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News 4 Mental health, safeguarding and more Rebecca Hardy

Letters 6

Get the message 8 On the side of the angels Sue Glover Frykman

Thought for the week 9 Flower power Jonathan Doering

Generous to a fault 10 Power and self-care Brendan Caulfield-James

Blind faith 12 Freedom through forgiveness Michael Crossland

Social climbing 13 On kinship Abigail Maxwell

Seeing Iris 14 A profound Quakerly thinker? Jonathan Wooding

Review 16 Difficult Questions About Population Margaret Matthews

Review 17 The Plots Against Hitler Reg Naulty

Friends & Meetings 18

‘There is much work to be done which is not paid, but which is vital, desperately undervalued and undertaken to a large extent by women… We should not regard voluntary work as of less value because it is unpaid and the rewards intangible, nor should we exploit the goodwill of volunteers…’

Jane Stokes, 1992

From Quaker faith & practice 23.64 The sessions are paid for twenty-five years, held News by the Quaker Mental in the library in Friends Health Fund as a response House. [email protected] to the pandemic. Red Snapper concluded: Friends can join Quaker there were no high-risk Voices on Mental Health cases; twenty-five cases by emailing quakervoices need to remain open and Quakers set up mental number of people who [email protected]. monitored; 139 cases can health group report “above threshold” be closed. Friends have formed a levels of psychiatric Safeguarding concerns Mark Mitchell, interim national mental health symptoms’. In total, they spark review safeguarding officer for group in response to the say about a quarter of the Safeguarding consultants BYM, said: ‘This was a challenges caused by population is suffering, have concluded that thorough review of both the pandemic. Seventy- with ‘the majority of the there are no high-risk historic and more recent seven people attended the population (56.5% in cases needing further cases carried out by second meeting of the the case of anxiety and investigation at Britain experienced safeguarding Quaker Voices on Mental depression) showing no (BYM), consultants. It is gratifying Health group online on 30 evidence of mental illness after thoroughly reviewing to note that out of the 162 January. at any time’. historic safeguarding cases reviewed, none was Alison Mitchell, mental Alison Mitchell said folders. considered “high-risk”, health development officer that, at the Quaker The review was meaning that incidents at The Retreat in York, Voices on Mental Health prompted by a were effectively managed told the Friend: ‘Mental meeting, Friends ‘talked whistleblower raising and the children and/or health is a key issue in a about their feelings of concerns about aspects vulnerable adults involved pandemic and we came isolation, of feeling more of safeguarding practice are not at risk of harm. together bringing our anxious, of not being able in BYM and in local Quakers will not see this own frailties and sorrows. to do the things or see the Quaker Meetings. BYM as cause for complacency We held each other in people that usually give said that the concerns however; across the the light, listening and them comfort. People were taken seriously and UK we are continuing [email protected] learning and sharing.’ talked about the constant a review commissioned. to review and improve The Covid-19 pandemic worry, the uncertainty of This was not in response safeguarding practices to has placed a large strain not knowing what will to any particular incident build on this solid past on people’s mental happen next, the low-level or disclosure. It stressed: performance.’ health, with some reports anxiety and stress seen in ‘Quakers are committed In addition, Quakers suggesting that as many sleep difficulties, being to making sure everyone have contributed to the as ten million people, more tetchy, in eating too is safe in the Quaker Independent Inquiry including 1.5 million much or not enough’. She community.’ into Child Sexual Abuse children, need new or added that many projects Paul Parker, recording (IICSA), which opened in additional mental health supported by the Quaker for BYM, said: ‘The 2015. support as a direct result Mental Health Fund have protection of children in In 2019 IICSA asked of the crisis. been suspended, ‘meaning our Meetings and of those Quakers in Britain to But a recent study Friends are less able to who come into contact make a statement for its reported in The Guardian engage actively in their with our worshipping investigation into religious last week suggested that communities’. communities, is driven organisations and settings. the figures have been More than eighty by our aspiration to build The request asked for overstated, with experts Friends have accessed six safe, loving, inclusive information about saying they have seen ‘an sessions of therapy at The all-age communities Quaker safeguarding overall reduction in the Retreat in York since June. where all are heard, policies, procedures and valued and supported. approaches, including We welcome the helpful cases of child sexual abuse WORDS recommendations for over the previous ten improving BYM practice, years. which are largely in Paul Parker affirmed ‘There remained an “ocean line with our existing Quakers’ intention Safeguarding Improvement to engage fully with of light and love” to be P l an .’ IICSA and to be open An external and cooperative. BYM glimpsed in the darkness.’ safeguarding agency, Red provided written Jane Mace on a meeting of the Snapper, reviewed 162 statements but was not Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network. case folders from the past called to give evidence

