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Letters 4

Trust issues 6 Trustees and treasurers meet Fred Ashmore

Thought for the week 7 (Im)perfect sense Kate McNally

Nothing really matters 8 Addressing busyness Stephen Feltham

Only human 10 Isolation and the bereaved Louise Rendle

An oversight 12 What’s in a name? Celia Waterhouse

Review 13 The Black Book Peter Spiers

Review 14 Small Axe Rebecca Hardy

Poem 16 Circles Dana Littlepage Smith

Friends & Meetings 18

Shall a cloudy sky, a little wet, a little cold, a little ease to the flesh, a view to a little earthly gain, or any common incident, furnish an excuse for declining this duty [of Meeting], and thereby depriving ourselves of the blessed advantage, often vouchsafed to the faithful, of enjoying heavenly communion together in spirit with the Lord of life and glory?

Yearly Meeting in London, 1765

From Quaker faith & practice 2.43 Clough, principal investigator

theFriend Letters for the project and professor of 173 Euston Road Theological Ethics at Chester London, NW1 2BJ University. 020 7663 1010 Churches and other Christian www.thefriend.org institutions in the UK are The Friend welcomes your views, influential in agricultural policy. to [email protected]. Please Subscriptions For example, the CEFAW website keep letters short. We particularly UK £95 per year by all payment mentions that Church of England welcome contributions from types including annual direct bishops take twenty-six seats children, written or illustrated. debit; monthly payment by in the House of Lords and the direct debit £8; online only £74 Please include your full postal Church of England owns 105,000 per year. Contact Penny Dunn: address, even when sending acres of farmland. Much of 020 7663 1178 emails, along with your Meeting church interests are invested in [email protected] name or other Quaker affiliation. food producers and retailers. Hopefully, this kind of influence In essentials unity, Advertising within Christian churches and in non-essentials liberty, Contact George Penaluna: organisations will encourage and in all things charity. 01535 630230 broaden an ethical and sustainable [email protected] view of farming in the UK. Animal farming change The new Agriculture Bill passed Editorial Animal farming is undergoing on 11 November 2020 may also Articles, images, correspondence change and uncertainty due to the help. It allows funding to support should be emailed to UK leaving the EU and increasing smaller farmers who work [email protected] environmental and animal according to animal welfare and or sent to the address above. welfare concerns. Christian environmental considerations, Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare rather than owners of intensive Editor (CEFAW) is a project started in farms. The CEFAW framework Joseph Jones autumn 2018 involving thirteen policy document is available via Journalist partners from Christian churches its website. Rebecca Hardy and other organisations to agree Julie Hinman Production and office manager a policy framework in relation to Sussex West Area Meeting Elinor Smallman animal welfare. Site visits were Simplification, status, aid Sub-editor made prior to deliberations, for George Osgerby information on what raising I was a representative from animals means for the farmers, Southern Marches Area Meeting Arts correspondent farm workers and animals. (AM) that wrote the Symud Rowena Loverance Quaker Concern for Animals Ymlaen (Moving Forward) report Environment correspondent (QCA) attended the launch of to which Carolyn Sansom (20 Laurie Michaelis the finished policy framework November 2020) refers. (See Clerk of trustees document on 18 November 2020 our website or the video https:// Lis Birch and is one of the partners helping youtu.be/yrnhypiZJw0 for a to produce this, together with the lighter touch.) This is about the ISSN: 0016-1268 Methodist, Anglican, Catholic, simplification of the governance Pan Orthodox and United structure of the four AMs that The Friend Publications Limited Reform Churches, the Churches have Meetings in Wales and is a registered charity, of England Scotland and Wales, Meeting of Friends in Wales by number 211649 Veterinarian Christian Fellowship, the merger of the five charities to Compassion in World Farming, form one new one. Printed by PastureFed Livestock Association Inevitably the question arose Warners and research partners from about charitable status. The Midlands Plc, Chester University. advice we were given is that if The Maltings, It is the result of a collaboration you want to open a bank account, Manor Lane, of ethical and practical farming own property, take out insurance, Bourne, considerations with a broad carry out activities with children Lincolnshire range of views. Not easy, but and vulnerable people, then we PE10 9PH skilfully guided by David need to be a legal entity, which

