Quakers ‘Wave’ to the world
Quaker presence at climate change demonstration anything but silent
Quakers were anything but silent last weekend as they made their presence felt in the ‘Wave’ through London designed to draw attention to climate change. At least 300, including 100 young Friends, gathered together with Quaker banners and placards in Trafalgar Square and then Hyde Park at the start of the march before spreading out into the crowds. However, estimates of the total number of Friends present range up to 900 – including many gathered at Friends House for Meeting for Sufferings, who came out onto the pavement along Euston Road to lend their voices and presence to the passing crowds. Other Friends marched as part of groups like Churches Together – although as Chris Griffin of Reading Local Meeting notes, Quakers were sadly not represented in the ecumenical service in Westminster Abbey. Nonetheless, the reports from Chris and all the others who have shared their experiences of the day with the Friend have been overwhelmingly positive, and the sense of a day in which diverse voices were united in a plea for simple good sense is strong. Thanks to everyone who sent photos. We are sorry we couldn’t use them all.
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