21 February 2014 £1.70 the discover the contemporaryFriend quaker way the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 172 NO 8

3 Thought for the Week: Signs of hope ‘Early Friends testified to the truth that Craig Barnett had changed them by living their lives on the basis of that truth. The reality 4 News of their life (and of human life) shone 5 Patterns and examples through in their lives because they were Jane Pearn open to that reality and lived in harmony with it. Lives lived in the truth would 6-7 Structures and spaces then resonate with how other people Janet Quilley lived their lives and, more specifically, with the deep sense within them that 8-9 Letters they were not living well, not living 10-11 Saving the Meeting house rightly. When Friends spoke honestly and truthfully to people, when they dealt Stanley Holland with them as they really were, without 12-13 Sustainability series: pretence or projection, when they met The Canterbury commitment violence with nonviolence and hatred with love, people knew at some level they Laurie Michaelis were being confronted with the truth, 14-15 Be a good person whether they liked it or not.’ Eva Tucker Rex Ambler 16 Poetry: John ap John in ‘The prophetic message of Elaine Miles early Friends (and how it can be interpreted for today)’ 17 Friends & Meetings

Cover image: The firewatchers’ logbook from Bournville Meeting House. Photo: Ed Lee Photographer Limited. See pages 10-11.

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2 the Friend, 21 February 2014 Thought for the Week

Signs of hope

hen our daughter Moya was born we held a ‘welcoming’ celebration for her at home, reading out this passage from the prophet Isaiah:

W‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ (Isaiah 43:19)

For us, the birth of our first child was a sign of hope for the future, simply because her life was ‘a new thing’ – filled with utterly unpredictable potential for bringing beauty and joy and healing into the world. Hope is not the same as optimism. It does not mean believing that things will inevitably improve or anticipating the sudden disappearance of all our problems. Hope is also possible alongside a clear perception of the consequences of our own destructiveness and the persistence of violence and injustice. But an attitude of hope means an openness to the future, recognising that the future is not fixed in a mechanical, unrelenting pattern, because it will result from the actions of innumerable people, all of whom are capable of unpredictable acts of creativity and generosity. The Quaker movement was formed in a period when many people’s expectations of the future had been crushed by political events. Many early Friends had been deeply committed to the parliamentary cause during the English civil war. They lived through the failure of the Commonwealth government, Oliver Cromwell’s dictatorship and, finally, the restoration of the monarchy. Friends did not respond to the failure of their hopes and the re-imposition of political and religious absolutism by armed resistance, nor did they simply submit to the new restrictions on religious freedom. Instead, almost uniquely among the nonconformist sects of the time, they sustained a persistent, public commitment to living the Truth they had encountered, despite systematic and intense state persecution. , at this time, emphasised the power of ‘testimony’ – of living a life of utter integrity and faithfulness to ’s purposes – challenging and transforming situations of untruth and injustice. They experienced the reality that living an authentic human life, and maintaining a genuine human community, is a political act. Rex Ambler has described it as ‘lives lived in the truth’ (see page 2). This kind of influence may seem inadequate to the huge and urgent political challenges of our time. The influence of individuals and small groups on those around them is unlikely to save us from the long-term economic and ecological crises that we are preparing for ourselves and future generations. But however difficult the times our children will live through there will be some people who practice sharing and reconciliation, and some places where a more fully human life and community can flourish, because of the actions of people living now. This means that how we choose to live matters. It will shape the future for good or ill and affect the lives of people we may never meet or know about. It means trusting in our own capacity for new beginnings, that we are not trapped by our past or confined by our habits and compulsions, that something new can happen in our own lives. Rather than despairing or giving way to fatalism, can we be ready to recognise and encourage these signs of hope within and around us, to perceive the times and places where the Spirit is acting to ‘do a new thing’?

Craig Barnett Sheffield & Balby Area Meeting

the Friend, 21 February 2014 3 News reported by Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected] Lessons learned at Winchmore Hill Winchmore Hill Quakers have announced that work will begin this spring on renovations to their Grade II listed Meeting house. The news that work will start soon marks a significant success for local Friends and their fundraising campaign. Winchmore Quakers are keen

to share with other Friends and Meetings the lessons Photo courtesy of Stephen Cox. they have learned from their appeal. ‘Many people love the building but we needed to events. It is one of the reasons we’re pleased we’ve make it safer, more welcoming and more sustainable’ greatly expand the community use of the building… said Meeting fundraising clerk Stephen Cox. ‘We have ‘It is daunting to launch a campaign and if anyone subsidence – hence the slogan “We’re cracking up” – wants our “lessons learned” document to start their own decaying woodwork, and trip hazards in the grounds. thinking, please email [email protected]. We hadn’t run a fundraising appeal in living memory.’ ‘We’re really sorry that, due to serious unforeseen The fundraising campaign highlighted the historic circumstances, the Meeting has as yet not thanked some value of the site but also Quaker values and its use by individuals, trusts and Meetings for their generous the community. The Meeting used a mix of targeted support. We will do so, but please bear with us. written appeals and events like concerts. Stephen ‘If it is essential to correspond about any donation added: ‘We had strong support from Quakers across please contact Sue Newsom, clerk, on suenewsom2@ the country, but also from local people for our hotmail.com or call 020 8350 8272.’

Scottish referendum on the agenda 2015 Swarthmore Lecture The forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence will Diana Francis, the peace activist and be raised at next month’s General Meeting of Friends in Scotland. conflict transformation expert, will be the ‘One of the challenges in this debate and decision is where 2015 Swarthmore lecturer, the Woodbrooke to begin’, Christine Davis writes in the current edition of the Quaker Study Centre has announced. Scottish Friend. In the article she outlines some key background Diana is a member of Bath Meeting and issues and invites Scottish Friends to consider a number of has worked as a facilitator, trainer and important questions before the General Meeting. consultant with groups of people involved She highlights some issues that are of particular concern to in or affected by political (especially inter- Quakers, such as the position of the nuclear arsenal on the Clyde ethnic) conflict, or those seeking to address and NATO membership, and also raises the subject of the future injustice. relationship of Scotland to Britain . She writes: She will consider the Quaker Peace ‘Whatever the outcome, we will still be Friends; we will still Testimony in relation to the current global belong to , though it may have to relate to context and articulate a radical vision for different jurisdictions as Ireland Yearly Meeting does today, and humanity and propose lines of witness and our values will remain a strong element of our communal life.’ action for Friends. Audio initiative at Friends House Friends who were not able to Britain Yearly Meeting website as Interfaith Relations (QCCIR). attend the recent conference at audio files. The presentations were Marigold Bentley, secretary of Friends House in London entitled by David Boulton, Rex Ambler QCCIR, has advised Friends who ‘Faith: What’s God got to do with and Philip Gross and the question are interested to ‘visit www.quaker. it?’ can now listen to what they and answer session is also available org.uk/quaker-committee-christian- missed. to listen to. The conference and-interfaith-relations-day- The three main presentations was organised by the Quaker conference-2014’. (see the Friend 14 have been made available on the Committee for Christian and February, pages 10-11)

