Issue 27-02-2015
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Labels
Labels are a method of shorthand that we use to embrace a concept. They are very useful and very powerful. However, the power of labels can also be misused and can be very dangerous. Under the Nazis in Germany we saw the word Jew come to be given extreme and...
Top stories
A B B
Alfred Barratt Brown, my father, was born in 1887 to a family with long Quaker roots. ‘ABB’, as he was known, was immersed in the life of Friends from birth. His faith took practical expression and made him active in many causes: the No-Conscription Fellowship, the League of Nations, the Fabian...
Sampson Rideout, Quaker
Una L Silberrad (1872-1955) is almost forgotten today, though she was a prolific novelist from the Edwardian period to the second world war. She was notable among her peers for being unafraid to experiment by mixing genres and styles. She wrote novels about modern women, science and business, but a...
Tax justice
In the Salter Lecture, which Richard Murphy gave at Yearly Meeting Gathering in Bath, we heard about some of the many ways in which companies achieved low rates of tax, dodging paying taxes in some countries, and the enormous scale of the funds involved. Such devices as routing income through...
Being a Quaker
The matter of commitment and membership was before Yearly Meeting Gathering 2014 at Bath, in the context of ‘What it means to be a Quaker today’. I have often wondered why we have many long-term attenders who are not members. The interview with two young Friends, and other shared experiences in...
Equipping for Ministry
Eighteen Friends met at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham on 9 January to reflect as they completed the Equipping for Ministry course. Sharing Woodbrooke for the weekend were a similar number who were just starting their own two year Equipping for Ministry journey.
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Friends make history in Scotland
The first same-sex marriage carried out by a recognised church in Scotland was recently celebrated by Edinburgh Friends. Mark Bitel and Tony Gross were married on Valentine’s Day at Edinburgh Meeting House. They were joined by more than two hundred family, friends and fellow Quakers.
QARN considers the plight of asylum seekers
More than fifty Friends and others gathered from 6 to 8 February for a conference organised by the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) in partnership with the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. The conference was titled ‘Destitution, Detention and Deportation: Gathering Quaker Energy to Speak Truth to Power’. Its purpose, QARN member...
Friends to take part in Burghfield lockdown
Quakers will be among those gathering at AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) Burghfield on 2 March to support a lockdown of the Berkshire facility, which assembles nuclear warheads.
Jewish Community to hold interfaith service in Meeting house
York’s new Jewish Community will open its doors, or rather those of Friargate Meeting House, to local people, on Friday 27 February.
Status change for QCP
The Quaker Congo Partnership (QCP) has succeeded in its application for independent charity status. It was previously part of Cambridgeshire Area Meeting.
Quakers in Bohol and Bologna recognised
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) recently recognised two new groups of Quakers.
Campsfield House
The Friend reported on 21 November 2014 that Oxford Quakers were among more than twenty local organisations opposing the proposed expansion of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre.
Women’s World Day of Prayer
Women around the world will join together in prayer on Friday 6 March.
At the Quaker Meeting
Contained by ivory walls, and an oval of wooden chairs, muted colours of the matt, flat cushions, high benches and this handsome, slatted wooden floor. On the central table, just a thick, glass, rectangular vase of startlingly white chrysanthemums. Again; in this quiet company of souls. We drift in one...
Eye - 27 February 2015
Quaker orchard takes root Apples, apricots, damsons, pears and plums are amongst the first fruits to feature in a new Quaker orchard. The organic orchard has been established by Friends in Surrey as an active witness in support of the Canterbury Commitment. A field belonging to Capel Local Meeting is...
Letters - 27 February 2015
Mary’s Joy postponement Thank you for your article announcing the postpone-ment of the tour of Mary’s Joy, my solo performance about Mary Dyer (20 February). The Leaveners and supportive Friends on both sides of the Atlantic are working diligently to ensure the tour does happen. We learned (the hard...