Young Friends General Meeting ’best-attended in years’
Over eighty Young Friends gathered in Bristol
Young Friends General Meeting (YFGM) was held at Redlands Meeting house in Bristol from 20 to 22 October with over eighty Friends in attendance. It was the best-attended YFGM in recent years.
‘It was good to see each other after a summer break,’ the clerk, Jenny McCarthy, wrote in a summative minute. ‘We reflected on what we could do ourselves and locally to support wider changes to create a fairer world which reflects our Quaker values.’
Young Friends welcomed Roger Ball from the Countering Colston campaign ‘to reflect on challenging the stories we tell about our community heroes which overlook problematic areas of their life and work’. They went on to ‘think about ways to make our Quaker communities more inclusive and open at home’.
‘Special interest groups covered how we are affected by and can challenge white supremacy; how to take forward our mental wellbeing concern; and how to envision a better charity sector.’
Friends reflected on Diwali, the festival of light, engaged in spiritual dialogue and experimented with body drumming.
‘We built our community through sharing space, eating together and a lively quiz,’ Jenny McCarthy wrote.
The next YFGM will be held in Brighton in February 2018.