4 the Friend, 21 February 2014 Opinion

The burial ground at Winchmore Hill Meeting House. Photo courtesy of Stephen Cox. Patterns and examples

Jane Pearn wonders about our testimony to equality when Friends die

have a difficulty with our ‘testimonies to the grace a good life is not to the credit of human endeavour of God as shown in the lives of deceased Friends’. alone. But we are making a great claim, indeed, that Many Friends enjoy reading them, and so do I. we recognise ‘the grace of God’ apparent in some IAnd yet… I have a stop in my mind, both with the lives – and, by implication, not in others. Our faith practice and with the words. is an inclusive faith: God – the grace of God – is present in every life, however hard it may be for us to I appreciate my Area Meeting’s memorial minutes discern. And who are we to say where true holiness for each and every Friend we lose. Their service, lies? What inner struggles, temptations overcome, may contribution and character are briefly but lovingly there have been in lives that look unremarkable, even recorded. But to then ‘elevate’ a few to a different uninspiring, from the outside? status feels to me as though we are creating a kind of spiritual honours list: appearing to give more worth On the other hand, we have an understandable to some lives than to others. What value the simple desire to hold up models of how we might live as uniformity of grave markers, if we raise some of them Quakers, to celebrate lives that show humanity at higher? To what purpose the ‘gentle discipline’ of the its best and to share loving memories. It’s probably notices in the Friend, if we later publish what amounts impractical to publish all memorial minutes. But to a eulogy? And, dare I say it, do we sometimes agree perhaps, since ‘testimonies’ will continue to be written, with the suggestion to develop a memorial minute into we might re-name them ‘Patterns and Examples’? a testimony to avoid causing hurt?

I respect that the wording we use reflects the understanding of early Friends, and our own, that Jane is a member of South East Scotland Area Meeting.

the Friend, 21 February 2014 5 Talking point

Structures and spaces

Janet Quilley reflects on faith, boundaries and continuing revelation

t is interesting that the alternative ‘public’ name and ways of working as the key to understanding what chosen for our Large Meeting House is The Light. It it is to be a Quaker. We find we need boundaries and feels unfinished: a light what? A light hall or room? frameworks to help us recognise what we are and what IA lighthouse perhaps! Ironically, it is expected to mean more to the non-Quaker users of Friends House than to Friends. It seems to me, however, that the term is more significant to us as Quaker language than it Being open to new light involves will be to others and it has already prompted strong feelings about its appropriateness in this context. But respect for and the valuing of perhaps others will discover something new about us just because of this new name. It does, at least, prompt others’ views some theological reflection about its meaning.

Boundaries and frameworks we are not. But we also prize tolerance and believe there is something of God in everyone – on whichever ‘The Light’ emphasises the space rather than the side of the boundary they find themselves. Being open structure of the building. It prompts thoughts to new light involves respect for and the valuing of about aspects of our Quaker lives that are currently others’ views. under discussion. Frameworks and structures have an important place in helping us to identify and Continuing revelation understand the nature of the Quaker animal that is Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). We continue to need structure – most obviously in the church government, which is integral to our Book of It is often hard for us, as a non-credal faith group, Discipline, currently in the fifth edition of Quaker faith to hold together the wide variety of insights among & practice. And we are beginning to sense a need to Quakers, let alone to explain ourselves to others. embark on a more radical revision of that book, to try and discern whether we have a clearer picture of where We have come to recognise and value our processes we stand on some issues.

6 the Friend, 21 February 2014 I think it is important to recognise that being a processes and small circles’; our frequent preference for Quaker is always going to be unfinished business – working quietly, and often without publicity, in order what the theologians might call ‘continuing revelation’. to encourage understanding of differing views.

It is not necessary to resolve the issues on which we Quaker faith have a range of differing perspectives within our Yearly Meeting in order to express them as ‘the Quaker view’ These characteristics of the Quaker way of doing things in a new Book of Discipline. Whenever we revise the are rather taken for granted in the present framework. Book we will, I hope, aim to hold the diversity under It is easier to concentrate on the structure than on the the discipline of our process for decision-making. spaces between – the actual fabric of our non-credal When the time is right we will reach clearness – as we and difficult-to-pin-down Quaker faith. did in 2009 concerning equal treatment for same sex and opposite sex relationships.

I see it as an essential characteristic of our Quaker tradition that we hold on to our differing perspectives; I hope that we will preserve our differences can be grounded in the unity of our common purpose. The challenge for any future and nurture those spaces revision committee will be to find the writings that express this. in our structures which allow Quiet processes new Light to come in

Another example of our need for structure in the organisation of our affairs is our regularly reviewed five-year plan, currently entitled A Framework for Action, which is approved by Meeting for Sufferings It is crucial that we do not lose sight of the fabric of and overseen nowadays by our BYM trustees. There is Quakerism just because we cannot easily define it. We certainly a yearning for structure in that title! have the prospect of re-expressing our Quaker faith for the next generation, in the immediate future, through our next five-year plan. It will be an expression of the work that we want to commit ourselves to – on a longer timescale and in greater depth – through the revision It is crucial that we do not of our Book of Discipline. I hope we will not strive for a Book that is cut and dried. I hope that we will lose sight of the fabric of Quakerism preserve and nurture those spaces in our structures that allow new Light to come in and that enable our just because we cannot ways of working to flourish and bear fruit. These ways of working are integral to our Quaker faith and must easily define it not be lost by default.

‘The Light’ means more to us than merely the labelling of a room for the convenience of others using our It seems to me that it is important not to see this building. Perhaps others’ convenience could better be framework simply as a set of boundaries – rather that served by a more ‘concrete’ name for the main meeting it is a means of protecting the spaces in between and hall or room in our building than by what many still see allowing the Spirit to lead in unexpected directions, as the misuse of a significant Quaker concept. albeit tested according to our discipline. It feels right, for me in any case, to link the idea of I think of those spaces as the fabric of our Quaker the Light with the spaces in our structures where the way, often not spelt out but understood to be central Spirit can flourish and where the essential elements of to our ways of working: our ‘peculiar’ business our Quaker way will be preserved. method; our distinctive discernment and decision- making in the context of worship; our emphasis on Janet is a member of Wensleydale & Swaledale Area listening rather than on rhetoric; our valuing of ‘quiet Meeting.

the Friend, 21 February 2014 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

