2 2 September September 2016 2016 £1.90£1.90 thethe discoverdiscover the the contemporaryFriend contemporaryFriend quaker quaker way way

The joyous burden of love The Spirit of Love the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 174 NO 36

3 Thought for the Week: A concern arose… that I might feel The Spirit of Love and understand their life and the Spirit Andrew Edis they live in, if happy I might receive instruction from them, or they be in any 4-5 News degree helped forward by my following the 6 Spiritual discernment leadings of Truth amongst them. Janette Denley John Woolman 1720-72 7 Who do we care about? See pages 10-11. Peter Staples 8-9 Letters 10-11 The joyous burden of love Paul Parker and Deborah Rowlands 12-13 Turning faith into fiction Peter Parr and Mike Brooks e apologise to our subscribers for the late delivery of the 14 The spirit of friendship WFriend last week. John Tittley This was due to two machines at our printers, Headley Brothers, 15 q-eye: a look at the Quaker world taking an early break for the bank 16 Friends & Meetings holiday.

Cover image: Visiting the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). Left to right: Diane Randall, FCNL executive secretary; Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM); and Deborah Rowlands, clerk of BYM. Photo: FCNL. See pages 10-11.

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2 the Friend, 2 September 2016 Thought for the Week

The Spirit of Love

The Spirit of Love is within us, We are here to bring good news to the poor; We are here to heal the broken hearted, We are here to bring deliverance to the captives, the downtrodden and the oppressed. We are here for those who languish in prison, sometimes unjustly. We are here to bring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and to the lame a spark of light such that they leap inwardly with joy. We are here to be instruments of peace and blessing, to enable integrity, honesty and justice to blossom forth, like a refreshing shower of rain after a drought. We are here to be the acceptable face of love in a hard and cruel world, to reach out and offer the hand of friendship. We are here to bring healing to those that mourn or who are sad, to be a garland of joy, of sweet smelling flowers instead of the dead hand of ashes. We are here to enrobe each other with the garments of love, praise and joy so to bring light to the spirit of heaviness which sometimes bows us down. We do this, so that we all of us here, now, in this place might be called trees of righteousness, So that we might (in our hearts) become the plantings of love. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; So must righteousness, peace, love and joy spring forth from our hearts like a stream of living water. And remember this – it must flow not only from us but also between us.

Andrew Edis Mansfield Meeting

the Friend, 2 September 2016 3 News Adam Curle remembered The peace scholar Adam Curle is to be associate vice president for remembered at the University of Bradford next month, social responsibility at the when the centenary of his birth will be marked. University of Manchester. The Adam Curle Centenary Symposium on 5 and 6 Professor Jenny Pearce of September will bring together peace researchers and the University of Bradford practitioners from around the world. said: ‘The symposium Adam Curle was the first professor of peace studies brings into focus Adam’s at the university and the theme of the symposium wider understandings is ‘Peaceful Relations and the Transformation of the of the conditions for World’. peace, exploring how our Among the keynote speakers are John Paul Lederach, relationships after war do professor of international peacebuilding at the or do not change; how University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He is joined by art and peace intersect; Meeting 1976. Yearly Curle at Adam Photo courtesy of the Library of the Society Religious of Friends. Cynthia Enloe, adjunct professor of political science at how peace is “made” or “built”; how nonviolence can Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, and James challenge inequalities, racism and oppression; and Thompson, professor of applied and social theatre and whether and how education can contribute to peace.’ New cluster takes shape The Quaker Life Network Topics covered in the first few reading groups, non-book resources, has launched a Quaker Meeting days ranged from cataloguing to display ideas and what libraries can Librarians Cluster. The initiative ‘weeding’, the practice of bringing do for new attenders’. aims to enable Friends who run a tired collection back to life by She added that the majority their Meeting libraries to do so appraising and renewing stock. of Britain Yearly Meeting’s Local with confidence. Friends House librarian Tabitha Meetings have libraries, as do some The cluster will initially involve Driver told the Friend that she Area Meetings. The new cluster an email discussion facilitated by would like to see the group cover is open to anyone involved with the team at Friends House Library. topics such as ‘Meeting library running a Meeting library. Climate justice champion at Friends House Bill McKibben, a founder of the campaigning 350.org is a worldwide grassroots climate change organisation 350.org, spoke about his work on fossil movement. It has organised 20,000 rallies around fuel divestment and the fight for climate justice at the world and launched the fossil fuel divestment Friends House in London on 28 August. movement. Bill McKibben is credited with writing the His talk was followed by workshops addressing key first book on climate change for a general audience, aspects of divestment campaigning. The End of Nature, which was published in 1989.

Spare the wasps, Friends urged Cooking for our Future The Quaker Concern for Animals (QCA) has called on Friends in Ludlow have contributed Meetings to dispose of wasps humanely. twenty-one recipes to a new cookery book, QCA’s Thom Bonneville stressed that wasps are important Cooking for our Future. because they help with pollination and will leave of their own The book, which was published by the accord in the autumn. Ludlow Sustainability Group, has been Thom told the Friend: ‘I should hope that all Quaker Meetings designed to encourage readers to try dishes would take into environmental and ethical account the use of that have less impact on the planet. It chemicals and so on when getting rid of “unwelcome visitors’’. includes a table with estimates of the CO2 There are lots of resources on better ways of dealing with the impact of different foods and a section beasties than the societal default of extermination. Quakers on cooking methods to further reduce should never reach unthinkingly for the violent “solution’’.’ environmental impact.

4 the Friend, 2 September 2016 reported by Tara Craig and Harry Albright [email protected] Quakers at Greenbelt Quakers had a vibrant balloons and presence at the Greenbelt festival other materials to of arts, faith and justice held near take away. Kettering in Northamptonshire on Meeting for 26-29 August. Worship was held Outreach was a key theme with every day at 2pm crafts for children, videos and pop- with between up speakers on offer throughout seventy and 100 the bank holiday weekend along people taking with a range of flyers, leaflets, part. Each day there were ‘pop-up speakers’ in the Quaker tent. Some of the Friends House staff and volunteers. They talked on Meeting. Yearly Photo courtesy of Britain the Ecumenical Six members of Friends House Accompaniment Programme staff, ten Quaker volunteers and in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI); fifteen ‘day volunteers’ from Trident; peace education and Northamptonshire Area Meeting the ‘Corrymeela imagination’. ensured a strong Quaker presence A representatives from Save the over the weekend. Children also made a contribution Abigail Maxwell, who gave a on Yemen and refugees, and talk about gender issues, was one another from the Fellowship of of a number of Friends who spoke

Save the Children representative. Save Martin. Photo: Jon Reconciliation discussed drones. about Quaker values in the world.

