Latest News
Who would Jesus vote for?
A group of Friends in London put Christ firmly at the heart of their pre-election preparations in asking: Who would Jesus vote for? Christian Quaker Meeting attenders gathered at Bunhill Friends Meeting House on 25 April. They asked: ‘Is it right to vote for man-made government whilst upholding the belief that...
New film highlights Ebola stigma
The stigma experienced by Ebola sufferers is the subject of a new film by Purple Field Productions (PFP). The film, which follows on from Ebola is Real, released last year, hopes to persuade communities that stigmatising the illness is wrong. It consists of a music video and interviews with survivors.
Yorkshire Friends surprise The Retreat
More than 120 Yorkshire Quakers met at The Retreat last month, prompting staff at the York mental health hospital to hunt for extra chairs. Quakers in Yorkshire meet every quarter, with attendance more likely to be around the seventy mark. This time the meeting focused on the work of The Retreat...
The Mount names new principal
The Mount School in York has appointed Adrienne Richmond as its new principal. She will take over from Julie Lodrick on 1 January 2016. Adrienne is currently deputy head at Durham High School for Girls, and was previously director of studies at Newcastle Central High School GDST (Girls’ Day School Trust). She...
New light at Bull Street
The main Meeting house at Birmingham Bull Street will benefit from a £20,000 lighting upgrade. The project will be carried out over the summer.
Swarthmore College declines to divest
Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, despite a vigorous student protest, has announced that it will not divest from funds involved in the extraction of fossil fuels. The Quaker-founded college’s board of managers said in a statement that following ‘extensive preparation, analysis, and robust discussion and debate’, it had reached consensus...
Britain Yearly Meeting 2015
Swarthmore Lecture 2015 The 2015 Swarthmore Lecture, entitled Faith, power and peace, was given by the peace campaigner Diana Francis on Saturday evening to over 1,000 people in the Large Meeting House. In a very personal and inspiring lecture, she considered the Quaker Peace Testimony in relation to the current global context and...
Britain Yearly Meeting 2015: Special interest groups
Interfaith visitors at BYM Bishop Paul Hendricks of the Roman Catholic Church (left) and Aliya Azam (centre), one of the Muslim presidents of the Christian Muslim Forum, spoke about their work together. David Shreeve (right), environmental advisor to Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, spoke on his environmental work. Some flair...
Mansfield trail celebrates Quaker links
A new Quaker heritage trail was launched on Saturday 25 April in Mansfield. The trail includes a number of local sites of significance to Quakers. Among them are almshouses, whose first residents included Friends, and the site of George Fox’s home when he was an apprentice shoemaker. Although originally from...
New charge challenged
QARN, the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, is calling on Friends to help it challenge the government over new charges for renewing discretionary leave to remain status for asylum seekers.