The curse of history to God, are much more common than they were. Rosalind Mitchell made some very good points about In Roger’s terms I would be very much an agnostic the location of Meeting houses (7 February). Surely because I cannot accept the notion of an interventionist it is better to close and sell Meeting houses in what God. Repeating our inability to understand the nature are now out of the way places and hold Meeting for of God is an unhelpful tautology. What brings us Worship in urban centres. together is the profound experience of the Light in Our outreach should be to all. It should not be just ourselves in silence. That this Light is a force for peace, preaching to the converted. Surely it is time to recover for love and for justice is enough for me. I have no some of the zeal that early Friends felt. They preached problem with calling this silence ‘worship’. Neither do everywhere to anyone who would listen and even to I take issue with Friends like Roger who still want to those who would not. make direct reference to God. I am not sure, though, There are many people seeking a spiritual home who that drawing attention to divisions between so-called are not happy with the credal religions. Indeed, these ‘liberals’ and so-called ‘traditionalists’ helps seekers like may be seekers after truth just as there were many in myself reconnect. the early days of Quakerism. James Whiting I would urge Friends to meet where we can and when Wandsworth Meeting, London we can. Sunday morning? Yes, but what about a Sunday afternoon or a weekday – and not just in the Meeting Large Meeting House house, but in the street and the coffee bar. Let us go The decisions to refurbish the Large Meeting House and to where the people are. Let us give them our unique name its new incarnation ‘The Light’ speak to me of a message and, perhaps, see more members and attenders. Society that has dangerously lost sight of its priorities. Richard Seed I am grateful to have the opportunity to do central Cambridgeshire Area Meeting work for Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW). One scheme we oversee supports several young people Although Rosalind Mitchell decries history, it has the each year to work in peace movement organisations, answer to the problem she identifies. thus training a new generation of peaceworkers for the In 1895, when membership was as low as it is now, future. Friends should know that the sum being spent the Religious Society of Friends set out to review on the Large Meeting House, £4.3 million, could fund itself root and branch. The Manchester Conference ten peaceworkers per year for over ten years. Instead, produced radical changes, which led to better our scheme is to be reduced from four peaceworkers organisation and a rapid growth in membership. to three this year, one of many QPSW programmes We face a similar challenge today. We are completely that are feeling squeezed by budgetary concerns. committed to sustaining the environment and yet our This does not mean that the decision to refurbish resources sometimes militate against that aim. Rural was wrong, but it does mean that a long period of Meeting houses are not, as Rosalind has demonstrated, worship by Meeting for Sufferings, and Britain Yearly reachable by public transport. This means not only Meeting in session, should have preceded such a that current members find it difficult to attend serious determination of our priorities. It did not, and without cars, but enquirers are unlikely to come. Yet a the decision was not made by those bodies. reduction in the use of private transport is our target. Regarding ‘The Light’, the decision suggests a deep Are we able to make a radical step and ensure that confusion about our faith. all our Meetings are held near public transport hubs? Joining the Religious Society of Friends required Do we need another Manchester Conference to a major upheaval in my life, so I feel strongly that I address this issue? do not want to lose the Society I have fought for. We John H Hall should not become another nonprofit organisation Colchester Meeting, Essex with too many overhead costs – nor should we require a protest society within the Society to fight for our Belief and membership testimonies and our business method. But this does Despite the measured tones of Roger Iredale’s article seem to be the current condition. (14 February), its underlying message is one of Joel Wallenberg retrenchment. Northumbria Area Meeting Having been brought up as a Friend, and having turned my back for over forty years, I am now starting Sitting in ‘The Solar’ at Charney Manor this weekend to re-engage with the Society. we were wondering if Friends House had considered I find the language Friends use now far more making the alternative name of the Large Meeting inclusive. References to the Light, rather than directly House ‘The Solar’ instead of ‘The Light’.

8 the Friend, 21 February 2014 [email protected]

Not only does the name suggest light, it’s also an old for Lent, to see how it affects me. Last year I learned: name for a meeting room. when Lent is; how long it is (quite long!); and For the public, we think, it would be more that the idea of giving something up originates in memorable than ‘The Light’ and would not be so commemoration of the forty days Jesus fasted in the confusing. It might even be less controversial! wilderness enduring temptation, according to the David Jonas and Ros Baverstock gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I also learned that Salisbury Meeting, Wiltshire the word Lent, first used in English in the late Middle Ages, derives from the Germanic root for long and Is the sacred for sale? When Jesus drove the links to the lengthening of days in spring. moneylenders from the temple they were using the I also discovered that I didn’t spend about £35 and facilities to ply their own trade. Today we appear didn’t use around six glass bottles, or have to carry to have gone much further. When did the spiritual them from the shop or recycle them. become a commercial vehicle for the marketplace? After a couple of days the slight change in habit Naming the Large Meeting House ‘The Light’ became easy. I began to feel that I was taking a small launches us into orbit alongside McDonald’s and its stand against the voices of marketing, which tell me ‘golden arches’. Is that really where we want to go? that I will be happier and more successful the more I When did a very small group begin making decisions consume. for the entire corporate body of Britain Yearly Meeting I wonder if others find meaning in Christian (BYM) without any consultation with Area or Local practices not usually associated with Quakers. Meetings – a decision that will alter our spiritual Sally Sadler culture and how we see ourselves? Bradford-on-Avon Meeting, Wiltshire Can I ever give ministry in Meeting again with a clear conscience knowing ‘The Light’ has been turned The idea of God into a brand name, a corporatist logo for advertising I dispute Gordon Steel’s claim that nature is often cruel promotion? Perhaps our Religious Society has moved (7 February). Cruelty is a deliberate act of which nature a little too far into the secular arena of our times. isn’t capable. Neither is the downside of the existence of BYM must not operate at a financial loss, but the universe evil, heartbreaking though it can be. where do we draw the line? Should public relations be We’re all prone to attributing human characteristics allowed to replace the ‘Truth’? Perhaps a more suitable and motives where it isn’t appropriate. What can second name for the Large Meeting House would be appear to be cruelty or evil in a non-human context ‘The Silence’. are necessary features of the processes involved in the Kirsten Ebsen existence of the universe. This is the case regardless Westminster Meeting, London of whether one believes in the existence of an Eternal Presence. See correspondence on page 8 in the 14 February Gwen Jones issue. Harlow Meeting, Essex Nontheistic religions? Can we call a truce on judging who is a better Quaker: In essentials unity, the believer in a traditional God, the nontheist, the in non-essentials liberty, atheist, the Buddhist Quaker, and so on? All of them have signed up to a belief in the Quaker testimonies. in all things charity. Surely, there are few of us as it is without trying to discourage the ‘wrong type of Quaker’. Surely, an The Friend welcomes your views. Please keep letters unspiritual person would not want to come and sit for short (about 250 words) and include your full an hour in a Quaker Meeting for Worship. But, if they postal address, even when sending emails. Please did, wouldn’t the experience be enough to transform specify whether you wish for your postal or email anyone? The beauty of Quakerism is the richness of address or Meeting name to be used with your the difference we find in it. Let’s celebrate it and reach name, otherwise we will print your post address or out to all who we can enrich and can enrich us. email address. Letters are published at the editor’s Barbara Penny discretion and may be edited. Write to: the Friend, Harrogate Meeting, North Yorkshire 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ or email [email protected] Experiment with Lent Remember if you are online that you can also comment on all articles at www.thefriend.org For the second year running I am giving up alcohol