4 the Friend 19 February 2021 in person at the public I sat down on one of the NUMBERS hearing. benches and watched the The final report from rain dropping into the bird the IICSA’s investigation bath which has, carved is anticipated in 2021 and into the stone, “Let your Quakers expect to act on life speak”. 80 its recommendations. ‘I stayed awhile and thought of local Friends The number of Friends who had free sessions of therapy at Peace garden in Exeter who had touched the lives The Retreat, thanks to the Quaker Mental Health Fund. Exeter Meeting has created of Exeter Meeting now a peace garden funded by gone, including our dear of the climate crisis and glimpsed in the darkness’. a legacy left by late Friend Friend Christopher.’ strategies to influence Grace da Costa, BYM’s Christopher Holdsworth. change. The second public affairs and advocacy Quaker Ian Martin told North Wales citizens’ session will explore manager, who opened the Friend: ‘Many Friends forums communicating with the event on 23 January, may know of Christopher A Quaker-backed group politicians. described how the rise as a Swarthmore lecturer started by a local North The local MP Liz in inequalities has been and contributor to Quaker Wales Friend is organising Savill Roberts will also spurred on by increased faith & practice. The two online citizens’ forums be invited, as well as racist activity and the groundwork and paving to debate the climate crisis Gwynedd councillors. political far right. are now completed with and how Wales can move Frances Voelcker She said the pandemic a sculpture of flying birds to a greener, fairer society. told the Friend that has had an impact on new and bird bath by local Frances Voelcker, from she contacted the arrivals to this country, artist Zoe Singleton. Four Porthmadog Meeting Datblygiadau Egni with too many being held curved benches complete and coordinator of the Gwledig (DEG) rural in inhumane conditions, the scene, with planting to Build Back Better (BBB) energy development a massive backlog of cases come in the spring.’ group for Gweledigaeth group, which has secured to be sorted by the Home Robert Holdsworth, Wyrdd i Eifionydd & funding to run up to five Office and many having to Christopher’s son, who Llŷn (GWELL) told the forum-type climate events wait years for the official saw the garden via a video, Friend that the forums across North Wales from right to remain. said: ‘What a lovely spot will run on 20 and 27 March 2021. She also stressed for quiet contemplation in March for communities ‘I sent a letter to that coalitions and the middle of the city and in Meirionnydd to Gwynedd councillors organisations determined very much in the spirit consider ‘How can Dwyfor asking them to include to ‘build back better’ have of my father’s life living Meirionnydd Build Back climate change as part strengthened and said a as a Friend, seeking to Better and ensure a Green of their consideration of key question is: what is promote better peace and Recovery from Covid?’ tourism; and to set up, or the specifically Quaker understanding for all.’ The group, which to support the setting up, contribution we can make Bridget Oliver, clerk of includes other people of a citizens’ forum,’ she to these? Exeter Meeting, wrote: as well as Quakers, is said. She added that she According to Jane Mace, ‘Although surrounded organising the event as only received responses QARN members reported by buildings and not far well as local campaign from local members, and active links with many from a busy main road, group Hope for the her message was ignored of these groups, joining it is such a peaceful spot. Future. The group was by cabinet and chairs. petitions, briefings and conceived when North protests. The meeting Wales Area Meeting Asylum crisis grows also heard of QARN’s Quakers registered as a The inequalities facing own most recent leaflet, supporting group to the people seeking asylum campaigning for the BBB coalition. have got worse in the past lowering of exorbitant Eighteen people year, Friends heard at Home Office fees required gathered at an event the first open meeting of from those qualifying organised by the group on the Quaker Asylum and for discretionary leave to 15 January to discuss the Refugee Network (QARN) remain. plans, including Quakers in 2021. A new QARN/ from all parts of Wales Over thirty Friends came Woodbrooke online study and Southern Marches, together, where, according course starts in March on and representatives from to Jane Mace, from the ‘Understanding the roots other local groups. The QARN steering group, of the UK’s immigration first forum will consider ‘there remained an “ocean system and how to

Photo courtesy of Ian Martin the main local challenges of light and love” to be dismantle it’.

the Friend 19 February 2021 5 in the work has been perhaps

theFriend Letters the hardest part of the year for 173 Euston Road me, though it has enabled me London, NW1 2BJ to update my book on the work 020 7663 1010 there, to September 2020, to www.thefriend.org draw attention to the cruelties of The Friend welcomes your views, the UK policies, and to continue to [email protected]. Please Subscriptions supporting those ‘partakers of his keep letters short. We particularly UK £95 per year by all payment divine nature’. welcome contributions from types including annual direct Meanwhile there are dedicated children, written or illustrated. debit; monthly payment by groups on this side of the Channel direct debit £8; online only £74 Please include your full postal doing all they can to support per year. Contact Penny Dunn: address, even when sending refugees who have arrived here, 020 7663 1178 emails, along with your Meeting and to act as a counter culture to [email protected] name or other Quaker affiliation. this hostile environment. Anne M Jones In essentials unity, Advertising Friends House Meeting, London in non-essentials liberty, Contact George Penaluna: in all things charity. 01535 630230 Testimonies [email protected] I am struck by two letters in the Quiet undercurrent Friend recently. On the subject Editorial The issue of the Friend for 29 of testimonies to deceased Articles, images, correspondence January was especially thought Friends, I am in unity with the should be emailed to provoking and spiritual in very comments expressed by Gill [email protected] many differing ways. I especially Reid (4 December 2020), and or sent to the address above. felt connected with all the by Sila Collins-Walden (18 & contributors each in their unique 25 December 2020). I note that Editor subject matter, but in particular Quaker faith & practice (Qf&p) Joseph Jones Julianna Minihan drawing has only brief advice on this Journalist attention to Clodagh Grubb’s practice at 4.27. This mirrors Rebecca Hardy work on the intrinsic value of advice from previous Books of Production and office manager sewing, and Marilyn Upton’s call Discipline, in 1883, 1931-1951 Elinor Smallman for recognition of refugees. revision, and 1960. These are linked in my mind I would extend this concern Sub-editor because of all the many weeks I George Osgerby to the way in which we now was able to spend behind a sewing hold Memorial Meetings. It has Arts correspondent machine in Calais before March become the practice of other Rowena Loverance 2020. Christian churches to accept a Environment correspondent This often-tedious work was eulogy at funeral services, or a Laurie Michaelis essential in a place where refugees’ memorial service at a later date. Clerk of trustees sleeping bags and other essential We too have followed suit in this Lis Birch items regularly got ripped during practice. They are often full of police raids. Marilyn’s plea for many words, lavish praise like a ISSN: 0016-1268 ‘global mindful recognition of catalogue of achievements about what is happening in the world’ the deceased Friend. The Friend Publications Limited is happening in practice among I am not sure whether such is a registered charity, the hundreds of volunteers who spoken obituaries and eulogies are number 211649 work there, from all corners of the quite in the spirit of our former world, in a spirit that does indeed tradition, where we recorded and Printed by ‘leave a sweet savour behind’. spoke of our thankfulness for Warners Hostile forces are everywhere the grace of in the life of a Midlands Plc, both sides of the Channel, but deceased Friend. The Maltings, there remains the presence of this I, for one, do find it quite Manor Lane, quiet undercurrent of volunteers – daunting to hear, or read, of Bourne, all far younger than me of course, the worldly achievements of Lincolnshire due to Covid restrictions. success, including often privileged PE10 9PH Not being able to participate opportunities for education,

