Jane Wynne Willson is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 teacher, writer, campaigner and humanist

Secular humanism

Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...

. She is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association

British Humanist Association

The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

.

She worked as a teacher, first becoming actively involved in the secular humanist movement when her oldest child was attending school. She established local humanist groups in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 and Cheltenham

Cheltenham

Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

, and has since been an officer of Birmingham Humanists

Birmingham Humanists

Birmingham Humanist Group was formed on May 23, 1962 at the Arden Hotel, New Street, Birmingham, England, as a result of a notice placed in a newsletter of the Ethical Union, forerunner of the British Humanist Association , by Dr Anthony Brierley...

 for over 30 years. She was a member of the BHA Executive Committee from 1966 to 1972, and again from 1988 to 1994, chairing the committee from 1989 to 1992. She was a Chair of the International Humanist and Ethical Union

International Humanist and Ethical Union

The International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...

 from 1993 to 1996, and its Vice-President until 2002. She is also a Director of the Rationalist Press Association.

She is best known for her groundbreaking books on non-religious ceremonies

Humanist officiant

A Humanist officiant is a person who performs secular humanist celebrancy services for weddings, funerals, child namings, coming of age ceremonies, and other rituals...

, such as funeral

Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...

s, wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s, and baby namings

Humanist baby naming

A baby naming ceremony is a humanist or non-religious alternative to ceremonies such as christenings. The principle is conceptually similar to a civil wedding ceremony as an alternative to a religious wedding ceremony....

. In particular, these include:

• Sharing the Future (first published as To Love and to Cherish, 1988, several later editions)
• Funerals Without God (first published 1989, several later editions, ISBN 0 901825 14 X)
• New Arrivals (first published 1991; later revision with Robert Ashby, 1999)
• Parenting without God: Experiences of a Humanist Mother (1998)
• The Chain of Love - A Victorian Family History (2007)