Meeting for Sufferings: Work in Scotland
'New local development worker (LDW), Zoe Prosser, has helped reconnect a community where ‘many people have to travel over an hour’ to get to a Meeting.'
Friends heard what was later described as an ‘inspiring’ report from Elizabeth Allen, clerk of General Meeting for Scotland. ‘If you look at statistics, we’re old and our numbers are declining and like Quaker Meetings around the country we’re having great difficulty filling our roles,’ she said. ‘This is a depressing picture, but look closer and you’ll see the green shoots of new growth.’
Opening to new people, they had to be ‘creative and flexible’, she said. ‘We are aware that Sunday may not be suitable for families and young people.’
New local development worker (LDW), Zoe Prosser, has helped reconnect a community where ‘many people have to travel over an hour’ to get to a Meeting. ‘We have recognised that we are struggling with our Quaker structures,’ said Elizabeth, appointing a working group in June 2021 whose suggestions for change are now being implemented. A second working group will report back next June.
Elizabeth then went on to describe their witness and advocacy, through Andrew Tomlinson, the parliamentary engagement officer, and the General Meeting for Scotland Parliamentary Engagement Working Group. Climate justice work often focuses on the delivery of promises made at COP26, she said.
Other work focuses on peace education in schools, including a motion in the Scottish Parliament that referred to Quaker Peace & Social Witness’s ‘Peace in the Heart’ videos. It was signed by thirty-three MSPs, from all political parties. Quakers have been invited to a round-table discussion to review Scottish Labour’s approach to education, as well as another shaping the Scottish government’s new peace institute.
Quaker-led criminal justice work has attracted others in the field, looking at societal issues that contribute to violence, particularly against women. This collaborative spirit was shown in a conference held during COP26 on how the climate crisis affects women. Friends plan to mark the UN’s sixteen days of action against gender-based violence in November. As well as meeting with several MSPs, Friends have also submitted responses to various government consultations, on justice and human rights.
Friends praised the report, with one Quaker wondering whether forming alliances ‘could be a good way of bringing in younger people and from different backgrounds’. One Friend said it showed ‘what can be achieved by a relatively small number of people who are scattered geographically’. This kind of witness could ‘bring people into the Society, by showing what we do in the spirit’, while another said it highlighted the importance of acknowledging ‘what is needed for young people’.
Next week: afternoon session. Minutes at www.quaker.org.uk/mfspapers.