6 the Friend 19 February 2021 which some of us may not share. wonder if there may be others who of the letter takes issue with the I believe that the way we prepare share my sense of loss in these appointment of a Quaker legacy such testimonies, and hold circumstances. fundraiser as a form of ‘emotional Memorial Meetings now, is not in Nevertheless, I draw comfort bullying’ via ‘sophisticated begging’ accordance with our testimonies to from the wisdom and courage of and says that, in effect, charities equality and simplicity. Friends in Wells-next-the-Sea and should live within their means. I too appreciated the lovely to know that there is another way. Strong words indeed, but before testimony in the documents of Barbara Pensom we condemn those who are trying Yearly Meeting last year, to Rachel Charlbury Meeting, Oxfordshire to help others I would ask to clarify Smith; and the other testimony just two points. referred to, that to Annie Morris, Bereavement and isolation The first, that we should refrain in Qf&p 18.18, has long been a Louise Rendle’s article on from begging. What a wonderful favourite, along with the testimony isolation (1 January) reminded world it would be if every time we to Mary Ann Stokeley, Qf&p 18.14, me of Margery Still’s words on stretched out our hand in asking and also in the 1960 Book of bereavement in Quaker faith for alms a pound was placed upon Discipline. Ordinary, simple, loving & practice (22.81), that were a it. and caring lives, inspired by faith. challenge, guide and comfort to Sadly, it doesn’t work that way; Robin Hawes me nineteen years ago. we may ask many hundreds of Norfolk and Waveney Area She begins: ‘Loneliness after donors and only get a fraction Meeting loss is a bitter and unproductive of what we might need. And if fruit that generally has to be we didn’t ask, how would donors An alternative view eaten, skin, stone and all.’ A few know that we existed? If legacies I write to express my gratitude to lines later, her ministry continues: are a form of bequests willingly Friends in Wells-next-the-Sea and ‘...a cold, apparently comfortless, bestowed in recognition of services to Lee Coppack (22 January) for an independence has to be shaped to rendered (think of cancer charities alternative point of view. create a life of value’. She certainly or hospices), then how are we to Our Meeting house is sufficiently doesn’t hold her punches! ensure that our own charity might spacious and well-ventilated These bleak but wise words also be remembered? to cope with the exhalations of made me realise that while each To the second point on the half-dozen Friends meeting bereaved person has to experience ‘emotional bullying’. There are there recently for worship but, their journey alone, they travel the clear sets of guidelines and for technical reasons, it proved same road as every other widow or principles associated with asking impossible to arrange ‘blended’ widower. for legacies – some deal with legal worship and, as most Friends are Margery’s wisdom, though, issues associated with things like now sufficiently familiar with the carries us on to a more positive data protection while others are technology which they use readily place, out of the gloom into recommendations concerning how for work and other connections, a ‘sunlit uplands’, through growing approaches are made. decision was apparently taken to enlightenment ending, ‘The For instance, never approaching close the Meeting house. former sustenance was only fit for a family in times of crisis or It seems that, for several reasons, children, and has been replaced by vulnerability. The Institute of I am the only Friend unable to join helpings of insight appropriate to Fundraising offers an excellent other Friends for ‘screen worship’ your increased maturity’. course in this area but it is up to and my efforts to ‘unite spiritually’ I commend Quaker faith & senior managers and trustees to with the Zoomers from home have practice 22.81 to Friends, before or ensure that their charity operates not been successful. after bereavement, and join Louise within such guidelines with I write without rancour because in hoping we can all be tender with clear training, responsibility, personally Friends have been kind one another. transparency and accountability. to me but, as someone who has George Penaluna In the same way that we are found strength in worshipping Skipton Meeting, North Yorkshire reminded in 2 Corinthians 9:7 with others after the manner that ‘each one must give as he of Friends since childhood, I Legacies and gifts has decided in his heart, not feel a sense of exclusion and I am writing in response to the reluctantly or under compulsion’, bereavement. letter ‘Aspiration and achievement’ we as Quakers must be confident I also believe that availability of in the Friend of 29 January. I do that legacies and other gifts are information on a website is less so as a Quaker and as a trustee truly bestowed in this spirit. welcoming to a possible inquiring of a medium-sized Suffolk-based Colin Hopkins passer-by than an open door. I mental health charity. The author Woodbridge Meeting, Suffolk

the Friend 19 February 2021 7 n the BBC’s Trump: A president’s fall, a wildly gesticulating woman screams: ‘I hear a sound Get the message: Sue of victory, I hear shouting and singing in the corridors of heaven. Victory, victory, victory… Glover Frykman is on Angels are being released right now, angels are being dispatched right now.’ My initial reaction the side of the angels was to wonder what the angels themselves would make of it because, in my experience, screaming like that doesn’t reflect how angels communicate, nor the messages they carry. ‘It pleases me to learn In the world’s different religions, angels are mostly referred to as the messengers of God – mediators of light, Ilove, truth and healing who can lead us to our highest that angels are no good. These aspects also reflect our deepest beliefs as Quakers, as humans. Angels carry messages from God, longer being edited out make them manifest to humans, transmit the Light of God/ Great Spirit/Source, and carry out the divine will. of the narrative.’ Angels were once edited out of manuscripts and images. Many feared that they would be worshipped as powers or entities. Early Friends did not overtly refer to them in their writings or ministry, probably because after the Reformation angels were not openly discussed. But Friends did talk and write openly about the Light within, love, truth and integrity, calling themselves Children of the Light and Friends of Truth. Theirs was a ‘return to the source’ theology based on beliefs about divine will, truth, peace, equality, simplicity, integrity, community, stewardship and unity. Even if they did not overtly talk about angels, they captured and reflected their essence and messages. Advices & queries encourages us to heed the promptings of love and truth. To be open to the healing power of God’s love. Cherish that of God within us. Deepen our awareness of the divine and find the inward source of our strength. Hold ourselves and others in the Light. Find joy in service and use our gifts to the full. Be truthful in all we say and do. Be unafraid of taking unpopular stands. Show consideration for all creatures, maintain the beauty and variety of the world, and rejoice in creation. It pleases me to learn that angels are no longer being edited out of the narrative, even among Quakers. Thanks to Laura Newbury’s An Angels’ Guide to Working with the Power of Light, and participating in Laura’s online angel prayer gatherings, I am discovering, experientially, that we can open ourselves more fully to these things. As angels operate at a spiritual level, we need to tune in there to connect with them. They encourage us to trust our hearts, walk in and radiate the Light, speak our truth, follow what we truly believe, listen to our inner guidance, find a deeper truth, support each other in prayer, let love flow, keep our sense of wonderment and adventure, and let go of fear. I am also learning that the brighter we shine, the more likely we are to attract these messengers of Light and reach our full potential – the person that God intends us to be. Angels do not scream victory, nor are they released to right wrongs. They work and speak quietly and only come when they are called. I have heard it said that if God is the heart, angels are the heartbeats, the feathery wings of divine Light. Perhaps we have our own angel stories to tell? n

Photo by Ludovica Dri on Unsplash Ludovica Photo by Sue is from Sweden Yearly Meeting.

