17 December 2010 £1.70 the DISCOVER THE CONTEMPORARYFriend QUAKER WAY

Being Quaker, doing Quaker the Friend INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843

CONTENTS – VOL 168 NO 51

3 nominate Hiroshima survivors for Nobel peace prize 4 Sustainability high on the agenda 5 Could your Meeting welcome an ex-offender? Alick Munro 6-7 Christmas shopping seen differently Judy Clinton 8-9 Letters 10-11 Being Quaker, doing Quaker Anne Carus and Zelie Gross 12-13 Joan Mary Fry and The Communion of Life Nigel Morgan 14 ‘It’s the rich what gets the money’ Eric Rigby 15 Q-Eye 16 Christmas Greetings 17 Friends & Meetings

Cover image: Snowy walk. Photo: Photos.com. Images on this page: From the Quaker Life faith and practice conference: ‘Being Quaker, Doing Quaker’. Top: Shelagh Robinson, one of the speakers, with Gillian Ashmore. Centre: Caroline Westgate’s puppets discussing the merits of Trident. Bottom: Two sisters, part of the all- age group at the conference. Photos: Trish Carn. See pages 10-11.

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2 the Friend, 17 December 2010 News Quakers nominate Hiroshima survivors for Nobel peace prize

SURVIVORS OF THE NUCLEAR ATTACKS on Japan The Hibakusha have served as guides at memorial in 1945 have been nominated for the Nobel Peace museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and staffed Prize by Quakers in the United States. an exhibition in the lobby of the United Nations The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) headquarters in New York. More than fifty of them has long praised the survivors – known as Hibakusha addressed government representatives at this year’s – for their campaigns against nuclear weapons. AFSC nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. has formally proposed the survivors’ organisation, Shan Cretin, general secretary of AFSC, quoted the Nihon Hindankyo, to receive the prize in 2011. Quaker principle ‘let your lives speak’ when he made AFSC said their decision was inspired by the the nomination to the Nobel Institute. He wrote, ‘As Hibakusha’s worldwide work for the abolition of the only humans to have experienced the devastating nuclear weapons. News of the nomination was effects of mankind’s only use of atomic bombs, the welcomed by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Hibakusha are uniquely able to let their lives speak.’ (CND) in the UK, who said that Nihon Hindankyo CND’s Kate Hudson told the Friend that CND fully would be ‘a truly worthy recipient of the prize’. supports the nomination of Nihon Hidankyo. She As well as survivors of the atomic bombs dropped said: ‘Through their personal testimonies both of on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Nihon those days in 1945 and their suffering since, they have Hindankyo also includes survivors of US nuclear helped to build the public revulsion to actual use of tests on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific between 1945 nuclear weapons which we know has stayed the hands and 1958. The first hydrogen bomb, exploded on the of world leaders on many occasions.’ atoll in 1954, caused widespread radiation and later Several previous AFSC nominees have won the contaminated many of the indigenous islanders, who Nobel Peace Prize, although on some occasions in a had been forcibly evacuated from the atoll but allowed later year than when AFSC nominated them. They to return after 1968. include US civil rights champion Martin Luther King Nihon Hindankyo has members in all forty-seven and South African archbishop and anti-apartheid regions of Japan. Many of those now active were activist Desmond Tutu. children at the time of the bombings. Symon Hill

Students call for nonviolent direct action over tuition fees decision

THE STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT (SCM) But Emma Anthony, a Quaker studying at has backed nonviolent direct action in response to Southampton University, told the Friend she had parliament’s decision to raise tuition fees in England chosen not to campaign against the fee rise. She said to a maximum of £9,000. it was easy to criticise ‘when you’re on the outside’ but SCM, referring to the selective portrayal of images of sometimes ‘the decisions you wouldn’t like have been violence by the media, insisted that the vast majority made for a good reason’. of activists – including those who felt prompted to In contrast, SCM said in a statement immediately break the law – had behaved nonviolently. after the vote that the measure would deter students ‘The proposed increases in tuition fees will have a from poorer backgrounds. They felt that it would also catastrophic impact on future generations of students influence students to choose subjects that are ‘likely to and today’s students should be applauded for their lead to a well-paid job, rather than a better society’. selfless actions,’ said SCM’s national coordinator Hilary Topp. Symon Hill

the Friend, 17 December 2010 3 Meeting for Sufferings reported by Ian Kirk-Smith Sustainability high on the agenda

‘IT IS A BEAUTIFUL WORLD we live in, but there is suggestions such as putting solar panels on old something awry with the way we are living in it.’ Meeting houses to being more creative in exploiting Sunniva Taylor, sustainability and peace programme the possibilities of the internet for Quaker Business manager of Quaker Peace & Social Witness, summed Meetings. Technology should be embraced, where up the feelings of many present at Meeting for possible, to help reduce our carbon footprint. Sufferings on Saturday 4 December when she gave There was unity on one point: Friends had to a passionate and eloquent paper on living out our challenge themselves individually in the way they lived statement on climate change in the context of wider their lives. They also had to develop a strong corporate aspects of sustainability. position, and to develop collaborations with other She reminded Friends that the ‘Framework for faith groups who also believed sustainability was an Action’ highlighted sustainability as an ‘urgent matter urgent concern. for social witness’ and that Quakers were called to be Friends, it was stressed, had to set an example: We ‘patterns and examples, taking responsibility for our should be patterns. We should inspire and enthuse so individual and corporate environmental impacts.’ that people would look to the future not with despair, ‘Our actions,’ she said, ‘were leading to climate but with hope, not with fear, but with confidence. change, the reduction of biodiversity, desertification Other suggestions included considering whether the and deforestation, the loss of topsoil and fuel and finances of Britain (both corporately water shortages.’ and individually) are invested in ways that build She also explained that the inequalities that are sustainability: are all sourcing and purchasing practices produced between people as a result of these actions ethically and ecologically sound? (For example, does were sowing the seeds of future conflicts. We are, she energy for Meeting houses and other Quaker properties said, all complicit. We face a huge challenge. come from energy suppliers committed to renewable Sunniva urged Quakers to set a progressive and energy? Do Meetings consider the impact of their food radical example, as they had done on so many other and other purchases on the environment?) social issues in the past. The theme of Yearly Meeting Gathering at Prompted by her address, Friends took time Canterbury in 2011 is ‘Sustaining the Spirit: changing in the early afternoon to reflect in ‘home groups’ the way we live to sustain the world we live in’. It will and reported back. The home groups produced an be an opportunity for Meeting for Sufferings to play interesting selection of ideas. a visioning role in encouraging the Yearly Meeting to They ranged from practical and imaginative realise the commitment made to sustainability.

