Issue 31-01-2020
Featured story
‘Deep down we all know in our hearts what thrills us, what feels right.’
Some years ago, I heard the true account of a solicitor who ran a busy and remunerative practice. One day he gave it all up and became a taxi driver. His friends were amazed but he told them he had become ‘fed up with ripping people off’ and wanted to...
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‘Such gilded moments are sacred lapses of time.’
It was as if a hand had suddenly reached into our lives. Four of us, on a frosty winter’s afternoon returning from an outing, boisterous and in high spirits; just a few kilometres to go and we would be home. We turned off the main road, down a dark,...
‘As Quakers, you may wonder why we are involved in a place with strong links to the military.’
In May 2015 Peter and I watched as a 102-foot steel spire appeared in a field at the end of our road near Lincoln. It was being erected as a memorial to the 58,000 named men and women who died during world war two while serving or supporting Royal Air Force Bomber...
‘We decided to extend and improve the Meeting house to give our guests a better experience.’
So much happens at Bristol Central Meeting House that a day seems to have twenty-five hours. For almost four years our large room has been used every night by people on a programme to bring them out of homelessness. (Here in Bristol there is ten times as much rough sleeping...
‘As a Quaker new to Eydon Vale, I found there is much that Friends can bring to the situation.’
Friends, especially those who work in special provision or in challenging state schools, might be interested in a new interactive, fictional internet blog about Ofsted, bullying and transformational leadership. ‘Turbulent School’ is set in an ‘intractable’ school called Eydon Vale. ‘Intractable’ means that a school has not received a Good’...
‘A discerned decision doesn’t necessarily come immediately.’
Recently our Meeting held an away weekend, the theme of which was ‘A guided life’. I was asked to share my thoughts on discernment and personal decision-making. Outside of Quaker Business Meetings I hadn’t really thought a lot about the discernment process. But when I stopped and considered it...
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The holy city
Therefore I have sailed the seas and come to the holy city of Byzantium. WB Yeats.
Brexit statement: ‘Be truthful but tender’
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM) have reaffirmed their shared friendship and unity, as the United Kingdom takes the historic move to leaves the European Union (EU). In a joint statement that recognises Brexit as ‘a step’ in relations, and not ‘an endpoint’, the Meetings write: ‘Regardless...
Quakers line up against Prevent list
Several Quakers have spoken out about the police counter-terrorism briefing that lists a host of nonviolent social justice groups, including: Extinction Rebellion, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Campaign Against Arms Trade and Greenpeace. The guide has been distributed to medical staff and teachers as part of anti-extremism training for Prevent, the...
Australian Friends give thanks for support
Australian Friends have issued a letter thanking Quaker support in the wake of the devastating bush fires that have left thousands of people displaced. The letter, which can be read in full on the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s website, tells Quakers that ‘your care for us is a...
London meeting to ‘protect our planet’
Seven Friends from Blackheath Meeting shared their experiences with Quakers this month of running an event about sustainability commitments. Forty Friends from Meetings across Greater London met at Friends House on 11 January to hear about the Meeting’s September gathering ‘Protecting our Planet – yes we can’.
Bath Friends share ‘postal worship’
Bath Quakers shared a new scheme this New Year aimed at connecting Friends who find it difficult to attend Meetings. The ‘postal worship sharing’ system works by circles of five people mailing pictures and words to each other designed to encourage spiritual reflection.
Quakers protest UK arms trade dinner
Friends were among those who turned up to protest the lavish black-tie dinner hosted by the Aerospace, Defence and Security (ADS) Group for the UK arms trade last week.
Letters - 31 January 2020
Thanks and farewell May I take the opportunity of this letters page of the ‘sister’ publication to the Friends Quarterly (FQ) to thank all those who have made such kind comments on my retirement as the editor of FQ. I have been overwhelmed by so many expressions of thanks, not...