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Remembering the Kindertransport
Quakers’ pivotal role in rescuing almost 10,000 children from German-controlled Europe was acknowledged this week when the Kindertransport was commemorated.
Friends debate Quakers’ future
‘Is the future of Quakerism universalist?’ asked the Quaker Universalist Group (QUG) at an online meeting held as part of the Yearly Meeting ‘Fringe’.
Quaker reflections on poetry and faith
A Quaker university chaplain was invited to take part in an online event exploring the relationship of poetry and faith. Barbara Davey, from the chaplaincy team at the University of St Andrews, took part in ‘A Bigger Picture’ on 21 November. Other participants included John Burnside, Mark Oakley, Sharon Black, Michael...
Meeting for Sufferings: Young people’s participation day
December’s Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) gave young people an opportunity to participate. After joining the Meeting for the opening worship and a ‘getting to know you’ session, they met as a group to consider ‘a Quaker response to racism’, which MfS itself discussed in the afternoon.
Meeting for Sufferings: Trustees’ report
The first main item of business was the report from Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees. Caroline Nursey, clerk to trustees, told the meeting that trustees spent quite a bit of time on racism, minuting, ‘Racism exists within the Religious Society of Friends in Britain and we must tackle it. This...
Meeting for Sufferings: Yearly Meeting 2021
In the afternoon, MfS considered plans for Yearly Meeing (YM) 2021. YM clerk Clare Scott Booth told MfS that she was pleased with the way Yearly Meeting 2020 had gone, despite the limitations of holding it online, and she told MfS that YM in 2021 will also be held online, from 31 July to 8...
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker World Relations Committee
Ann Floyd presented the report of Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC). She said that an online discussion had been held between sixty-six Friends from Africa and Britain that morning, and it is hoped that more of these events can be held. ‘There is great potential for integrating British Friends into...
Meeting for Sufferings: Racism
In October, MfS discussed the issue of racism in small groups, and in December Edwina Peart, the BYM inclusion and diversity co-ordinator, introduced further consideration, saying that while she is ‘heartened’ by the work already being done, real change is needed. ‘I want to ground this in the Quaker testimonies...
Jocelyn Bell Burnell portrait
A painting of the Quaker astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell has joined the portrait collection of the Royal Society. The inclusion makes her one of the few female scientists to have a portrait on the walls of the Royal Society’s Carlton House Terrace headquarters in central London. Out of 200 male...
Quakers must tackle racism, says BYM
It’s time for Quakers to tackle racism, says Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), claiming that ‘racism exists among Quakers in Britain and must be tackled at all levels, individually, in their committees and structures and in the church’.