Unequal impact of government cuts New Area Meetings THE UNEQUAL IMPACT of the government cuts in public THE PROCESS of creating two expenditure has been a major concern of Quaker Peace & Social separate Area Meetings from the Witness Central Committee. present North Somerset and Wiltshire Helen Drewery, general secretary of QPSW, explained that there Area Meeting was proposed and was an uncertainty about how to proceed on this issue ‘given the endorsed in principle at Meeting for breadth of our concerns and the wide range of the cuts’. Sufferings. Several ideas were discussed and QPSW was encouraged to provide It is proposed that the Local Meetings an updated version of the 2004 ‘Social Inclusion Toolkit’ for early at the ‘western end’ – Claverham, 2011 as one way of moving the concern forward. Clevedon, Sidcot and Weston-Super- It was also proposed that Mid-Thames Area Meeting be a ‘clearing Mare – would form one Area Meeting. house’ for ‘evidence of hardship’ from other Area Meetings. There The ‘eastern end’ Local Meetings of was general agreement that the subject of the cuts and their impact Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, on the lives of the most vulnerable in society should be a central Devizes, Frome and Trowbridge would concern of Friends, both individually and corporately, in 2011. form the other Area Meeting.

4 the Friend, 17 December 2010 [email protected] Talking point Barbed Barbed wire. Photo from Photos.com. Could your Meeting welcome an ex-offender?

Alick Munro, of Kingston and Wandsworth Area Meeting, poses a challenging question

hen prisoners are released from penal Could your Meeting help in this work? Ex-offender institutions in Britain, community chaplains may appreciate a supportive mentor or mentoring Wworking for the prison service often ask group from among Friends – or they may prefer to them if they would like to pursue a faith and join a be regarded as no different from other enquirers. Let religious group. When they get a positive response, them have the choice. They may be very lonely. They the community chaplains make efforts to link the may have bitterness to live down. They may be living person to a congregation or faith group local to where in hostels and in straitened circumstances until they they will be living. The community chaplain may find employment. accompany the ex-offender on their first visit to the faith group. It is recognised that a link to a faith group If you think your Meeting could welcome an ex- lends stability and support in the period after release, offender, you may wish to contact the coordinating helps the ex-offender in their spiritual and social chaplains at local penal institutions, and the local journey, and reduces the risk of re-offending. office of the National Probation Service and you may wish to contact the following organisations: Many prisoners are released on licence and will have to report regularly to probation officers. Community Chaplaincy Association, c/o 9 Newarke Street, Leicester LE1 5SN. Telephone 0116 255 3742 or About one in four prisoners tell prison authorities visit www.communitychaplaincy.org.uk. on admission that they are of ‘nil’ faith. A faith that does not require a creed is more likely to be accessible Caring for Ex-Offenders, Holy Trinity, Brompton, to these people than are scripture-based faiths. London SW7 1JA. Telephone 020 7052 0338 or visit Quakerism may have a lot to offer. www.caringforexoffenders.org.uk.

the Friend, 17 December 2010 5 Reflection Christmas shopping seen differently

Judy Clinton describes how taking a different point of view changed her experience

or many years I’ve viewed the whole build-up to began to see all the things that had been produced to Christmas as something I wished would just go allow me to do so. So much was attractive, useful or Faway. The pressure to buy presents, send cards, fun. What a lot of time and creative energy had been put up decorations, attend a lot of organised get- put into it all. I have condemned all this in the past togethers and so on had become a treadmill that I’ve for being a waste of resources, a gross materialism longed to get off, but haven’t quite had the courage to. that should be scotched – now I wasn’t so sure. It all After all, this is tradition. This is what one does, isn’t it? depended on how I saw it.

Yesterday I had determined to go and do my After a while trailing round the shops I began to feel Christmas shopping in our local city. I wasn’t thrilled weary – tired with the frequent stopping and starting, at the prospect, but decided before I left that I would trudging up and down steps, handling heavy doors, enter into it with a positive attitude and an openness and dodging countless people. I was overwhelmed by to what might happen. the sheer sensory overload of what was happening to me, and began to feel less cheerful. Much to my surprise, I found that my first stop, at Lidl, was a jolly business. I enjoyed looking at all the Then I heard the sound of guitar music and a man foreign goods that were wrapped up in Christmas singing. It was beautiful. I turned to see who was fashion, and I enjoyed the buzz among the people at playing. I saw a man sitting on the cold pavement, the tills.

On I went into the busy city centre. It was crowded. People were moving quickly, and in many cases irritably, and the inevitable Christmas music tinkled away relentlessly over loudspeakers, assuring us that everything was merry and bright. Queues of people waiting to pay were long and large sums of money passed hands for trolleys full of seasonal frippery – the usual Christmas carry-on that I have come to hate so much. But, in my decision to stay open and positive, I began to find that, actually, I was rather enjoying myself. I liked looking for gifts that would bring pleasure to the people I love, and I

6 the Friend, 17 December 2010 a sleeping dog beside him. He was unshaven and shabbily dressed, and had the body language of someone down-trodden and ill. His guitar case was open and there were a few coins in it. I walked by him, the music buoying my flagging spirits. His voice was rough, not spectacular, but his guitar-playing was skilled and I delighted in it, marvelling that his fingers could play in the cold weather.

I wandered past a few more shops, still hearing him playing in the distance. As I came back, passing him again, he was playing a jaunty tune that made me want to dance. I looked in my purse; I only had fifty pence or so in change, but I leant down to put the coins in his case. I looked into his eyes and with genuine enthusiasm said, ‘That’s great’. His face lit up. I walked away. His music became louder and livelier.

I wondered how someone with such talent had ended up on the streets: cold, poorly dressed and ill- looking. The social worker in me wanted to go and ‘deal with his problems’, the counsellor in me to ask him how he felt about his situation. I felt guilty that I had not done more for him with my various professional skills – and, oh dear, that paltry sum of money I’d given him. And then I realised that, no, what I had done was enough, probably far more than any of my later ideas for him would have been. I had responded to what he was giving, with joy. I had reflected back to him what he had to offer – my other approaches could have been construed as patronising. I had met him as one human being to another, within one fleeting moment in time,

and it had helped us both. Both photos from Photos.com.

The experience had taken no more than a few a short cut to my car. By then I was getting tired of minutes, and yet I went forward from it with a the noise, the cars, and all the people. As I went round lightness of heart that carried me through the rest the corner of the cathedral, I was suddenly struck by of the day. a tremendous quietness – there were no people, and the high evergreen trees provided a buffer to the noise I progressed to the cathedral and went for a cup of the traffic. Sunlight shafted in a watery fashion on of tea. The restaurant was peculiarly quiet with only the golden stone of the building. I stood still and took three customers – all ladies on their own, me being in this unexpected pleasure. Suddenly two robins, in one of them. We all sat quietly having our drinks different trees, started to sing. and either reading or writing. One of the ladies who was sitting in front of me was writing her Christmas And so I strolled back to the car, past a couple cards. I looked at the other lady who was sitting of drunks sitting on a seat who called out, ‘Good parallel to me and we both spontaneously burst out morning’, to which I replied in similar tone. It laughing at the strangeness of it all. We exchanged was good to have overcome my reluctance to say a few pleasantries about it being odd to have so few something to those I would previously have ignored. I people there in the run-up to Christmas, and went came home feeling very happy. What a huge difference our separate ways. it had made to go into the city that day with an open mind and a positive attitude. Maybe this Christmas I lit a candle in the cathedral and said a few prayers malarkey isn’t so bad after all. for those I know who are suffering at present, and then made my way round the back of the building as Judy is a member of Cheltenham Meeting.

the Friend, 17 December 2010 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

Quaker Week to create a ceremony more tailored to family and faith Did Quaker Week come as a welcome refreshment or needs. Payments for plots would reimburse the initial did it disturb and muddy the waters? How important investment. As in other green burial sites, the trees has Quaker Week been to your Meeting? planted after burial would be a further way of helping Do you see your Meeting continuing with this form the planet. of outreach in the future? Maybe some Meetings are already doing this? How useful have you found the resources and the Having recently attended the Quaker Life conference theme suggested by Friends House? on ‘Being Quaker, Doing Quaker’, I feel that this These are just some of the questions we would like surely could be our last witness in doing just that. I to ask you to answer for us; you may also have ideas don’t have all the answers, but would welcome others’ and experiences about Quaker Week that you would thoughts on this. like to share with us. Hazel Rowntree Quaker Life Central Committee has asked for a Malton Meeting review of Quaker Week. Quaker Week has been held for the last four years and it has been agreed that there will Transparency in our investments one more Quaker Week, in its present form, in 2011. While (BYM) policy rules The report is to be completed early in the new year. out direct investments in arms companies, a 2008 This is to give Quaker Life Central Committee time report by War on Want found that HSBC had £450m to receive the report and discern what the future of in arms firms as well as being principal banker for Quaker Week might be and what form it might take. multinational arms dealer BAE Systems. We need your help. Any individual or group can The spokesperson for BYM said they did not have help this process and there are two ways you can anything to say on their investment in HSBC at this contribute. time. I was very sad to see this last sentence in Symon You could write to the review group care of: Hill’s report (19 November). Am I wrong to think that Alistair Fuller, outreach development officer, Friends Friends are open and transparent in their business House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ or email affairs? After this and BYM this year I wonder if I am to [email protected]. wrong. It read and felt more like a statement from a This is your opportunity to share with us your ideas government department. on what shape Quaker Week may take in the future. John Arnison Your feedback is very important to us and so we Roundhay Meeting look forward to hearing from you. We would be very grateful if we could have your replies before WikiLeaks 31 December. Am I alone in being concerned at the apparent lack Patsy Wilson, for the review group of challenge by Friends of the current foreign and Quaker Life Central Committee military policies of the United States and its ever- submissive ally the United Kingdom? WikiLeaks is Why cremate? highlighting the nasty secrets and the doublespeak Could we be doing ‘The Last Bit’ better? Why do so of those who claim to be leading the ‘free‘ and many of us still choose the unsustainable method of ‘civilised’ world, but who spend billions of our taxes cremation when we die? on unnecessary weapons and also export weapons for In my work with end of life, membership of the profit to human rights abusers, belligerent unstable group ‘Quaker Concern around Death and Dying’, states, and impoverished Third World countries. I and facilitating workshops within the Society on the know Friends are involved in effective actions ‘on the subject of death and dying, this has become a concern streets’, but I am disappointed that the underlying and for me. crucially important issues seem to feature rarely in the Cremations lead to emissions of nitrogen oxides, reports and correspondence of the Friend. carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and many more Ken Veitch pollutants. The average cost is £2,000 to £3,000 for Waterloo House, Greenhead, Brampton CA8 7JT cremation using local facilities. Couldn’t this be better spent with a green burial on land purchased and Trustees maintained by our Area/General Meetings? I confess to some wry amusement when I read of Even though most of our Quaker burial grounds Friends who regard the introduction of trustees to the are no longer used, do we not still have a duty to life of the Yearly Meeting’s affairs as the worst thing fulfil our testimonies to simplicity and sustainability? since the advent of sliced bread at Creating new green burial sites could give us freedom teas.

8 the Friend, 17 December 2010 [email protected]

This is because for some eleven years I derived words express a sense of a Quaker Meeting to me: ‘Be an, admittedly, modest income as secretary to Six still, for the presence of the Lord, the holy one is here’ Weeks Meeting (SWM), the body of twenty-four is the sort of faith and trust I can readily feel at one Friends forming the Managing Trustees of all Quaker with and which is what I experience in Meeting for property (with the exception of Friends House and Worship and try to keep as part of me, every day. House) within the area of London and With thanks for enabling me to express my thoughts Middlesex General Meeting, as was. to you. I have been encouraged to understand my As any member of this body is apt to point out at own position, by reading all the different articles and the drop of a hat, SWM was founded by letters in the Friend every week. I don’t know where in 1671; thus it predates both Yearly Meeting and it originated: ‘In essentials unity, in non-essentials Meeting for Sufferings as regularly meeting bodies. liberty, in all things charity.’ And although it has to be admitted that at the time But who defines ‘essentials’? And so it goes on. of its establishment ‘some Friends were irked by Mary Barnes the emphasis being placed upon organisation and Lochaber and Lorn Meeting administration’, George knew best and Friends in the environs of London have been bearing with its What’s in a name? decisions ever since. Jim Palmer (29 October) speaks of the necessity for Roy Payne clarity of language. He refers to another letter on Mary Grove Villa, St Julian’s Avenue, Ludlow the same topic. I am surprised that neither of them SY8 1ET mentioned ‘Britain Yearly Meeting’ as a possible candidate for misunderstanding. A newcomer to Points of view Friends could be forgiven for thinking, as I did in I am writing to comment on various articles and the early days of my attendance, that this referred letters that have appeared in the Friend recently. to a gathering that took place once a year. In other They seem to indicate something in the state of our words it seems to express time and frequency and not Society that is true, both of our national society and the essence of the community, which later I came to of the Society of Friends (Quakers). That is, a need recognise as ‘Quaker-speak’ and, of course, the whole to understand and to feel at one with our corporate community does meet once a year, just to confuse identity, our shared values and way of life. the issue. Why, when ‘Monthly Meeting’ was changed In both situations there is a strong feeling of to ‘Area Meeting’ was ‘Yearly Meeting’ not similarly wanting to belong, but also to decide for oneself and treated? not to have one’s behaviour and beliefs dictated by Even the word ‘Meeting’ may need clarification someone in authority. in this day and age. At the risk of offending the I rejoice in all the different points of view that are traditionalists, may I suggest we use the word ‘church’, expressed in the Friend, while being aware of the which in its widest sense means a worshipping group, dangers of imagining that yours is the ‘right’ one. which Quakers surely are? And, in any case, fewer and To use ‘God’ language, I find comfort in the idea that fewer of these groups now worship in ‘steeple houses’. each one of us experiences, and expresses a facet of So, is it now time to change ‘Britain Yearly Meeting’ God’s Spirit/Being. All the facets are necessary to make into for example, ‘The British Quaker Church’ or one glorious whole! the ‘Church of British Quakers (or Friends), which I have a need to trust in the ‘rightness’ of the Whole, happens to have a national meeting once a year? the Truth as I perceive it. I do my best to be true to the Edie Garvie vision that I have. I hope to be enabled to meet that of Cambridgeshire Area Meeting God in others, and in the situation we are in, so that I may fulfil the purpose of my being; bearing in mind that often it can only be recognised after the event. So, where does this talk of my feelings and Send letters to: Letters to the editor, the Friend, 173 experiences lead us? Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ I have great faith in the experience of Meeting for Email: [email protected] Worship as a basis for my life. Please include your full postal address and telephone There is a lovely hymn, sung in my local church that number and a reference (issue, title) to articles. Please I attend on some Sundays when I can’t get to our local indicate whether you prefer your address, email or Meeting or other detail to be published with your Quaker Meeting, which is a two-hour drive away. The name. members of the church are people whom I meet more We reserve the right to edit letters. often than the Quakers, who live at a distance. These

the Friend, 17 December 2010 9 Faith & practice Being Quaker, doing Quaker

Anne Carus and Zelie Gross describe the Quaker Life conference held at High Leigh recently

inding out what makes our spirits fly; while own Meetings; and finally, for our last plenary session other conferences come and go, this one might and closing all-age worship – which Zélie Gross Fleave us somewhere other than where it found captures so well in her companion piece – what makes us, was the feeling of Friends I spoke with before the our spirit fly. conference, and that proved to be so. Sadly, space doesn’t allow me to give a flavour of all Seven questions – centred on a specific ‘being/ the beautifully crafted and stimulating presentations doing’ Quaker question – formed the structure of that were gifted to us. There was laughter as well as the ‘Being Quaker, Doing Quaker’ conference. Each profundity and wisdom, for instance in Caroline session began with a short presentation from one Westgate’s Punch and Judy ‘Trident’ puppet show speaker to the full – all-age – conference, after which (see pge 2); and smiles amid the palpable shared we broke into ‘home groups’ of around ten Friends sorrow when Shelagh Robinson told us how her for in-depth reflection on the same question and the personal experience of being ‘split open’ by the Light issues it raised for us as individuals and members of has brought her to a place where, in the face of her Meetings. Staying with the same small number of own illness, there is ‘a depth of peace and love and Friends in the same home groups, and reflecting as we acceptance that I don’t really have the words for’. did on matters at the heart of our lives and journeys, I shall remember too Paul Parker’s reminder that meant that over the two days we could have a deeper Quakerism is service, and that doing ‘what love experience of getting to know each other in the things requires’ depends on a corporate act of discernment, that are eternal. seeking clarity and vision about what we are to do.

Any one of the questions could probably have Happily, we understand that the close of the provided the subject matter for a two-day conference conference is just the end of the beginning of this in its own right: what our own journey into particular Quaker Life venture. It is intended that Quakerism has been; what changes Quakerism has study materials based on the home groups’ and the brought to how we live our lives; how we bring speakers’ contributions will enable us to involve our together what we do as individual Quakers with Meetings in the conference and its aftermath in the what we do corporately as members of Meetings and months/years to come. For, as the weekend powerfully communities; how we enrich our spiritual life and are brought home to us, to ‘be’ Quaker is to ‘do’ Quaker. fed by the wider corporate Quaker experience; how we can explore the spiritual in our lives in creative Anne Carus is a member of Pendle Hill Area Meeting ways; how we can take the conference forward in our (Bolton Meeting).

10 the Friend, 17 December 2010 Photo: Trish Carn. Trish Photo:

riends of all ages came to Meeting for Worship on another; unplanned rhythms of colour and texture, on Sunday bringing uniquely individual complexity and simplicity, played across the carpet. Fexpressions of their reflections and creativity on a foot square piece of card. Children and young people Paul Parker, one of the speakers at the conference, were invited to gather these from adult Friends where had spoken compellingly the previous afternoon they sat and to arrange them in a patchwork in the about the many different ministries recognised in our centre of the circle of worshippers. Quaker community, and posed the question: What is yours? Spread before us in our worship were 120 Children settled quietly in their own huddle different expressions of ministry by the same number, exchanging hugs and nudges. Friends in the outer more or less, of different Friends – the practical circles of chairs stood for a while to drink in the Friend, the caring Friend, the thoughtful Friend of few beauty of this gift from everyone to everyone. And words, the committed active Friend, the wise Friend, it was incredibly beautiful: the simple instruction to the questioning Friend, the hard-working Friend, the do anything we liked with our piece of card, except loyal, the perceptive, the passionate, the patient, the change its size or shape, had produced a blaze of playful, the dogged, the energetic, the cautious, the colour, pattern, texture and form, full of variety, concerned… ingenuity and difference. There were collages, poems, sculptures, prose pieces, drawings, single words, a This could be any local Meeting. On another scale, question mark, a footprint. it could be mine. The beauty of a Meeting patchwork isn’t found in a focus on examples of exceptional A Friend spoke about the astonishing coincidence merit, but in the collective richness of the spread of of this arrangement forming, with no planning or our diversity and in the fruits of connections between shuffling to fit, a perfect ten by twelve foot rectangle. us. Of the many different ministries arising from many From where I sat, other coincidences leapt out – a different leadings, all are needed for the whole to path of brown wool threads on one square became the work, for the whole to be beautiful. trunk to a mass of pink tissue and satin blossom in the next; words on one became the response to words Zélie Gross is a member of Penarth Meeting.

the Friend, 17 December 2010 11 Centenary Joan Mary Fry and The Communion of Life

Nigel Morgan explores her legacy

oan Mary Fry was an extrordinary Quaker. It is As I am a composer I had decided to find and set interesting to reflect, as we come to the end of to music three diverse texts that spelt out some of Janother year and to the celebration of the birth the fundamentals of this ‘way’ I had adopted. In the of Christ, of her significance in the history of the writings of Joan Mary Fry I found two very powerful Religious Society of Friends; for it was one hundred passages. One speaks directly to those, like me, who years ago that she became the first woman to deliver find the present day marginalisation of Jesus so often the Swarthmore Lecture. present in Meetings hard to accommodate: ‘… perhaps some who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Joan Mary Fry gave the third Swarthmore lecture and truth will do well to exercise a larger charity on the evening preceding the holding of the Friends’ towards those who cannot take upon their lips the Yearly Meeting of 1910. ‘The Committee have aimed’, “usual” expressions about Him. It needs great faith and she said in the lecture, ‘at having Quaker ideals insight to recognise a disciple under all disguises’. The presented from… a woman’s everyday standpoint’. other passage was the one I eventually made a poetic But, as befits the history of the Quaker movement, paraphrase of and set to music under the title ‘Meeting there is little in her lecture that points directly to the for Worship’. My paraphrase begins, ‘for each and female experience or sensibility. all, we need silence and stillness; for each and all, the atmosphere of waiting souls. It is not the hush before This lecture, she said, attempts to ‘show clearly the the storm, when no leaf moves no twig dares to stir.’ intimate connection of religion and ordinary affairs.’ She continued: ‘Quakerism is nothing unless it is Later I found a copy of the lecture and have a communion of life, a practical showing that the recently explored the whole text. And what a text! spiritual and material spheres are not divided, but are Truly an impassioned piece of writing that carries as the concave and the convex sides of one whole, and in it something of the timeless mysticism so often that the one is found in and through the other.’ associated with our seventeenth century Quaker forebears. In exploring the idea of a Communion of It was just such language that drew me first to this Life, Mary Fry sets out several tenets of the Quaker social activist, pioneer vegetarian, biblical scholar, experience: a body of men and women for whom prison chaplain to conscientious objectors and worship is part of living and to whom the whole of organiser of food aid to Germany in 1919. I was life is sacramental. She begins by stressing that for life searching through an anthology of Quaker writings to be such a communion, religion rather than ideals and testimony for words that might amplify the is essential to lead us to knowledge of the presence essential nature of The Society of Friends, looking for a beyond ourselves. She tackles the difference between way to share my recent membership with my Christian individuality and personality, the latter being ‘the sum colleagues for whom Quakers are just those people of one’s relationships’. She cleverly avoids the word- ‘concerned about peace and who worship in silence’. label ‘church, ’ referring instead to a ‘communion of

12 the Friend, 17 December 2010 souls’. She calls creeds ‘indicators of the beaten track that cannot be a guideposts to undiscovered truths’. She is quite unafraid to embed the emphatic teaching and example of the Eternal Christ in so much of what she says of ‘ how teaching can be adapted to the conditions of modern thought’. The reader is often reminded of how, as today, science continually challenges our relationship with nature.

A discussion of and concern for worship takes up nearly half the lecture. She regards worship as where a consciousness can be created to get into ‘right relations’ with ‘the world of things’. It must teach the sacrament of nature. ‘Friends’, she says, ‘take the simplest and most everyday basis, so, to ensure the communion through personalities, they use the barest of means’. Then, as mentioned earlier, an extensive reflection of the Quakers’ chosen form of worship, the silent Meeting where silence ought to be social, ‘a door into a larger life’.

Finally, worship as adoration, the real stuff of Quaker mysticism found in the writings of (a near contemporary), is discussed in conclusion. This is full of language that is rare in Quaker writing (that I’m aware of anyway). Immanence, incarnation, the infinitely intimate sits side by side with Fry’s own special additions to Quaker vocabulary, such as thought-harmony and the Divine Self-Giver. Joan Mary Fry. Photo courtesy Friends House Library. What I find so refreshing in celebrating this lecture’s centenary is its complete lack of the anecdotal, so often the starting point of any expression I believe it is of real value to our earthly life to have of faith. I do find what passes for writing about the next life in mind, because if we shut it out of our spirituality today can often be cursed with the thoughts we are starving part of our spiritual nature inconsequential personal experience, rather than the – we are like children who fail to grow up – none the creative imagination employed in this lecture. finer children for that. Not only do we miss much joy in the earthly life if we imagine it to be the whole of I reckoned the other day (and succumbing to our existence, but we arrive on the further shore with anecdote) that I was only one handshake away from no knowledge of the language of the new country where Joan Mary Fry, in that I knew her cousin’s wife in my we shall find ourselves unfitted for the larger life of teenage years. Because of my fascination then with all the spirit. George Fox urged Friends to ‘take care of things Bloomsbury (Roger Fry the artist and founder God’s glory’. That is a motto for all spheres known and of the Omega Workshops was Mary’s brother) I do unknown. relate to what seems to be a pre-echo of Christian existential thinking so present in this lecture.

Last summer, in trying to offer words of support about a colleague’s bereavement, I found myself saying I thought Friends seem pretty good on the business Nigel Morgan’s musical setting of an extract of Joan of living, not so forthcoming about dying. I wish I’d Mary Fry’s Swarthmore Lecture is available from had this text, Mary Fry’s final letter before her death http://bit.ly/joanmaryfry. The world premiere was given in 1955, and her only contribution to Quaker faith & in 2009 at Brigflatts Meeting House in by the practice: soprano Alice Fox and the composer.

the Friend, 17 December 2010 13 books ‘It’s the rich what gets the money…’

ome newspaper articles have recently referred reading The Debt Generation I would have said that the to the growth in the number of the world’s funniest and most entertaining book on the financial Spopulation going hungry, one article quoting a crisis was Whoops! by John Lanchester. Now I think that United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation particular prize must go to David Malone’s work. official to the effect that for the first time in history more than 1,000,000,000 people would be going to The strengths of the book, however, are also its bed hungry that night. The explanation given was weaknesses. The reason for this apparent paradox that this was due not to food shortages but to price is that it is possible to judge such a work according increases caused by speculators who have moved into to different criteria. If the criteria are intelligent food and commodities markets since the tightening committed commentary, entertainment and education up of regulatory control in financial markets after the then this is a good book; but if what you require recent financial crisis of 2008. is a balanced judgement of why the meltdown in the banking system occurred then this is not the The background to this appalling situation is laid book for you. Commitment and balance, it seems, out in The Debt Generation by David Malone, based are not possible in the same work. Commitment, it on David’s blogposts on the financial section of the would appear, requires both a one-sided treatment Guardian’s website. David is a Quaker who worships (by definition) and a broad-brush approach that at Scarborough Meeting and is best known as an covers over the nuances. An example is the treatment independent filmmaker. His output for television of economics and economists on page 6. Here all comprises some of the most intelligent programmes economics and all economists are dealt with in the seen in recent years. The films best known to same deprecatory manner. Having trained as an Friends are probably ‘Testing God’, ‘Soul Searching’ economist, and having taught economics and political and ‘Dangerous Knowledge’. However, this book economy all my working life, I find this more than a shows a keen grasp of the economic and financial bit galling. aspects of our world and the realities that lie behind them. It articulates, in coruscating, colourful and Despite its having the effect of raising my personal sometimes downright scatological prose, his reaction hackles, I still think that this work is intelligent, funny, to the operations of the financial establishment informative and committed. It is committed on the as the financial crisis began and unfolded and to side of us, the poor and the weak. The plot is quite the responses of politicians to these events. It also simple and there is no need to go to the last page articulates my personal reaction to the effects of the to find out who done it: it was the bankers and the financial establishment on the food budgets of the politicians. Paraphrasing the words of the old song, world’s poor in ways I could not aspire to. ‘It’s the rich wot gets the money, it’s the poor wot gets to pay.’ This is an impassioned, day-to-day, response to the news as it unfolded, not an analysis after the event Eric Rigby in the cold light of day. Nevertheless, David takes time to explain the arcane operations of the world of The Debt Generation by David Malone. Level Press. finance and to show how they contributed to the final ISBN 978 0 9566902 0 3. £9.99. meltdown. If anyone without a knowledge of these financial operations wants a book that would educate The book is available from www.debtgeneration.org. and enlighten them without boring their pants off, David Malone’s finance blog is http://golemxiv-credo. I would unhesitatingly recommend this one. Before blogspot.com.

14 the Friend, 17 December 2010 [email protected] Eye

Snow news Unusual newcomer

WHAT DO TEENAGERS, where Audrey Hills lives, get up to when schools are closed? ‘There’s hope for the world yet,’ Audrey tells Eye.

Photo: John Hall.

THE PEREGRINE FALCON has been spotted again in Photo: Audrey Hills. the car park at Bradford-on-Avon Meeting House. Eye wonders how long it will be before the bird is brave enough to come in for Meeting for Worship. How Friends will cope when their guest brings raw pigeon The Light shines to the bring-and-share lunch remains to be seen. MIC MORGAN (‘Who said that?’, 3 December) was quoting George Fox who, I suspect, was quoting James Many pretty wishes 5:12, says Vernon Griffiths. The quotation is similar GERARD BENSON was browsing Samuel Pepys’s to, but not quite the same as, Matthew 5:37 – though Diary and came across the following entry (for 14 both are in the context of not swearing oaths. That November 1666): they should not swear oaths was clearly a concern to ‘Dr Croone told me that at the meeting at Gresham early Christians – and became so to early Quakers College tonight… there was a pretty experiment, versed as they were in the Bible. ‘Hallelujah’ for Nicola of the blood of one dogg let out… into the body of James’ letter (3 December) says Vernon, ‘we do need another on one side, while all his own run out on the to be more aware of the biblical inspiration found by other side. The first died upon the place, and the other early Friends!’ very well, and likely to do well. This did give occasion to many pretty wishes, as of the blood of a Quaker to be let into an archbishop, and such like.’ Christian qualities Check Friend! A FRIEND has sent in the following passage written WHAT WOULD a Quaker chess set look like? Andy by G M Trevelyan in English Social History (Longmans, Beck came up with: 1945 edition): ‘king – clerk; ‘The finer essence of George Fox’s queer teaching, queen – treasurer (we know who holds the real common to the excited revivalists who were his first power); disciples, and to the “quiet” Friends of later times, bishops would have to be elders, whereas overseers are was surely this – that Christian qualities matter much our knights in shining armour; more than Christian dogmas. No Church or sect had castles – Meeting house wardens; and ever made that its living rule before. To maintain pawns – us lowly worshippers!’ the Christian quality in the world of business and domestic life, and to maintain it without pretension or hypocrisy, was the great achievement of these extraordinary people. England may well be proud of having produced and perpetuated them. The Puritan pot had boiled over, with much heat and fury; when it had cooled and been poured away, this precious sediment was left at the bottom.’ Photo: eivindw/flickr CC.

