A SCIENCE and philosophy group  is celebrating its first anniversary.

Informal discussion group Hmmm Squad, based in Shrewsbury, was set up last summer by Pip Bayley and Thomas Morton.

Every month there is a talk from a guest speaker on a thought-provoking topic, and then a discussion.

Pip said: “We started it as somewhere for people to meet and discuss ideas – philosophy, science and other topics.

“We have people with all kinds of beliefs and backgrounds who come along.

“We’re open to anything that might generate discussion, but you’ve got to be ready for people to politely disagree.

“We started out with about 10 to 12 members and the numbers have continued to grow with each session.

We’ve got a hard-core of regulars, but there’s always new people coming through.”

This month environmentalist Richard Hammerton spoke to the group about why we are so slow to change our environment-damaging behaviour, even though we might want to.

The group were partly inspired by the Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub, who hold monthly talks on science and myth-debunking.

Pip said: “We wanted our group to be more inclusive and the discussions to be open to broader topics.”

Talks so far have included evolution and morality, art and mathematics, artificial life, war and appeasement, and Douglas Adams and the number 42.

Pip said: “The idea is to make it as accessible as possible. I consider myself an artist, not a scientist and if I can follow the discussions, anyone can.”

For more information see the Hmmm Squad Facebook group.