2016 Eva Koch scholars Kendal Meeting House Presentations were given at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study celebrates 200 years Centre in Birmingham on Saturday 20 August by the four 2016 Eva Koch scholars. Kendal’s historic Georgian Quaker The open event was held in the Cadbury Room and the four scholars Meeting House on Stramongate is – Jane Pearn, Joycelin Dawes, Anne de Gruchy and Rhiannon Grant – opening up to the public to celebrate talked about the work they had undertaken during their scholarship. its double centenary. Jane Pearn’s focus was on current Quaker understanding of ‘concern’ The Meeting House will be open and the subject of Joycelin Dawes’ scholarship was discernment. as part of Heritage Open Days, on Anne de Gruchy considered the question: ‘What do we mean by our Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 Quaker testimony of simplicity?’ of September. A special display, which Rhiannon Grant looked at the development and effects of the practice tells the story of the building and its of ‘afterwords’. people, will be set up for visitors.

African American Friends gathering The Annual gathering of for business, presentations and the Fellowship’s testament concern- the Fellowship of Friends of fellowship. ing the state-sanctioned violence African Descent was held at Arch The gathering explored the against people of African descent. Street Friends Meeting House in concerns and crises facing the The minute contained four action Philadelphia from 12 to 14 August. African American community, items: to create a peace force; to The theme of the gathering including state-sanctioned violence establish peace centres; to promote was ‘Recharge, Renew and against men, women and children community training of the police; Rejoice!’ and Friends spent time in of African descent. and to advocate for disarmament of worship, worship with a concern A minute was created to express both the police and the community.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 5 Opinion Spiritual discernment

Janette Denley asks: Whose work are we doing?

s Quakers, our Society cannot function In all cases the word truth begins with a lowercase effectively until each member and attender letter, so it is not easy to define it as the Truth sought understands fully, and is both willing and able, through discernment or simply reached cerebrally Ato practice spiritual discernment. through discussion. It would be interesting to find Whilst of late the word discernment has been out. However, without an understanding of its real written, spoken about and quoted on many occasions, meaning it becomes meaningless and, in my opinion, there seems to be little awareness of what it means carries little weight. and how it is practised. The dictionary definition, and Recently, in reading through a number of back that of Roget’s Thesaurus, refers to it as discrimination, copies of the Friend, I found much to exercise my which is acceptable at a human level, but lacking thoughts in a copy of 8 April. It was encouraging when applying to that of the Spirit, and when sought to read in a letter from Philip Jacob, a member of by Friends trying to find what God needs of us in Monkstown Meeting in Dublin, affirmation that the the work He has planned for us, and in our testing of Religious Society of Friends is not in itself a religion concerns at all levels. but simply a denomination of the Christian faith. This We need to remember that we are not humans on could be borne in mind by Friends appointed to the a spiritual journey, but Spirit experiencing a human committee for revising the Book of Discipline when existence, seemingly separated in this physical considering its title. life, but all connected at that deeper level. It is this In the same edition, the Meeting for Sufferings connectedness which we encounter when the Meeting report stated that trustees had spent much of their for Worship is ‘gathered’, and this we must strive for February meeting looking at risk, whilst the treasurer if we are to come together to discern the will of God. stressed the risk of not having the funds to do what the Bournville Meeting in Birmingham, the one I was Society wants to do. This reminded me of an occasion born into and attended with my parents when I was a some years ago when I was serving on Quaker Finance child, has an inscription on the wall to remind us of and Property and a member, who was new to the our connection with the Spirit: ‘God is Spirit and those committee, said that we must get more members in who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in order to pay for our work. Probably this is necessary Tr ut h .’ if we are doing our work, but should not be necessary I was prompted to write on this subject after if our work has been discerned to be that which God watching a recording of questions to the secretary of requires of us and has gone through a rigorous testing state for defence at a Parliamentary Select Committee. in its early stages to establish that it is so. The secretary of state was asked by one of the Perhaps it would be possible to have a list of the committee whether he had ‘been able to speak truth to work being undertaken at the moment, that is: when power’. Previously, having heard the expression only in it was started; whether it was thoroughly tested in the Quaker circles, I decided to search for its origin. The correct manner; whether it is progressing well; and result was as follows: ‘coined by civil rights activist, just how much we, as a Society, are really committed Bayard Rustin… has become a popular way to take a to and own it. This might be an exercise that could stand even when the people speaking truth to power be entered into at Yearly Meeting 2017 in Warwick, are powerful themselves’; and was in a pamphlet thereby moving towards an understanding of published in the 1950s by the American Friends discernment, and an experience of its practice. Service Council when studying international conflict Speak truth to power – a Quaker alternative to violence. Janette is a member of Ettington Meeting.

6 the Friend, 2 September 2016 Talking point Who do we care about? Photo: Sarah Horrigan / flickr CC. / flickr Photo: Sarah Horrigan

Peter Staples believes small is not beautiful in the EU

am ashamed to say that I voted to stay in the EU greatest threat facing us, Britain and Europe, comes at the recent referendum. Ashamed? Yes, because from within. Megalomaniacs with only one ambition something deep inside me knew it was wrong – acquiring more and more power for its own sake – Ibut I did it anyway, betraying my inner voice. For have had to step back a little because of the British ‘no’ many years I have supported the concept of ‘small is vote. beautiful’, so passionately and eloquently expounded by Ernst Schumacher in his 1973 book of the same Quakers seem to have overwhelmingly supported name. The book, according to one influential website: a ‘yes’ vote, so far as I can see, and this tells us a few ‘brought Schumacher’s critiques of Western economics things about modern British Liberal Quakers. to a wider audience during the 1973 energy crisis and emergence of globalization.’ The Times Literary First, that we are naïve. Second, that we never took Supplement ranks Small Is Beautiful among the 100 the trouble as a Society to discuss the issues involved. most influential books published since world war two. Third, that our comfortable middle class existence did not feel threatened. Fourth and I think this is the most So, here was I, committed philosophically and telling criticism that can be made of Quakers in this spiritually to every word that Schumacher wrote, country today, we did not care – let me say it again, we marching into the polling station to support the exact did not care – about those less well off than ourselves opposite. Don’t make any mistake about it, I believe and what effect the referendum result might have on the bureaucrats and technocrats who run the EU – their lives and communities. Speaking for myself, in whose names we never hear and whose faces we never the months before the referendum on 23 June I did see – aren’t remotely interested in individual liberty or not speak to one person from a lower socio-economic justice, compassion or equality. They are interested in bracket than my own. Did you? creating a United States of Europe. To that end they will manipulate the European Parliament and coerce individual national governments into cooperation. The Peter is an attender at Shrewsbury Meeting.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

