Letters - 12 October 2012
From Friends House to mobile phones in Meeting
Friends House
In contrast to the tone of some recent letters, we do not remotely regard staff at Friends House as either tyrannical or parasitic. In over half a century of Quaker membership, I remember with deep gratitude instances of loving, self-giving care and support from Friends House staff, most particularly when I felt out on a limb in Quaker service in Madagascar. My partner and I have both needed central advice and support, both in setting up a charity and in miscellaneous Quaker crises over the years. Of course, such knowledge and support would exist somewhere in the Religious Society of Friends if central work were abolished, but finding it would be near impossible. If the work were moved to Woodbrooke, the cost of the people concerned would move with it. Any particular sort of problem will rarely occur in any one locality so having a truly functional folk memory for past solutions is very important. In Wales much of the chapel movement was based on local independence and the result was often a considerable tendency to split when the going got rough, through differences of personality or doctrine. In fraught situations, outside ‘concerned intervention’ is of inestimable value. Friends House’s locating and coordinating function and its perceived neutrality can be very important.
Barbara Prys-Williams
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