting rights. The voting membership for the year is 82, so the quorum was reached, with one constitutional amendment tabled.

Annual Report

The meeting began officially at 2:10pm with the President’s address. A summary of the past year’s events, programmes, and involvements was presented.

2020 events including

During Circuit Breaker:
- Skype Parties 1- 4
- World Humanist Week + Pink Dot
- Ear-saver distribution
Phase 2:
- ECP Beach cleaning
- Southern Ridges Hike
- National Day HumanistSG merchandise Sale and Delivery Run
- Remembering James Randi
- Humanism Ask Us Anything
Phase 3:
- New Year Party
- Virtual Workshop: Applying Humanism to Daily Lives
- Darwin Day 2021

Groundbreakers

A Good Space
Interfaith
Engaging Students
HSS Internship
Formation of Palliative Care Working Group

Press and social outreach

A summary of mentions, letters and engagement with the press and media.

Response to posts linking holy texts to toilet paper
Response to Archbishop 1
Response to Archbishop 2
Interviews with a scientist and a non-scientist (DJ)
Interview with Mathia (JY)
DJ’s interview with a A Magazine
HSS video cited in Australian religious studies textbook
HSS interviews: Christian Humanist, two scientist on pseudoscience and anti-vaccine sentiments regarding Covid-19

Celebrant services in 2020 under Covid-19 by Tan Tatt Si.

Reorganisation and Expansion of HSS programmes:

Society is planning to restructure services into: Secretariat, Alliances, Peer Support and End-of-life Care. A calendar of events for 2021 was shown, and volunteers called for.

HSS membership report and public reach

Secretary outlined the growth of membership in 2020 despite Covid-19 restrictions, and our current social media outreach channels that promote our organisation and activities.

Date	Retiree	Standard	Student	Total members
31 Dec 2017	1	46	55	102
31 Dec 2018	2	53	35	90
31 Dec 2019	6	45	20	71
31 Dec 2020	8	73	16	97

Financials 2020

Financials were reported by the Treasurer. On 31st Dec 2020, the HSS net current assets was S$ 23,663.26, with a surplus of S$ 208.58 for FY2020. The bulk of income came from Membership Subscription, Members’ Contribution, and Merchandise Sales. The bulk of expenditure comes from Merchandise Costs, Event Costs and Miscellaneous costs inclusive of AGS annual membership fee and HSS internship. More details can be found in our annual financial statements, available to HSS members upon request.

Minutes of 2020 AGM minutes

Reviewed and approved.

Proposed Constitutional Changes

● Raising the spending limit in clause 9.7

9.7 The Committee has power to authorise the expenditure of a sum not exceeding $1,000 per month from the Society’s funds for the Society’s purposes.

Proposed new spending limit on constitution

9.7 The Committee has power to authorise the expenditure of a sum not exceeding $2,000 per month from the Society’s funds for the Society’s purposes. Prior approval from a general meeting of members must be sought for any budget plans deviating from this.

Raising money for a permanent venue

Exco seeks Members’ opinion and official vote to raise funds for the special purpose of funding a permanent home for HSS.

Questions and objections were raised regarding this proposed raising of the monthly spending limit. Several members expressed concern about a possible recurring financial commitment (eg employee or office lease) depleting the Society coffers. Suggestions of annual spending caps, yearly budget reviews and sunset clauses as a check on spending.

The exco explained that raising the monthly cap in the constitution was not a carte blanche for the Exco to spend, but to give it discretionary power to use funds more flexibly. An example was a recent one-time expenditure of $1000 membership fee, which effectively froze all expenses for the month. It was also explained that there were adequate rules and safeguards in place to keep a rogue exco from irresponsible spending.

It was also raised that the early voting ballot appeared to rush members into voting for issues that had not been explained. Exco explained that this was not its intention. The 3pm deadline was for AGM registration and not voting, which could be done up until the end of balloting during the AGM. Exco will improve on refining the procedures for future online AGMs.

The amendments were eventually passed.

Election of 2021 – 2023 executive committee members

Vice President: Tan Ding Jie

Secretary: Norhaiyah Madasamy

Treasurer: Nic Jude Das (The position was brought forward one year to realign with the Society’s schedule of elections with ROS, which were disrupted in earlier years.)

