Latest News
Mansfield Friends open 1647 Garden of Reflection
Friends in Mansfield have developed their beautiful walled garden into a place of contemplation for Quakers and visitors. George Fox experienced his first ‘opening’ in Mansfield in 1647 and the garden has been named, in celebration of that event, the ‘1647 Garden of Reflection’.
Change at Newtown
Newtown School in Waterford, one of Ireland’s oldest Quaker schools, has become the latest minority faith school in the country to enter the Free Education scheme. The school says the decision was made because of a combination of financial pressure and a desire to become ‘more accessible’, in...
Russian Friends statement on Ukraine
Friends in Russia have called for restraint by all parties in Ukraine and abstention from violence in any form in order to avoid bloodshed. In a Monthly Meeting minute, adopted on 26 April, Friends stated that they ‘strongly oppose all possible seeds of war in ourselves and others’ and declared...
Margaret Fell’s 400th birthday
The Quaker Tapestry held a 400th birthday party for Margaret Fell on 30 April and also celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Tapestry in Kendal. The event, which was held in the Meeting house in Kendal, commemorated the life and witness of one of the leaders of early Quakerism. It...
Lichfield twentieth anniversary celebration
This year the twentieth anniversary of Litchfield Local Meeting coincides with International Conscientious Objectors Day. Local Friends are recognising both events with activities next week. Anthony Wilson, of Lichfield Meeting and the Quaker Service Memorial Trust, said that Friends were marking International Conscientious Objectors Day by gathering at the...
The Friend launches 1914-18 Digital Archive appeal
This issue of the Friend contains an appeal letter for our exciting new project to make all copies of the Friend from world war one available online. They are a treasure trove of British social history and offer a fascinating insight into the life and witness of Friends at...
Stories of COs to be celebrated
Quakers around the country are to launch a four-year project to tell the suppressed stories of world war one conscientious objectors on May 15, International Conscientious Objectors’ Day. The launch, at Friends House in London, will be hosted by writer and broadcaster Geoffrey Durham and Ruth Cadbury, prospective parliamentary candidate...
Bruce Kent campaigns against Trident at Darlington FMH
Bruce Kent, the veteran campaigner for peace and social justice issues, spoke at Darlington Friends Meeting House (FMH) on 23 April. It was part of his national speaking tour seeking to galvanise people to oppose spending £100 billion on renewing the Trident nuclear submarine programme.
Ireland YM public lecture
The idea of acting on principle rather than consequence was explored by Ian Kirk-Smith in this year’s public lecture at Ireland Yearly Meeting held at The King’s Hospital School in Dublin from 24 to 27 April. Ian, who is editor of the Friend, talked about his life as a...
Petition asks for end to Eurosatory
An online petition has been launch by a collective of concerned groups asking for the closure of the Eurosatory arms fair. The collective ‘No Eurosatory 2014’ includes Movement Quakers France, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Network Franciscan Gubbio, Pax Christi and other pacifist groups. Eurosatory, scheduled to run from 16...