8 the Friend 19 February 2021 ast year was difficult for everyone in so many ways, and it’s not letting up Thought for the week: yet. Economic uncertainty, clashes over the important Black Lives Jonathan Doering’s Matter movement, Covid and a bitter presidential election are just some of the images swirling in my brain. flower power My family and I have to move during this complicated time, when all we want to do is stay put in our lovely community. Nevertheless Monika, my wife, has served her Anglican ‘New moves old over, curacy and is obliged to find a new post. After a year Lof job hunting, she has secured a chaplaincy position and marches on.’ an hour from our current home. We’re delighted with the opportunity, yet also sorry to be saying goodbye. Meanwhile hunting for a job for me, a house and school places are the order of the day. Last Sunday, we went for a walk around our village, and Monika spotted a snowdrop peeping up in a garden. I was transported back thirty-five years to when I was ten, living with my family in Scotland. The beautiful borders region was ‘Fragile, resilient a stone’s throw from our home, and I’ve carried that specks of beauty, rich region of moors, forests promising joy.’ and pathways with me ever since. I remember driving to a spot that my mother had heard about. Standing on the edge of a Grimm’s forest, my memory touches it with mist; the air is frosty-clear, changing nostrils into burning rings at every breath. As I peered into that forest’s mouth, full of impressionistic brush strokes of chocolate and leather brown, black and Sherwood green, my mother delightedly pointed to a snowdrop cluster, sitting as if scattered there just for us. It was in primary school that I first heard the folk tale about snowdrops. After the Fall, God banished Adam and Eve from Eden, placing an angel with a flaming sword at the gate to prevent their return. But God also sent an invisible angel to accompany them. As they trudged into the world to face what was waiting for them, they wept bitterly. Their invisible angel blessed the tears, transforming them as they struck the ground into snowdrops: fragile, resilient specks of beauty, promising joy. Standing on the pavement in our village, with a sharp, electric adventure before us, we delighted in the new year’s first snowdrops. I noticed one tiny, insistent shoot spearing its way through a dead leaf. New moves old over, and marches on. 2021 holds an adventure for everyone, and right now it may feel chilly and exposed, but still there it is, waiting for us all. We continued our walk. Heading back home, we found another fistful of snowdrops in a neighbour’s garden. He was walking past and noticed our close attention to his flowerbed. When we explained he grinned, gave a thumbs-up, and continued into his house about his business. n

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash Photo by Jonathan is (for now) from Barnsley Meeting.

the Friend 19 February 2021 9 Generous to a fault: Volunteers need to exercise self-care and challenge power, says Brendan Caulfield-James ‘Power over others can become an obsession. Every other consideration takes a back seat.’

hen I told my totalitarian regimes, ancient and modern. It was the kind kinesiologist that of power that crucified Jesus. And it is the kind of power I was about to that is trashing the Earth today. go overseas to In the Beatitudes, Jesus proclaims a very different kind volunteer fulltime of power. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. at a Quaker centre, Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. he became quite Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. cross. It’s good These are the ones who inherit God’s Kingdom. Showing to give to others, the other cheek, walking the extra mile, and offering one’s he acknowledged, but not if it means forgetting to outer cloak as well as undergarment, all point to a caring give to oneself. Without this self-care, people can be use of power. The woman caught in adultery experienced vulnerable to exploitation, which often results in harm how compassion is more powerful than the letter of the Wto health and wellbeing. Many of his Quaker clients law. Early Quakers embedded this in their testimonies of had served as volunteers and were now turning to him simplicity, peace, integrity, justice and equality. for healing. At the time I did not take much notice of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution gives us an insight his remarks but I was soon to discover how pertinent into this kind of power. Having created the universe, the they were. I subsequently encountered volunteers who creator chose to share power with her beloved creation likened their experiences to modern slavery, vowing rather than dominate it. In Ask The Beasts, the theologian ‘never again’! Some even resigned their membership. Elizabeth Johnson writes: ‘As such unbounded love will do, An Australian Broadcasting Corporation podcast the Spirit of God unleashes autonomy in the beloved rather (May 2019) claimed that boards of charitable than seeking to control the other by any other form of organisations often attract people with big egos, power-over, even if benevolently exercised.’ She goes on to intent on promoting themselves. Those organisations, add that ‘The creative Spirit of God desires free partnership, which pay their directors, can be selective and tend not subservience’. It is partnership between creator and to perform more professionally. Others, which do creatures ‘that moves with extravagant divine generosity not have the luxury of financially rewarding their to create conditions that have enabled the biodiverse board members, pay the penalty of having to rely on community of life to become so interesting and beautiful’. whoever turns up. Therein lies the problem. The Quaker pastor Philip Gulley, himself a survivor Power over others can become an obsession. Every of abusive power, examines this issue in If the Church other consideration takes a back seat. Any means, fair Were Christian. In an early encounter with an elder who or foul, is rationalised to achieve the desired goal. It had clear designs on promoting herself, he recounts: ‘She is the kind of power that drove Herod to massacre bullied and intimidated the other elders, manipulating the innocents. It was the way the Romans brutally the Quaker process of discernment to get her way.’ He conquered and subdued their colonies. It is the kind warns that choosing to accommodate such behaviour of power manifest in all empires, dictatorships and for the sake of peace is far from harmless. ‘Not only does

10 the Friend 19 February 2021 Photo by rrawpixel.com from PxHere

abusive power harm the spiritual wellbeing of its targets, heavenly Father is compassionate’. For Phillip Gulley, it has a detrimental effect on those who wield it. Hunger a church that is Christian would radiate ‘compassion, for power diminishes our capacity for appropriate compassion, compassion!’ To most major religious humility, crippling our self-awareness, therefore making traditions this is central. The apostle Paul put it this transformation all the more difficult and unlikely.’ way: ‘For you were called to freedom, brothers and So consuming can this lust for power be that the sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity perpetrator loses all sense of proportion. ‘I don’t care if for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to only two people remain in the church. We must do it!’ is one another’ (Galatians 5:13). True compassion results an instance he cites of this addictive behaviour. It is not in an awareness of the common bond of mortality uncommon for such people and immortality we all share. The Body of Christ is an ‘When we to jeopardise themselves and extended community where each of us plays a vital role their projects rather than see in nurturing the wellbeing of all. empower others, control slip away from them. There is urgency in Gulley’s plea that ‘The sooner we empower According to David authoritarianism is challenged, the healthier the church ourselves.’ Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine will be. Delaying appropriate challenges to abuses of monk, the word ‘authority’ power only serves to reinforce the validity of the abuser was originally applied to those who possessed ‘a firm and his or her right to demean others’. We would do basis of knowing and acting’. As a consequence of this well to heed his warning. expertise, their power to command authority in their As one of the youngest animal species in the evolution specialised fields was acknowledged and respected. of our planet, we humans still struggle to find the right Authoritarianism, on the contrary, is the abuse of this balance in our relationships. The paradox is that when power. Elizabeth Johnson elaborates: ‘In controlling, we empower others, we empower ourselves. Healthy manipulative, fearful, narcissistic and egocentric relationships are those which are mutually enhancing. relations, one party seeks to gain advantage by bending Religious societies, such as Friends, gifted with their the other to his or her own will. The core integrity of profound spiritual insights, are well placed to show the the other is disrespected by ploys that tend to dominate.’ way in promoting such ‘respectful relationships’. Sadly, The test of true leadership and authority, Steindl- this is not always the case. As volunteers we can play Rast says, is the answer to the question ‘Does it build an important role in redressing this when we hold our others up or put them down?’ In Not in God’s Name: members to account. By insisting that our testimonies Confronting religious violence Jonathan Sacks writes: be honoured in practice, we bring them alive instead of ‘The answer to religious violence is probably to be treating them as idols over which to drool. Religious cant is found in religion itself, among those who understand no substitute for authenticity. Volunteers need to be more that religion gains influence when it renounces power.’ discerning about how they invest their time and talents. n Some scholars suggest a more accurate translation of Matthew 5:48 is ‘Be compassionate as your Brendan is from Reading Meeting.

