Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017: The main sessions
Harry Albright continues his report on the main sessions of Yearly Meeting
During the Yearly Meeting at the University of Warwick between 29 July and 5 August Friends dealt with an enormous number of items of routine business, including various nominations, and the business sessions were ably dealt with by the clerking team of Deborah Rowlands, clerk, and assistant clerks Clare Scott Booth and Siobhan Haire.
Some significant appointments were made. Ingrid Greenhow of Chilterns Area Meeting was reappointed as clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees for 2018, with Caroline Nursey of London West Area Meeting appointed as her deputy. Peter Ullathorne of Central England Area Meeting was reappointed treasurer. Friends accepted revised terms of reference for the Yearly Meeting Nominating Group, expecting them to be reviewed in three years.
The BYM Committee on Clerks has asked for a review of their manner of working and for a revision of their terms of reference. Friends agreed to ask Meeting for Sufferings to take this forward, ensuring that the review includes how to nurture potential clerks and treasurer and the relationship between Central Nominations Committee and the Committee on Clerks, bringing new terms of reference to Yearly Meeting 2019. In the meantime, the Meeting minuted acceptance of minor revisions to the existing terms of reference.
On Tuesday the Meeting minuted receipt of the BYM trustees’ annual report and the financial statements for 2016 and it was recorded: ‘We rejoice in the work and thank our trustees and all our staff for their continuing faithfulness in their work on our behalf.’
There was no business on Wednesday so that Friends could go on various excursions or simply find rest and relaxation on campus.
On Thursday the Meeting received the reports from the Central Nominations Committee, the Quaker Housing Trust and Friends Trusts Limited. The membership of Meeting for Sufferings was minuted, as was a call for nominations for the 2018 to 2021 triennium. During the week the theme of Yearly Meeting was presented through ‘Heart’, ‘Head’, ‘Hands’ and ‘Feet’. The final introduced session, on the theme ‘Feet’, completed the morning’s business.
Thursday evening was an opportunity for open worship on the theme as a whole. On Friday morning Friends concluded their consideration of the theme and agreed a lengthy minute recording the exercise and the conclusions reached. The session ended with all-age worship.
In a busy session of Friday afternoon, the Meeting agreed its epistle, as well as hearing those from the Children and Young People’s Programme and that of Junior Yearly Meeting. Minutes recording the epistles and testimonies that had been received were accepted, as were minutes recording the visitors from other faiths and churches, as well as visitors from other Yearly Meetings, who had attended some of the sessions. The Tabular Statement was received, and reports and accounts that had been received earlier were formally accepted.
The last item of substantive business was to name the clerks for Yearly Meeting 2018. They will be formally appointed at the start of the Meeting in May, but naming them now allows them to do the preparatory work needed. They are Deborah Rowlands, clerk, Clare Scott Booth, first assistant clerk, and Gavin Burnell, second assistant clerk.
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