Why our supporters are leaving a gift in their will

I retired as a humanist celebrant in 2024 after 14 years conducting mainly funerals. Today I speak in schools about humanism.

I'll always remember a soldier who wrote to me after his mother's funeral to say he'd ordered an introduction to humanism. Moments like that confirm you're doing something worthwhile.

Leaving a legacy to Humanists UK felt like a natural extension of everything I've given my time to. The work matters too much to stop just because I'll no longer be here to do it myself.

A long and winding road through religiosity led to wisdom of a sort: I joined about five years ago. Best decision (in terms of ethics and values) I have probably ever made.

My bequest is to be 'ring-fenced' towards the provision of more celebrants and general volunteer support services for the public.

I grew up in Govan in Glasgow and, like many children of my generation, I was sent to Sunday school and became an active young Christian. Then, when I was 15, I read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and that was it.

The thing that bothers me the most is the unearned privilege that religion still enjoys in public life – bishops in the House of Lords and the assumption that people of faith should have their voices heard above everyone else's. That's what I want my legacy to push back against.

I wanted to support the campaign to end compulsory worship in schools. I think pupils should be able to use the time for education.

My memories of school assembly – as a multidisabled person – one of being paraded as a failure because I could not compete physically or emotionally with my peers.

Secondly, with both my parents having had terminal illnesses, I support the assisted dying bill.

From an early age (about eight, as I recall), I struggled with religion. I simply couldn't believe in God and couldn't understand why so many people believe in religion.

Then in 2017, I took the ‘How humanist are you?’ test. My result showed I was 100% humanist and, on reflection, I realised I probably always had been a humanist.

There are several charities that I care deeply and passionately about, and I am leaving them gifts in my will. It makes me happy to know that they will be able to continue their good work after I'm gone.

I was a Christian for 35 years but had growing doubts that came to a head when I contracted multiple sclerosis (MS) and ended up in a wheelchair. Everyone came together and prayed for my healing. But it made no difference at all.

I went looking online and that's how I found Humanists UK. When I read about it, I thought that's me. That's what I am. A humanist!

I'd like any legacy I leave to Humanists UK to go towards that – widening the reach of the campaigns and helping more people discover that humanism is an option.

I've been a humanist in everything but name for most of my adult life. I didn't find my way to Humanists UK until many decades later, during the dark days of Covid.

When I took on the coordinator role, we had humanist reps on around 60% of SACREs and it's now over 90%.

I am leaving a legacy to Humanists UK and I would like it to contribute to the work of the Understanding Humanism team, with particular reference to giving young people an opportunity to consider adopting a non-religious philosophical worldview.

I was born in Manchester, christened in Hale Barns, confirmed in the Church of England in Chester, but became a humanist in the big wide world.

I became an engineer and designer, a sculptor and maker of precious objects before becoming also an academic and administrator. On all the objects that I have designed and made I have put my mark, an omega. It is this mark, signifying balance, which might remind others of me when I am gone.

I hope the gift I am leaving to the Humanists in my will will help to continue the reform that is needed to make my descendant's world a better and fairer one for all.

I do not need the promise of reward or threat of punishment in an imagined afterlife to guide me towards good behaviour.

My first encounter was with a humanist celebrant who arranged the funerals for my mother-in-law and then my husband. Now retired, she remains a friend.

My husband and I had no children, so my legacy can only be the echoes of any good (or bad) I have done. I hope that I am mostly a kind person (though I admit fallibility) and I hope that somewhere those acts of kindness live on.

My father first introduced me to humanism when I was about to marry for the second time!

We did and wrote our own meaningful vows for our humanist wedding and have been involved ever since.

I hope that the things I have achieved in my life, both here and in Zambia, will live on in others' thoughts of me. I hope that my children and grandchildren feel I built roots for them and then gave them wings to travel and be kind, empathetic people.

I first became aware of the humanist movement when following the tweets of Professor Alice Roberts. On doing my own research, I realised that I have always shared the humanist way of thinking about the world and our place in it.

As I strongly believe in removing religious indoctrination from schools and its influence from politics, I decided to become a member and do what I can to support these and other campaigns.

I intend to leave Humanists UK a legacy so that it can continue working to build a fairer society and promote respect for all people, no matter what race or religion they represent.

I was brought up in a strict Catholic family but loved astronomy from a young age, which led to a lifelong interest in science.

At the end of class, he recommended I read Alfred Jules Ayer's book Language, Truth and Logic. I discovered Ayer was president of something called the British Humanist Association. So from the age of 15, I knew I was a humanist too.

As for leaving a legacy – I want the ideas I care about to carry on. A J Ayer said he'd be happy if his body could be turned into a paving stone, something useful. That resonates with me deeply.

I was born in 1936 in a small industrial town in a rural part of Lancashire.

I took an interest in several environmental and feminist causes from about the 1960s onwards, have subscribed to New Humanist for a long time and got around to joining Humanists UK in Covid lockdown when the 2021 Census returns were an issue.

After I've gone, I hope that some of my research and writing on historical and heritage subjects, my passing on of craft skills and my interactions with my sister's grandchildren will be fruitful.

I became a member when I was 23, in 1967. Back then, Humanists UK was known as the British Humanist Association. I'm 82 now so I think that might qualify me as one of the oldest inhabitants of the humanist village!

I would love to see Humanists UK itself become more active as a publisher and I hope my legacy donation will help build that kind of resource.