the Friend 19 February 2021 11 problem with listening to Radio 4 as Blind faith: Michael you go to sleep is that you can hear something that jars you awake. This Crossland on a story happened when I heard a story that combined my interest in peace with of freedom through my work in visual impairment. Richard Moore grew up in Derry, forgiveness where his uncle was killed on Bloody Sunday. A few weeks later, aged ten, Richard was hit by a rubber bullet and blinded. ‘I remember vividly the His memoir Can I Give Him My Eyes? describes growing up in Northern Ireland. After plenty of entertaining anecdotes A(my favourite being when he was caught swearing in front first time I saw someone of a bishop, assuming his mate was lying about who was standing near them at a football match), Moore tells the of my own age who remarkable story I heard on the radio: how he met and forgave the soldier who shot him. The setting for this was severely visually memorable meeting was an inauspicious airport hotel, and Moore is aware of how mundane it would appear to a impaired in war.’ bystander: ‘What she saw was a man guiding a blind man into the restaurant where she worked and helping him into his seat. What she didn’t realise was that the man guiding the blind man was the person who had actually blinded him.’ Later that day he told an airport worker about the meeting, but was nonplussed by her reaction: “‘Remember that gentleman who brought me to you? Well, he was the guy who shot me.” I think at that point she must have thought she was guiding a complete lunatic, for she went silent and never asked me another question.’ Despite the inelegant post-exams headline in the Derry Journal (‘Rubber bullet victim does well’), Moore doesn’t portray himself as a victim, focusing on experiences like setting up a charity, support from church and family, and meeting the dalai lama and the pope. When I started working in an eye hospital in the 1990s, it was common for people to come to their appointments wearing regimental ties or medal ribbons, but I remember vividly the first time I saw someone of my own age who was severely visually impaired in war. ‘Denat’ (not his real name) almost died in an explosion in Kosovo. His face was pockmarked with tattoos marking spots where shrapnel embedded itself in his skin. The blast destroyed one of his eyes, and the other was heavily scarred. He had travelled across Europe, functionally blind, to seek asylum. I could help him a little: a special contact lens smoothed out the irregularities on his cornea, improving his sight so that he could read halfway down a sight chart. He was very grateful, but I remember being upset by his thanks. What had I done to try to stop the war? I was safe at university, ignoring the news from only 1,000 miles away. Denat told me he loved London, particularly the Thames. Like Richard Moore, he didn’t express anger to those who had blinded him and I was struck by his stoicism. As the dalai lama says in the foreword to Moore’s book: ‘Despite his own loss, he has found freedom through forgiveness. This is not only a blessing for Richard personally, but because of the example he sets for international relations, for the entire world. This is non-violence in action.’ n

Photo: Charles Inness (left) who shot Richard (right), who shot Richard Photo: Charles Inness (left) International Development courtesy of the Department for Michael is from Ealing Meeting.

12 the Friend 19 February 2021 n my love and laughter, joy and pain, I feel kinship with all my fellow humans.’ This Social climbing: is from a prayer at an interfaith gathering, recognising things all people of faith Abigail Maxwell value. It is beautiful. It was a Woodbrooke Meeting for Worship linked to Advices & queries 6: ‘Enter imaginatively into the life considers kinship and witness of other communities of faith.’ I started to wrestle with some potential ministry that I didn’t trust. Jesus says ‘the Holy Spirit will ‘I felt kinship with those teach you at that very hour what you ought to say’, but I feared my words would trigger people, so I didn’t speak. ‘IIt was this: I felt kinship with those attacking the Capitol. attacking the Capitol.’ Watching those rioters, while opposing their aims, I thought: ‘What a demonstration.’ At the nuclear bomb factory near Reading, the police kept the gates open. We failed to disrupt them, and I was frustrated. The Capitol rioters were having an effect. There was something in their energy like the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. When they livestreamed, I felt kinship because I am addicted to the dopamine from social media ‘likes’. Kinship to people is a truth Quakers can value. It is like a mountaineer’s spike hammered into rock, a sure foothold on the cliff-face. We need to climb above it, towards kinship to all humanity, including the difficult parts. I need to go higher, but the apparent solidity of my climber’s hammer seems to dissolve. Quakers can have difficulty with too much anger and pain. ‘I love you,’ said Trump, and the crowd chanted back: ‘We love you. We love you.’ Then he made a video telling them to go home, saying: ‘We love you. You’re very special.’ These are words every human longs to hear. Others say they should be prosecuted for terrorism, sedition or treason, suffering years in prison. Quaker faith & practice 22.40 is the testimony concerning Jessie Gadsden, who lived with her companion Mary Mills. They were a couple, but the passage coyly avoids stating that, saying ‘It was a partnership’ rather than ‘They were partners’. Now, we celebrate same-sex weddings. What are we still unable to say? If Donald Trump is Mr Hyde, Joseph Biden and Quakers are Dr Jekyll – not the good angel of humanity, but all humanity, light and shade. A Friend spoke of being taught to hate, in the 1950s. His schoolteacher would claim black people were dangerous. Fortunately, our Friend went to college and heard other voices. Another Friend said how generous his Trump-voting neighbours were, unless talking politics. Human, they experience love and laughter too. Bayard Rustin was beaten and did not resist, loving the man who beat him. I lack conviction because it is hard to see how my passionate intensity can be creative. Tearing down is so much easier. Yeats wrote of ‘passionate intensity’ before the Irish wars, in which thousands died. I know from experience that when my life is threatened, I surprise myself in what I will do to survive. Kinship with all humanity really means all, and all of ourselves. Can Friends be ‘inspired by love and anger’ together? n