the Friend, 17 December 2010 15 Ad pages 17 Dec 13/12/10 20:23 Page 2

Love and strong wishes for Quaker Concern for Animals Christmas and the New Year from wishes all Friends a happy Christmas Anne and Godric Scott Bader . and peace on earth to all God’s creatures. To join QCA, receive updates Margaret Burch sends loving greetings on animal welfare issues and our to all who know her. Problems with Newsletter, contact Marian Hussenbux, sight and arthritis make individual 0151 677 7680, or mhussenbux@btin- cards difficult, but I hope to see you in Grainger & Platt Accountants of Carlisle ternet.com www.quaker-animals.org.uk Canterbury. Abbeyfield House, send our warmest Christmas Greetings The Hawthorns, Banbury OX16 9FA. to Friends everywhere with best wishes Loving greetings to all our Friends, 01295 269510. for the New Year. Richard Platt 01228 FiRs, RFs and ‘Friend’ly subscribers 521286. www.grainger-platt.co.uk wherever you may be. 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Greetings from F/friends; from Newcastle and Dresden. David Edwards Insurance Brokers James Taylor & Son,bespoke shoe- send warm Christmas and New Year The Leaveners, Quaker Community Arts, makers since 1857. 4 Paddington Street, greetings to our many Quaker clients. wishes all supporters, trusts ,donors, London W1U 5QE. Tel. 020 7935 4149. We are delighted to serve many participants and volunteers a Happy www.taylormadeshoes.co.uk Meetings and charities and thank you Christmas and New Year. Thank you to Good soles all. for your support. David Edwards, the all those who have supported our appeal Jack Unite of Wincanton Meeting specialist church and charity broker, and to those who have continued to (and, as always, Marjorie) send 01564 730900. [email protected] support us throughout the years. To warmest Christmas Greetings to all find out more about The Leaveners or Jill and David Firth wish a year of their friends in the Quaker Family, receive our newsletter contact Paul Levy especially surviving Spicelanders. May hope to all Friends and blessings on on 0121 414 0099 or [email protected] the Friend and all who sail in her. God’s Love pervade the months ahead. or find us at: www.leaveners.org and Nil desperandum. Elizabeth Fowler sends loving www.facebook.com/TheLeaveners Beatrice Watson, now at Abbeyfield, Christmas Greetings to f/Friends here Living Furniture thanks all its clients and world-wide. May we support and Ivybridge PL21 0AZ, sends Christmas and wishes them the best for the and New Year Greetings to my many cherish one another in the joys and holidays and the new year. possible miseries in 2011. 112 Handside friends. Peace and Blessings. With Love. Lane, Welwyn Garden City AL8 6SZ. Plain Quakers thank all Friends and Elspeth Wollen sends very best wishes meetings who have hosted ‘On Human FWCC is grateful for Friends’ for Christmas and New Year to all her Folly’ since 2008. Seasonal Greetings friends. She looks forward to renewing generosity to support our work for the from Mike and Arthur, who hope to see 2012 World Conference and the Global contact with many people at Yearly you with a new presentation in 2011. Meeting Gathering in Canterbury. Change consultation. You make a [email protected] difference! Best wishes to all in 2011. Christmas greetings and wishes for an In the Spirit of the holydays, Nancy The Directors and staff of The Priory inspiring and fruitful new year from Irving, Harry Albright, Cathy Rooms conference centre send greetings Woodbrooke staff, volunteers and Rowlands, Kim Bond, Mary Dobbing, from our “Oasis of Calm in the Heart trustees! We send news that our director, Sahra Haji, Brian Odell – World Office of Birmingham” to Friends everywhere. Sandra Berry, has begun her tenure and staff and volunteer. www.theprioryrooms.co.uk we have bid a fond and heartfelt Telephone 0121 236 2317. Margaret (Maggie) Glover, in quaking farewell to Jennifer Barraclough. We Christchurch, NZ, will be remembering The British Committee of QCEA send would like to thank you all for your this Christmas dear British Ffriends in greetings to Friends throughout Europe support in 2010 and we look forward Reading, Wandsworth and elsewhere. and beyond. We invite you to our to welcoming you on a retreat, course We are still getting large after-shocks, conference in York on 5 March 2011 or visit in 2011. so it is good to know you are all and our June EU trip. More details grounded on terra firma, physically www.qceabc.org.uk or email: And finally, warm greetings to all our and spiritually! 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Friends&Meetings Births Golden weddings Changes of clerk

Aiden Peter PRINGLE 8 December Roger STURGE (son of Paul and ACOMB LM (YORK) to Jerry Pringle and Danielle Kirby. Rachel Sturge) and Hilda ECROYD From 1 January clerk: Gill Bocock, 8 Tempest Mews, Bracknell (daughter of Henry and Else Ecroyd) 2 Jedwell Close, New Earswick, York RG12 3LZ. Brother for Isla Rose. were married on 10 December 1960 YO32 4DQ. Tel. 01904 769563. Third grandchild for Yve and Dave at Croydon . Kirby. Eighth grandchild for Roland Members of Redland Meeting, and Trish Carn. Bristol since 1968. Diary

