Issue 10-11-2023
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Heads down: Molly Scott Cato’s Thought for the week
While innocent Palestinians are losing their lives, Hamas is winning this latest round of appalling conflict in Israel-Palestine. Yes, its monstrous attacks on innocent civilians have been condemned by almost every country in the world, but it has surely reinforced its standing among extremists, and bolstered recruitment. What does a...
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‘Summoned, roused, constrained’: Jonathan Wooding on the ‘Quakerish predisposition’ of William Words
In 1925, a long revolutionary poem, composed in the years leading up to 1805, was published in England for the first time. Its composer had died in 1850. A pale version of this poem had been published earlier, and it was greeted by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), a historian and former government secretary...
Art the Arms Fair hosts successful auction
Art the Arms Fair (AAF), the partly-Quaker-founded arts exhibition, has been hailed a success, amassing £15,000 in total sales. The award-winning event, hosted every two years to coincide with Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), culminated with a private view party featuring a performance piece by artist Sharon Rose and attracting...
Unhanded: Lucy Pollard offers some reflections on living and dying
A very dear and longstanding friend emailed me recently to ask me to pray for Z, a young woman with two small sons who was dying of cancer. It isn’t unusual for us to share the names of those we are praying for, or holding in the light (my...
Late blooming: Barrie Mahoney tackles the subject of terminal illness and assisted dying
The ongoing debate about assisted dying in the UK, and in many other countries, is much more relevant to me now that I have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Eye - 10 November 2023
Oaty outreach Eye’s exploration of ‘The porridge peculiarity’ (22 September) prompted one trusty reader to pay extra attention to a certain cereal producer’s advertising. Meg Hill, of Preston Patrick Meeting, writes: ‘Following the piece in Eye about Quaker Oats I was amused to see an advert on television whose...
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BYM joins call for end to violence in Israel and Palestine
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has joined Christian calls for an end to violence in Israel and Palestine.
Exeter Quakers hold vigil for peace
Exeter Quakers held a ‘strictly silent’ vigil last week for peace.
Christmas socks for Wandsworth
An inmate who benefitted two years ago from the Christmas sock appeal for Wandsworth Prison, will this year be helping its relaunch.
Step towards single London AM
The seven Area Meetings (AMs) of London have responded to an Invitation to Commit to forming a single AM for London.
Light work: David Harries reports from CCQW
Around thirty-five Friends attended this Zoom Meeting, with contributions in both Welsh and English (with translation available). Our clerks were Frances Voelcker and Jane Harries. They introduced our new co-coordinator, Carina Mundle-Garratt. I was impressed by the volume and variety of work we got through, smoothly, via written and oral...
Garden lessons
There is more than one way of calling in the seed. A woman may sit in a garden of young blossoms showing their faces to sun for the first time, and wait for words to take root. Soil knows the spell of waiting just as the robin knows the right...
Letters - 10 November 2023
Prayers for peace Like Gordon Matthews (27 October) I have been thinking about the Monday prayers for peace in St Nicholas Church in Leipzig. I was there on Monday 16 October this year, exactly to the day when a great crowd of people carried candles from the church into Augustus Square in 1989....