Academies for Quakers second epistle dated 1700 warning of the dangers I would like to pick up two of the points made by of ‘inwardness’ – a warning not heeded, which has Nick Tyldesley (26 August). I believe it is crucial perhaps led to the disunity we see today. for our beloved Society that there should be strong Molly Braithwaite connections between Local Meetings, Area Meetings Luton & Leighton Area Meeting and Friends House, perhaps like a kind of spider’s web: if Quakers did not speak with a voice of unity, a The first point that Eunice Gillingham made in voice that arises from what happens in our Meetings her letter was the very valid one: both outsiders for Worship and spreads throughout the organisation, and Friends who were shown the picture on the we would lose the quiet power that we exercise now in outside of the Friend did not recognise it as one of international work, such as that done by QUNO. a nonviolent protest at all, but thought it showed a Second, I have been reading through Quaker drug addict or drunkard! Perhaps the word ‘graceful’ faith & practice in the programme suggested by the was inappropriate, but a nonviolent protest has to be Revision Preparation Group and have found immense ‘controlled’ in such a way that it immediately conveys and inspiring riches – ‘dry constitutionalism’ is not to those who see it the reason for the protest. something I recognise. For instance, totally disrupting Heathrow is only Lucy Pollard likely to antagonise and does nothing to point out that Ipswich & Diss Area Meeting the pollution and ‘disturbance of concentration’ caused by the existing runways is already badly affecting the Anyone who has been following the study course education of children in that area. on Quaker faith & practice will be surprised by the Elaine Miles reference to its ‘dry constitutionalism’. Probably the Jordans Meeting, Buckinghamshire sections referred to are those valuable for reference – the rest are full of wisdom and inspiration. Reading Eunice Gillingham’s letter, I was entertained Of course, it does need to be updated for the by the thought of how she might have rebuked twenty-first century, for example, with reference to the seventeenth century Friends for their disruptive and internet. Our wonderful Advices & queries start with a ‘uncooperative’ behaviour had she lived at that time. stumbling block for the younger half of the population Apart from outright lawbreaking in the name of the since ‘heed’ seems to have dropped out of the language Truth, early Friends were quite prepared to go naked and is no longer understood. in public ‘for a sign’, address judges in court by the Barbara Crawford outrageously familiar/intimate ‘thou’, interrupt church Bournemouth Coastal Area Meeting services to accuse the ‘hireling’ priest of having the mark of the beast on his forehead, and so on and on. Wrong magazine? Being polite and dignified has its place, but Incredulity seems to be the order of the day as this sometimes it may be necessary to be a fool for God word also flashed across my mind when reading (19 – especially if you want passersby to notice your August) the response to the cover picture of the 8 July message. And, dear Friend, consider it possible that issue, which I applauded as showing a continuation of maybe a photo doesn’t give you the whole picture. our history of dissent. Stevie Krayer The Religious Society of Friends was born at a time Abergavenny Meeting, Monmouthshire of great social and economic change, not dissimilar to now. Friends were at the forefront in challenging No deterrent the all-powerful (at the time religious) establishment Bernard Bligh (26 August) thinks that no British and were met with extreme violence. Friends were prime minister would ever, in reality, press the nuclear dragged off the streets, dragged out of churches by button to unleash the horrors that would ensue. I only congregations enraged at their worshipping being wish I could believe that. However, I cannot shake disrupted and the pulpit being taken over by intruders. off the suspicion that Tony Blair, for example, always They were also enraged by Friends walking through an enthusiastic war-fighting prime minister, would the streets naked, women preaching and being dragged cheerfully have done so if his boss George W Bush had off ‘bare breasted’, tied to the back of carts and thrown told him to do it (‘I will be with you, whatever’). into filthy jails, and even by George Fox placing curses Aside from the deliberate use of nuclear weapons, on opponents to the point of death. I would strongly there is always the risk of mistakes. It is not widely suggest our Friend reads the John Nickalls edition of realised that the world came close to nuclear war in George Fox’s Journal, where all this can be verified. 1967 when a violent solar storm knocked out the Nato I would also recommend she reads Margaret Fell’s early warning radar systems in the Arctic. Pentagon

8 the Friend, 2 September 2016 [email protected]

chiefs assumed this was enemy action, preliminary to a I am saddened by Sarah Lawson’s letter (26 August). Soviet attack, and nuclear-armed bombers were placed Her email address, ‘Quaker Friends of Israel’, suggests on high alert ready to fly. Fortunately, the truth of the that, as she is entitled to be, she is a supporter of Israel. situation came to light before things got out of hand. However, her criticism of Martin Drummond’s article We got away with it that time. Next time…? (12 August) for daring to question the view of a former Peter F Bolwell chief rabbi that anti-Zionism is ‘…a freshly mutant 19 Priory Close, Hastings TN34 1UJ form of the old virus of anti-Semitism’ is unfair. Martin quoted a number of Jews who do not agree with the Somme FAU witness chief rabbi: Richard Silverstein, Norman Finkelstein It is quite unusual to discover that one’s father left and Tamar Zandberg. Does Sarah believe that the detailed diaries of his work on Number 17 Ambulance ‘anti-Zionist’ views of these distinguished Jews must trains in France in Friends House Library through a be dismissed, as Martin puts it in his article, as ‘blood- radio broadcast (BBC Radio 4, 12 August). libelling anti-Semites’? Wars have such a devastating impact on participants The problems of Israel’s relationship with its that they rarely talk about them to their children. Arab neighbours – religious, political, territorial and Fortunately, my brother Peter learned something from emotional – are immense. Many attempts to seek my father and also has detailed memoirs of his part as solutions have ended in failure, and for this all the a Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) ambulance driver parties share the blame. Some years ago, after one such that are well worth recording. failure, Abba Eban, the then Israeli foreign minister, In fact, we both had an elder brother Dick Rutter, summed the problem up as Yasser Arafat ‘never missed who wrote a graphic account of being a FAU an opportunity to miss an opportunity’. ambulance driver in the second world war in a book The same jibe can reasonably be made against a on the FAU. He and his companions were shot at while number of Israeli governments since that time. To picking up the wounded in the no-man’s land between dismiss every criticism of Israeli policy as a blood libel the Free French and German forces in Alsace. He told is an attempt to curb reasonable freedom of speech me that the most awful decision they had to make was about real issues. This is particularly distressing, to have to choose which of the wounded could survive bearing in mind that Israel has probably the most the bumpy and hazardous ride to hospital, knowing democratic government in the world. that they could give no help to those they had to leave Paul Honigmann behind to die in agony from their wounds. Jordans Meeting, Buckinghamshire It has only recently struck me that after the war Dick Worship used a bicycle and never drove again. Reading Craig Barnett’s article ‘Quaker renewal: Andrew Rutter Worship’ (5 August) served well to remind me that I’m Winchester Meeting, Hampshire unlikely to go far with the Quakers, mere mortal and humble attender that I am! Redefining anti-Semitism How I celebrate the ordinariness of my existence. Among my earliest memories are recollections of Lesley Smith my mother’s work with German Jewish refugees in Welwyn Garden City Meeting, Hertfordshire Manchester in the 1930s: this has conditioned my response to people in the same situation for the rest In essentials unity, of my life. It has been an important lesson in our human condition for me to observe what has been in non-essentials liberty, happening to Palestinians at the hands of Zionists over in all things charity. succeeding decades, at the same time as I listen to the voices of Jewish people who are actively opposing the The Friend welcomes your views. expansionist policies of successive Israeli governments. The roots of our peace testimony reach back to Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words). the vision of the Hebrew prophets who expounded the connection between justice and peace. I hope Please include your full postal address, even that Quaker Friends of Israel find inspiration in this when sending emails, and specify whether you precious element of Jewish tradition, and are able to wish for your postal or email address or Meeting unite with the ‘peaceniks’ who are actively applying it name to be used with your name. in their witness – sometimes at a high personal cost. Anthony Wilson Letters are published at the editor’s discretion and may be edited. Lichfield Meeting, Staffordshire