4 the Friend 1 January 2021 means an individual, a charity or heartfelt approval of the sentiments to both sides, given determination company. The charity option seems expressed in Pete Duckworth’s and goodwill a solution is possible. to fit best because our primary letter (13 November 2020). It is a Armed with the same attitudes that purpose is the ‘advancement of timely and long overdue reminder led to agreement in these ninety- religion’, which is seen as being of of our Quaker values. It’s at a time seven per cent of cases one might public benefit in charity legislation. like this that we need to stand then expect to find ways leading Friends complain that since we up and protest at the massive to agreement that could be applied registered as charities our witness injustices that are being wrought to the three per cent of remaining to truth has decreased but as a upon our fellow humans. cases. church the Religious Society has We have been placing signs in Anyway, worth a try, offering the always had charitable status. All front windows on our terraced Brexit dispute to the Light. that has changed has been the houses in Cambridge since Harry Underhill requirement to register along March and have had so much Polegate Meeting, East Sussex with all other churches. We might positive feedback from passers-by, have decided to register only one including relief that they are not Woolman’s work on slavery charity, Britain Yearly Meeting, alone. It has been an opportunity I have been reading Janet but chose to make it complicated for face-to-face friendly contact Whitney’s biography of John requiring an enormous number of that so many are being denied. Woolman. In Woolman’s time trustees and treasurers. It’s been heartening to see a many US Quakers had slaves and I believe that the Charities Quaker presence in the London this greatly offended him. He had Act has improved charities’ protests and hopefully this will grown up on a farm in New Jersey transparency. Friends have always grow. where the whole family worked, set great store by truth and Janet and Annie Simpson and worked hard: the Woolmans integrity, so putting our financial Jesus Lane Meeting, Cambridge had no slaves. As a young man affairs and annual reports into the Woolman had skills in preparing public domain should be something Brexit and the Light legal documents, and he refused we welcome. The associated Modern science suggests that the to write a will for a fellow Quaker accountability is something we energy of mental thought can that included a paragraph which would want to encourage, rather influence events. Could Brexit be treated a slave as just a piece of than shy away from. an opportunity to give that thesis a property. He managed to convince Much charitable work could test run? the person that this was wrong and be said to be work that the Both sides in the Brexit dispute so the slave was liberated. government should be doing but have emphasised the problems On his first tour to Virginia and that is only partly true. I think the that they face in dealing with North Carolina in 1746 Woolman argument that we are diverting the other, which they claim are was upset by some of the Quaker money away from the work of unsurmountable. But the Irish farmers he visited. While the slaves government with regard to social prime minister, a leading figure were not treated cruelly, they only care is erroneous because we in Europe, says that solutions got just enough to eat. What really might equally say it is diverting to ninety-seven per cent of the upset Woolman was the fact that from armaments and other things differences between the two sides the slave owners were lazy and contrary to our testimonies. We have already been found. were bored. might therefore conclude that the It is our concentration on the He found a similar situation payment of Gift Aid is a way that other three per cent that is now when he visited Rhode Island the our government recognises the the obstacle. But would it not be following year. It became a major importance of charitable work and equally logical at this point to task of Woolman’s to convince this is a way of assisting that work. review the situation ‘in toto’ and others of the concept of ‘the My hope is that simplification of note the ninety-seven per cent Brotherhood of Man’, which for our structures will release time and already achieved? So instead of many Quakers at that time was an energy for spiritual nourishment debating again the remaining alien concept. All his life Woolman and outreach, for the things that differences it would be equally worked at convincing others that are eternal. logical to start with a review of slavery was wrong. Peter Rivers the successes already achieved to Perhaps most of your readers Southern Marches Area Meeting determine what it was that led to know the above, but John agreement in each case. Woolman’s work on slavery was Friendly contact This analysis might build up a new to me. My sister and I (both in our formidable argument that, over a Ian K Watson seventies) would like to join in the wide range of problems of concern Cumberland Area Meeting

