Issue 02-06-2017
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Slow but sure
A young man started working at our local post office. He was tall, thin, shy and serious. He was very, very slow in attending to customers. He painstakingly and meticulously attached stamps straight and in an equidistant position relative to the corners of envelopes. Money was carefully and slowly put...
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What can I say?
I have been exploring how to ‘speak out’ as a Quaker since the Fair Penny petition was endorsed by Wanstead Local Meeting and North East Thames Area Meeting in 2013. This involved signing a petition, online or on paper, to tell the government: ‘I would pay an extra penny per pound...
Reflections on the ‘Red Book’: Listening with both ears
When in a knotty discussion about the meaning of life, I sometimes say that I have two little characters sitting on my shoulders and muttering into my ears: one is a believer, the other is a sceptic. These two characters have been very active of late, muttering to me from...
My day after the Manchester bomb
I get the message on my phone at 11:30pm on Monday night. I am texting my brother about taking Mum to an unexpected doctor’s appointment the next day. Our Mum is ninety-six. Is there any point in the referral? Why are we going? Mum is nearing the end of...
Friends share sorrow and show solidarity with Manchester
Friends around the UK and beyond have expressed sorrow and solidarity with the people of Manchester following the attack at the Manchester Arena on 22 May.
The Coptic tradition
A few years ago I visited the St George Coptic Cathedral in Stevenage as part of an interfaith coach outing. On that occasion the curtains in front of the sanctuary were closed and, although the icons on the screen were beautiful, the space felt nothing out of the ordinary.
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Two housing projects to celebrate
The Quaker Housing Trust (QHT) is celebrating two projects in Tamworth, Staffordshire, and Tunbridge Wells in Kent. In 2014 QHT made a capital costs grant of £12,000, with a further grant of £17,226 in 2016, so local non-profit organisation Home-Start could refurbish an ex-bed and breakfast property in Tamworth.
Quakers in Wales hold general election forum
Quakers from Bala, Porthmadog and Pwllheli combined to hold a general election forum in Porthmadog Community Centre on 16 May.
Draft treaty welcomed
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has welcomed a UN draft treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
Elizabeth Fry commemoration
Two of the fifty Quaker prison chaplains who continue the legacy of Elizabeth Fry today were present at a reception last week to mark 200 years since she began her vital work in Newgate Prison among women facing death and deportation.
Gudda future
gudda [from the ancient word ghedh: to unite] 1 impulse to make the world better, to stand for values of humanity and justice; 2 becoming gudda: a process of self-transformation; 3 gudda inside: authentic inner goodness kernel. See also: wannabe gudda, misguided gudda, pseudo-gudda, badda
Social care: a better way?
I have quite severe cerebral palsy but I am determined and creative. Around the Christmas before last I was overdoing the struggle to get out of the bath and gradually lost the use of my right arm – which is essential to my independence – having trapped the nerves in my neck....
Eye - 02 June 2017
Seeking Friends and earth ‘Be bold! Never be afraid to admit your mistakes! That’s how we learn!’ So wrote Jill Allum, of Beccles Meeting, in a recent missive to Eye. In ‘A terrier for tales’ (Eye, 5 May) Jill told Friends about her search for information on John Scales, a...
Letters - 02 June 2017
Perpetuating division David Boulton (28 April) comments that it will ‘surely come as a surprise to the thousands of Friends who marched to Aldermaston or who demonstrated against the Iraq invasion’ to learn of Peter Boyce’s argument (21 April) that ‘demonstrations, however well-intentioned… represent the politics of hate… [leading] to increased...