Staff Profiles
Ian Kirk-Smith – editor
Ian Kirk-Smith joined The Friend in April 2010.
Jez Smith – production editor
Jez Smith has been production editor since May 2007.
Trish Carn – sub-editor
Trish Carn is the sub-editor for The Friend. Copy-editing articles and selecting the letters fall into her area. Working two days a week since 2005 after two earlier maternity leave covers, she also does much of the layout and Photoshop work on submitted graphics. Trish has run her own desktop publishing company since 1989. She is an avid photographer and scrapbooker. A Quaker for over thirty-five years, she and her husband are resident Friends at Finchley Local Meeting in north London. Trish is member of Quakers Uniting in Publications and is also editor of Quaker Voices.
Symon Hill – news reporter
Symon Hill is associate director of Ekklesia, an independent thinktank that examines the role of religion in public life. He contributes regularly to The Guardian, Morning Star and Baptist Times and is an associate tutor at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. He has written and campaigned on issues including religious liberty, the arms trade, social class and sexuality.
Penny Dunn – subscriptions officer
Penny Dunn has been the subscriptions officer for The Friend Publications Ltd since the end of 2006. She was drawn to work for The Friend because of her involvement with Quakers over many years. Penny has worked previously in a law school library and as a foster carer. She lives with her husband in London and they enjoy spending time with their two small grandsons. Besides her activities with her Meeting, she enjoys gardening, recycling and handicrafts. She has no pets, unless you count the worms in her wormery, although it might take a while to count them as there are quite a few.
George Penaluna – advertisement manager
George works from a home office in a small village with its own train station just outside Skipton in North Yorkshire. He has been advertisement manager for a total of sixteen years, and knows just about anything you need to know about advertising in The Friend.
He started out with a degree in business, working in financial services marketing with Abbey National, The Stock Exchange, Barclays Bank and Ecology Building Society.
Originally from the north-east of England, George has lived in Manchester, Seoul, Edinburgh, London and Yorkshire.
George started attending Quaker Meetings in Richmond upon Thames in 1987 and joined the Society at Kingston upon Thames in 1990.
Anna Sharman – freelance editorial services
Anna Sharman provides freelance editorial services to The Friend. The rest of the time she mostly edits biological and medical journals – Quaker magazine articles can (sometimes) be a breath of fresh air in comparison! She is a member of South London Area Meeting and has been involved with Quakers all her life.
Gillian Robertson – volunteer office ‘girl’
Gillian Robertson was absorbed on to the team five years ago after previous careers in education and speech therapy. She is recognised for her skills in making tea and coffee, keeping the office as tidy as much as the team allow and being available to do sundry other tasks. Her main job involves assisting the subscriptions officer with the mailing of subscription reminders and distributing complimentary copies of The Friend each week. Her three children have produced six grandchildren for her to enjoy from time to time. She is a member of Luton & Leighton Area Meeting.
Ian Kirk-Smith joined The Friend in April 2010.
Jez Smith – production editor
Jez Smith has been production editor since May 2007.
Trish Carn – sub-editor
Trish Carn is the sub-editor for The Friend. Copy-editing articles and selecting the letters fall into her area. Working two days a week since 2005 after two earlier maternity leave covers, she also does much of the layout and Photoshop work on submitted graphics. Trish has run her own desktop publishing company since 1989. She is an avid photographer and scrapbooker. A Quaker for over thirty-five years, she and her husband are resident Friends at Finchley Local Meeting in north London. Trish is member of Quakers Uniting in Publications and is also editor of Quaker Voices.
Symon Hill – news reporter
Symon Hill is associate director of Ekklesia, an independent thinktank that examines the role of religion in public life. He contributes regularly to The Guardian, Morning Star and Baptist Times and is an associate tutor at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. He has written and campaigned on issues including religious liberty, the arms trade, social class and sexuality.
Penny Dunn – subscriptions officer
Penny Dunn has been the subscriptions officer for The Friend Publications Ltd since the end of 2006. She was drawn to work for The Friend because of her involvement with Quakers over many years. Penny has worked previously in a law school library and as a foster carer. She lives with her husband in London and they enjoy spending time with their two small grandsons. Besides her activities with her Meeting, she enjoys gardening, recycling and handicrafts. She has no pets, unless you count the worms in her wormery, although it might take a while to count them as there are quite a few.
George Penaluna – advertisement manager
George works from a home office in a small village with its own train station just outside Skipton in North Yorkshire. He has been advertisement manager for a total of sixteen years, and knows just about anything you need to know about advertising in The Friend.
He started out with a degree in business, working in financial services marketing with Abbey National, The Stock Exchange, Barclays Bank and Ecology Building Society.
Originally from the north-east of England, George has lived in Manchester, Seoul, Edinburgh, London and Yorkshire.
George started attending Quaker Meetings in Richmond upon Thames in 1987 and joined the Society at Kingston upon Thames in 1990.
Anna Sharman – freelance editorial services
Anna Sharman provides freelance editorial services to The Friend. The rest of the time she mostly edits biological and medical journals – Quaker magazine articles can (sometimes) be a breath of fresh air in comparison! She is a member of South London Area Meeting and has been involved with Quakers all her life.
Gillian Robertson – volunteer office ‘girl’
Gillian Robertson was absorbed on to the team five years ago after previous careers in education and speech therapy. She is recognised for her skills in making tea and coffee, keeping the office as tidy as much as the team allow and being available to do sundry other tasks. Her main job involves assisting the subscriptions officer with the mailing of subscription reminders and distributing complimentary copies of The Friend each week. Her three children have produced six grandchildren for her to enjoy from time to time. She is a member of Luton & Leighton Area Meeting.
