Issue 14-09-2012

Featured story

Thought for the Week: Role models

FREE 13 Sep 2012 | by Ian Kirk-Smith

The Olympics and the Paralympics were more than just a defining chapter in the story of British sport. They raised important social issues, challenged perceptions and prompted reflection. ‘They were a tonic’, someone said to me, as if society had been ill and we were in need of a ‘pick...

Read more

Top stories

How was your commute today?

FREE 13 Sep 2012 | by Keith Reeves

4:33am, 16 October 2011. Palestinian workers queue to pass through the metal detectors at Taybe, after they have passed into the holding area and before they ha | Photo: Photo: Keith Reeves

Sunday and Thursday are the Taybe days. We dread them. They mean rising at 3am, dressing in the dark, stumbling up the road to the taxi office, rousing the driver from his mattress beneath the stairs and taking a silent, twenty minute drive through grey streets to the Taybe/Ephrain...

Read more

The road not taken

13 Sep 2012 | by Edward Hurst

As a Quaker and a Jew, I fear the Religious Society of Friends may be about to forfeit its ability to be effective peacemakers in the Israel/Palestine conflict. No longer will we be perceived as impartial intermediaries, but as political advocates of the Palestinian cause.  Israel and Palestine...

Read more

New deputy recording clerk

FREE 13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Juliet Prager | Photo: Photo: Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has announced the appointment of Juliet Prager as the new deputy recording clerk.

Read more

Young Friends highlight economic injustice

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

A recent conference highlighted the subject of 'transparent and ethical investment' | Photo: Photo: William Warby / flickr CC

Young Friends have urged Quakers in Britain to become more involved in the debate over economic injustice and ethical investment.

Read more

Concern at cabinet reshuffle

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Concern has been expressed at the decision to remove Liberal Democrat Nick Harvey from his post as minister for the armed forces.

Read more

All articles

Scammers target Friends

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Quakers have been targeted by scammers posing as Friends in need of money. The callers are making use of names and numbers available on Britain and Australia Yearly Meeting websites in their approaches.

Read more

Chelmsford Quaker witness

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Chelmsford Quakers recently demonstrated their opposition to racism, and in particular to the activities of the English Defence League (EDL), by joining a protest march through the town as part of ‘United Chelmsford’.

Read more

Quakers celebrate in Preston

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend Newsdesk

Every twenty years the city of Preston bursts into a big celebration for the week of the famous Preston Guild. This year local Quakers were part of the fun.

Read more

Barmy Barmoor bikers

13 Sep 2012 | by Heather Woolley

Initially, the ride – a trip round all our Meeting houses – was called ‘Area Meeting on the move’. By the time we finished we had become the ‘Barmy Barmoor Bikers’.  Weeks of planning and discussion by the ‘Friends of Questionable Sanity’ followed, during which time I fell off my bike...

Read more

The Indian bean tree

13 Sep 2012 | by Elisabeth Alley

The list of trees to be planted in the Olympic Park (17 August) included an Indian bean. This tree is of particular interest to New Earswick Friends and is featured in the book Discovering New Earswick under the heading ‘Summer spectacular’. It is part of a fascinating chapter in Quaker history.

Read more

Staying true

13 Sep 2012 | by Judy Kirby

Lynn Waddington was a Huckleberry child. Her river was the Delaware, idling through South Jersey, shared with brother and sister and swimming muskrats. A child in a natural world, she wrote, ‘can hear the footsteps of beetles far away.’ The family home sat without neighbours for many years until the...

Read more

Elsie

13 Sep 2012 | by Ralph Hill

A nursing home. At ninety-three, your memory almost gone, You wonder where your mother is, and where is brother Don? You do not know what place this is, nor whether you belong. Worst of all, you are aware of something sadly wrong.

Read more

Eye - 14 September 2012

13 Sep 2012 | by Eye

Treasured questions When faced with a gaggle of cub scouts, how would you get them engaged with the Quaker message? Ruth Harrison went along to see how Aylsham Meeting tackled the challenge, and she shared the intriguing results with Eye.

Read more

Letters - 14 September 2012

13 Sep 2012 | by The Friend

The armed forces I have often wondered why anyone would choose to join the armed forces. Colin Powell’s Thought for the Week (17 August) brought home the anguish which he, and many more families and friends, are living with on a day-to-day basis. I too have asked the question: what...

Read more