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Juli Salt reports on General Meeting for Scotland

Fifty-six Friends came from all over Scotland to gather on 10 March in Edinburgh Meeting House for General Meeting for Scotland. The furthest a Friend travelled this time was from Orkney off the north coast of Scotland. My journey, by comparison, was quite short. It is a mere five hours door to door, with the most amazing scenery en route, going through the Grampians and the 460-metre Drumochter Pass before dropping down to Perth and the south of Scotland.

It is worth remembering that many of us, of all ages, do travel a long way to arrive! In my case I regard the whole journey as an enjoyable part of the General Meeting experience.

Adwoa Bittle, our clerk, always opens by explaining carefully, in depth, with sincerity and yet somehow with humour, just how a Meeting for Worship for Business should be conducted – advice for those who may not know and a reminder for those who may need reminding! So, the scene is set.

General Meeting was challenged on how not only to make the day interesting, but how to make it interesting to young people. We were delighted that nine joined us between the ages of nine and eighteen, going off for their own Business Meeting following our agenda and coming back at the end of the day with their own minute.

Our considerations turned to ecumenical and interfaith links, and the thought to bring all faiths, whether Christian rooted or other, under the umbrella heading of ‘Interfaith’. Yet, would that cause our contacts, who have worked for so long in ecumenical work, to feel less valued by us? It became very apparent that many of us go informally to other faith and interfaith meetings because of our own interest. We do not go to represent Quakers, but by being present end up so doing. We were all encouraged to report back in whatever way we can when we go to such events via newsletters, website and so on.

The idea then came forward that a small group work together to create a form to invite Friends to join an Interfaith email group. This sub group will ask people who are interested about their areas of concern, availability, travel possibilities and more. We will end up with a two-tier system.

One group of Friends who can attend formal appointments (when someone may need to speak on behalf of Scottish Quakers) and one group of Friends who can attend more informal events that just require interest. These two lists may have some of the same names on both. I see this as a basic part of peace building.

Next came discussion of our new proposed logo – to show that we are both Scottish and part of Britain Yearly Meeting. We had three choices in front of us. Our clerk minuted: ‘This is a highly emotive issue that we hope we can keep in perspective.’ Isn’t our ‘Quakerspeak’ wonderful. It was agreed that all three versions would be tried out.

Inevitably, there wasn’t time to hear all the reports, so the excellent (Scottish) Parliamentary Engagement Working Group, and the Sufferings report, which had been circulated, could not be discussed. I felt for those who had done so much work both in those meetings and writing their reports. Still, it can’t all be done.

So, full circle back to our younger Friends, who had a very fruitful business session on their own and reported back clearly and efficiently. It is hoped that younger Friends will meet regularly at our General Meetings and be involved in the agenda setting.

Our next General Meeting is in Inverness and I look forward with interest to see how many young people will come on that day. It is a lot to ask in travel hours of all Friends, let alone those with a busy study schedule to fit in, but I feel it’s well worthwhile.

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