‘Wish you were here’
I was disturbed by your advert of 8 November entitled ‘Wish you were here’.
It is difficult to square such encouragement of holiday home ownership with Quaker principles of simplicity and equality.
The effects of second homes include: unaffordability of property for local people to buy or rent; fragmentation of families; fragmentation of communities; breakdown of public services (for example, shops, transport, surgeries, and schools), which cannot continue while so many properties remain empty out of season.
We can all enjoy particularly beautiful areas while staying in the B&Bs mentioned in the advert, or in hotels.
Carol Williams
Elders and overseers
A few years ago I left the Society of Friends. A major reason for my doing so was my misgivings over the title and mode of appointment of elders and overseers.
The terms elder and overseer seem antiquated and hierarchical. They might suitably be replaced by ‘pastoral Friend’ and ‘facilitating Friend’.
Members of the Society may then put their names forward to take up one or other of these roles, with a brief account of their availability and aptitudes.
Those attending a Business Meeting of the Local Meeting might then be asked whether they wish to approve the appointment, and pass the name to the Area Meeting for endorsement.
If more than half of those attending the Business Meeting of the Local Meeting do so, the name could then be passed to a Business Meeting of the Area Meeting for endorsement by the same process.
The number of pastoral Friends and facilitating Friends need not be limited.
The names and photographs of pastoral Friends and facilitating Friends might then be displayed at the Local Meeting, and members and attenders may then choose their preferred pastoral Friends.
This change of process may make the Society of Friends more participative, and more attractive to potential new members and it may help to retain existing members.
Members of the Society and those who have left the Society may suitably be canvassed on this issue.
Name and address supplied