the Friend, 21 February 2014 9 Quaker history

Saving the Meeting house

Stanley Holland tells the story behind a fascinating logbook from Bournville Meeting House Photo courtesy of Anne Giles. Photo courtesy of

uring the second world war a number of British Such activities could well have made Bournville a cities came under attack from the air. The most target. So, the main factory buildings were camouflaged. vulnerable were those that were playing the The rest of the village was still vulnerable, however, and Dmost significant part in the war effort and in the life of several houses were demolished. And a bomb made the country generally. Such cities included Liverpool, a neat hole in the aqueduct that carries the Worcester Manchester, Southampton, Coventry (where the and Birmingham Canal over Bournville Lane, causing Anglican cathedral was demolished) and Birmingham. serious flooding. The war had started in September 1939 and for a Following incidents of this kind, Bournville Friends time nothing much seemed to be happening. But then became concerned about the safety of their Meeting the blitz started. Attacks took place almost nightly and house, as its loss would have been a great tragedy. many people spent their nights sleeping in a public There was no other like it in the whole country. It was air-raid shelter or in an Anderson shelter in the back opened in 1905 and was designed by William Alexander garden. Harvey, as were many other buildings in Bournville. It had, and fortunately still has, a fine electro-pneumatic Bournville pipe organ and an unusual kind of hammer-beam roof that could easily have been destroyed along with the It was hard to see that anything in Bournville, a suburb rest of the building if an incendiary bomb had fallen on of Birmingham, would make it an obvious target. The it and a fire had taken hold. local Cadbury factory was famous for making chocolate rather than munitions, but it could have become known Firewatchers that Bournville Utilities had been set up to help the war effort by filling shells with cordite, while another Accordingly, a rota of firewatchers was drawn up to activity of the company was to coat aircraft fuel tanks keep an eye on the premises overnight and to tackle with material that would prevent leakage occurring if any fire that might be started. It was decided that they suffered battle damage. throughout the blitz three volunteers would be on

10 the Friend, 21 February 2014 duty every night. The thinking behind this was that Thirteen sandbags one person would pump water from a bucket using a stirrup pump, another could direct the hose, while a The firewatching proceeded as planned but there was third would keep the bucket filled. It could, possibly, soon a change when ladies took over for the night. have been done using fewer volunteers but this seemed Then there was no entry at all for the following night. to be the optimum. Small sacks filled with sand were Perhaps nobody turned up or they just forgot to sign in. also provided. The intention was that these would There was then an outbreak of hilarity. It started with a be dropped onto an incendiary bomb to contain the suggestion from an anonymous Friend, identifiable from flames. This would be done while running past, in case his handwriting as Wilfred Beswick. It said, ‘If disturbed it should be an exploding bomb. during the night call out “Who goes there, Friend – or It was possible that a bomb could have penetrated the attender?”’ On a more serious note, we learned that the top part of the roof over the main hall. A ladder was, volunteers filled thirteen sandbags but there were more therefore, put in place permanently to give access to the to be filled. Wilfred queried whether they were going to loft from the choir gallery and full buckets of water and be able to carry buckets of water up to the loft. sandbags had to be provided up there. My father, George Meanwhile, it was reported that a third bed had Holland, took on the job of seeing to these complicated arrived (!), as well as an electric fire, presumably to arrangements and generally organising the firewatching. supplement the heat from the coke-fired boiler in the cellar. It was obviously in the firewatchers’ interests The logbook to keep the boiler going and de-clinkered on a cold winter’s night. Several steel helmets were also obtained. A logbook was introduced to record attendances, On one memorable night the basic reason for the significant incidents that occurred, and so forth. This logbook was overlooked completely. The anonymous eventually passed to me after my father’s death in volunteers wrote about pretty-well every subject you 1948. The inside of the front cover indicated that could possibly imagine, and also found time to indulge ‘Mr F Parkes’ was the sector fire officer and said ‘All in a few pastimes as well, such as playing piano duets, those who sign the logbook are covered for insurance playing table tennis, and so on. The following evening and entitled to claim’. brought further excitement, though of a different kind The title page introduced a literary touch by quoting – the sirens sounded: 8.31pm! It was hardly a major the following from William Shakespeare’s Much ado event, however, as the all-clear sounded at 9.24pm. about nothing: Absent Friends ‘We will rather sleep than talk; we know what belongs to a watch.’ On 1 July 1941 I joined the Friends’ Ambulance Unit and by happy coincidence was sent to the training camp ‘Why, you speak like an ancient and most quiet in Northfield not far from my home in Bournville. watchman; for I cannot see how sleeping should This meant that I was no longer able to join in the offend.’ firewatching activities on a regular basis but, subject to the agreement of Tegla Davies the camp commandant, (It has to be said, however, that this was not good could help out if an emergency arose. So, on 1 August, advice for a conscientious firewatcher!) I made my final contribution to the logbook, but The logbook record began on Sunday 16 February other members of the Unit subsequently helped at the 1941, when Tom Osborne, Jack White and Christopher Meeting house. Taylor were on duty, and ended on 9 December 1942, There are some people whose names appear quite when Kenneth Aldous and John A Brown (both frequently in the logbook, and the Meeting’s debt to members of the Friends’ Ambulance Unit) were on them must be immense. The very nature of the task duty. It seems possible, however, that a continuation that my father had taken on meant that he often put book was then used as this entry does not appear to in an appearance. Sometimes he was just checking mark the end of firewatching at the Meeting house, that all was well, while on other occasions he would be to judge from a letter the clerk wrote on 7 November substituting for someone else. 1943. The logbook is to a large extent a record of absent However this may be, the record we have is interesting Friends, as there are now few of the firewatchers still for a variety of reasons: the way in which people who alive. Many of them I remember well. It was a privilege did not normally go to the Meeting house rallied to have known them. round to assist; the ‘extra-curricular’ activities that firewatchers indulged in, and so on. Stanley is a member of Bournville Meeting.

