Issue 20-08-2021

Featured story

Return of phrase: Philippa Somerset’s Thought for the Week

FREE 19 Aug 2021 | by Philippa Somerset

I first stepped into a Quaker Meeting two years ago, half way through my A-Levels and in desperate need of stillness. I had just lost members of my family, one tragically young, and came to Meeting in search of time to understand my grief, and in hope that I might...

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Top stories

Inside information: Simon Dell prepares for chaplaincy

19 Aug 2021 | by Simon Dell

Launceston Castle gatehouse | Photo: by Nilfanion on Wikimedia Commons

The ‘Going Inside’ Woodbrooke training was a wonderful start to a new phase of my life. Like-minded Friends were embarking on the role of chaplaincy within prisons. Some, like me, were newly nominated and going through an induction process. Some were already engaged within their teams, so experience and understanding...

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Return of phrase: Philippa Somerset’s Thought for the Week

FREE 19 Aug 2021 | by Philippa Somerset

‘Meeting for Worship was a rare place of total separation.’ | Photo: by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash

I first stepped into a Quaker Meeting two years ago, half way through my A-Levels and in desperate need of stillness. I had just lost members of my family, one tragically young, and came to Meeting in search of time to understand my grief, and in hope that I might...

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Thanks for the memory: a chaplain supporter remembers a prisoner

19 Aug 2021 | by Anonymous chaplain supporter

‘Our belief in that of God in everyone was confirmed for me.’ | Photo: by Marc Ignacio on Unsplash

Three years ago I joined a small team of Quaker prison chaplaincy supporters. I began visiting a prison; the Quaker Meetings I join are attended by men who’ve found an expression of faith that they are able to relate to. Their encounter with Quakerism is through the ministry of...

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New director for QUNO

FREE 19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

'I take over at a time of change in the world, new and intersecting global challenges of Covid-19, global warming, deepening economic inequality...' | Photo: Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge

The South African Quaker Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has been appointed the incoming director of Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) Geneva. The former government minister from Western Cape Meeting delivered this year’s Salter Lecture at Yearly Meeting Gathering.

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Double cross: Tony D’Souza explores big mind and shallow mind

19 Aug 2021 | by Tony D’Souza

‘Big mind gets over things quickly. It is able to do this because it has learned the impermanence of all things.’ | Photo: by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash

The novice monk had been in the Zen monastery for three years before he discovered a translation of the New Testament in the library. He read the book from cover to cover with mixed feelings. Sometimes he was amazed, sometimes alarmed. When he had finished, he approached the elderly abbot...

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Faith groups to ‘Make COP26 Count’

FREE 19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Faith groups should prioritise amplifying the stories of frontline communities impacted by climate breakdown. This was one of the conclusions that came out of an interfaith climate event last month. The Make COP26 Count event, organised by an interfaith coalition including Quakers in Britain, brought MPs, peers and faith representatives...

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Campaign against Liverpool arms fair

19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Quakers are among those campaigning against an electronic arms fair that is to take place in Liverpool in October.

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Henley Friends unveil peace tree plaque

19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Twenty Quakers from Henley Meeting gathered last month to unveil a plaque for their peace tree. The plaque bears a quotation from John Greenleaf Whittier, saying: ‘Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger, and in its ashes plant the tree of peace.’

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QSA highlights mental health for men

19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Quaker Social Action (QSA) has highlighted the prevalence of male mental health struggles, as it launches an online wellbeing course for men.

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Friends return for Edinburgh Fringe

19 Aug 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Quakers have been busy for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, despite the fact that the Meeting house is not open as a venue.

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Quaker Concern for Animals campaigns with the Animal Interfaith Alliance, sign open letter

19 Aug 2021 | by Quaker Concern for Animals campaigns with the Animal Interfaith Alliance

We write to ask you to engage in a genuine dialogue concerning some of the practices of your company.

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Fond of the shipping forecast? Try the Gathering hindcast

19 Aug 2021 | by Lighthouse Epilogue Crews/Quaker Life for the ‘Beacon’ epilogue at Yearly Meeting Gathering.

Pendle Hill sun rise, zooming easterly: Kent East, East Scotland, Sussex East. Nominations proceeding rather quickly north: Northamptonshire, North East Thames, Northumbria, North London, North Scotland, North Somerset, North West London. Pastoral care, light to moderate in Cumberland; Teesdale & Cleveland; Wensleydale & Swaledale.

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An open book: Antony Barlow on his father’s reading in the FAU

19 Aug 2021 | by Antony Barlow

During lockdown, many of us read more than usual. I thought I’d take a look at the books my father took with him to the Middle East during his time in the Friends Ambulance Unit. He referred to them in his letters: ‘On the whole I was very satisfied...

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Poem: ...passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7)

19 Aug 2021 | by Stephen Yeo

Not a bit of this and that, but tarmac and vapour-trails. Every where? Everything else. This grass, that star among and between   in here, over there without membrane or integument.

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Letters - 20 August 2021

19 Aug 2021 | by The Friend

Still Green During a presentation at Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) on the Friendship Cohousing Community, Jackie Carpenter urged Quakers to consider the cohousing model as an approach to sustainable living. Later that same day, Milton Keynes council’s planning committee approved an application for the major redevelopment of the centre...

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