We’re a group of free-thinking people in Bedford who like to get together in a casual atmosphere and talk about interesting things.
We find a speaker – typically a scientist or prominent skeptic who will speak for around 40 minutes. The subjects of the talks vary, but they will typically be about a common belief that either cannot be justified by the available evidence, or that can actually be demonstrated to be false by the available evidence – or else something that is just plain interesting or contentious.
Examples of subjects we have already covered are: Electric cars, Hypnotism, Fracking, The Alpha Course, Prostitution, Policing, Spin in Lobbying, Futurology, Academy Schools, Income Inequality and a whole lot more to come.
The talk is followed by a chance to question the speaker yourself, or just relax and listen to what people have to say.
Meetings are usually on the third Thursday of the month. Arrive at 7:00pm for a 7:30 start. Why not come along and join in?
Please note that after our April 2024 meeting, we are moving to a bi-monthly timetable. For full details, scroll down to the ‘Events’ section.
Non-skeptics are not only welcome, they’re actively encouraged!
Location: The North End Social Club, 60 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7TW
Ring the bell and wait to be admitted – our private room is immediately on the left.
Note: Disabled access is from the rear, car park side, under the fire escape.
Bedford Skeptics meetings are organised by Bedfordshire Humanists
Events
Please note, Bedford Skeptics events are now Bi-Monthly.
(Jan. / Mar. / May / Jul. / Sept. / Nov.)
Thursday 20th November 2025 – 7:30pm
A Little History of Maths
Snezana Lawrence
Mathematics is fundamental to our daily lives. Science, computing, economics—all aspects of modern life rely on some kind of maths. But how did our ancestors think about numbers? How did they use mathematics to explain and understand the world around them? Where do numbers even come from?
In her new book, ‘A Little History of Mathematics’ (Yale University Press, 2025) , Snezana Lawrence traces the fascinating history of mathematics, from the Egyptians and Babylonians to Renaissance masters and enigma codebreakers.
Like literature, music, or philosophy, mathematics has a rich history of breakthroughs, creativity and experimentation. And its story is a global one. We see Chinese Mathematical Art from 200 BCE, the invention of algebra in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom, and sangaku geometrical theorems at Japanese shrines.
Lawrence goes beyond the familiar names of Newton and Pascal, exploring the prominent role women have played in the history of maths, including Emmy Noether and Maryam Mirzakhani.
Snezana Lawrence is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University, London, and was the chair of the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics International Study Group between 2020 and 2024. She is the author of Mathematical Meditations, The New Year’s Present from a Mathematician and editor of Mathematicians and Their Gods.
You can find her on social media as @snezanalawrence.bsky.social @snezanalawrence @mathshistory
Thursday 15th January 2026 – 7:30pm
Deanshanger Hedgehog Rescue
Rachel Matthews
Rachel and Dominic started Deanshanger Hedgehog Rescue in the summer of 2021 after years of observing hedgehogs in their village and garden, and the realisation that there was no rescue facility in the local area.
Having started in their shed, it became clear very quickly that demand was high in this area and so we soon had to come up with another plan…..we developed a room in our home into a critical care area, with the shed now being used for rehabilitation!.
They both have degrees in Animal Science and animal welfare backgrounds and have completed the Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation First Aid, Care & Rehabilitation Course. In the first 5 months of opening, they received 51 hedgehogs.
Rachel will talk to us about the importance of hedgehogs to the natural environment, the challenges of setting up a Rescue Centre and how we can help to ensure hedgehog health.
Thursday 19th March 2026 – 7:30pm
Antimicrobial Resistance – How do we beat the silent pandemic?
Professor Jenny Rohn
What will happen if the last antibiotic stops working? And what can scientists do to stop us returning to pre-antibiotic medical dark ages?
Antibiotics have saved many millions of lives but infections from drug-resistant bacteria rose 69% between 2019 and 2023, according to Centers for Disease Control. How worried should we be about these so-called “nightmare bacteria” – and how can they be stopped?
Professor Jennifer Rohn will explain what antimicrobial resistance is, how it comes about, why it matters, and what science can do to prevent us returning to the days when even a scratch had the potential to kill you.