the Friend, 21 February 2014 11 Sustainability

The Canterbury commitment

Laurie Michaelis, in the second article in our series on sustainability, reports on the experience of Yorkshire Friends

ast summer I was one of three Friends who contacted clerks in the first instance and let them decide surveyed Yorkshire Meetings on their engagement who should speak to us. The respondents were often with sustainability. Our findings surprised and the clerks themselves, clerks of premises committees or Lencouraged us. Most of the Meetings were doing sustainability champions within the Meetings. something. Nearly half were making major investments to green their Meeting houses. Many Friends were Perceptions and interpretations making efforts in their own lives. And a few Meetings were building links with their wider local communities Any evaluation of Friends’ engagement with the in working for sustainability. commitment is subjective. As an interview team we Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) committed in differed both in our approach to the conversations and in Canterbury in 2011 to become a low carbon, sustainable our interpretations. The perceptions and interpretations community. Minute 36 of BYM 2011 says: ‘We need of our respondents also varied widely. We spoke to to arrive at a place in which we all take personal Friends in very active Meetings who were despondent, responsibility to make whatever changes we are called feeling that not enough was happening. We also heard to. At the same time, we need to pledge ourselves from Friends in Meetings that had not engaged at all to corporate action.’ It set out some guidance – for with the commitment and felt it was not a priority. instance that our action must flow from love. But it left open questions of what we really mean by ‘low carbon’, Who is taking action in Meetings? ‘sustainable’ and ‘community’. (per cent of Meetings) The response • Individuals or self-appointed groups: 60% • Whole Meeting or appointed group: 50% Meeting for Sufferings set up the Minute 36 • Whole Meeting passively involved: 70% Commitment Group (‘Canterbury Commitment Group’ or CCG) to coordinate the response to the commitment across BYM. Sufferings also asked Local Meetings to Several mentioned the importance of a sustainability carry out self-evaluations using the Climate Impact champion in their Meeting in keeping things going and Calculator and Meeting check-up questionnaire in the handling issues sensitively. Two of the seven Yorkshire Area Sustainability Toolkit (published by Quaker Books in Meetings were mentioned as having played a significant 2011). The approach didn’t work well for everyone. role in supporting action in their Local Meetings. We Check-ups were sent in by only a quarter of Meetings didn’t press respondents for details of activities in their and they painted a very mixed picture. Some Meetings Meetings, so we only know what came to their minds in had done a great deal on sustainability; others next to response to our very general questions. Many of the most nothing. We wanted to find out more, especially about interesting comments emerged as afterthoughts, or mixed Meetings that had sent no communication. up in responses to different questions. With limited resources, CCG decided to carry out a telephone survey of Local Meetings in the Quakers Levels of support in Yorkshire (QiY) region. Although QiY is not representative of BYM as a whole, it is a large region Despite the limitations of our approach, we were with a wide variety of local circumstances and kinds of impressed with the level of support in Local Meetings Local Meeting. Three members of CCG spoke to Friends for the Canterbury commitment. CCG has identified in thirty-nine Meetings last summer. We generally five main areas in which Friends are implementing the

12 the Friend, 21 February 2014 Canterbury commitment: Support needed (number of Meetings) 1. The witness of our lifestyles; 2. The way we undertake Quaker activities – such • Money: 1 as Meeting house management and travel for • Advice: 7 Meetings; • Resources for lifestyle change: 8 3. Making our Quaker property more sustainable; • More regular prompts: 10 4. Working for systemic change locally, nationally and internationally; and 5. Building community in our Meetings and beyond. The most positive suggestion seems to be to ensure a All of these grow out of spiritual exploration and steady flow of prompts and resources, well-publicised deepening by Friends and Meetings. So far, Friends through clerks’ mailings and other routes. These seem to be concentrating on the first three areas. might include ideas and resources for study groups, training and other events, check-ups, practical guides, good practice reviews, policy briefings and spiritual What are Meetings doing? (per cent of Meetings) reflections. No one organisation can provide all of these resources; all of the CCG participating groups • Collective engagement (such as business agenda (including QPSW, , Woodbrooke and items, travel surveys, premises decisions): 60% Living Witness) have contributions to make. • Friends changing lifestyles: 80% • Activities in Meeting to support low carbon living by Friends: 40% Benefits from action (per cent of Meetings) • Reducing impact of using premises: 80% • Major premises investments: 40% • Strengthened spiritual/community life of • Engaging with wider community: 30% Meeting 46% • Financial savings: 30% • Increased lettings, improved public standing, One of the main purposes of our survey was to new attenders: 25% find out what support Friends need in implementing • Easier building management: 15% the Canterbury commitment. So, we asked them what problems they were experiencing and what support they might find useful. Practical changes

Friends are more comfortable talking about practical Problems mentioned (number of Meetings) changes to our Meeting houses than about changing our lifestyles, although the latter probably contributes more • Money: 9 • Age of Friends: 8 to cutting carbon emissions. Nevertheless, talking about • Busyness, time, • Conflict, dissent: 6 our buildings does help to build a culture of sustainable energy: 9 • Run out of ideas: 6 living among Friends. Meanwhile, more emphasis is • Nature of building: 8 needed on building our community and working for systemic change. This is to be the focus of the CCG national gathering at Swanwick in early March. We found no strong patterns. Meetings are very While several Quaker organisations are working diverse and they need different kinds of support at for systemic change, few Local Meetings are doing so. different times. However, several said they would benefit Friends and Meetings hesitate to speak out partly because from more frequent reminders about the commitment. they do not feel their own lives are green enough. This Most would probably benefit from regular updates and is in contrast to their confident public witness on peace news of activities in other Meetings, partly to give them and social justice issues, reflecting Friends’ long history a better sense of how they’re doing and also for ideas of acting on these causes. But lifestyle perfection is not and encouragement. required of us before we engage in public sustainability We asked how Meetings viewed support for Friends witness. In fact, doing so can build our sense of being to change lifestyles. A quarter of respondents said that part of a community supporting sustainable, low carbon Friends’ lifestyles were a matter for individual choice. living, and strengthen us to live by our values. Nearly two thirds mentioned the need to be sensitive and offer resources and examples rather than telling Laurie represents Living Witness on the Canterbury people what to do. Commitment Group.