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash Greg Rakozy Photo by Abigail is from North West London Area Meeting.

the Friend 19 February 2021 13 Iris Murdoch is best known for award-winning novels, but Jonathan Wooding says she was also a profound Quakerly thinker ‘If we don’t stand up for a particular intellectual tradition, Quakers will continue to be patronised as harmless.’

n the years since I became part of the thinking now: ‘Yes, we Quakers are on the right tracks; Society of Friends, no one has ever this speaks to our condition; we wait’. mentioned Iris Murdoch as representative Peter Whitfield’s Iris Murdoch: A guide to the novels of Quaker sensibility and thinking. In drew my attention to the comprehensive presentation that same period of time I’ve also become of characters who have taken leave of God in Murdoch’s convinced that our post-, novels, particularly The Philosopher’s Pupil, published post-fundamentalist condition is naturally in 1983. I found the connection to Quakerism in Peter Quaker, and is a reasonable contradiction Conradi’s biography of Murdoch, which outlines the of Sigmund Freud’s position that there’s no family background that enabled her to present such a future for ‘illusions’ of the religious sort. convincing, affirmative picture of Quaker ways in this We don’t have to see Quakerism as a ‘position’ novel’s fictional spa town, Ennistone. that needs defending or apologising for. But I for I should say that I was a philosopher’s pupil myself Ione would like to do such a thing. I fear that, if we once, to a firebrand college chaplain called Graham don’t stand up for a particular intellectual tradition, Shaw, whose excoriation of latent authoritarianism in Quakers will continue to be patronised as harmless, the New Testament couldn’t have provided a greater nice and quaint – an eccentric society of activists encouragement to beware of organised religion. His The rather than, as I see it, a percipient and pioneering Cost of Authority was also published in 1983 and, while challenge to irreligion and scientific atheism. I now devastating for any ecclesiastical types who dared to take believe Iris Murdoch represents a luminous example notice, he did have a modest proposal. After examining of much that we hold dear in that tradition. the apparently insuperable difficulties faced by creedal, What is odd is that I have spent at least twenty years organised religion, its inevitable dishonesty and division reading and re-reading Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a and hypocrisy, Shaw finishes with an affirmation of, yes, Guide to Morals and I still didn’t make the connection. Quakerism: ‘It is perhaps the Quakers who represent the Imagine you were in Meeting and a Friend rose to most straightforward path out of our difficulties. More deliver this: ‘In prayer we wait for God (for the spirit than any other denomination they exemplify in their and light of goodness) to be made manifest. One structures a critical and subversive understanding of image of prayer is the artist who, rejecting easy false the gospel: freedom from doctrinal preoccupations, an mediocre forms and hoping for the right thing, the awareness of the divisive impact of sacramental practice, best thing, waits. What is awaited is an illuminating the fostering of mutual rather than hierarchical relations, experience, some kind of certainty, a presence: a case and not least an absence of clergy.’ of human consciousness at its most highly textured. On the strength of The Philosopher’s Pupil, one might Of course, incoherent desperation can be prayer too.’ be forgiven for feeling that Iris Murdoch drew the same Might you wonder if this were a quotation from conclusion, and within the human laboratory of this novel’s Quaker faith & practice? Well, it’s Iris Murdoch, form, religious authorities are similarly put to the test. writing some time during the 1980s. I find myself Our guide is an anonymous narrator, who does his

14 the Friend 19 February 2021 Photo: Ida Kar/National Portrait Gallery

witty best to personify that impartial, ‘omniscient’ voice, crossfire, it is clear that, at some point in the past, he has with which nineteenth-century readers may have been fallen out with him, despite the philosopher’s evident more comfortable. He calls himself ‘N’ (for Nemo), and philosemitism. They see things differently. is judicious rather than judgemental – magnanimous None of the characters seems to believe in God, ‘but rather than moralistic. We find he’s an avid bridge the Ennistone Friends were not anxious about this player, wise to the games people play, an attender at matter. The Mystery of God was one with the Inner learned meetings, and an aficionado of Quaker ways. He Light of the , and the illumined Way was the Good is also Jewish, as are two other central characters – one Life, where truthful vision spontaneously prompted married to the novel’s protagonist, (who is, you might virtuous desire’. These are important words – as if Iris say, a lapsed Quaker), and a Murdoch, moral philosopher, were speaking through ‘Iris Murdoch Scott Joplin-loving ‘atheist her narrator, and summarising a conviction that priest’, who renounces underlies that other book she was writing in the 1980s, represents the Anglican church and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. a luminous becomes something of a This reader feels that such an understanding of prophet. The narrator is also, ‘the good life’ provides the key, too, to the novelist’s example of crucially, companion to ‘the method. As each character sees more or less clearly, much that we powerful widowed mother’ so that character is more or less happy. And so the hold dear.’ of a Quaker family, one of novel unfolds, each character desiring and loving other many characters who, N characters more or less appropriately, all facing the mischievously confides, is willing to ‘indulge in spiteful challenge of renewal of life. gossip’ – how else can we hope to attain omniscience! Friend and unofficial godfather to most of our While the philosopher of the novel’s title is from characters is the saintly William Eastcote, ‘pillar of a Methodist background (practising ‘a methodical the Friends’ Meeting House’ and the only person, sort of atheism’), his pupil is certainly from a Quaker amazingly, whose friendship our amoral philosopher, background. His discipleship to this master has led to and his sociopathic pupil, continue to value. At one spiritual crisis, rather than to (as was true in my own point a Quaker doctor who is ‘more attached to the case) more life. There are three, perhaps four, Quaker natural light of science than to the illumination from Meetings in the course of the novel – look out for which above’ even declares that William Eastcote was ‘not just characters attend! Our philosopher himself says: ‘I love a comforter but a living evidence of a religious truth’. your Quakerish Meeting and your Quakerish ways’ but I think Iris Murdoch speaks here too. Her novel it seems, alas, that he has sealed himself off in a kind convinces that such a condition remains possible, and of messianic approach to philosophy, and so concedes plausible. And our organised religion seems, for this that for him to attend Meeting ‘would be false’. Though philosopher, to have a future too. n our narrator closely observes the philosopher’s ongoing drama, and cares for those who are caught in its Jonathan is from Totnes Meeting.

