The Ceremonies Sub-committee (CSC) exists to create, maintain and extend the provision of a range of Ceremonies, conducted by Celebrants registered with the Humanist Society of Scotland. It is set up under the constitution of the Society and answers to the Board of Trustees. It has two places on the Board of Trustees, the NCC and the Depute NCC, ensuring that there is a strong voice to represent the celebrants.

The committee consists of a National Co-ordinator, a depute NCC and three Regional Co-ordinators all of whom are elected into post by the Celebrants. These posts are open to job share and at present some are doing so.  The Celebrant Training Co-ordinator is also a member of the Sub-committee, co-opted under the terms of the constitution.

The CSC is responsible for ensuring that all ceremonies are of a high standard, and that the Society’s good relationships with organisations concerned with our services are maintained.  For example, maintaining contact with the Registrar General on issues concerning Legal Weddings, and producing, collating and acting on information from questionnaires routinely circulated to Funeral Directors whilst maintaining a relationship with them to the benefit of the Society.

The CSC is also responsible for keeping the Celebrant network informed of what is happening, the organising of meetings, both regular regional and annual national Celebrants Gatherings.  It also responds to approaches about the ceremonies service, acting as a central point of contact for those enquiring about them.  A large part of the CSC’s work is in inviting and collating the quarterly Celebrant returns, which document their activity on which they pay a fee of 10% of their self-employed earnings to the Society, requiring liaison with the Treasurer.  The statistics from these returns are subject to detailed analysis, allowing the planning of growth and recruitment needs.

The CSC also administers the recruitment of new celebrants, usually prioritised on a regional requirements basis.  Beyond the initial training and probationary period undertaken by all Celebrants, the CSC also monitors celebrant performance to ensure standards are continually maintained.  Continually enhancing our practice led us in 2007 to the provision of 5 separate training courses on various aspects of ceremonies work.

The CSC oversee disciplinary and complaints procedures, and continually review its standards to ensure current compliance with regulations on issues such as discrimination, data protection, and our legal obligations to the Registrars Office.

Members of this sub-committee are elected by the HSS Celebrants. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .