Latest News
Business Meeting innovation
With many Meetings struggling with low turnouts at Meeting for Worship for Business, Friends in Nailsworth in Gloucestershire are experimenting with a radical new format.
Homelessness rise endangers lives
A leading housing charity has predicted an increase in the number of people dying from the cold while sleeping on the streets. Housing Justice, an ecumenical Christian group, said that government policies are contributing to a rapid increase in homelessnesss. They cited evidence of a forty per cent rise in...
PM’s backing of religious same sex marriage welcomed
Quakers have welcomed the prime minister’s decision to back the right of religious groups to host same sex marriage ceremonies.
Mount of Olives military base protest
Quaker campaigners have condemned proposals for an Israeli military base on the Mount of Olives. The plan has caused controversy because the Mount has sacred significance for Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is also on Palestinian land that is widely perceived to be occupied by Israel.
Dickens goes to chancellor by bike
A Quaker will cycle to George Osborne’s constituency office this week – to give him a copy of Charles Dickens’ festive classic A Christmas Carol. Alan Pinch from Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting believes that the chancellor is at risk of ‘turning into a modern day Scrooge’.
Census figures
The number of Christians living in England and Wales has fallen by four million in the past decade, the 2011 census reveals.
Meeting for Sufferings: Minute 36
The main agenda item of Meeting for Sufferings, held at Friends House on Saturday 1 December, was the commitment made at Canterbury in 2011 for Quakers to become a low-carbon sustainable community. Minute 36 states: ‘Sustainability is an urgent matter for our Quaker witness. It is rooted in Quaker testimony and must...
Meeting for Sufferings: Vibrancy in Meetings
Jonathan Fox, who has been a model of calmness and lucidity over the years, gave his last Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees report. Was there a hint of sadness in his voice?
Meeting for Sufferings: Swarthmoor Hall
Meeting for Sufferings were informed, very clearly, that no firm decision on the future of Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria had been made. The Swarthmoor Hall Project Group told representatives that they were in the early stages of a process to discern the best way forward. This process would explore...
Meeting for Sufferings: Report on finances
The new treasurer of BYM, Peter Ullathorne, gave a very measured presentation to Meeting for Sufferings on the status of the finances.