the Friend, 2 September 2016 9 Quaker life The joyous burden of love

Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), and Deborah Rowlands, clerk of BYM, shared a concern to visit among Yearly Meetings in the United States of America. They reflect on their ‘ministry of intervisitation’.

uring our journey to America this summer we The highlight, indeed one of the many, for me felt enormously upheld by the travelling minute (Paul) was visiting the FCNL on Capitol Hill, where from Meeting for Sufferings, knowing that I met some of the members of their eighteen-strong DFriends in Britain were upholding us through prayer. Advocacy Corps. This ethnically and geographically Responses to our Facebook posts also demonstrated the diverse group of young adults receives two weeks’ interest and support for the visit from British Friends. intensive training in lobbying at FCNL, and are then Several people suggested queries, which we were able engaged for a year as lobbyists on a small stipend, to share with those amongst whom we visited. This making a minimum of thirty lobbying contacts per increased the sense of dynamic engagement. month on a current issue. This year it is immigration Everywhere we went we were warmly welcomed and policy. Friends shared generously their hospitality and their Those I met were not all Quakers, but saw a spiritual Spiritual riches. In worship and conversation we, too, dimension to the work and an opportunity to use their shared from our experience of living and working in skills and time to make the world a more just place. In Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). In all our conversations return, they described how they themselves had been we found ourselves going to the heart of the Quaker changed and deepened by the experience. way. What does it mean to be a Quaker today and how do we live out our faith in the world? Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Sharing experiences Our first visit was to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. There are about 9,600 members in the Yearly Meeting, in about We chose to spend quality time with just two liberal 100 Meetings, and about 500 of all ages were present at Yearly Meetings at their annual sessions in order to annual sessions. Within the last few years the Yearly build connections and relationships between our Yearly Meeting had, due to financial constraints, undergone a Meeting and some of our Quaker cousins. We wanted radical change in structure and organisation, reducing to share our experience of Quakerism in the UK and drastically the staff complement and the number of to learn from theirs, including our ways of worship, standing committees. our modes of governance, our work in the world, and Instead, within the Yearly Meeting, Friends are our outreach to seekers. Both these Yearly Meetings encouraged to set up ‘Collaboratives’ and ‘Sprints’, had previously been split into separate ‘Hicksite’ and working for a short term across more than one Meeting ‘Orthodox’ Yearly Meetings and had come together to tackle an issue for which they had a passion: within the last seventy years. Neither had traditions of examples included eco-justice, the Middle East, public pastors or programmed worship. education, supporting individual calls to ministry and We also spent time with the American Friends Service spiritual formation. Committee (AFSC), the Friends Committee on National After time in Washington, we arrived for Baltimore Legislation (FCNL), Friends General Conference (FGC), Yearly Meeting. ‘The other BYM’ consists of about Friends World Committee for Consultation (Section of 7,000 Friends in fifty local groupings, and about 300 the Americas), visited Pendle Hill and met with Friends Friends were gathered for annual sessions. This Yearly from Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS), Friends United Meeting, too, was experiencing a time of change, with Meeting (FUM) and Friends from other Yearly Meetings suggestions for new structures being seasoned at the who were fellow visitors at the annual sessions. Yearly Meeting and a new general secretary.

10 the Friend, 2 September 2016 Recurring themes • The strong sense of history amongst American Friends. Many Meeting houses from the Some of the recurring themes across both Yearly seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are still in Meetings, which also resonated within the organisations use. In Pennsylvania, in particular, there is a strong we visited, were: Quaker presence and the Quaker contribution to the region’s history is well recognised. • Young adult Friends. The contribution of young • The Yearly Meeting as community. There was adult Friends, which can be fostered through a palpable strength and energy in both Yearly opportunities for advocacy, service on committees Meetings we visited, and a desire for more nimble and as staff. We were especially excited by the young dynamic Spirit-led organisations adult advocacy corps and fellows at FCNL and the fellowship programme of QVS, a new organisation Ideas which creates intentional communities of young adults, mainly but not exclusively Quakers, who live Some things we are taking away. Might some of these together, engage in spiritual formation together, and ideas work in Britain Yearly Meeting? work as interns in a range of nonprofit social change organisations. • Providing more opportunities for young adults • Working on racism. Both Yearly Meetings had which foster service, spiritual growth and prominent programmes to work on racism, both community. within and beyond their Yearly Meetings, but had • Continuing to experiment with different clerking different approaches and were at different stages. In patterns, at Yearly Meeting and elsewhere. Baltimore the community included a strong camp • Providing dynamic opportunities for Friends to programme that had received grant funding to unite on concerns or specific activity which do not increase diversity both within the campers and the rely on a self-perpetuating committee structure. staff. In turn, this had led to increased engagement • Opening up nominations for service more widely, within the Monthly Meetings and in the staff body. and be better at naming Friends’ gifts. In Philadelphia, the Undoing Racism Group had • Spreading the use of clearness committees and been very successful in increasing the visibility and ‘care’ or support committees to help Friends test awareness of race issues in the Yearly Meeting, but and carry forward individual leadings and personal was struggling to find the right place to work from service. within the new structures. • Using queries as a powerful tool to deepen our • Faith and practice. Both Yearly Meetings had spent understanding of all sorts of aspects of our life the last ten or so years working on revising their together. books of faith and practice. Neither had yet been • Building a culture of intervisitation, both amongst accepted by the Yearly Meeting in session. We and between Yearly Meetings as a way to strengthen sensed that this was partly due to the background bonds. of significant structural changes. We were able to • Drawing on music, singing together and readings as spend time with some of those carrying out faithful ways to deepen silence, build unity and punctuate service within their Yearly Meetings to distil the speech during sessions. experience within written form. • As Britain Yearly Meeting, at our Yearly Meeting • Authority and leadership. We were able to explore Gathering next year, focuses on movement various models of clerkship that included splitting building, sharing the experiences of the wider the role into presiding and recording clerks, and the Quaker movement. use of alternate and reading clerks; staff/committee relationships; and the relationships between the We have learnt and shared much and look forward Yearly Meeting as a body and the constituent to opportunities to link the Friends we have met with Meetings. those doing similar work in our own Yearly Meeting. • Governance. ‘God can speak through small groups However, the overwhelming gift we are bringing back is as well as large.’ In the organisations we visited, that of making strong and enduring relationships with including the Yearly Meetings, there was a sense the Friends who opened their homes and their hearts to that large councils which had carried responsibility us. We have been richly blessed with the joyous burden for the past 100-plus years were beginning to feel a of love. little cumbersome. Might the model which we have been working with for the last ten years in Britain of Paul is recording clerk of BYM. smaller trustee bodies prove helpful? Deborah is clerk of BYM.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 11 Books Turning faith into fiction Photo: Wouter de Bruijn / flickr CC. / flickr de Bruijn Wouter Photo:

