Issue 15-04-2016
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Why I became a Quaker
When in Italy I have a problem explaining what Quakers are and what they believe. For that matter, I even find it difficult to translate the name ‘Quakers’, as very few people in Italy have heard of this strange name: Quaccheri. I certainly knew nothing of them before arriving in...
Top stories
Protection of the Light
‘Although I am out of the king’s protection [the law’s], I am not out of the protection of the Almighty God [the Light]’ Margaret Fell
What is security?
Security is a word that is much misused. It is used to justify a whole range of horrors. For example, it is used to justify the spending of £163 billion to replace, and maintain over its lifetime, the Trident nuclear weapon system: if we don’t invest in these weapons of...
Europe: To stay or to leave?
I’m dreading the run-up to the EU referendum. The issues are so complex that even those who understand them cannot agree on the consequences of either choice. But in order to get our votes we shall be fed a mass of simplistic and emotional statements, which cannot do justice...
The need for stories
It couldn’t be more urgent. It couldn’t be more critical to the survival of humanity and many other species on the face of the earth. We’ve been talking about our commitment to this for decades. Lis Burch, our clerk, reminded us of 2011 when, at the Canterbury Britain...
Being there
What a positive event! I had anticipated that a gathering on sustainability and climate change might be really depressing. Previous Quaker and Transition Town events had dragged me down with doom and gloom; but, unexpectedly, this one left me feeling really excited and ready to go.
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Young Friends gather
Some 300 young Friends aged between fifteen and eighteen gathered at the Frontier Centre in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire last week for Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM). The theme was ‘Inner Light: opening and inspiring us?’
Leaveners collaboration highlights workers
Leaveners, the Quaker arts group, has worked with Dudley Museum & Art Gallery to bring together works of art that give historical insight into the lives of Black Country industrial workers.
Friend takes drugs concern to UN
A member of Bournemouth Coastal Area Meeting will take a statement to the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the global drug problem.
Vatican hosts event on Catholic peacemaking
A groundbreaking conference took place at the Vatican this week, when eighty delegates gathered to review the Catholic teaching on peacemaking.
Oakham Friends return to Meeting house
Quakers in Oakham, Rutland, described themselves as ‘very happy to be back home’ as they returned to their newly renovated Meeting house. For almost a year Friends met in the nearby Chapel of St John’s and St Anne’s. The Meeting’s Caroline Trutz told the Friend that it...
Turning the world upside-down
Some eighty people, among them ten members of Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) staff, gathered recently in Derbyshire for the department’s spring conference.
Framing the Quaker Tapestry
A short film explaining the conserving and mounting of the Quaker Tapestry is now available to download from YouTube.
Petals and bullets
The book Petals and Bullets: Dorothy Morris - New Zealand Nurse in the Spanish Civil War by Mark Derby is a well-written and absorbing story. It is based mainly on eighty personal and evocative letters written by Dorothy Morris to her family in New Zealand between 1937 and 1946. In these years...
Eye - 15 April 2016
Being unkind to Quakers Could being nasty to Quakers be a way of improving the country’s prospects? This unusual strategy caught the attention of Judith Mason, of Banbury Meeting, whilst she was reading Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling. During his travels in Shropshire Bill Bryson paid...
Letters - 15 April 2016
Hope and Light I echo the sentiments expressed by Stephen, an ex-prisoner, who contributed a recent ‘Thought for the Week’ (1 April). Over the years I have also come to appreciate the invaluable service undertaken by Quaker prison chaplains and visitors. Following their vocation to show unconditional acceptance and affirm the...