the Friend 1 January 2021 5 ast month the Training and Support Trust issues: AM treasurers Group of Quaker Stewardship Committee (QSC) organised an online and trustees finally get get-together for Area Meeting (AM) trustees and treasurers. Trustees missed (online) together. Fred out on their conference in March, which had to be cancelled. We thought Ashmore reports they might now welcome a chance for conversation and briefing. So it proved. Over 100 people turned up. Ursula Fuller, the retiring ‘We have had many clerk of QSC, opened the meeting by talking through some of the issues facing trustees and treasurers. This included Lthe registration of excepted charities, which we had been months without much told was to be required by March 2021. She commented on the widespread use of ‘phishing’ by online fraudsters interchange.’ and directed us towards the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, which gives guidance. She also mentioned the substantial range of courses offered by the Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers, which may help trustees and others while ‘The rooms Woodbrooke develops its offerings. Reporting serious were hard incidents to the Charity to stop once Commission is another topic to which trustees should be trustees got sensitive. If in doubt, report; the going.’ Charity Commission doesn’t want victims, and knows what matters far better than trustees. The Commission will say if an incident, past or present, is serious or not. Our recording clerk’s office also needs to know, since any serious incident can affect the reputation of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). Helen Drewery of South London AM noted that the Commission has extended the deadline to register excepted charities by ten years. After the meeting, recording clerk Paul Parker confirmed that BYM had received notification of this: ‘It’s good that a decision has been taken on when excepted status will finish for the twenty-two AMs in England & Wales not yet required to register their charitable status. However, there is still no clear plan for how this registration will happen, and we deserve a better answer from the Charity Commission than this, so that AM trustees can make plans. All AMs are charities already, of course – this is just about the process of becoming a “registered charity” when the old excepted status comes to an end.’ Participants were randomly sent to breakout rooms for free conversation. Judging from the one I was in, and from other comments, the rooms were a bit slow to start but hard to stop once trustees got going. We have, after all, had many months without much interchange, and with many painful challenges and decisions facing nearly all of us. I got the distinct impression that the conversation in the room I joined could have continued profitably for much longer. Many excellent observations and suggestions were raised in a plenary afterwards. They have been captured and QSC’s responsible group will think carefully about them. It’s likely that we will recommend some further meetings once the outcomes of this one have been digested. n

Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash. Photo by Fred is from Kingston and Wandsworth Area Meeting.

6 the Friend 1 January 2021 n the church I grew up in we memorised a creed, a statement of the beliefs we held in Thought for the week: common. The life of Jesus was described this way: he was ‘Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Kate McNally makes born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried…’ This creed ignores the fact that between ‘born (im)perfect sense of the virgin Mary’ and ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate’ lies the whole story. That’s where we find the love of God shown in the life of this man who left his family to tell us how much God loves us as we are, to ‘Our ministry is where minister to the oppressed, to bring God to the godforsaken. IHe said to us, ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was our great joy meets the thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick world’s needs.’ and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me… Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me.’ I do not find God in steeplehouses or Meeting houses or even in Meeting for Worship very often. I find God in the actions that let my life speak. I believe that Jesus isn’t present in the ones who feed the hungry or in the hungry who are fed. Rather, he is present in the action of feeding them – the action that binds them together in a connection that is godly. The message from my childhood church was that I was not (and would never be) good enough. That I was born tainted by sin, that nothing I could do short of confessing my imperfections and following directions of men who had no idea about my life would make me acceptable to the God who created me. I learned that I had to be perfect to live a godly life. Or at least try to be. However, I once visited a church whose pastor said that God loves us just as we are. I was in my forties and this was something I had never heard in church before. It was absolutely life changing for me. I broke down in tears. We all struggle to be perfect, to live up to the perceived perfection of Jesus, to earn the love of God. But what if God loves us just as we are? What if we can learn to accept or even embrace our imperfection? That might mean also accepting the imperfection of others, understanding that they too are doing their best to struggle with their imperfectness. What if we could love others unconditionally, just as they are? As God does. As a Quaker I believe that it is not necessary to be perfect or cleansed or absolved to have a connection with God. It is not necessary to feel love for all of our fellow humans or to be always calm in our spirit. It is only necessary to do the work and the connection with God will manifest itself. I have heard that our ministry, our ‘right work’, is where our great joy meets the world’s needs. We are all imperfect. But we are perfectly suited to the work we are called to do. We can all bring the message of Jesus – that we can and should love one another, that we can and should feed the hungry, tend the sick, bring the kingdom of God to this imperfect world. We are the hands that God has to do this work. This, then, is the measure of our perfect imperfection. n

