Issue 08-04-2022
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Gill Pennington cries Beloved
I have stopped watching the TV news. The devastation, the lack of humanity, the almost apocalyptic harshness of the reports from Ukraine, were affecting my mental health. I started making a list of what I would take if I had to flee: what is my most treasured possession? What survival...
Top stories
See change: Christine Habgood-Coote thinks we should embrace digital options in our Meetings
After two years of the threats, privations and uncertainties of Covid-19, many of us are keen to ‘return to normal’. We want to be able to move around public spaces without covering our faces. We want to use facial expressions and see the expressions of others – we miss giving and...
Manchester urged to ditch fossil-fuel pensions
Local Quakers in the north of England are supporting a campaign to persuade the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) to ditch investments in fossil fuel companies.
Family matters: Ashleigh Luther on Quaker parenting
The amount of guidance on raising children is overwhelming, and often contradictory. Some parenting trends may be fleeting, but others come to define a generation, and often challenge the practices of those which have gone before. How we approach it all will often depend on our own childhood experiences, and...
Once upon an early spring morning
It was Blackbird who saw it first, Woke to the gold that told of a change in the air. No-one said to unwrap the song That for long dark days had lain unsung. No dress-rehearsal needed, Note-perfect from the first performance.
Re:treat: Lynden Easterbrook returns to Woodbrooke
The first thing I noticed was the ‘Welcome Friend’ doormat. I was just one of thousands of people who have been welcomed to Woodbrooke since George Cadbury opened it as a Quaker study centre in 1903. The doors had been closed at the start of the pandemic; two years later I...
All articles
Estonia Friends raise funds for more AVP
The Tallinn Friends Group have said they want to expand the Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) seminars that they already run in Estonia to local Russians.
Friends discuss equality and inclusion within Quakerism
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) staff member Edwina Peart spoke more about diversity, inclusion and equality in the Society of Friends at a Woodbrooke event last month.
Edinburgh Meeting hosts new play on Hiroshima
Edinburgh Meeting House will host a new play by the Quaker playwright Michael Mears when it transforms into ‘Venue 40’ for the city’s famous festival this summer.
Quakers sponsor video on ethical workplace behaviour
The Quakers and Business (Q&B) group is sponsoring a team of three young people to make a video on workplace behaviour. Q&B will use the video ‘Hostile Work Environment’ to stimulate discussion about ethical behaviour in the workplace.
The people’s princesses: A tale from Gillie Bolton
Once upon a time there were three princesses. Their father was mean, but they grew up to be a great support to each other.
All is One Love by Stephen Sayers
All is One Love: Reflections upon the transpersonal psychology of time and eternity The title All is One Love certainly attracted me, but what in heaven’s name is ‘transpersonal psychology’? Stephen Sayers, with his decades of experience, defines it as ‘setting out to develop the rich synergistic opportunities promised...
Prisons of the World, by Andrew Coyle
This is a remarkable tour de force by Andrew Coyle, an enlightened, experienced governor of prisons, and professor of prison studies.
Letters - 8 April 2022
Value and contribution While I agree with some of Bryn Jones’ letter of 18 March, I have two points to make in response to it. Bryn refers to older people as ‘dead people walking’ (which may be meant humorously). I would like to say that, however disabled physically or mentally, old,...