Issue 14-10-2016

Featured story

Thought for the Week: The present

FREE 13 Oct 2016 | by Trish Carn

All presents don’t arrive wrapped in pretty paper tied up with ribbon. Some come stealthily in the night. This is the way my most frequently received presents arrive. I awake and find the gift of a new day, sometimes wrapped in the pink and orangey hues of dawn. At...

Read more

Top stories

A new direction

13 Oct 2016 | by Oliver Robertson

QCEA General Assembly. | Photo: Andrew Lane/QCEA.

‘So, now we’re out of Europe there’s no point to QCEA any more, is there?’ It might seem a fair question. The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) was set up in 1979 following UK (and Irish and Danish) entry to what was then the European Economic Community and...

Read more

Simplicity: Location and lifestyle

13 Oct 2016 | by Anne de Gruchy

What is a ‘simple life’ and how and where can we lead one? An unexpectedly rich seam from the interviews I conducted for my research came from asking how people’s cultural background and upbringing affected their approach to simplicity. In the BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives, Ann Limb suggested...

Read more

Animals feted in Friends House

FREE 13 Oct 2016 | by Tara Craig

The display in Friends House. | Photo: Ann Johnson.

Friends House was the setting for an anniversary celebration on World Animal Day, 4 October.

Read more

Inverness children honour Edith Cavell

13 Oct 2016 | by The Friend Newsdesk

The wreath being laid. | Photo: Sila Collins-Walden.

Children from Inverness Meeting laid a wreath of red and white poppies at the Edith Cavell Memorial in Inverness on Sunday 2 October.

Read more

New appointment at QCEA

13 Oct 2016 | by Tara Craig

Olivia Caeymaex. | Photo: Courtesy of QCEA.

The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has appointed a new ‘peace programme lead’.

Read more

All articles

Eco Church award won by Friends

FREE 13 Oct 2016 | by Tara Craig

Bradford on Avon Meeting has had its environmental efforts acknowledged by the new Eco Church scheme.

Read more

Israeli CO speaks of hope and dialogue

13 Oct 2016 | by Tara Craig

Huddersfield Friends recently organised two events featuring Sahar Vardi, an Israeli conscientious objector (CO) and peace activist.

Read more

A Friendly look at the news

13 Oct 2016 | by Tara Craig

Gerald Conyngham of Exeter Meeting was a guest on BBC Radio Devon’s Maggy Whitehouse show on Sunday 2 October during Quaker Week.

Read more

Friend launches petition

13 Oct 2016 | by The Friend Newsdesk

A Friend has launched an online petition to remove the ban on people in prison being allowed to vote in national and local elections.

Read more

Break up the banks?

13 Oct 2016 | by Eleri Pengelly

The need for a radical revolution in banking was the subject of a stimulating event organised by London Quakers on 1 October, ‘Break up the banks?’, which attracted more than 100 people to Friends House.

Read more

Facing up

13 Oct 2016 | by Linda Murray Hale

A weekend talking about death and dying may not sound a very appealing prospect and my husband, Steve, took some persuading to join me at the recent Bamford Quaker Community’s ‘When my time is up…’ workshop!

Read more

Membership

13 Oct 2016 | by Richard Hankins

I am one of those awkward people who have attended for many years (twelve so far) with no intention of applying for membership to the Religious Society of Friends. In a recent article (9 September) Craig Barnett wrote: ‘Membership provides an opportunity for newcomers to make a deliberate act of commitment...

Read more

Earthly limits

13 Oct 2016 | by David O’Donoghue

Dear Lord, thank You For the light of day For three birds flying across the sky For grey and white clouds

Read more

Eye - 14 October 2016

13 Oct 2016 | by Eye

Putting wheels in motion A Quaker prison chaplain donned his shorts and set his wheels in motion to help raise over £10,000 for The House of Genesis. The project provides accommodation and practical support to homeless men, especially homeless ex-offenders, in Norwich. On 25 August Mark Bredin, who is a member of...

Read more

Letters - 14 October 2016

13 Oct 2016 | by The Friend

The dead weight I would like to know how people like the anonymous author of ‘The dead weight’ (7 October) could find a way to wriggle out from under ‘the dead weight of bureaucracy around our necks’. How can the Friends at Sufferings (7 October), who felt that membership of Sufferings was â€...

Read more