Peter Parr and Mike Brooks are Quakers who are also writers. Both had their debut novels published this year. They discuss their work and how their Quaker faith informs their writing and what they hope readers will gain from reading their work

ike: How does it feel to have your first novel Mike: The book ends with one of the characters published? I understand it’s been a long time going to a Quaker Meeting for Worship. How else does Min the making. your faith come through in the story? Peter: I’m very excited. Yes, I began writing the book Peter: Well, it may begin with a murder, but it’s over twenty years ago while still at school, but I’ve essentially a positive book. We all make mistakes. changed a lot in the intervening years and the novel What matters is how we learn from them and how we has grown with me. In particular, my faith has become choose to live from this day on. more central in my life and that has influenced the No matter what we might have done, nothing can tone of the book. cut us off from God’s love. Nor can it take away the truth of who we are, the divine essence within us. Mike: Escape to Redemption is a crime thriller with a spiritual undercurrent. Can you say a little more Mike: It’s similar for my novel, The Machine Society. about it? On the one hand it’s a sci-fi drama – full of thrills and spills, some comedy and romance – but at another Peter: It’s about two flawed but decent people whose level I’ve tried to write an allegory of the spiritual actions lead to someone’s death. One of them flees the journey. country, leaving the other behind to take the blame. The hero of the novel is trapped in a world of But the one on the run is struggling to run away from consumerism and debt. He’s lost touch with what’s her guilt. important to him and is even struggling to hold onto a

12 the Friend, 2 September 2016 sense of reality. So, he embarks on a search for what is Mike: Has writing also provided you with insights real and meaningful for him. for your own life?

Peter: Your description of the future sounds like the Peter: Certainly, that’s true of my nonfiction writing, present day. such as the booklet I wrote for The Kindlers series [Answering that of God: discovering Spirit within]. But Mike: Precisely. One of the things I like about sci-fi the advantage of fiction is that it can communicate and dystopian future novels is that they are a powerful abstract concepts in a way that might be easier to way of talking about the present. I looked at all the relate to. branding and materialism that engulfs us in our daily For instance, we can be quick to form opinions lives today and imagined a very exaggerated version about people and to judge them as good or bad, but of this. often things are not so black and white. The process of writing my novel and immersing myself in my Peter: So, are you pessimistic about the direction characters’ experiences has brought that home to me. society is headed? Mike: I found writing The Machine Society to be Mike: Yes and no. While I can imagine a future cathartic. For example, I got a chance to satirise the that is bleak, I think there is always hope because the world of advertising, which I find inane! spiritual path is a perennial part of human experience I think what annoys me so much about advertising and is always available to us – even if it involves some is the way it tries to sabotage a healthy sense of self difficult choices. by making us feel incomplete without the latest car or phone or the romantic relationship that will follow Peter: We might say that guidance is always available once we get that particular phone! to us. The question is, are we open to receiving it? The tricky thing is, I think we all have a sense that life is lacking something – we’re all looking to fill Mike: I like the verse in the Bible that says we are the gap. From a Quaker perspective, I would say the ‘refined by fire’. It seems people can very easily get answer is found in the Light or love, though, of course, stuck in their ways. it’s not a straightforward thing. We can be reluctant to change, living life in the same old patterns – but then these challenging experiences Peter: What impact do you hope your novel will come along that open us up to a better way. These have on people? experiences are painful at the time, and we wouldn’t choose to have them, but ultimately they’re good for us. Mike: I hope people will be entertained, but I’ve also threaded into the novel a number of spiritual and Peter: Have you found writing itself to be a spiritual psychological ideas that I find interesting. experience? Peter: It’s about sowing seeds. If we tell a story that’s Mike: It can certainly be a very moving experience. engaging and authentic, one that resonates with people For me, it involves deep inner reflection as I try to at a deep level, it may encourage them to reflect and tune into the feelings of each character – and each perhaps see things in a new light. character, in some ways, is a different part of me. So, writing is an act of self-exploration and self- Peter is a member of Hastings Meeting. awareness. There’s an element of truth-seeking in it, without knowing what may emerge. Mike is an attender at Westminster Meeting.

Peter: That’s been my experience, too. When I The Machine Society by Mike Brooks, Cosmic Egg sit down to write a scene, I may have a sense of the Books. ISBN: 9781785352522, £10.99. general direction, but when I’m in touch with my Available in October. Inner Guide – as I might be in Meeting for Worship – new insights come. Escape to Redemption by Peter Parr, Roundfire. I’ve found myself changing the direction a chapter ISBN: 9781785352270, £9.99. takes, particularly if I get a sense that the way I’d initially planned it doesn’t feel true to how the characters Both books will be available from the Quaker Centre would behave. In a way, writing the novel was about Bookshop in Friends House and online or in ebook discerning the authentic story that wanted to be told. formats.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 13 Reflection The spirit of friendship

Visitors Wilfred Gaum and Lutz Caspars with Carey and Jeff Glyn- Jones from Almeley Wootton Meeting. Photo courtesy of Brian Holley.

John Tittley writes about a German-English exchange

nternational relations is not the first matter The Children’s Meeting at Almeley Wootton sent a that comes to mind when you stand outside the gift of prayer flags to Hanover, which were displayed at 300-year-old Friends Meeting house in the tiny the German Yearly Meeting held at Bad Pyrmont. The Ihamlet of Almeley Wootton in Herefordshire. Yet Hanover Meeting sent the Almeley Wootton children friendship is growing between this remote Quaker a handmade puzzle, which continues to provide community in the west of England and one in the merriment and much head scratching. north German city of Hanover. Then, in July 2016, German Friends Claudia In 2013, a letter from the Almeley Wootton Meeting Condry, Lutz Caspers and Wilfried Gaum visited was sent to the editor of Quäker, a German magazine. Almeley Wootton. Local Friends met them at John Tittley, a member of the Meeting for many years, Birmingham Airport and took them for a short visit to had expressed a concern that commemorations of the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham the 1914-18 world war would be triumphalist and before travelling to Herefordshire. Accommodation not reflect the feelings of either British or German and meals were provided by Almeley Wootton Friends Quakers. The letter encouraged the hope that and a programme of visits was arranged. commemorations might take place in the spirit of reconciliation and that links might be created between Our German Friends were well received wherever German and British Friends. Members of Hanover they went and Almeley Wootton Friends look forward Meeting responded and so a relationship began. to further contact and exchanges and hope this may become a model for other Quaker Meetings in Britain. Supported and encouraged by Southern Marches Area Meeting, and bearing a letter of introduction, John Tittley travelled to Hanover in 2014 and so began a series of exchanges. John is a member of Almeley Wootton Meeting.