the Friend 19 February 2021 15 uaker Concern Over Population Difficult Questions About (QCOP) was formed in 2015 and granted Quaker Recognised Body status in 2018. Its aim is Population, by Roger to remind Friends of the danger of population growth and to Plenty and other Quakers explore the means by which it can be addressed without coercion. The group hopes to Qencourage Friends to overcome their reticence about discussing this difficult but vital subject. Review by Margaret The handbook is a means to this end. In the introduction, Beth Allen points out that Quakers work Matthews for a sustainable planet, but that the world’s resources of water, food, fuel and space can scarcely support the current global population. Over-population, however, is still the elephant in the room when we are discussing the future of the human race. How can we help each other to understand it and to change the way we live? People find it difficult and divisive to talk about the subject, which arouses strong personal feelings. These feelings are explored in the twenty or so ‘difficult questions’ which form the basis of this book. Questions such as ‘Isn’t it a question of consumption, rather than population?’, ‘Is concern about over-population racist?’ and ‘Isn’t an only child a spoilt child?’ Some of the questions are unlikely ‘Over- to be voiced by Quakers but represent points of population is view held by many people. still the elephant Each question is given careful consideration and in the room.’ explanation, illustrated by quotations, charts and cartoons. There is a very clear graph showing projected population growth if present trends continue, if two-child families were to be the norm, or if one-child families were universal. Throughout the handbook QCOP is careful to emphasise that it is not telling people how many children they should have. It is providing information to enable people to make their own choices. The questions can be used for individual study or for group discussion. There is a comprehensive reading list. The book ends with a selection of quotations ranging from Aristotle (‘One would have thought that it was even more necessary to limit population than property… The neglect of this subject, which in existing states is so common, is a never-failing cause of poverty among the citizens; and poverty is the parent of both revolution and crime’) to Roger Martin, the former president of Population Matters (‘It’s no use reducing our carbon footprint, if we keep on increasing the number of feet’). I personally feel that this is a subject which all of us who are concerned about the health and wellbeing of future generations need to address, and this booklet is a good place to start. n

Margaret is from Southampton Meeting. The booklet can be read at http://qcop.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ difficultquestions.pdf, or contact QCOP for hard copies.

16 the Friend 19 February 2021 hen people learn that Quakers are pacifist, The Plots Against they commonly ask what we would have Hitler, by Danny done about Adolf Hitler, by which they mean, how would Orbach we have resisted him? It is instructive therefore, to find out how people living in Hitler’s regime Review by Reg Naulty did it. Such a question is given additional interest by our awareness of the fragility of democracy, which has been Wheightened by the presidency of Donald Trump, who showed how democracies can slide towards autocracy. Danny Orbach’s book reads like a thriller. The most spectacular of the forms of resistance against Hitler (but by no means the only ones) were attempts to kill him. The first of these was the work of one man, a carpenter, George Elser, who foresaw that Hitler’s policies would lead to war. He was gifted technically, and worked in a munitions factory and a quarry in order to familiarise himself with explosives. Hitler came to Munich every year to give a speech, and Elser put a bomb in a pillar just behind the podium. It went off as planned but Hitler left early and escaped. The second attempt was in 1943 when a bomb masterminded by Henning von Tresckow, a senior army officer radicalised by events he had witnessed in war- torn Poland, was put in a plane flying Hitler back from the Eastern Front. The bomb failed to go off, because its detonator malfunctioned. The third attempt was in July 1944 when Claus von Stauffenberg, another senior army officer, carried a bomb into Hitler’s briefing room. The bomb went off, but someone moved it with his foot beforehand, which diminished its effect on Hitler. Friends would not have participated in such plots, since we do not approve of assassination, but we would want to act, and it says something about religion that the chief instigators of these plots were all religious, some Protestant and some Catholic. A clue to a more acceptable form of resistance was given by the Abwehr (military intelligence), which, under the leadership of Wilhelm Canaris, sent four trainloads of Jews from Amsterdam to Spain in mid 1942. They had to cease this practice because it had become illegal and was expensive, which attracted the attention of the Gestapo. These attempts demonstrate that despite the great danger, there were people ready and willing to resist Hitler. So to the original question we can reply that we would have joined with others who were resisting him. These others had profound misgivings about the methods they found themselves driven to adopt. Alternatives which Friends might have had to offer would have interested them. Those who perished as a result of these adventures were brave idealists, deeply tormented in their last years on earth. One hopes that they now rest in peace. Danny Orbach tells their tragic story well. n

Reg is from Canberra Meeting, Australia.

