'A real opportunity for Quakers to share their priorities and values with other voters.’
Meeting for Sufferings: Election preparation session
‘It is important that we engage with all the main candidates as human beings, and try to find common ground.’ Grace Da Costa, BYM’s public affairs and media manager.
Timely Meeting
More than fifty-five Friends gathered online on 22 May for a Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) preparation advocacy session about the upcoming general election.
The session was clerked by Elizabeth Allen, assistant clerk for MfS, who started the Meeting by saying how ‘amazing’ and ‘timely’ it was that the Meeting should come on the day that the prime minister Rishi Sunak announced there would be a general election on 4 July.
It was also a ‘special Meeting’, she said, as MfS had been encouraged to experiment with the way it works. Friends who were not appointed Area Meeting representatives were welcome to attend.
‘We realised that the subject matter… was of very wide interest, far beyond the interest of MfS representatives, so wanted to widen the availability,’ she said.