the Friend, 21 February 2014 13 Kindlers

Be a good person

Eva Tucker explains the background to a new Kindlers booklet, written with Stephanie Ramamurthy, on Quakers and interfaith relations

y mother was German Jewish, my father James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. My husband German atheist. They divorced when I was and I laughed about James’ ‘Probably a crab would be four, for personal not political reasons, and filled with a sense of personal outrage if it could hear MI was brought up by my liberal Jewish grandparents. us class it without ado or apology as a crustacean and I enjoyed going to synagogue with them on feast days thus dispose of it. I am no such thing, it would say, I but on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, my father am myself, myself alone!’ That pinpointed the problem would look after me and tell me about Charles Darwin of being a member of a community without loss of and the monkeys. He said that when I grew up I could personal identity. choose whether or not to believe in God. That was a shock to the system – as far as I was concerned, God I was also immersed in Dorothy Richardson’s looked like my grandpa and indubitably existed. autobiographical stream-of-consciousness novel Pilgrimage. In the volume Dimple Hill I found a most All this was happening in 1930s Nazi Berlin. Anti- perceptive account of an early twentieth-century Semitism was growing ever more virulent. I went to a Quaker Meeting. Jewish school, where I was embarrassed to admit that my parents were divorced (quite rare in those days) and Dare to believe! that my father was not Jewish. He had English Quaker friends in Bad Pyrmont where he, as a first world war I was going through a difficult period in my life when, veteran, went for holidays. It was from him I first heard quite by accident, I came across Hans Küng’s book Does the word ‘Quaker’. It sounded like ‘angel’ to me – they God Exist?, with its introductory injunction: ‘Dare to were going to rescue my mother and me from Adolf believe!’ Yes, I thought, I will dare! Hitler’s Germany. In February 1939, two months before my tenth birthday, my mother and I set off for England. So, then I needed a spiritual roof over my head and I found it in a Quaker Meeting. Soon after I had been Varieties of religious experience accepted into membership at Hampstead Meeting I got to know Margot Tennyson. She, like me, had Fast forward: In 1950 I married a man who had been been a refugee from Hitler’s Germany. Unlike me, she brought up as a Roman Catholic but had turned away was deeply involved with interfaith activities. When from that and all other beliefs in his late teens. His her health began to fail she asked me to take over chief interest was in philosophy. I went along with his interfaith work. For ten years I tried to run Hampstead atheism though I was never as convinced about the Interfaith Group in her spirit. The Group would not nonexistence of God as he was. have got off the ground without the unstinting advice and assistance of Brian Pearce and Harriet Crabtree During the years before I joined the Religious Society of the UK Interfaith Network and of Alfred Agius of of Friends, in the 1970s, my reading included William Westminster Interfaith.

14 the Friend, 21 February 2014 Myriad variations of belief between literal belief and the ‘as if’ of symbolism? Where is God in the slaughterhouse and is that a The myriad variations of belief and practice between pointful question? Is the person who causes things to be the faiths, even within the same faith, as well as atheism, done – both good and bad – even more important than are all inextricably intertwined with the time and place the doer? Does discussion of the concept of God leave people were born. I came to realise that, in the way what it is supposed to stand for untouched? people conduct themselves, ethnicity and culture are at least as important as religious belief. People strive for I remember the Anglican priest I met at a Leicester fulfilment in life – in relationships, in work, as well as multifaith conference who thought that God was a in something that, metaphorically speaking, involves a figment of our imagination – but having imagined degree of vertical take off from the quotidian. Him, we have to be responsible for our imagination. And then I smile as I think of the late brother Daniel In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William greeting me and the woman I was talking to on an James says that true religious happiness comes to those interfaith walk with the words ‘Hello, you two unique who, when unhappiness is offered, positively refuse to manifestations of God!’ I had never thought of myself feel it as if it were something mean or wrong. Robert or others quite in that beneficent light. Louis Stevenson meant much the same thing when he said: ‘Our business [is to] continue to fail in good Alert passivity spirits’, echoed more recently by Samuel Becket’s: ‘Fail again, fail better’. So now, as I get used to being old and the slowed down tempo that comes with it, I try to practise a kind of William James goes on to say that the essence of alert passivity, allowing things to come towards me religious experiences, the thing by which we must rather than rushing towards them, recognising what is finally judge them, must be that element or quality in relevant to my life now. them which we can meet nowhere else, a perception of something there. But what of the many people who If someone were to ask me now what I mean by ‘God’ deny that there is something there at all? Nor can it ever I might say it is tapping into an immensely powerful be established whether believers or unbelievers have energy using neglected aspects of oneself so that one caused greater mayhem in the world. has the strength not to cave in when things become difficult. Rowan Williams, when archbishop of Canterbury, said that ‘Learning an all-inclusive set of mental Then, suddenly, I am a child again reading what my habits… gradually changes the way you relate to the father has just written in my autograph album: ‘To be w o r l d ’. Perhaps interfaith groups go a little way towards clever is good, to be brave is better, but to be a good helping to form such mental habits. person – that is everything.’

Hampstead Meeting Eva is a member of Hampstead Meeting. Always, between adventures into other spiritual worlds and between our Group meetings, I homed This article was given as a talk at Friends House to into my Hampstead Meeting. Sometimes my thoughts launch: SIGNPOSTS – Quakers Exploring Interfaith meandered. What do we mean by ‘it’ when we say ‘it’s by Eva Tucker and Stephanie Ramamurthy. Published by raining’? How many shades of difference are there The Kindlers. ISBN: 9780956224576. Price: £3.

To be clever is good, to be brave is better, but to be a good person – that is everything

the Friend, 21 February 2014 15 Poetry

John ap John

Have you ever heard of John ap John, Of Coed Cristionydd not far from Ruabon? Son of a modest arable farmer, More solid than John and a great deal calmer, John now thought it was time to move on.

Their nearest established church in Clwyd, Was under the care of Morgan Llwyd (Where they owed their tithes and had to attend). But Morgan was a man who risked his stipend To not tithe Welshmen of improverished fywyd

He’d heard of , an itinerant preacher, Whose meetings sometimes shared the feature Of worshipping God in the open air; So he sent two churchmen to Lancashire, where They might find and report on this famous teacher

When they arrived at the home of Justice Fell, They climbed the steps and they rang the bell, And Mistress Fell came to answer the door Of the house we know today as Swarthmoor; And invited them in and treated them well.

But when Fox arrived it was a different matter; All immediately stopped their household clatter, Such was his presence. John never forgot – Even twenty years later in his family plot – He felt the power of the Lord without the chatter.

The visit of John’s companion was fleeting – He went back, having thanked for her greeting. But John stayed on and returned to Wales. There might have been others who thought of Pales, But it was John ap John who started our Meeting.

Elaine Miles Bangor Meeting

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For details of how to place a notice on this page, please call 01535 630230 or email [email protected] Friends&Meetings Deaths How about running a Quaker Bernard ALLOWAY 8 February. Husband of Janice, father of Cornelia Quest in your area later this year? and Katrina, grandfather of Findlay and Ruairidh. Member of Hudders- Quaker Quest Network can offer help and support including field Meeting. Aged 85. Funeral at half day and full day workshops to motivate and inspire you Huddersfield Crematorium 9.30am and train your Quaker Quest team. Monday 24 February. Refreshments afterwards at Huddersfield FMH. ‘How-to-do-it’ manual and pack of posters provided.

