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Swarthmore College declines to divest

14 May 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, despite a vigorous student protest, has announced that it will not divest from funds involved in the extraction of fossil fuels. The Quaker-founded college’s board of managers said in a statement that following ‘extensive preparation, analysis, and robust discussion and debate’, it had reached consensus...

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Britain Yearly Meeting 2015

07 May 2015 | by Reporting by Tara Craig, Roland Carn, Elinor Smallman and Ian Kirk-Smith | 0 comments

Diana Francis after delivering the Swarthmore Lecture. | Trish Carn.

Swarthmore Lecture 2015 The 2015 Swarthmore Lecture, entitled Faith, power and peace, was given by the peace campaigner Diana Francis on Saturday evening to over 1,000 people in the Large Meeting House. In a very personal and inspiring lecture, she considered the Quaker Peace Testimony in relation to the current global context and...

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Britain Yearly Meeting 2015: Special interest groups

07 May 2015 | by Reporting by Tara Craig, Roland Carn, Elinor Smallman and Ian Kirk-Smith | 0 comments

Interfaith visitors at Yearly Meeting. | Trish Carn and Anne van Staveren.

Interfaith visitors at BYM Bishop Paul Hendricks of the Roman Catholic Church (left) and Aliya Azam (centre), one of the Muslim presidents of the Christian Muslim Forum, spoke about their work together. David Shreeve (right), environmental advisor to Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, spoke on his environmental work. Some flair...

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Mansfield trail celebrates Quaker links

FREE 30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

Lynn Morris; theology students from Nottingham University; Laura Simpson, senior heritage officer, Ralph Holt, Mansfield Meeting; and councillor Joyce Bosnjak. | Andrew Edis.

A new Quaker heritage trail was launched on Saturday 25 April in Mansfield. The trail includes a number of local sites of significance to Quakers. Among them are almshouses, whose first residents included Friends, and the site of George Fox’s home when he was an apprentice shoemaker. Although originally from...

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New charge challenged

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

QARN, the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, is calling on Friends to help it challenge the government over new charges for renewing discretionary leave to remain status for asylum seekers.

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BYM overflow room introduced

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

Sessions at Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) will this year be relayed via an audiovisual link to an overflow room in Friends House. The initiative is one of a number that have been introduced as Yearly Meeting meets for the first time in the newly refurbished Large Meeting House. It is...

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Plight of migrants raised

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, has written to the prime minister to express Quakers’ concern at the plight of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean.

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Young people explore life’s challenges

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

The problems of identity and stereotyping were among those addressed at a Quaker event in Huddersfield on 19 April when forty young people met to share and discuss the issues they face today. The event, ‘Young people, peace and community’, was organised by the Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) as part...

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‘Paying for Society’ hustings draws large audience to Friends House

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

Britain Yearly Meeting’s second hustings attracted more than 200 people. It took place in the Large Meeting House on Tuesday 21 April. All five main parties were represented. They faced questions about homeless provision, the rise in income inequality and whether they would repeal the Health & Social Care Act.

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Gloucestershire Quakers in dialogue with candidates

30 April 2015 | by Tara Craig | 0 comments

A survey sent out by Friends to general election candidates across Gloucestershire elicited some unexpected responses. Candidates from four of the five political parties running for election in the county refused to reject out of hand the possibility of a link between the UK’s investment in armaments and current...

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