14 the Friend, 2 September 2016 [email protected] a look at the Quaker world

Facing adversity

Eye has heard tell of a Friend’s extraordinary achievement and a Meeting’s surprise celebration. Jamie Wrench, of Southern Marches Area Meeting, writes: ‘After six years of study and a dreadful 2016, in which she suffered a broken ankle, an illness that meant she took her final exams in bed with a fever and antibiotics that made her deaf, Ludlow Meeting’s Ursula Freeman successfully completed an Open University degree in July. ‘She mentioned it to almost nobody, but Ludlow Quakers surprised her in time for her eighty-fourth birthday with a celebratory cake. Ludlow Friends thought it was worth sharing this example of

courageous success in the face of real adversity.’ Wrench. Photo courtesy of Jamie Staying with the train Peace and A story at a recent ‘Faith in Europe’ meeting caught the attention of Richard Seebohm, of Oxford Meeting. punctuation After comments had been made about slow decision making processes The punctuation of a in the Church of England someone turned to Richard and told him a tale possible pin badge has weighed on about a woman on a delayed commuter train: ‘[She] tapped on the door a Friend’s mind following a recent of the driver’s compartment and asked him if he could go a bit faster. “I article in the Friend. could, madam,” he said, “but I’d rather stay with the train.” Robert Kyte, of Charlbury ‘This may resonate with members of other religious bodies.’ Meeting, heeded Jane Pearn’s plea in ‘Practising peace’ (15 July) for the creation of a ‘Quakers practise peace’ badge (modelled on Rhiannon Grant’s left below). However, he felt there might also be a need for a punctuated version (on Rhiannon’s right) which exhorts: ‘Quakers! Practice Peace’ The root of the matter Photo: Tom Raftery / flickr CC. / flickr Raftery Tom Photo: Sheila Hancock spoke to Broadleaf magazine, the magazine of the Woodland Trust, about Quakerism in their spring edition. Christine Francis, of Stoke Meeting, spotted the interview in the section ‘Trees & me’, where Sheila speaks of her earliest memories of the countryside and how trees have played a significant part in her experience of living in France and Wiltshire. The article finishes with the reflection: ‘There’s a strong environmental aspect to the Quaker movement, but that’s not what drew me. It was the lack of rules: no one’s in charge. We are a community of friends, who practise rather than preach. We do lots of work with the least attractive in society, the people who get left behind. There is active pacifism, too. People plan idiotic wars with enormous precision, so we believe you have

to be just as businesslike to bring about peace.’ Photo courtesy of Rhiannon Grant.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 15 2 Sept 31/8/16 11:12 Page 6

Friends&Meetings Births Memorial meetings PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT CHANGE OF AGM DATE Ivor KIRTON-DARLING Helen MARKS A memorial meeting The Annual General Meeting of 16 August. Polly Roberts and Ed to give thanks for the grace of God Kirton-Darling are delighted to in Helen’s life will be held at Chaigeley Educational Foundation announce Ivor's birth in University Amersham QMH, Whielden Street, will now be held on College Hospital, London. A grand- Amersham, Bucks HP7 0JB on Tuesday 27 September 2016 son for Fenwick Kirton-Darling and Saturday 24 September at 2.30pm. (not 6 Sept.) at 4pm in the School. Lucy and Peter Roberts. Enquiries: 01494 488398. Enquiries: Linda O’Rourke Head of Admin & HR, Chaigeley Educational Foundation, Lymm Rd, Deaths Notices Thelwall, Warrington WA4 2TD Telephone: 01925 756786 David CONNAL 23 August, of cancer. QUAKER ARTS NETWORK Registered Charity No. 1060403. Husband of Jackie, father of Duncan SPRING 2017 EXHIBITION and Bruce, grandfather of Rory. Exhibition proposals invited for a SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY Member of Watford Meeting. Aged 70. corridor exhibition at Friends Quaker Chaplaincy (Highfield Funeral West Herts Crematorium, House in Spring 2017. Closing date 2pm Monday 12 September, refresh- Campus). Welcoming and supporting for submissions 2 December 2016. students and staff. Regular term- ments after at Watford FMH. For terms of reference see Enquiries: [email protected] time Meeting for Worship, Tuesday www.quakerarts.net or email lunchtimes, starting 27 September. [email protected] Visit us during Freshers’ week. Changes of clerk Contact Frank Boulton: Diary [email protected] or see ABERDEEN LM from 1 September, www.southampton.ac.uk/chaplaincy clerk: Andrew Collins, Mill House, Newmachar, Aberdeen AB21 0RD. CHRISTIAN QUAKER MEETING Tel. 01651 869374. Meets every Sunday at Bunhill Meeting up Email: [email protected] Fields FMH (near Old Street under- ground) at 4pm for untimed ENERGETIC 81-YEAR OLD worship and fellowship. For our widower in the Yorkshire Dales. Journeymen Theatre and international Skype meeting visit Interested in poetry and the arts. Likes Quaker Concern for the www.quakersineurope.org singing and telling jokes. Is there a Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT) Enquiries Simon 020 8469 2901. woman who would consider joining him? 15 minutes walk to Meeting Feeding the Darkness MALDON MEETING HOUSE and all facilities. Replies please to Shining a Light on State- is open as part of the 2016 Heritage Box 980 c/o The Friend Ad Dept. Sanctioned Torture Through Weekend, 10am–4pm Saturday 10 September and 12 noon–4pm Story, Poem and Song Sunday 11 September. Built 1821 Friends & Meetings We invite your Meeting or group and Grade 2 listed. Meeting for Personal entries (births, marriages, to host a performance of this Worship 10.30-11.30am Sunday. deaths, anniversaries, changes of powerful 65-minute play. www.midessexquakers.org.uk address, etc.) charged at £27.50 Premiered at Britain Yearly incl. vat for up to 35 words and Meeting 2016, it portrays and QUAKER PEACE AND RELIEF includes a copy of the magazine. Meeting and charity notices, explores the impact of state- WORK Major exhibition at East (changes of clerk, new wardens, sanctioned torture on victims, Garston Meeting House, West changes to meeting, diary, etc.) their families, colluding bodies Berkshire RG17 7EX, 21-25 Sept- £23.23 zero rated for vat. Max. 35 and perpetrators. ember. Includes WWI FAU service. words. Three entries £55 (£46.46 if The play can be followed by a Call 01488 208407 for opening times. zero rated); six entries £90 (£75 if discussion with the actors. Plus documentary, Beyond Forgiving, zero rated). Suitable for ages 18+ 7.30pm Friday 23 September. Entries accepted at the editor’s discretion in a standard house style. For details and booking: A gentle discipline will be exerted to www.journeymentheatre.com THIN PLACES Friday 9 September, maintain a simplicity of style and [email protected] 10am-4pm, a retreat day with Julia wording that excludes terms of 07791 210687 Ryberg. Jordans Quaker Centre, endearment and words of tribute. HP9 2SN. Cost: £35 or what you Guidelines on request. For Q-CAT contact Juliet Morton can afford. All welcome. To book The Friend, 54a Main Street, [email protected] email [email protected] Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL 01535 630230 / [email protected] “An hour it will be hard to forget...” or call 01494 876594.

