Issue 10-06-2016
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Forgiveness
We all know of early Friends who served sentences in prison; and we know of those who were involved with prison reform. I am grateful for the continued ministry of Quakers in prison. I want to share some of what goes on in our group.
Top stories
Men’s Sheds
Recently a New York Times journalist interviewed me about the Men’s Sheds movement and how it started. We were in the room that our ‘Shed’ hires from a community centre, which is fitted out with workbenches and cupboards full of tools, tat and discarded materials we have acquired.
Britain Yearly Meeting
Britain Yearly Meeting 2016 brought hundreds of Quakers to Friends House in London. I was standing in the queue for coffee and said to the Friend beside me: ‘Hello – where are you from?’ She told me, and then said: ‘This is my first time at Yearly Meeting (YM). How many times...
Britain Yearly Meeting 2016: Using gifts for good
Giving gifts, Quaker Business Method and being active in the world were among the subjects addressed in the Children and Young People’s Programmes at Yearly Meeting. The Children’s Programme at Friends House was attended by sixty children aged under-eleven and considered the theme: ‘Using our gifts for good.’
Europe: From where I stand
I am brown in complexion. I bear an English Christian name and an English surname. I speak the English language and a Creole dialect based on English. I am a practising Christian. In British Guiana, where I was born, I received a very English education.
Europe: The common good
Some Friends have argued that it is time to leave the European Union (EU) partly because, in their view, it is ‘a sinking ship’. I do not share this pessimism, but I do think that if we leave the EU it is more likely to sink into fragmentation and conflict....
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HMRC turns down Friends’ request
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has rejected an appeal from a group of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) staff regarding the use of their taxes.
Launch of European QUIP
A new branch of Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP) was launched on Thursday 26 May at Westminster Meeting House in London.
Home is where the art is
The Quaker Centre at Friends House in London has collaborated with social enterprise Café Art to draw attention to homelessness.
A stitch in time at Northfield
Northfield Ecocentre’s latest project, a ‘repair café’, was launched on 3 June. The Birmingham-based environmental initiative took its inspiration from the repair cafés popping up all over the world.
Animal concerns heard
Quaker Concern for Animals (QCA) held its annual general meeting at Friends House on Saturday 21 May. Sixteen members attended. After Meeting for Worship, they heard about the organisation’s work in 2015 and shared news of campaigns. The guest speaker was Geoff Tansey, an honorary research fellow at the Centre for...
Carlisle Quakers mark contribution of COs
Friends were present at the recent unveiling in Carlisle of a plaque dedicated to conscientious objectors.
Major change at The Retreat
Jenny McAleese has retired from The Retreat, the York mental health facility. Jenny joined The Retreat in 1996 as finance director. She became chief executive eighteen months later. The Retreat’s finances improved significantly during her two decades at the helm. It was incorporated as a charity, and its governance structure...
More renovations at Friends House
The first floor meeting rooms at Friends House in London will be refurbished between June and September.
News of Gold mark travels far
Friends House’s Catering Mark Gold Standard has been featured on the website of Oregon Tilth, an American organisation dedicated to supporting and advocating organic food and farming.
Quaker faith & practice: True Godliness
True godliness don’t turn men out of the world but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavours to mend it… Christians should keep the helm and guide the vessel to its port; not meanly steal out at the stern of the world and leave those...
Letters - 10 June 2016
EU referendum I have followed the various articles and letters about the forthcoming EU referendum with mixed feelings: dispassionate yet interested; as an outsider because I can’t vote. I am still an immigrant. Thanks to Britain’s EU membership, I happen to enjoy privileges other immigrants wouldn’t even...