Issue 10-02-2017
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Communion in Meeting
Communing in the Spirit might be one way to describe Quaker worship. Individuals meet together mainly in silence, but the aim is to become a ‘gathered’ Meeting, to be in communion with one another and with ‘the Other’. The contrast with sung Eucharist or high mass is stark… no wordy...
Top stories
Dave’s story
Dave (not his real name) was twenty minutes old when he ‘lost’ his parents. Social services took him into care at birth. I won’t say why, but you don’t have to be a genius to work out there were serious protection issues involved. By the time he was...
When my time is up
None of us is going to escape death. Last year the Bamford Quaker Community, which is situated in the Hope Valley in Derbyshire, ran a workshop entitled: ‘When my time is up.’ The aim of the workshop was to help people talk about the end of their lives and how...
Rooted in faith
As I sat in the cell my mind wandered. What would be happening now? It was about eleven o’clock on Sunday morning – Quaker Meeting time! No wonder I felt so lifted up. People must know about our action by now and be praying for us. The orderly who opened...
High Court hearing on arms exports
This week the High Court in London has been hearing a judicial review into the legality of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia for use in the ongoing bombing of Yemen.
Hereford Expo protest
Herefordshire Friends joined protesters in Hereford on 1 February to express their concern about the first Herefordshire Defence and Security Expo being held in the Courtyard Theatre, Jim Wood told the Friend.
All articles
Meeting for Sufferings: Worship, business and fellowship
The first Meeting for Sufferings of 2017 was held in the George Fox Room at Friends House in London on Saturday 4 February and proved to be a very successful day of worship, business and fellowship. Friends, who had come from every corner of Britain, engaged with a number of subjects of...
Meeting for Sufferings: Mid-triennium review for Sufferings
The triennium of the present Meeting for Sufferings runs from Yearly Meeting 2015 to Yearly Meeting 2018. All members of Sufferings, which includes both representatives and alternates, were invited to the first meeting of the triennium in July 2016. The Meeting included a section devoted to induction.
Meeting for Sufferings: Creativity in housing solutions
‘Five households in Britain become homeless every hour,’ Jenny Brierley, clerk of the Quaker Housing Trust (QHT), told Meeting for Sufferings. Speaking to QHT’s Third Triennial Report she said that Britain’s housing crisis is getting worse. Those on the lowest incomes are invariably the hardest hit and accommodation...
Meeting for Sufferings: Fracking concern from Pendle Hill
Increasing concern over fracking for shale gas in Britain was the subject of a minute to Meeting for Sufferings from Pendle Hill Area Meeting. Drilling to see if fracking is feasible is often conducted despite widespread opposition in an area. A Friend said he was ‘particularly perturbed about the overriding...
Meeting for Sufferings: Truth and integrity in public affairs
Sufferings was asked to reflect on the lack of transparency and integrity in government and prompted to articulate ‘this developing concern’.
Meeting for Sufferings: Meeting for Sufferings Annual Report
The draft Annual Report of Meeting for Sufferings for 2016, which had been prepared by the clerk working with the Arrangements Group, was given to Sufferings for approval.
Meeting for Sufferings: Recent arrests
Two Friends have been added to the court and prison register. Ian Bray, of Huddersfield Meeting (Brighouse West Yorkshire Area Meeting), was arrested on the 19 November 2016 with fourteen others during a nonviolent direct action against the expansion of Heathrow Airport. He was given a twelve-month conditional discharge and a fine...
Meeting for Sufferings: Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017
Sufferings heard that the aim of Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017, to be held in Warwick 29 July – 5 August, was to ‘create an inclusive, warm and loving atmosphere’ that would nurture Friends in their witness in living ‘in the Kingdom of God here and now.’
Scottish Friend addresses Irish peace conference
Scottish Friend Alastair McIntosh was a speaker at the annual Féile Bríde peace conference held in County Kildare in Ireland on 4 February.
Frankenstein and the creation problem
Ostensibly, Mary Shelley’s story of Frankenstein is sensationalist pulp-fiction – ripe for exploitation by production companies making X-rated films – but the symbolism tells another story. Victor Frankenstein, a meddling scientist over-educated to believe in his own omnipotence, has constructed a ‘Creature’ that is morally superior to the human model in...
Essex girls
I’m an Essex girl And I don’t care what you think, Essex girls are great fun-makers, Jolly hockey sticks! Give us a wink!
Eye - 10 February 2017
Completely loopy Some familiar names appear in unexpected pages, as Melvyn Freake, of Wanstead Meeting, recently told Eye. However, the Bryant and May that appear in the thriller White Corridor, by Christopher Fowler, are not match-producing Friends William and Francis but octogenarian sleuths Arthur and John. These ‘golden age detectives...
Letters - 10 February 2017
Humanity and animals I was pleased to read ‘Humanity and animals’ from Barrie Sheldon (27 January). I agree that we should always bear in mind the other forms of life on this beautiful planet and I have adopted for many years the lifestyle he suggests. However, while a vegan diet frees...