Meeting for Sufferings: Listed Informal Groups
The recommendations of the Listed Informal Groups Review Group were reported to Meeting for Sufferings
Joycelin Dawes, of the Listed Informal Groups Review Group, reported on a review into Britain Yearly Meeting’s relationship with Listed Informal Groups. The review group made a number of recommendations. They proposed a new ‘Quaker Recognised Bodies’ system, that would see groups falling into one of three broad categories: linked (to other Quaker bodies, typically Area Meetings or Central Committees), externally regulated (for instance, by councils) and free-standing. Registration and de-registration would be the responsibility of Meeting for Sufferings.
A Friend asked for examples of groups that would fall into each of the three categories. Joycelin said that Northfield EcoCentre would be a ‘linked’ group, Quaker Social Action would be ‘externally regulated’, and Quaker Values in Education would be seen as free-standing.
The same Friend asked which groups would be excluded from the categories. Joycelin replied that it will be up to the groups to decide whether they want to be listed. She added that the list will appear in the Book of Meetings and on Britain Yearly Meeting’s website.
A Friend asked: ‘If there’s a group that some Friends feel doesn’t fit with the Society, who decides?’
Meeting for Sufferings will decide, clerk Ethel Livermore confirmed.
