Issue 01-02-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Being real
For nearly five years I’ve struggled with what I now understand to be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia. This manifests itself as a great deal of pain, low energy, and high levels of anxiety and depression.
Top stories
‘My ministry is the jokes and kittens’
Did you grow up Quaker? No no, not at all. I started going to Meeting probably about ten years ago. I’d just walked the Way of St James and I was looking for a spiritual community that did an equivalent thing – sharing a journey with people without having to...
Approaching membership: Engaging with the testimonies
Peace My commitment to peace begins with my thoughts and behaviour. I try to think empathetically towards others, especially those who might offend me. Why do they behave thus? What happened in their past? Tension dissipates through empathy. Instead of distance and opposition, I perceive overlap and sympathy. Peace is...
Choosing the moment
In the run up to my twenty-seventh birthday, in June 2015, my sister, who was then living in London, had seen an advert for a protest against an arms fair there. It was called Defence and Security International (DSEI) and it would be taking place in September 2015. I was in Hull...
Friends commission domestic violence drama
Gloucestershire Quakers have commissioned Journeymen Theatre to produce a play following a long-standing concern about domestic violence. The play, called Rock and a Hard Place, is based on real life stories with input from Stroud Women’s Refuge, which, according to Gloucester Friends, is the only surviving refuge in the...
Eye - 1 February 2019
‘Challenging but awesome’ Teenage Friends in London helped Quaker Homeless Action (QHA) set-up the Quaker Open Christmas, which ran from 23 to 30 December 2018. Anya Nanning Ramamurthy, from the London Link Group for eleven to eighteen-year-olds, told Eye: ‘After a tour of the building we split off to work in groups on...
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Quakers mark Holocaust Memorial Day
Quakers around the country gathered for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), which for 2019 had the theme ‘Torn from home’. Friends took the opportunity on 27 January to pay respect to those lost in genocide and war. According to the HMD Trust, the commemorations were held to remember the six million Jews murdered...
Huddersfield Meeting celebrates climate emergency motion
Kirklees Council has passed an emergency climate motion with the support of Huddersfield Quakers. The group of Quaker environmental campaigners has been calling for a motion to be passed in light of the urgency of climate change. The motion was moved on 16 January by a Labour councillor with the support...
Day of prayer in time of ‘fear and anxiety’
Quakers took part in a national day of prayer to support the difficult political situation in the UK. The organisation Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), of which BYM is a member, called for its bodies to join together at the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian...
Friend stars in ‘Our Lady of Kibeho’
Wandsworth Friend Michael Mears, the actor and playwright (above), has been receiving rave reviews for his performance in a play about three convent school girls who begin to see the Virgin Mary.
Letters - 1 February 2019
Quaker schools I read with interest and concern the article ‘Support for our values’ (18 January) concerning Quaker schools. I agree that our state schools often fail to offer our children a rounded, balanced and nurturing education. I am sure Quaker schools offer excellent education. However, Quaker schools are extremely expensive...