Meet

Each year we hold a Spring and a Winter Conference, with a special Golden Jubilee gala programme in 2021/22.

Spring Conference 2024

Don’t miss our Spring Conference 2024, taking place on Saturday 18 May, 9.30am to 4.30pm.

Our venue is The Library Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL – a five-minute walk from Holborn Underground Station or a short bus ride from King’s Cross.

Grade II listed, Conway Hall opened in 1929 as the new home of the South Place Ethical Society (renamed in 2012 as the Conway Hall Ethical Society). Delegates will enjoy exclusive day-long access to the Library Room, home to the UK’s leading humanist research collection

Tickets: £15. To book please go to:

As ever our programme will feature an exciting mix of contemporary and historical vexillological presentations.

Speakers include:

Graham Bartram FFI FVAST, Chief Vexillologist, Flag Institute

  • A Flag for a Polluted World: Antarctica Flag Redesign Proposal

Graham designed the flag for Antarctica in 1996 to symbolise its role as a hub for scientific collaboration, peaceful co-existence and nature conservation. Yet Antarctica now has another distinctive attribute – it is facing a serious threat from plastic pollution, which is harming its wildlife, its environment and its future. Graham’s presentation will examine his proposed redesign of the Antarctic flag to highlight this escalating problem.

Geoff Parsons, The Heraldry Society

  • Flags of the Southern Regions of South America and of the Antarctic Territories

Geoff will report on his recent trip to an area of the globe rich in history and flag culture. After boarding MS Oosterdam in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Geoff visited the Falkland Islands, transited the Drake Passage and took in several Antarctic research bases. He then continued via Cape Horn, the Beagle Channel, the Magellan Strait and the Chilean fjords, before disembarking in Santiago, Chile. Geoff will review the national and local flags flown at the ports of call, the flags flown by MS Oosterdam and those flown at the Antarctic bases.

Brian Cham, Flag Design Consultant, North American Vexillological Association

  • Unravelling the Tino Rangatiratanga Flag (Māori Flag) through the Eyes of Its Designer

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag is the flag of the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Designed in 1989, the flag has come a long way from a napkin doodle to a national icon but has also garnered controversy. Brian talked with Linda Munn, its last living creator, to share her perspective on the flag and its story. Both contributors are proud to share this part of their homeland’s culture.

News of additional speakers coming soon …

Conway Hall Library Room showing bookcases, tables and chairs