Issue 13-10-2017

Featured story

Thought for the Week: The eye of the beholder

FREE 12 Oct 2017 | by G Gordon Steel

A Friend was moved and delighted, while on holiday in Scotland, to see a red squirrel and she told us about it in Meeting. I was glad to hear of her joy. She is a Friend who often finds inspiration in the world around her. As you might imagine, she...

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Top stories

The Handmaid’s Tale

12 Oct 2017 | by Joan Taylor

Joan Taylor reflects on the television series of Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed novel. | Photo: Cindee Snider Re / flickr CC.

The series The Handmaid’s Tale, broadcast on Channel 4, has been one of the television drama successes of 2017. Now it has been shown, we can reflect on the series as a whole. It is ‘based on’ Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, and is not a simple adaptation....

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Interview: Philip Gross

12 Oct 2017 | by Jonathan Doering

Philip Gross. | Photo: Courtesy of Bloodaxe Books.

My wife and I decide to make my visit to Penarth to interview Philip Gross part of our holiday. We drive over the day before my appointment and that evening we visit the beach and watch our son Noah. It seems an apt image of playful innocence engaging with and...

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Talking and doing

12 Oct 2017 | by Jane Mitchell

A view of Dundee. | Photo: nominalgrevious / flickr CC.

What a pleasant city centre Dundee is to walk through! It is quite an eye-opener with its grand nineteenth-century buildings and recently improved streets. The nineteenth-century Quaker Meeting House is, however, not sufficiently accessible, so Dundee Friends had booked a modern church hall for us to hold the General Meeting...

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Friends mark Quaker Week

FREE 12 Oct 2017 | by George Osgerby

The artwork created by students at Sibford Junior School. | Photo: Sibford Junior School.

Friends all over Britain came together during Quaker Week 2017 (30 September-8 October) under the theme of ‘In turbulent times, be a Quaker’. A variety of events were put on and included vigils, displays and Meetings for Worship.

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Meeting for Sufferings: Friends gather in Manchester

FREE 12 Oct 2017 | by Ian Kirk-Smith

A very full agenda, which covered subjects as diverse as ‘speaking out’ in Britain to peace work in East Africa, was dealt with at Meeting for Sufferings held at Friends Meeting House in Mount Street, Manchester on Saturday 7 October.

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All articles

Meeting for Sufferings: Britain Yearly Meeting trustees report

12 Oct 2017 | by Elinor Smallman

Ingrid Greenhow, clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees, reported to Meeting for Sufferings about the June trustee meeting that was held in Liverpool. She described a ‘strong sense of working together’ and emphasised the importance of meeting in person, quoting the need to ‘see one another’s faces’ and...

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Meeting for Sufferings: Quakers in Britain

12 Oct 2017 | by Elinor Smallman

A paper addressing concerns raised by Cambridgeshire Area Meeting about use of the phrase ‘Quakers in Britain’ was prepared by the Recording Clerk’s Office for Meeting for Sufferings.

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Meeting for Sufferings: Social Justice Subcommittee

12 Oct 2017 | by Elinor Smallman

At the meeting of Britain Yearly Meeting trustees in June it was noted that a new Social Justice Subcommittee had been established within the structure of Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW).

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Meeting for Sufferings: Ackworth School

12 Oct 2017 | by Ian Kirk-Smith

Friends were informed of proposals for a revision of the relationship between Ackworth School in Yorkshire and Meeting for Sufferings.

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Nobel recognition for ICAN

12 Oct 2017 | by George Osgerby

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

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Fracking ban

12 Oct 2017 | by George Osgerby

Quakers have welcomed the decision by the Scottish government to ban fracking. Friends in 2013 decided nationally to stop investing in companies that extracted fossil fuels.

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We are but witnesses

12 Oct 2017 | by Thelma Holt

Michael Booth, church government adviser for Britain Yearly Meeting, joined Yealand Friends in Lancashire in their celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 on Tuesday 26 September 2017. The event was organised in grateful acknowledgement of the contribution homosexual Friends, both as individuals and couples, make to our Meetings.

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Letters - 13 October 2017

12 Oct 2017 | by The Friend

Quaker Week As part of Quaker Week, we invited members of St John’s Hill United Reformed Church afternoon fellowship in Sevenoaks to visit our Meeting house to learn about Quaker life and worship. Twelve people accepted and heard from Friends present about their journey to Quakers Following a question...

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