Meeting for Sufferings: Friends in Wales and Scotland
Reports from Friends in Wales and Scotland were given at Meeting for Sufferings
Meeting for Sufferings on 2 December heard from Gethin Evans, who was standing in for Christine Trevett, clerk of Meeting of Friends in Wales. He delivered his opening remarks in Welsh. He then said: ‘Worry not, Friends, I shall not continue in the language of heaven.’
Gethin Evans said the ‘very full’ report from Wales’ contained challenges within it for Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). There was a need to ‘get to grips with devolution’. He asked: ‘What is BYM’s West Lothian question?’ And he added: ‘We need a tabular statement for Wales as there is for Scotland.’
Gethin Evans said: ‘BYM has not stated its Welsh language policy. That will be coming to you.’ He also said that Quakers have a representative on Churches Together in Wales.
He concluded: ‘You’re not surprised there’s a power at the end of this report’ and added: ‘There’s always a glimpse of the sun somewhere, Friends.’
Adwoa Bittle, clerk of General Meeting for Scotland, told Sufferings that her name is pronounced phonetically – ‘Adjua’.
She said: ‘There are roughly 1,500 Quakers who worship in Scotland – about half in membership.’ She drew attention to the long time in takes Scottish Friends to get to Meetings. This is ‘a huge issue’. Coming to London is easier for Scottish Friends than reaching some places north of the border. There is a need for ‘more community building’.
Adwoa Bittle said: ‘Things are different in Scotland… For instance, the different school summer holidays make it difficult to fit in all young people’s activities… We use a lot of conference calls.’
She explained: ‘We have to promote the spiritual life and witness. We need to facilitate contact between all the ages.’ She said that Scottish Friends ‘like to party’. Huge priorities are ‘ecumenical and intefaith links’ and their parliamentary work is very important. ‘We worship six times a year at Faslane,’ she added.
There is the beginning of a memorandum of understanding between BYM and Friends in Scotland and Wales. ‘That’s why we’re here – to talk to each other,’ she said.
A Friend asked about engagement with young adult Friends. Adwoa Bittle replied: ‘We have a vibrant group of young Friends… all over Scotland – a great bunch of kids who need to be involved with all this technology and the way we’re moving.’
Gethin Evans said that in Wales ‘it would be dishonest to say’ that young adult Friends are fully engaged: ‘We’ve got a long way to go on that issue.’
Another Friend asked, since it has now met in Manchester: ‘Could Sufferings contemplate meeting in Scotland and Wales?’