Anne DAVIES (née Hunter) For more information contact the Co-ordinators on 13 February at home. Mother of 01372 454363 or email [email protected] Ben, Sara, Megan and Hester. Member of Central Edinburgh Meeting. Former pupil at Ackworth Diary MEETING FOR WORSHIP AT School and teacher at Sibford RAF FYLINGDALES Saturday 1 March, 12 noon - 1pm under the School. Aged 82. Contact: CO-OPERATIVES: HOW TO SET [email protected] care of Pickering and Hull AM. ONE UP AND BE PART OF Followed by picnic at Pickering THEIR REVIVAL Quakers and FMH. Contact 01751 432416 or Thanks Business Group Spring Gathering 01751 472827. All welcome. Saturday 5 April, Priory Rooms, Kurt STRAUSS and family want Birmingham. Info and booking: PRESENCE Saturday 29 March. to thank everyone who came to qandb.org Drop the mask of roles and social support them at Ann’s Memorial conditioning and meet at a more Meeting on Saturday 8 February, POSITIVE INVESTMENT: authentic level. Explore deeper con- and also those unable to attend but MAKING OUR MONEY SPEAK nection and relationship – with our- who held them in the Light. OUR VALUES NW Regional selves, each other, and the sacred. Gathering, Manchester Mount Trust where you’re led in experi- Street FMH, Saturday 22 March, mental worship. Facilitators: Alex Changes of clerk 10 - 4.30. Speakers: Gill Westcott and Wildwood & Barrie Hopwood. Steve Mandel. Range of workshops. Jordans Quaker Centre HP9 2SN. SOUTHERN EAST ANGLIA AM All Friends/Attenders welcome. Cost £35. Further details email Clerk: Alison Parkes, 186, Maldon Details: [email protected] [email protected] or Road, Colchester CO3 3AZ. Tel. phone 01494 876594. Could become 01206 523235. Email: REVELATION AND REVOLUTION an ongoing group! Part of the [email protected] A radical quaker interpretation Chilterns Quaker Programme. Conference hosted by Conservative WESTMINSTER LM Quakers. Bunhill Fields FMH, QUAKER ASYLUM AND Clerk now: Olivia Hewitt, email: London Saturday 22 March, 10.30am. REFUGEE NETWORK - QARN [email protected] or No charge, donations requested. You are invited to our next meeting at mob. 07914 633887. Correspondence Bring and share lunch. Enquiries: Central Manchester Meeting House, to , 52 St Simon Watson 020 8469 2901. Email Saturday 22 February, 11.00 – 16.00, Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4EA. Malcolm Winch: [email protected] see www.qarn.org.uk

the Friend, 21 February 2014 17 Ad pages 21 Feb 17/2/14 21:57 Page 4

Classified advertisements 54a Main St, Cononley Keighley BD20 8LL. T&F: 01535 630230. E: [email protected] Classified ads jobs jobs wanted Standard linage 54p a word, semi- display 82p a word. Rates incl. vat. FEMALE CARER REQUIRED, for mature MATURE, GOOD NATURED, happily Min. 12 words. Series discounts: East Finchley, London N2 resident: married English couple seek Resident 5% on 5 insertions, 10% on 10 or 10 hours per week (extending to 14 hours Caretaking position/s at either a Quaker more. Cheques payable to The Friend. per week in future) at £9 (net) per hour. Meeting House, private House/Estate or Long term arrangement preferable. commercial premises. Excellent verifiable Advertisement Dept, 54a Main St Willingness to learn British Sign Language work related references. Tel: 07505 Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL important. Help needed with shopping, 908230. Email: [email protected] T. 01535 630230 E. [email protected] domestic duties, phoning, escorting/driving to classes/appointments, etc. Some week- end work. No heavy work or lifting. COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING Employer enjoys walking, yoga and where to stay music. CRB checks and references GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BS 14TH CENTURY CORNISH COTTAGE required. For further information email: overlooking sea. £180-210 pw. Short [email protected] EDINBURGH FRIENDS B&B. Donation to breaks. www.wix.com/beryldestone/ FMH Windows Appeal. Closed August. cornishcottage 0117 951 4384. Contact: [email protected] SCARBOROUGH QUAKER MEETING 0131 441 6080. A WARM PEMBROKESHIRE WELCOME SEEKS A awaits you in 2 cosy well equipped PART-TIME WARDEN ISLE OF MULL. Spacious, comfortable cottages each sleeps 4. Woodburners, Working a flexible 25-30 hour week. house offering warm welcome. 4 minutes’ sea views, coastal path 2 miles. 01348 Accommodation provided in a 3-bedroom walk to Iona/Staffa ferries. Solar hot 891286. [email protected] bungalow alongside the Meeting House. water. Local/organic/Fairtrade products. www.stonescottages.co.uk Vegetarians most welcome. 01681 700677. For further details and application form www.staffahouse.co.uk contact Heather Woolley, email: COTSWOLDS. Spacious barn conversion [email protected] in Charlbury near Woodstock. Sleeps 2+. TEN MINUTES DARTMOOR/CORNWALL Woodburner. Lovely walking. 01608 Closing date for applications Quaker couple offer ensuite B&B, £30pp. 811558. [email protected]. 18 March 2014. [email protected] 01822 614378. www.cotswoldsbarn.com

Quaker United Nations Office Geneva the Friend PROGRAMME ASSISTANT Food & Sustainability/ Climate Change JOURNALIST SFr. 1,460 pm plus housing benefits. Have you experience of journalism and are you interested in joining a 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015. small, committed team at this independent weekly Quaker magazine? Based in Geneva, you will work on Food & Sustainability and also The Friend is seeking a journalist to work two days a week (14 hours). The strengthen links between our Bonn- main responsibility will be to cover news of Quaker life in Britain today. based Climate Change work and our work in Geneva You should have an informed interest in the Quaker world, a good Open to Friends or those in close knowledge of current affairs, excellent networking and communication sympathy. Must be legally eligible for skills, and be computer literate. You will work to the Editor and must employment in Switzerland or the have experience of working to deadlines. European Union. An opportunity for a young professional The position is based at the Friend’s London office. The remuneration is to learn about/contribute to Quaker circa £23,000–£28,000 p.a. pro rata depending on experience. work at the UN in our unique, integrated, friendly small team. While To apply please send a covering letter, a CV of no more than two pages much of the work will build on your and some samples of your writing to [email protected] or write to: professional skills, willingness to assist The Editor, The Friend, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ. with general office, catering and domestic duties is essential. The deadline for applications closes at noon on Monday 10 March. Full job description and application Interviews will be held in late March. form are available at www.quno.org Applications close: 16 March 2014. The Friend Publications Ltd is a registered charity, no. 211649.

