Issue 28-01-2016
Featured story
Thought for the Week: A matter of conscience
Tomorrow is the centenary of The Military Service Act, which brought conscription into the first world war. Many people listening will have had relatives who fought in one of the world wars. Some, like my grandfather, were exempted for medical reasons, or because they worked in a reserved occupation. A...
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Working for peace in Afghanistan
‘Do you want to come to Afghanistan with me and do some peace education?’ This was the question asked by Maya Evans from Voices for Creative Nonviolence UK, which, eventually, led me in late 2015 to the Border Free Centre in Kabul with nearly fifty children from the streets. I had...
From the archive: Freedom of conscience
In January 1916 the Military Service Act was passed and introduced conscription enlisting unmarried men aged between eighteen and forty-one in the regular forces for the duration of the war. The Friend published details of both the Bill (28 January) and the Act (18 February). Some men, such as clergy and discharged soldiers...
Healing when all seems hopeless
Both George Fox and Jesus taught us that we can all be healers, and were our models for contact healing. Many Quakers believe that ‘holding in the Light’ is a method of absent/distant healing they should use, and do so regularly.
Quakers in Yorkshire
Quakers in Yorkshire met in Leeds on Saturday 16 January with an attendance of nearly one hundred and a full agenda. In the morning we had reports from junior holidays, the holiday school for older children that was held at Bootham School in August with seventy participating youngsters, and Easter Settlement,...
Friends gather in the Andes
Four hundred Friends from around the world made a long and, for some, arduous journey to Peru‘s Sacred Valley last week. Quakers from thirty-nine countries met in Pisac for the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Plenary, which ran from 19 to 27 January. They were warmly greeted by local...
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Military Service Act
The role played by Friends in influencing the Military Service Act of 1916 was featured in the BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme on 24 January.
Workshop targets armed drones
The Quaker Council of European Affairs (QCEA) continues to highlight a concern among Friends over the increasing use of remote-controlled flying robots (Drones) that carry weapons in conflict situations.
Sunday Worship from Long Lartin
The Prisons’ Week service recorded in the chapel of HMP Long Larton Prison in Worcestershire that was postponed due to the Paris bombing in November will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 31 January.
Sibford appoints new head
Toby Spence has been appointed as the new head of Sibford School near Banbury. He succeeds Michael Goodwin, who retires after being head of the Quaker school since 2004. Toby is only the twelfth head in Sibford’s 174-year history.
Friend convicted for Heathrow protest
Sam Sender, a member of Ealing Meeting, and twelve members of the Plane Stupid action group were tried at Willesden Magistrates’ Court and convicted in Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on 25 January of aggra-vated trespass for staging a protest against the proposed expansion at Heathrow and its environmental impact.
Lest we forget
My family fled from East Germany when I was nine as world war two ended. There have been few days afterwards in my adult life in England when I did not feel in some way the shame and guilt of what my country did during the Nazi period to so...
A blessing in disguise
The first Quakers were encouraged to ‘look within’ and see themselves as they really were. George Fox exhorted them: ‘Your strength is to stand still, after ye see yourselves.’ The results were stunning. They underwent huge hardship with courage. Big things went wrong, like imprisonment, confiscation of property, persecution and...
Reading the Bible
The Book of the People – How to Read the Bible is a new book by A N Wilson, a prolific writer of histories and novels. As the title implies, his concern here is more about the readers than the writers of the diversity of books that comprise it.
Letters - 29 January 2016
Are Area Meetings necessary? Are Area Meetings (AM) necessary? I think there is one aspect that we cannot dispense with. Who and what are the Quakers in Britain? The only answer is ‘the present membership’, and in the absence of any credal statement I see no other definition. Hence every...