Professor Jenny Rohn is a research scientist, academic, author and broadcaster.
She is Head of Urological Biology, Infection and Cancer in the Department of Renal Medicine in the Division of Medicine at University College London, UK.
Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, BBC News, Nature and The Scientist. She speaks frequently to live audiences, and appears on TV, radio, in podcasts and as an expert in science documentaries. She was also the founder of Science is Vital, a grassroots campaign to protect public funding of science in the UK.
Jenny blogs about the scientific life at Mind The Gap, she established and named the science-in-fiction literary genre known as Lab Lit, is founding editor at LabLit.com and has written three published novels, each with a scientific theme.
Thursday 21st May 2026 – 7:30pm
The Green Children of Woolpit
Deborah Hyde
Deborah Hyde revisits one of Britain’s most enduring and eerie tales: the Green Children of Woolpit. As recorded by two medieval chroniclers, the story of the strange siblings, who claimed to have come from a place of eternal twilight, has fascinated and baffled readers for centuries.
Are these accounts glimpses of folklore, misremembered history, or encounters with something inexplicable?
Join Deborah as she carefully unpicks the threads of the story, tracing its roots, variations, and the possible truths hidden behind its luminous green glow
A specialist in belief, folklore and the supernatural, Deborah is a writer, broadcaster and producer who explores the strange corners of culture. She has appeared on ‘Strange Evidence’, ‘Mysteries at the Museum’ and the hit BBC podcasts ‘Uncanny’ and ‘The Battersea Poltergeist’, and was Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Skeptic’ for a decade.
Thursday 16th July 2026 – 7:30pm
What an I Can Do That AI Can’t
Professor Neil Lawrence
In this talk Prof Neil Lawrence will talk about the limitations of artificial intelligence, why he finds the notion of artificial general intelligence absurd, and how there’s a part of us that can never be replaced by the machine.
Neil Lawrence is the inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge. He has been working on machine learning models for over 20 years. He recently returned to academia after three years as Director of Machine Learning at Amazon. His main interest is the interaction of machine learning with the physical world. This interest was triggered by deploying machine learning in the African context, where ‘end-to-end’ solutions are normally required. This has inspired new research directions at the interface of machine learning and systems research, this work is funded by a Senior AI Fellowship from the Alan Turing Institute.
Neil is also visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and the co-host of Talking Machines.
Thursday 20th August 2026
Summer Break – No event this month
Thursday 17th September 2026 – 7:30pm
The Buildings Archaeologist
Dr. James Wright
A welcome return for our friend, James!
Visit any settlement in the land and there will be ancient buildings hidden in plain sight. Behind a Victorian façade is a Tudor house. Underneath a Georgian frontage is a mediaeval cottage. What is now a modern farm may once have been a castle. We know relatively little about the ancient buildings that surround us, yet buildings archaeology can offer us so many clues for discovering the secrets of hidden historic houses.
This talk (and accompanying book) looks at the ways in which ancient buildings have been studied and conserved, the puzzling ways that some buildings became listed whereas others were overlooked, and how we can really understand the age and development of a structure.
With over a quarter of a century of field experience, James Wright uses case studies drawn from his career to explain the fascinating, enigmatic, and surprising world of The Buildings Archaeologist.
Thursday 19th November 2026 – 7:30pm
Sneeze
Dr. David Miles
A tickle in the back of your throat? A cough that won’t let you sleep? A stuffy nose and a constant need to sneeze?
When it comes to understanding the common cold, we have all had plenty of first-hand experience. We are all too familiar with the symptoms of the cold virus, having caught and fought one every few months on average. At this point, the cold is seen as an inevitable inconvenience, rather than an illness that should be wiped out.
Dr David Miles, a world-leading immunologist, has amassed over a century of research on the common cold, starting from the foundational discovery that colds are caused by viruses, up to developments made during the pandemic.
In Sneeze, Dr Miles looks at what exactly colds are and where they come from, to reveal practical steps we can take to avoid catching them, fighting them and, perhaps most ambitiously, the steps that we as a society can take to make our environment less conducive to spreading them.