Issue 12-07-2024
Featured story
In their own manner: Gerard Guiton’s Thought for the Week
After my first Quaker Meeting I got talking to Albert. Nearly three hours later I set off home, amazed and grateful for his spending so much time with me. He recalled his life in Nottinghamshire, his emigration adventures, and told me what Quakerism meant to him. Albert was saintly, humble,...
Top stories
BYM welcomes all Quaker MPs
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) welcomed six Quaker MPs to parliament, after a dramatic general election in which Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a landslide victory.
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part one
This year’s Yearly Meeting proper begins on 26 July, but Friends have already begun to gather online for a series of preparation sessions, scheduled over 5-10 July. Special interest groups and Quaker Recognised Bodies have also been running online events. Staff from the Friend will be getting to as many...
Crynwyr Cymru/Quakers in Wales: Huw Meredydd Owen reports from the recent Meeting in Aberystwyth
The phrase ‘adding coals to the embers’ arose in our ministry, from Deborah Rowlands, who remembered a period twenty-five years ago when a sense of constructive renewal was needed. It seemed to fit well with the range of matters being raised at this Meeting.
All articles
Armed Forces Day events hostings decline
Interest in hosting Armed Forces Day events has declined in recent months, according to ForcesWatch and the Peace Pledge Union (PPU). This was highlighted through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the two groups, which has revealed that no local authorities came forward to hold the national event this...
Quaker artists go to Greenbelt
The Quaker Arts Network (QAN) will have a presence at the Greenbelt Festival this summer, with a gazebo of its own. Meetings for Worship (MfW) have been a regular occurrence at the festival for some time.
Pity of War sculpture unveiled
The Quaker-initiated Pity of War memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum last month.
FWCC welcomes Julia Walloch
The Friends World Committee for Consultation Europe and Middle East Section (FWCC EMES) has welcomed a new staff member to focus on communications.
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part two
At a session on Alternative forms of Quaker community, Jude Acton and Rachel Matthews, of Quaker Life, talked about what central support was available for Friends whose Quaker communities didn’t map exactly onto the Local Meeting/Area Meeting structure. For the seventeen Friends gathered this referred mostly to their...
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part three
A dozen Friends gathered on Saturday morning for Footsteps on the crag: Pardshaw Quaker Centre. David Day and Dave Moll, trustees of the Grade II-listed Meeting house, told Friends about the historic premises and its close associations with George Fox, who had begun preaching nearby, but outdoors (‘We have been...
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part four
On Saturday evening the Quaker Arts Network asked How do the arts envision our witness? Amanda Jones, from the network, began by discussing some of its output over many years, most recently with the Loving Earth stitchwork project, which was now touring the world. Other examples – video this time – included...
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part five
In Getting it right; How should Christians talk about antisemitism? twenty-seven Friends were joined by Nathan Eddy from the Council for Christians and Jews (CCJ), and Anna Krauss, the general secretary of the Council of Lutheran Churches, to explore antisemitism from a church perspective.
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part six
What might a Quaker testimony to kindness look like? This was the question considered during Exploring a Quaker testimony to kindness, which was led by Alistair Fuller and Ruth Audus, of Quaker Life.
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part seven
A moving session by Quaker Voices on Mental Health (QVoMH) was held on Sunday. John Miles, clerk, introduced the session to thirty-three Friends. He gave a brief history of Quaker involvement in mental health, especially the Tuke family and the establishment of The Retreat, which was revolutionary in its approach.
Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part eight
We all make Yearly Meeting was led by Rhiannon Grant of Woodbrooke. She was joined by twenty-four Friends to explore how Yearly Meeting is run, its Spirit-led discernment, its blended nature, and how Friends can help foster an open, spiritual community.
Letters - 12 July 2024
Stonehenge I note the photo of cornstarch paint on Stonehenge (28 June). It sparks discussion here in Tasmania. First, can you confirm and clarify if the action was committed by a member or an attender? Second, was the action taken to a Meeting for Worship for Business (MfWfB) for approval and...