Ordinary Committee Member: Cheng Chee Hoew

All candidates were voted in unopposed.

President’s words of appreciation for outgoing Secretary and Treasurer.

Appointment of honorary auditors Ms Dian Marissa and Mr. Muhamad Alif Bin Ibrahim for FY2021.

Any other business

No other business was raised. HSS AGM 2021 ended at 1630h SGT.

Uncategorized Tags: agm, minutes

Farewell 2020

31 December 2020 by humanist j

It has been a difficult year for the world, with many nations still struggling to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. In the fight against the virus, prolonged lockdowns have affected livelihoods, separated families, grounded air travel, and brought a chill to festive seasons not seen in many decades. Healthcare personnel have also sacrificed their time, and sometimes their lives, in the frontline effort against the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic has put humanity as a whole to a severe test.

Love Amidst a Pandemic Thing

16 November 2020 by Tattsi Tan

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many couples to adjust their wedding plans. Our Humanist Celebrant, Mr Tan Tatt Si, shares some moments from a Humanist wedding in Singapore.

Minutes of Humanist Society (Singapore) Annual General Meeting 2020

Date : 14 March 2020

2 – 5 pm

Venue : OnePeople Harmony Room 3

Attendance:

The Humanist Society (Singapore) (‘HSS’) Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) was attended by 24 people, 22 of whom were members with voting rights. There are 14 proxy voters. The voting membership for the year is 60, so the quorum was reached, with a few constitutional amendments tabled.

Annual Report

The meeting began officially at 2:10pm with the President’s address.

2019 events

A summary of the year’s events including :
Darwin Day Talk at Goh Loo Club
Introduction to Humanism
Humanists at Pink Dot 11
Asian Humanist Conference hosted by HSS
Science Talk: Pseudoscience and Fake Science
Critical Thinking & Rationality Workshop
Volunteers High-Tea
Hosting Danish Humanist Vice President’s visit
Excursion to ArtScience Museum
Cultural Christmas with People’s Association
Year-end Humanist Barbecue

HSS also paid respect to Dr John Elliot for his friendship and contributions to the humanist cause.

Interfaith work

Asian Civilisation Museum visit and panel discussion as part of AHC 2019
IRO-USP dialogue in NUS
IRO exhibition at Far East Plaza
International Conference on Cohesive Societies
IRO Youth

Press and social outreach

A summary of mentions, letters and engagement with the press and media.

Invitation to Prime Ministerial function (cancelled due to COVID-19)
Mention in parliament by NMP Anthea Ong re: Stephen Code
Inclusion in Babelfish podcast re: forum on law governing dignified versions of national anthem
Peer Support Group
New Humanist Club at Yale-NUS
Celebrant services

Financials 2019

Financials were reviewed and approved.

Minutes of 2019 AGM minutes

Reviewed and approved.

Membership 2019

Secretary broke down how the membership figures changed over the last year.

Proposed Constitutional Changes

Administrative changes such as new postal address change,

● Associate membership

● Membership Grace Period

Questions and objections were raised in regard to the associate membership. These ranged from having a ‘second class’ of members, to the wording of the declaration ‘redefining’ humanism. Exco agreed to review the wording of the associate membership declaration, to be put to a vote after an intermission.

The revised wording took into consideration members’ concerns, and the amendments were later passed with unanimous approval.

Election of 2020 – 2022 executive committee members

President: Shamima Rafi / Xue Jianyue

Treasurer: Shawn Shaik (uncontested)

Ordinary Committee Members: Tang Yi Seng, Dan Dan Thio, Paul Tobin (uncontested)

Xue Jianyue was elected President of HSS with a majority of 22 to 15 votes, with 1 spoilt vote. [Afternote: Post-AGM, the executive committee realised that an Assistant Secretary must be elected as this particular position has reached the end of its two-year term. The Assistant Secretary post was previously unoccupied. The committee has appointed Dan Dan Thio as Assistant Secretary instead of Ordinary Committee Member. The committee regrets this error.]