18 the Friend, 21 February 2014 Ad pages 21 Feb 17/2/14 21:57 Page 5

HIGHLANDS: NW SCOTLAND, Loch FAUGÉRES, LANGUEDOC, SW FRANCE. QUAKER BOLIVIA SERVICE/STUDY TRIP. Torridon. Rugged mountain views; comfort- Well equipped, unpretentious village NB: dates changed to July, 2014. Meet able house; log fire; orchard garden. house. Ideal for walks, wine, historic Friends, teach English toBQEF.org univer- Brochure: [email protected] towns. Euro310pw, sleeps 4/6. sity students, visit QBL.org development 07818 082897. www.faugeres.co.uk, 0113 2576232, projects, historic sites, Lake Titicaca; email: [email protected] optional Machu Picchu. www.TreasuresoftheAndes.com REETH, SWALEDALE. Comfortable, (001) 707 823 6034 (GMT minus 8hrs). south-facing house, central but quiet. SW PORTUGAL. Looking for a holiday in Sleeps 4/5. Ideal for walks and for this a warm and relaxing area? Spring, year's Tour de France. 01235 832753; summer or autumn, villa to let. Sleeps 4/5. [email protected] Swimming pool. Edge of small village. accommodation Beaches nearby. Tel. 0114 236 2456. WANTED WEST CORNWALL STUDIO, sleeps 2/3, on small farm, lovely location close to STUDY TOURS PROFESSIONAL SINGLE MAN, 50, seeks coast, garden, walks from door, dogs long-term shared accommodation in the welcome. [email protected] Stockport/Wilmslow/Poynton/Macclesfield 01736 762491. QCEA STUDY TOUR 2014 area. Non-smoker with own car. Contact Should the European institutions 07930 669 177 or [email protected] OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS matter to you? Come and find out! 5–12 April miscellaneous MALTA: Spacious flat for holiday use in centre of colourful fishing village. Sleeps 6. The 2014 QCEA Study Tour will involve Details: [email protected] visits to European institutions in Brussels PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY 01467 624483. and Strasbourg. It includes workshops and interactive debates on the EU and &TAXATION SERVICE QCEA’s involvement in peace, economic Quaker Accountant offers friendly PERSONAL RETREATS, FRANCE. Make justice, sustainable energy security, crimi- service countrywide. space to reflect and be still. Beautiful old nal justice and human rights. Self-assessment & small businesses. farmhouse in rural Auvergne offers supportive, nurturing environment for Register before 24 February at: Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt individual retreats. Simple daily rhythm: www.qcea.org Chartered Certified Accountants meditation; silence; contemplative/artistic Or contact 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR activities. Walking. Organic vegetarian +32 2 230 4935 Telephone 01228 521286 food. www.retreathouseauvergne.com [email protected] [email protected] www.grainger-platt.co.uk in London Quakers Quakerism and NOMINATIONS Saturday 5 April, 10am - 4:30pm Beyond A course for those dealing with nominations run by Gill You read Michael Wright’s article last week about Nontheist Pennington from Woodbrooke the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Friends Quaker Study Centre, being held Relations conference on nontheism, and you want Network at Westminster Meeting House, to know more? 8 Hop Gardens, off St Martins Lane, London WC2N 4EA. Well, there may still be a few places left for the Nontheist Nominations is at the quiet heart Friends Network conference at Woodbrooke on March 21-23. of the way we live together as It’s not just for Friends who identify as ‘nontheist’: it’s open to Friends and has the potential to all who want to explore or challenge this strand of Quakerism. build our community. We’ll spend time looking at discernment and Our keynote speakers are Brian Mountford, author of Christian how it is used. There will be time Atheist, David Boulton, retiring convenor of the Network, and to discuss some of the practical our guest presenters Paul Parker, BYM Recording Clerk, and challenges and opportunities to Helen Rowlands, Woodbrooke’s Head of Education. explore possible solutions. Advance booking is required by Can you really afford to miss it? phoning 07806 663023 or on www.londonquakers.org.uk/events Information from and applications to Jean Wardrop: Please say which Meeting you [email protected] or Jean Wardrop, 105 Humber Road, are from. Cost £37. If possible, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7PG. Or visit send a cheque payable to London www.nontheist-quakers.org.uk Quakers to: LQ Clerk, 48 Kenil- worth Ave, London SW19 7LW. But be quick! We are running out of rooms. Please bring your own lunch.

the Friend, 21 February 2014 19 Ad pages 21 Feb 17/2/14 21:57 Page 6

Stay with Friends this Spring...... at one of these Quaker centres

BAMFORD QUAKER COMMUNITY, Water Lane, Bamford, Hope Valley, S33 0DA. Tel. 01433 650085. Email: mail@ quakercommunity.org.uk Web: www.quakercommunity.org.uk A warm welcome awaits! Enjoy the beauty of the Peak District. We are 10 minutes' walk from Bamford station with trains from Sheffield and Manchester. Daily worship, evenings by the fire, hill and riverside walks, opportunities to work in our 11 acre gardens and woodlands. Come for a fully-catered programmed retreat, or for a short stay independently or in a group. £15–£25/night.

CLARIDGE HOUSE, Friends Fellowship of Healing Dormans Road, Lingfield, Surrey RH7 6QH Tel. 01342 832150. Web: www.claridgehousequaker.org.uk Victorian House in beautiful gardens. Relax, Refresh, Recharge with a personal stay in a nurturing atmosphere. Four nights full board from £240. Programme of courses with a healing focus. Group Stays for Quaker Meetings and other activities. Seventeen National Trust properties within an hour’s drive. Vegetarian cuisine based on organic produce. Train: 46 minutes from London.

GLENTHORNE Quaker Centre and Guest House Easedale Road, Grasmere, Ambleside LA22 9QH T. 015394 35389 E. [email protected] W. www.glenthorne.org Glenthorne is an idyllic base for walking, touring or just relaxing. Beautiful, peaceful Lakeland setting also ideal for rest and con- valescence. Comfortable rooms and excellent food at a reasonable price. Single, twin and double rooms, most ensuite. February, March and November Budget Breaks, 4 nights full board from £208. Special interest holidays and courses – enquire for details!

THE PENN CLUB 21 Bedford Place, London WC1B 5JJ. Tel. 020 7636 4718 Email: [email protected] Web: www.pennclub.co.uk Comfortable central London B&B accommodation a few minutes walk from Friends House and the British Museum. Discover our friendly atmosphere and enjoy our facilities, including microwave and fridge, tea/coffee available all day and free wi-fi. 10 minutes walk from Euston, 4 minutes to Underground. Easy access for most mainline stations including St Pancras International.

WOODBROOKE, 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham B29 6LJ Tel. 0121 472 5171. Email: [email protected] Web: www.woodbrooke.org.uk Relax and unwind at Woodbrooke. Engage your senses in our 10 acres of gardens, lake and woodland; enjoy the beautiful views from the comfort of our modern Garden Lounge; or discover the delights of our atmospheric Quaker library. Only £68 per couple or £50 for individuals for B&B when booked directly or on our website, Woodbrooke is ideal for exploring nearby Bournville or Birmingham's nature and arts attractions.

Please display on your Meeting House notice board.