Deaths Changes to meeting FOUNDATION. Towards Therapeutic Quakerism. Introductory training day for forth- Jim BADMAN 6 December. BERKHAMSTED LM There will be no Meeting for Worship on Sunday coming intensive training courses in Husband of Judith, father of Fran. Emotion Education. Bob Johnson Poet. Member of Street Meeting. 26 December. Visitors welcome at all other times: 10.30am 2nd and and others. Donations welcome. Aged 77. Funeral at Street FMH 2-5pm, Saturday 8 January. Friends 2.30pm Saturday 18 December. last Sunday each month. FMH, 289 High Street, Berkhamsted. House, Euston Road, London. Apply: Enquiries judith.badman1@ [email protected] homecall.co.uk or 01458 272275. Enquiries 01442 878240. FROME LM will not meet in the OUTDOOR MEETING FOR Joyce GOSS 12 December. WORSHIP Speakers Corner, Marble At Swarthmore Residential Home, Key Centre on 26 December or 2 January. MfW will be in a local Arch,London. Sunday 26 December, Gerrards Cross. Formerly of Golders 2-2.45pm, and on the last Sunday Green and Redland Meetings. Friend’s house. Call 07970 926630 or 01373 451544 for further details. of each month in 2011. Come and Aged 96. join other London Quakers! Details from Jez Smith, tel. 07915 407344. Marjorie MALAIPERUMAN TUNBRIDGE WELLS LM 1 December, peacefully after a brief From 2 January we will begin illness. Mother of David, John and Sunday Meeting for Worship at the Meeting up Catherine. Grandmother of eight; new time of 10.30am. Enquiries Great-grandmother of four. Former 01892 888373. WEST SUSSEX. Unattached woman member of Friends House Meeting. (45) would like to meet unattached Aged 99. Donations to Britain Yearly Notices on this page man of similar age, with sense of Meeting: www.justgiving.com/ Friends & Meetings notices should humour and spiritual openness, for Malaiperuman preferably be prepaid. Personal friendship and to share interests entries (births, marriages, deaths, (walking, gardens, music, cinema). Nancy ROBERTSHAW 3 December. anniversaries, changes of address, etc.) From 4 January 2011: £17.20 Replies please Box 935, c/o The Member of Preston Patrick LM, Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Cumbria, formerly of Jordans and incl. vat at 20%. Meeting and char- ity notices (changes of clerk, new Keighley BD20 8LL. Yealand Meetings. Aged 87. Funeral wardens, alterations to meeting, 2pm Monday 20 December diary, etc.) £14.34 zero rated for Check the ads every week in the Friend! Lancaster & Morecambe vat. Max. 35 words. 3 Diary or Crematorium. Possible memorial Meeting up entries £39.80 meeting at a later date. (£33.18); 6 entries £67.40 (£56.16). Add £1.70 for a copy of the issue with your notice. Cheques payable Mabel TWITTEY 3 December, to The Friend. peacefully at Woodlands Quaker Entries are accepted at the editor’s Home, Wolverhampton. Aged 95. discretion in a standard house style. Cremation at Bushbury A gentle discipline will be exerted to Marketing & Sales Crematorium, Wolverhampton maintain a simplicity of style and Co-ordinator 2.30pm Tuesday 21 December. wording which excludes terms of Previously of Selly Oak Meeting. endearment and words of tribute. Required by the Priory Rooms Meeting & Conference Centre in Donations: Altzheimer's Society. Deadline usually Monday morning. The Friend, 54a Main Street, Birmingham city centre. £19,000. Cononley Keighley BD20 8LL Closing date 11 January 2011. STAY IN TOUCH - put all your family Tel: 01535 630230. Further details: 0121 236 2317 or announcements in the Friend! Email: [email protected] see www.theprioryrooms.co.uk

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HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF BEING A BOARD MEMBER? Quaker House New Milton (Hampshire) Residential Care Home Board member(s) and Board Secretary required Being a Board Member is an incredibly important role and a Swarthmoor Hall good way to make a significant difference to our business. As a Events Programme 2011 respected and responsible role, it is also a great way to develop new In 1652 Country the cradle of Quakerism skills and it is a good way to get A place of spiritual challenge involved in supporting your community. 11-13 March Banner & Flag Making with Jean Povey Board Members do not receive a 18-20 March Membership Weekend with Quaker LIfe remuneration, we are a not for Outreach Network profit organization registered with charitable status - we aim to keep 25-27 March 17th Century Clothes making with Jo Poole our fees as low as possible. 15-17 April Experiment with Light with the EwL Network Reasonable travel expenses paid. 26-28 April Birds of Morecambe Bay with Roy Adams The Role: Support the Management Board to 13-15 May Enquirer’s Weekend with Quaker Life oversee the quality service delivery Outreach Network to 40 older residents through 20-22 May Nurturing Spirituality with Alex Wildwood effective participation at Board Meetings (9 per year). 1-5 June Spiritual Discernment Retreat with Meg Dixon Ensure the service continues to 6-9 June 1652 Experience in Fox's Footsteps operate within the legislative 8-10 July Experiment with Light with the EwL Network requirements of a residential care home. 15-17 July The ‘o’ of Home with Jennifer Kavanagh We also welcome applicants who 8-11 August Young Peoples' 1652 Experience in are interested in supporting a Fox's Footsteps sub committee to enable us to undertake specific projects. 15-18 August. 1652 Experience in Fox's Footsteps The Person: 16-18 Sept. Experiment with Light 2 with the EwL Network Commitment to the ethos, values 23-26 Sept. Journaling Retreat with Judith Smith & Meg Dixon and independence of Quaker House. 30 Sept. - Becoming Friends Companions with Ginny Wall Willing to use your knowledge, 2 October skills and professional expertise to support the current Board of 7-9 October 17th Century Clothes Making with Jo Poole Management to develop the 11-13 Nov. Enquirer’s Weekend with Quaker Life services we provide. Outreach Network For an informal discussion please contact either: Please see our website or contact us for more information. Anthony Woolhouse (chair) Web: www.swarthmoorhall.co.uk on 01425 618560 Email: [email protected] Tel: 01229 583204 Paul Abbott (Registered Manager) Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 0JQ on 01425 617656.