the Friend 19 February 2021 17 Friends&Meetings Deaths Diary Nontheist Eileen FOWLER 1 February, CAN WAR BE ABOLISHED? Friends peacefully at Burley Hall Care Home. Britain’s Role in Working for World Network Wife of Quentin. Member of Rawdon Peace. Organised by Bristol Quakers, Meeting. Aged 76. Funeral 3.20pm four dialogues between Fabian Invites you to Wednesday 24 February, Skipton Hamilton, Labour MP and Shadow a monthly Crematorium. Numbers in chapel Minister for Peace and Disarmament, Meeting for very limited. Live-streaming and Paul Ingram, Quaker and Worship followed by available. Enquiries: quentin.fowler@ ex-Director of the British American Creative Conversation. outlook.com Security Information Council (BASIC). Four topics are: Nuclear Each meeting hopes to offer Daniel GRIFFITHS 5 February, disarmament; Britain’s role in the a different topic, shaking the peacefully at home. Husband of the world; British-American relations; Quaker kaleidoscope and late Sally Griffi ths, father of Dominic, What Quakers can do to promote perhaps shining a light on Victoria, Rebecca and Rhiannon. peace. Please register via different ways of looking at Member of Kirkbymoorside Meeting www.eventbrite.co.uk (search for title). our (more) traditional ideas. and previously a member of Milford By Zoom on the fi rst Thursday Haven Meeting. Aged 93. Private ONLINE TALK FROM THE of the month at 7.30pm UK cremation, due to CV19 lockdown MEDITATIO CENTRE: MIND time, starting on Thursday restrictions. Aft er lockdown a Me- MELDS SCIENCE AND SPIRIT 4 March. All are welcome. morial Meeting is planned at Kirkby- With Don MacGregor. Saturday More details are on the website: moorside Meeting House. Details to 13 March, 1–6pm. For details please www.nontheist-quakers.org.uk follow in Notices. No fl owers, how- email [email protected] or see ever donations in memory of Daniel www.meditatiocentrelondon.org/ Please email will support Amnesty International book-online [email protected] www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ to register. Daniel-Morgan-Griffi ths ONLINE FILM SHOWING AND A Quaker Recognised Body Q&A Saturday 27 February, 10.00- Notices 12.30. H is for Harry is a coming of age story about a charismatic REMEMBERING SOMEONE 11-year old who arrives at secondary Friends & Meetings SPECIAL Create an online tribute school unable to read or write. Join Personal entries (births, marriages, page to remember and celebrate the London Quakers for this inspiring deaths, anniversaries, changes of life of someone special. Share photos, fi lm, followed by Q&A and discus- address, Meeting up, etc.) charged sion on inequality/inclusion. at £41.50 incl. vat for up to 35 memories and stories with friends words and includes a copy of the and family. Find out more at Register with Eventbrite at: magazine. Meeting and charity www.quaker.org.uk/in-memory https://bit.ly/H4Harry notices, (Changes of clerk, new wardens, new Members, changes to meeting, etc.) £34.58 zero rated Keep in touch with Friends... for vat. Max. 35 words. Three entries £83 (£69.16 if zero rated); ...remember to put all your family notices in six entries £120 (£100 zero rated). 108mm DIARY NOTICES: £36 incl vat for the Friend! up to 35 words, £30 zero-rated. Three entries £72 incl vat, £60 zero-rated. 6 entries £108 incl. vat Quaker Voluntary Action £90 zero-rated. ‘Sharing our Service’ online retreat Deadline usually 12 noon Monday. February 25th, March 11th & 25th 7.30-9pm Entries accepted at the editor’s discretion in a standard house style. Join us online to explore how we can continue to A gentle discipline will be exerted 55mm create circles of transformation that grow through to maintain a simplicity of style and wording that excludes terms of self to community to the wider world. Free to participate. See endearment and words of tribute. https://qva.org.uk/news for further details and our ongoing Guidelines on request. programme. The Friend, 54a Main Street, Contact Simon via [email protected] / 07530 844611 to enquire Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Email: [email protected] and book your place. Tel. 01535 630230

18 the Friend 19 February 2021 Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Ad. Manager, The Friend, 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T 01535 630230 E [email protected] Classified ads Standard linage 63p a word, semi- How to Avoid a display 95p a word (rates incl. vat). Meeting and charity rates 52.5p and 79p a word respectively (zero-rated Climate Disaster: vat). Min. 12 words. Discounts: 10% The Solutions We Have and the on 5 insertions, 15% on 10 or more. Cheques to ‘The Friend’ or pay by Breakthroughs We Need bank transfer. Bill Gates Ad. Dept, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Email: [email protected] Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical Tel: 01535 630230 - and accessible - plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions for sale to let in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. & “Gates’ book is compulsively readable. CUMBRIA, ALLITHWAITE, near Cartmel His ambition was to ‘cut through the and Lake District National Park. Detached noise’ and give consumers better tools for 4-bed house, garage, outbuildings. Flower/ understanding what works, an ambition he meets admirably. It does vegetable garden plus mature orchard. more than that, however. Gates can get an audience with anyone, can Sittingroom with woodburner; Morecambe Bay views; electric heating; solar tubes to marshal almost limitless resources, and is dogged in the detail. The boost water heating. c.1ha. Railway station result - particularly in the wake of the Trump presidency - is thrilling.” 1 mile. £375,000. Contact: robinlemare@ Emma Brockes, The Guardian yahoo.com Penguin Books, February 2021. Hardback £20 post free. personal Entangled Life HOPING TO FIND A QUAKER COUNSELLOR for phone sessions. Please email me: Merlin Sheldrake [email protected] “The book reaches to the very heart of our global need for discussions around miscellaneous sustainability... Living adventurously, speaking truth however unwelcome, QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES and other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow sustainability, renewal and optimism are 01223 369776, [email protected] all themes in this book.” www.lizbarrow.co.uk Judith Mason, The Friend WRITING YOUR BOOK? Biography, Bodley Head, September 2020. family history, novel or non-fiction, let me Hardback £20 post free. help with layout, typesetting, printing. Photographs/images can be included. Free quotes. Leaflets/brochures also prepared. Trish: 01223 211155, Hester & Sophie [email protected] A novel for teenagers by John Lampen. Black “A lovely book, a unique book... lively and writing on every page.” Geoffrey Durham “I greatly enjoyed this book and would British definitely recommend it to anyone in Paperback £12.99 search of a good story...” post free. Send a Alice Hardy, cheque payable The Friend to The Friend to £8.50 incl. UK postage. The Friend, 54a Main St, Cononley To order copies of these books send a Keighley BD20 8LL. Or email your order to [email protected] cheque payable to The Friend to and pay by bank transfer (bank The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, details on ordering). Keighley BD20 8LL. Or email your name and address to Offer expires 31 March 2021. [email protected] and pay by bank transfer (bank details on order).

the Friend 19 February 2021 19 FREE ONLINE EVENTS

Mindfulness for wellbeing & resilience Mondays 8, 15 and 22 March 11:00-12:30

We’re hosting a free online mindfulness course, providing practical tools to help you improve your wellbeing and resilience. Many of you may be facing all sorts of challenges, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and all its knock-on effects. While we can’t solve these directly for you, we want to help you to support yourself through it.

These sessions are for supporters and professional partners, and also for individuals interested in our full six-week This Way Up mindfulness and life coaching programme, which is open to anyone on a low income.

Exploring financial education in schools: the role of the third sector Friday 12 March 11:00-12:00

Join us for a presentation from Rhiannon Byers, a volunteer with QSA, about her recent post- graduate research into the third sector’s delivery of financial education in English schools. Rhiannon’s talk will cover the policy and academic context, the research process, and her key findings. These include five themes that may be influencing charities’ practices, and the first map of the financial education policy network.

Responding to homelessness: pursuing your own path Wednesday 17 March 19:00-20:30

Quaker Homeless Action has joined Quaker Social Action as part of a planned merger. While we are very new to the field of homelessness, there are learnings from our research which we can share with others who may be considering a homelessness response themselves.

This event is for you if you are concerned about homelessness and considering, even if just tentatively, responding to homelessness as part of a Quaker meeting or other group. We hope this will be somewhere to gain inspiration and learn from others. We will be joined by a guest speaker, Rachel Woolf, founder of Street Storage, providing those experiencing homelessness with free, secure storage for their belongings.

Learn more and book: quakersocialaction.org.uk/events