Fair play: Tim Newell on an Aylesbury Meeting performance

16 May 2024 | by Tim Newell

It was a script-in-hand play reading and there was a cast of actors, three professional and the others amateur. |

At Aylesbury Meeting last year, during Heritage Open Day weekend, we welcomed a hundred people every day. One of these visitors was particularly moved by being in our beautiful, listed Meeting house. He arranged to meet me to talk through a possibility that fascinated him. We went for tea in...

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AFSC hosts relief football in Gaza

FREE 16 May 2024 | by Rebecca Hardy

Winner accepts the Gaza football trophy |

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) set up a youth football tournament in Gaza last month.

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Twelve good men? Hilary Johnson takes another look at Judas Iscariot

16 May 2024 | by Hilary Johnson | 1 comment

‘Judas, in suicide, was embraced by God.’ |

Recent editions of the Friend have considered the question of whether Quakers are institutionally antisemitic. This has led me to ask whether Christianity itself is fundamentally antisemitic. That is our heritage, after all, and many Friends maintain Christian leanings. But the Christian tradition may bring with it some unexamined perceptions...

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How does your garden grow? Barbara Toyne considers the lay of the land

16 May 2024 | by Barbara Toyne

‘I can think of no human activity more closely related to the work of our Creator.’ | by Eco Warrior Princess on Unsplash

I might be here under false pretences. I’m not a horticulturalist, nor even a trained gardener. If you have tricky questions about groundskeeping, I’m not your answer. I would prefer to think about this article as a means of opening up a conversation. By pooling our knowledge we...

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Friends raise funds for Ukraine

FREE 16 May 2024 | by Rebecca Hardy

A Quaker funding group set up after Ukraine was invaded has donated more than €24,000 in just over two years. The Central European Yearly Meeting Funding for Ukraine Group (FUG) has given to twenty non-governmental groups in eight countries in the central European region, with amounts ranging from €200 to €1,500.

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‘Honour your heritage’, BYM tells Barclays

16 May 2024 | by Rebecca Hardy | 1 comment

Quakers have urged Barclays Bank to stop investing in companies supplying arms to Israel.

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Quaker Arts Network heads to Greenbelt

16 May 2024 | by Rebecca Hardy

The Quaker Arts Network (QAN) will be making an appearance at the Greenbelt festival over the August bank holiday this year, for the first time.

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Quakers mark Conscientious Objectors Day

16 May 2024 | by Rebecca Hardy

Quakers heard from an Israel peace activist this week at International Conscientious Objectors (COs) Day.

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Mass hysteria: Chris Goodchild’s Thought for the Week

16 May 2024 | by Chris Goodchild

‘I gave back more than the host that day.’ | by Thays Orrico on Unsplash

‘Excuse me, sir,’ said the minister, ‘I believe you have something in your pocket’.

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Camera shy? Clive Ashwin worries about the rise of online Meetings

16 May 2024 | by Clive Ashwin | 1 comment

‘Will the local Meeting house join the bank and the post office as an expensive and unnecessary anachronism?’ | by Hunter Moranville on Unsplash

We are, I believe, witnessing the most fundamental transformation of Quaker worship in Britain since its origins more than 300 years ago. This process began with the introduction into worship of video conferencing systems, notably Zoom, during the recent pandemic.

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