Latest News
Yearly Meeting Gathering postponed
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has postponed the 2020 Yearly Meeting Gathering, saying that the COVID-19 pandemic ‘very sadly makes it impossible to bring 2,000 people together for this event’.
‘Spend on community, not military’
A Quaker public health researcher has led calls for the prime minister to reallocate defence budgets towards the NHS, social care and community support for people affected by coronavirus and isolation. Quaker Ceri Dare said, on behalf of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), that the money diverted from military budgets...
Campaign to release detainees
London Quakers and the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) have been urging Friends to petition the government about the plight of detainees during the COVID-19 crisis.
CND: ‘Save Labour peace minister’
Quakers are supporting Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s call for members to lobby the Labour Party to retain the position of peace minister.
Quaker remembered for Women’s Day
Last month, more than thirty people gathered to hear a talk about a US Quaker lecturer and writer who documented her struggle as a black woman in seventeenth-century Philadelphia.
QSA advice on funerals
Quaker Social Action (QSA) has put together an online guide to help people planning funerals at this time. The advice on ‘organising a meaningful funeral’ on its website includes ideas to help mark cremations or burials when people are unable to attend.
Friends urge action on Windrush review
Friends are being asked to write to MPs about the recommendations made in the damning Windrush report, which has concluded that Home Office ‘thoughtlessness’ and ‘ignorance’ on race contributed to the scandal.
XR Quaker sets up COVID-19 group
Huddersfield Quaker and Extinction Rebellion (XR) co-founder Ian Bray has started a community network to help local people through the coronavirus crisis. Five hundred members joined up to the Meltham Community COVID-19 Mutual Aid Facebook group formed in early March. Several other local Quakers were involved in the initiative.
Jubilee Debt Campaign calls for interest relief
Friends are backing a call by African finance ministers for all debt interest payments to be suspended for their governments in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
QSA helps with surge of foodbank demand
Quaker Social Action (QSA) has been helping foodbanks cope with the surge of demand caused by the pandemic. Giles Robinson, from QSA, told the Friend: ‘After temporarily closing our furniture re-use store Homestore, our delivery driver Steve has been supporting foodbanks to collect donations and make deliveries to vulnerable households...