16 the Friend, 2 September 2016 2 Sept 31/8/16 11:12 Page 7

Living as a Quaker For ages 12 to 15 Friday 21 – Sunday 23 October 2016 Felden Lodge, Hemel Hempstead This weekend event is an opportunity to learn about Quaker identity, values and beliefs and discuss how you talk to others about being a Quaker. Sessions will be delivered in fun and interactive ways. Glenthorne Bookings close: 22 September. To book go to: www.yqspace.org.uk/bym-events Quaker Centre Email [email protected] or call 020 7663 1013. AUTUMN 2016 SPECIAL INTEREST HOLIDAYS & COURSES Britain Nourishing the Spirit. Led by Roswitha Jarman Yearly Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th September. Course starts Friday Meeting with evening meal and finishes Sunday 12.30pm. £170. Stillness, Faith and Action. Events and Committee Led by Terry Winterton and Services Officer Margaret Calvert (Kindlers’ team) Friday 30th September – Sunday Salary: £31,407 per annum. Contract: Full Time - Permanent 2nd October. Course finishes Hours: 35 hrs pw. Location: Friends House, Euston Rd, London NW1 Sunday 12.30pm. £170. We are seeking a well organised individual to provide high level Boot, Boat and Goat. support to a range of Quaker committees and events. The role Led by Terry Winterton and includes acting as the committee secretary to a busy committee Grace Ogilvie. Monday 3rd – and requires a high level of attention to detail, ability to work quickly, Friday 7th October. Course fin- creatively and accurately under pressure. In addition, you will be ishes Friday after breakfast. £380. required to support several events each year with a variety of aims and audiences. Dru Yoga led by Julia Slater Monday 31st October – Friday As a member of the Events and Committee Services Team, you 4th November. Course finishes will join us in providing support and administration to the main after dinner on Thursday. £375. governance committees of Quakers in Britain and contribute to the Living Experience. strategic development, planning and delivery of key events. Led by Geoffrey Durham Friday 11th – Sunday 13th Novem- Quakers have a way of life that is built upon the principles of truth, ber. Course finishes Sunday at equality, peace and simplicity. There is a long-held commitment to putting faith into direct action in the world. Some of that work is 1pm with a cooked lunch. £170. centrally managed and overseen by governance committees of Extend your visit and stay with Quakers themselves. us the Sunday before or after the course: B&B £40pp / Dinner, Some weekend and evening work is required with occasional B&B £52pp. extended periods away at events. Come for a holiday or bring your Closing Date: Monday 12 September 2016 Meeting for a weekend gathering! Interviews: Wednesday 21 September 2016 For further details please contact us. We welcome your enquiries. For further information about Quakers, please go to www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers and for details on how to Glenthorne Quaker Centre apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs Easedale Road, Grasmere Cumbria LA22 9QH. Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its T: 015394 35389 employment practices. E: [email protected] W: www.glenthorne.org Registered Charity No. 1127633. Registered charity no. 232575.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 17 2 Sept 31/8/16 11:12 Page 8

Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Advertisement Manager, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T: 01535 630230 E: [email protected]

where to stay Please note GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BS The Advertisement Dept is on holiday 5-9 September. CAUTLEY, SEDBERGH, 1652 COUNTRY Cross Keys Temperance Inn (formerly Please post or email any notices home of early Quaker Gervase Benson). Quality en-suite B&B £42.50pppn. or advertisements for our Evening meals available. Friendly Quaker 16 September issue to arrive by hosts. 015396 20284. [email protected] www.cautleyspout.co.uk noon on Monday 12 September.

COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS COUNTRY COTTAGES near Ludlow. Walking, wildlife. Short breaks. Families. SOUTHERN FRANCE Centre Quaker Pets. Green awards. Ffriends’ discount. Congénies. Walk, cycle, lovely valley. Share 01547 540441. camaraderie/worship with Friends. Relax www.mocktreeholidays.co.uk in our pleasant garden. S/C Kitchen. www.centre-quaker-congenies.org or call +33 466 71 46 41, +33 466 35 27 16. MID-WALES. Dolobran Meeting House Cottage. Simple, rural, secret, heavenly retreat. Sleeps 3. £25 per night. [email protected], tel. 01938 for sale & to let 500746, www.dolobran.llanhub.uk HEXHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND. SUFFOLK COAST, WALBERSWICK. Charming two bedroom 1st floor flat in ‘Creek Cottage’ annexe, self-contained. desirable West End. Recently refurbished, Very close to beach. Beautiful, varied two bedrooms, lounge /diner, bathroom walks. Sleeps 2/3. Details: 01502 and brand new compact kitchen, plus 723292, [email protected] sunny backyard. Unfurnished, £500pcm. www.durrantsholidaycottages.co.uk Email: [email protected]