Photo by Jonathan Hoxmark on Unsplash. Hoxmark Jonathan Photo by Kate is from Quaker House Brussels.

the Friend 1 January 2021 7 Nothing really matters: give up on the busyness, says Stephen Feltham ‘To leave space around and within us is to give ourselves the opportunity to indulge in spiritual breathing.’

he virtue of giving oneself view of things may conclude that nothing is important, a space is seldom recognised. proactive and positive attitude to the space that nothing The concept of doing nothing provides, or is, would lead one to the conclusion that is anathema for many – almost ‘Nothing’ is important. sinful – and yet doing nothing, To leave space around and within us is to give ourselves paradoxically, can be a very the opportunity to indulge in spiritual breathing – to chill constructive thing. The art out, to calm down and to let nature soothe the furrowed of nothingness admonishes brow. This is something we have all craved at some time busyness and the need to fill or another. The word for this may be ‘healing’. one’s life with doctrine, thought and action. The One cannot chill out while running one’s life at a lack of these things has conventionally implied an hectic pace. There is a beautiful wisdom in a seventh day, inadequacy or lack of achievement, even slothfulness a day of rest. How many of us really appreciate doing T(a deadly sin), but doing nothing is important nothing? I venture to say that an ever-increasing number because an awful lot of stuff can be going on when of folks really do. This is why holidays are becoming so one is engaged in doing nothing. If this were not so, important. Notwithstanding that the lead up to them can nature would not have provided us with that essential be very stressful, and the affording of them causes us to element to our lives: sleep. We all know that sleep be even busier than we need to be, holidays are much is beneficial, and we are the better having indulged valued. They are valued for their concept rather than their in it, so it follows that something is going on when reality. The notion of a holiday is one of peacefulness and we do it. It is not as if nothing is happening, even relaxation and rejuvenation but all too often the reality though one may not be conscious of it. Just think of is commotion, busyness and stress. This is exacerbated the possibilities, therefore, of indulging in nothingness by overindulgence of nearly every sensory medium that when one is conscious of it. one could experience, often leading to physical, mental Life is a journey from birth to death. That fact and spiritual exhaustion. This is a paradox therefore: the can be universally agreed upon. Step outside of that pursuit of healing results in the need for healing. assertion and there exists a recipe for protracted I hope I am not so arrogant or self-satisfied to be debate – for example ‘Life, as we all know is a journey content only with my own company and indeed, I do from birth to death to rebirth’ or ‘Life, as we all know enjoy the company of others. But there is a lot to be is a journey from birth to death to purgatory’ or ‘Life, said for a bit of isolation. The opportunity it provides as we all know is a journey from birth to death to for introspection, as well as the contemplation of local heaven or hell’. Where will this debate get us? Probably and world affairs, should not be overlooked. The term nowhere, and so it could be said that such thoughts, ‘self-isolate’ has now become a well known expression conversations and debates might lead one to the for negative reasons. And yet, while this emergency, as conclusion that ‘nothing is important’. This would be in many others in the past, has given rise to a great surge a sad outcome because while a resigned and negative of inventiveness and innovative thinking, the temptation