Appointment of honorary auditors: The honorary auditors for 2020 are Mr Lionel Cheah and Mr Noah Koh-Buhari. [Afternote: Post-AGM, the executive committee realised that Mr Cheah is not a voting member, and is thus not eligible to be an honorary auditor. The committee has appointed Mr Alanson Low in Mr Cheah’s place. The committee regrets this error.
Afternote 2: Mr Buhari Shahran has had his name changed to Noah Koh-Buhari via deed poll effective October 2020]]

Outgoing president’s parting words

Any other business

No other business was raised.

Young Humanist SG Meeting #4: Setting up a resource centre

25 March 2017 by humanist

We held a lunch networking session today to discuss the Humanist Society’s plans of setting up a resource centre. The resource centre aims to provide support for non-religious people in distress. We opened the meeting to people from all ages and all walks of life. About 20 people attended the discussions, held at Safra Toa Payoh.

In February, the Humanist Society placed an advertised Facebook post calling for resource centre suggestions. Many of those who responded wanted the centre to provide support in the form of counselling, meditation, temporary shelters and conflict resolution. They were also looking for a space to provide learning opportunities, such as establishing a small library with a dedicated list of books, holding workshops / classes and providing free tuition for low-income families. Others even suggested holding celebrant services, other interest group activities, and sharing a physical place with other NGOs,

Following the Facebook post, the Humanist Society held internal discussions with educators, psychologists and social workers within our network. We concluded that the Society should not replicate existing professional services. We should instead complement professional services by providing informal support in the form of first responders. Some have pointed to existing practices in religious institutions and NGOs. For example, a trained professional can provide basic training to first responders who could then escalate a serious case to professional help when needed. This is an existing model the Society can take up. These first responders do not provide solutions. They only act as a listening ear.

At today’s discussion, the 20 participants broke up into 3 separate discussion groups to discuss the next steps. The first group proposed that the resource centre could start with a tighter list of items, instead of trying to fulfill all requests gathered from the Facebook post at once. It can start with establishing a small team of first-responders and provide a listening ear to anyone who feels troubled.

The first group felt that great care must be taken to explain the resource centre’s purpose, striking a balance between being specific (and searchable in Google) and what is acceptable to the general public. It should not be discreet because we are not doing anything illegal. At the same time, it cannot be antagonistic because it could attract the wrong type of volunteers and draw public backlash in a conservative country. There was also some debate about whether to keep the resource centre religion-neutral, or whether the Humanist Society — as a civil society and not a public service — should stay true to its original purpose and focus on helping the non-religious. One way to frame the resource centre, the first group concluded, was to describe it as a place for people “exploring non-religious alternatives to meaning in life.”

The second group discussed methods to seek funding. Establishing a resource centre would require some money and a good fundraiser is needed to drive the Society’s fundraising efforts. Once the funds are secured, the Society could look at temporary places to stay, such as hostels and backpacker hostels. The second group said it is important to present ourselves as a diverse community with different beliefs.

The third group noted that the Humanist Society currently lacks the expertise to provide such support. It suggested that in the meantime, it can rely on support in online forums. Although such forums already exist, they are very scattered and perhaps one dedicated forum could be set up to address people seeking psychological and social support. The third group also said that information for people seeking help should be made easily available online.

The first group also argued that online counselling could form the bulk of support efforts. A physical face-to-face meetup can be held, “friendship bench” style (see more above), at a central location such as the Hanis Cafe at NLB in town. After the initial contact has been made, the first responder can follow up with a mixture of online and physical engagement. Such an arrangement can ease the workload of first-responders who are unpaid volunteers with day jobs.

At the end of our discussion, a total of 10 people signed up to be first responders for our resource centre. We will be continuing more discussions in the months ahead, refining our purpose and generating more action items. If you have any suggestions for us, please contact us at info@humanist.org.sg

Blog, Featured Articles/Letters

The new and news superman

5 February 2017 by humanist

Hi, I am Yue Kong and I’m a committee member of Humanist SG. I help to post articles and videos of interest to humanists on our FB page and assist with the provision of humanist celebrant services. [Read more…]

Blog

The Treasurer and former VP

5 February 2017 by humanist

Zheng Huifen (left) with BHA chief Andrew Copson while on a visit to the UK

I’m Huifen and I’m currently the treasurer for HumanistSG. Before this I was Vice-President, but gave that up to take up the role of treasurer, as this is one of the 3 crucial roles which the Society must have. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to find anyone who wanted to be the treasurer last year! [Read more…]