Lorraine Barrett

Lorraine Barrett was made a patron of Humanists UK for her contribution to advancing human rights, equality, and justice and her humanist contributions to ethical questions in public life.

Celebrant and former Member of the Welsh Assembly

Having been an atheist since my teens, I discovered Humanists UK in later life and realised that I was really a humanist.

Born in 1950, Lorraine Barrett started her working life as a nurse, became a Councillor in the Vale of Glamorgan and Penarth, and then in 1999 a Welsh Labour & Co-operative Member of the National Assembly for Wales. In 2011 she chose to retire from the Welsh Assembly in order to concentrate on developing her work as a humanist celebrant. She lives in Penarth and works mainly in the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan areas, as well as Bridgend and the Valleys, where she conducts humanist, or non-religious, funeral and baby-naming ceremonies. She says of her work:
I trained as a celebrant with Humanists UK in 2008 and after conducting my first funeral, I knew I was doing something very special. I have met so many lovely families and it is a privilege to help and support them at such a sad time in their lives…

Lorraine Barrett is also Patron of the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth.

See also her profile at http://humanist.org.uk/lorrainebarrett/