SWALEDALE, YORKSHIRE. Superb LONDON NW6. Newly decorated/ selection of gorgeous cottages amid furnished large bedroom (1 person) with stunning scenery. Details, photos, virtual private bathroom plus separate office in miscellaneous tours. www.catholecottages.com house with parking. Very convenient for 01748 886366. train, underground and bus. 15 minutes to Friends House. Small dog considered, if ALL YOUR PIANO REQUIREMENTS my dog liked it! Shared kitchen/garden Restoration/nationwide removals/modern THE DELL HOUSE, MALVERN. with mature female. £1,250 pcm incl. secondhand sales. [email protected] Self-catering apartments. Two acres garden. bills. Enquire: [email protected] www.cambridgepianolacompany.co.uk Dogs welcome. Ideal for couples, families or 020 7586 7019. Tom Poole 01223 861507. and groups of 6-20. Also B&B. www.thedellhouse.co.uk 01684 564448. DO YOU FEEL ABLE TO SHARE YOUR books spiritual/psychic experiences and questions WEST CORNWALL. Studio, sleeps 2/3, on with Friends in your Meeting? If not, small farm, lovely location close to coast, Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies garden, walks from door, dogs welcome. could be for you. Contact Angela Howard INNER LIGHT BOOKS [email protected] (clerk), Webb’s Cottage, Woolpits Road, 01736 762491. Editions concerning traditional Quaker Faith & Practice Saling, Braintree, Essex, CM7 5DZ. Email [email protected] or www. For a list of publications or for more quakerfellowshipforafterlifestudies.co.uk information on particular titles visit Free magazine “Reaching Out”. Classified ads www.innerlightbooks.com or write: Editor, Inner Light Books From 1 July 2016: Standard linage 54 Lapidge Street San Francisco CA 94110, USA PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY 57p a word, semi-display 86p a &TAXATION SERVICE word. Rates incl. vat. Min. 12 Quaker Accountant offers friendly words. Series discounts: 5% on 5 Ethical Consumer magazine service countrywide. insertions, 10% on 10 or more. guide to the most ethical Self-assessment & small businesses. Cheques payable to The Friend. current accounts, savings Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt The Friend, 54a Main Street, accounts, cash ISAs and Chartered Certified Accountants mortgages. Last four copies 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Telephone 01228 521286 Tel. 01535 630230 £5.50 each incl. UK postage. [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email [email protected] www.grainger-platt.co.uk

18 the Friend, 2 September 2016 2 Sept 31/8/16 11:12 Page 9

Britain Yearly Meeting Personal Assistant to Management Meeting Salary: £31,407 per annum. Contract: Full Time – 2 Years Fixed Contract Hours: 35 hours per week. Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 We are seeking a self-motivated PA / EA to support 4 members of the senior management team. This new role gives the opportunity to be involved in a range of activities across the organisation. You will assist Management Meeting in managing, planning, monitoring, drafting papers and developing systems. Strong administrative experience is crucial to ensure cohesive and effective support of the management team, as is the ability to manage multiple diaries. A high level of attention to detail is required, as well as the ability to work quickly, creatively and accurately under pressure. Quakers have a way of life that is built upon the principles of truth, equality, peace and simplicity. There is a long-held commitment to putting faith into direct action in the world. Some of that work is centrally managed and overseen by governance committees of Quakers themselves. Some weekend and evening work is required with occasional extended periods away at events. Closing Date: Monday 19 September 2016. Interviews: Wednesday 28 September 2016. For further information about Quakers, go to www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers and for details on how to apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its employment practices. Registered charity no. 1127633.

Just £25 for the Friend – Quaker Week issue 2016 50 copies Bumper, full-colour issue - still only 50p a copy UK post paid! post paid! We are pleased to offer a special Quaker Week issue of our 30 September edition to all Meetings and Quaker groups, to give away at events and Open Days during Quaker Week, 1 - 9 October, and right through the coming year. With much positive feedback on our previous outreach issues, it is again in full-colour. The issue will be timeless and will include a range of articles of particular interest to newcomers and non-Friends alike. Return the coupon below to arrive by Thursday 22 September. Copies should be dispatched first class from our printers, Headley Brothers, on Thursday 29 September. Order your copies now! Special bumper colour issue of the Friend for Quaker Week, 1 - 9 October 2016

Number of copies you require: 20 30 40 50 60 80 100 200 Cheque payable to The Friend for: £10 £15 £20 £25 £30 £40 £50 £100

Your name...... Meeting/Group name...... Address for delivery...... Postcode...... Day tel...... Please return with your cheque payable to The Friend, to arrive by Thursday 22 September 2016: George Penaluna, The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL or email the above details to [email protected] and send payment to 08 92 99, a/c 65114889 ref ‘meeting name.’Any query: 01535 630230.

the Friend, 2 September 2016 19 2 Sept 31/8/16 11:12 Page 10 V AD DEPT EDITORIAL ol 54a Main St 173 Euston Road 174 Cononley London NW1 2BJ Order your Keighley BD20 8LL T 020 7663 1010 No

T 01535 630230 F 020 7663 11-82 36 the Friend! Quakerof Week copiesE [email protected] the Friend E [email protected] Break up the banks? We need a banking revolution! A day conference BY London Quakers FOR everyone at NEW Maggie Glover: Friends House, Euston Rd, London ‘Painter of Honest Portraits’ Saturday 1 October, 10.30–4.00 5 August to October 2016 BYM 2011: ‘The global economic system... is often unjust, violent During her lifetime as an artist and peace and destructive... We must activist, the late Margaret Glover created a urgently work with others of faith unique record of individual portraits, meetings, and good will…’ vigils, conferences, demonstrations and protests. David Shirreff, Economic Journalist To mark her death in 2015, and with help from and author of “Break Up The the Glover family, The Peace Museum is Banks!” https://goo.gl/R9mGSI privileged to exhibit newly acquired material and personal effects tracing her artistic progress Positive Money: Fran Boait, alongside examples of her distinctive work. Executive Director of campaign group Positive Money. We are open 10am to 4pm each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Triodos Bank: A bank that is Sorry, we are up some 60 steps with no lift. different, Peter Borgers, Triodos. Towards a new economy in The Peace Museum, 10 Piece Hall Yard, Bradford BD1 1PJ which Quaker Testimony can Email: [email protected] Tel: 01274 780241 flourish: Cait Crosse, QPSW. www.peacemuseum.org.uk The Peace Museum is a registered charity, no. 1061102 Free but please register via [email protected] We are grateful for the support of the www.londonquakers.org.uk Give Peace A Chance Trust

Britain Yearly Meeting Meeting & Donor Relations Leader Salary: £45,983 per annum. Contract Permanent. Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week. Location: Friends House, Euston, NW1 Are you supportive, persuasive and approachable? Do you care about the details whilst still seeing the bigger picture? Are you a great communicator and an even better listener? Can you talk about money without embarrassment? Britain Yearly Meeting seeks a talented and committed individual to become our Meeting & Donor Relations Leader. You will make sure that role-holders running Quaker meetings are well supported, that our communications with members are effective, find ways to engage Quakers with the work done nationally in their name, and lead BYM’s fundraising efforts. You’ll join our Communication & Services Department to lead a team of 8-10 colleagues, who work on behalf of BYM Trustees and Quaker Life Central Committee to deliver services and communicate effectively to Quaker meetings, and to raise income from contributions, legacies and grants. You’ll need a good feel for what makes the Quaker community tick, bold ideas for how to excite and involve them, excellent interpersonal skills, and line management experience. If you’ve done some fundraising too, we’d like to hear about it. Could this be you? If so, we’d like to meet you! Closing Date: Thursday 15 September 2016 – 12 noon. Interviews: Monday 26 September 2016 For further information about Quakers, go to www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers and for details on how to apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its employment practices. Registered charity no. 1127633.