8 the Friend 1 January 2021 Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash.

to cling to ‘the old ways’ remains. Rather than seek the the best place to start from. opportunities presented by changing circumstances, We are born simple, naive and unlearned. We are many still cling to the habits of yesterday. The fear of uncorrupted but not incorruptible. During the ensuing doing nothing has stimulated further levels of activity in decades we develop not just intelligence, knowledge and disregard of the benefits that ‘nothing’ has going for it. a persona, but the capacity for discordancy in so many ‘Be wary of great busyness’ is a Quaker Advice dear different spheres. The correction of this unsatisfactory to my heart and, to me, sadly ignored by so many of us. state of affairs can perhaps best be addressed by one The physical self-isolation simple term: healing. The planet, our communities and that many of us now have each one of us can, to a significant or lesser degree, ‘Rather than to adopt has provided the benefit from the receipt of healing. This should not be seek the opportunity to embrace argued, for we all crave it at some time or another. opportunities the benefits of stillness I still remember my old headmaster, Arthur Legg, and quietude. And yet folk six decades on. One thing he used to say frequently presented have sought to continue the in school assemblies was that ‘One gets happiness by by changing busyness of conventional giving it away’. Can it not also be so with healing – that times by the adoption of one receives healing through the offering of healing to circumstances, ‘virtual’ gatherings. The others? many still cling employment of information The world remains in the middle of a pandemic technology in order to crisis. There is much grief and sadness, and our lives to the habits of sustain the high levels of and the way they are lived must change in order yesterday.’ activity that we have become that an optimum management of all that is affected accustomed to, regardless of may be achieved. But one cannot embrace change by the impact it has on our physical, mental and spiritual clinging to the past. If one’s life is full now it cannot be well-being, has ignored the importance of doing nothing. enhanced by adding more. Only by taking something What is ‘nothing’? Is it really something or is it, as away and creating the space, or nothingness, to allow the word suggests, nothing? Nothing is more than an enlightenment to speak to one’s particular condition absence of something, it is an opportunity. An artist can a little healing take place. Therefore, ‘nothing’ starts with a blank canvas – nothing – and when their is important, and although I advocate its benefits work is done something beautiful exists. The same and encourage all to embrace it, I would like to happens with the poet or author and with a block of offer a reassurance: there is no need to be afraid or stone for a sculptor. They each start with nothing and apprehensive of nothing. History has shown that we out of nothing something is created. Of course, it is not each have the capacity to do away with it! Only you can the canvas, the paper or the stone that creates a work of judge if this is a good or a bad thing. n art, it is the artist. But the creator of something beautiful cannot begin a work that is busy with stuff. Nothing is Stephen is from Bournemouth & Fordingbridge Meeting.

the Friend 1 January 2021 9 Only human: isolation has been especially difficult for the bereaved, says Louise Rendle ‘I had a great fear of the psychological effects of prolonged isolation.’

hen it first felt similarly, and we agreed to keep in touch and go for became apparent occasional socially-distanced walks together. how serious the Then the first lockdown finally happened and, apart pandemic was from the above-mentioned walks, all my connections and becoming, it was communications with other people and the world became just over two digital: Zoom, Skype, phone, WhatsApp, TV, radio, years since my internet streaming services, YouTube, email… you know husband G’s death. how it goes. So I kept in contact with people and still had As anyone who a (quite) full life – but all that digital communication was has experienced the death of a much-loved partner exhausting! Even gardening had a digital component – will attest, the pain never goes. We can find ways to with garden centres closed I started ordering seeds and manage it and live with it, and build (or rebuild) a plants online or by phone. Wlife, but however full and fulfilled that life may be, we The bereavement support group already had a well- never stop missing the loved one. In those two years I established WhatsApp group, and through that we were able had maintained old friendships, made new friends and to share how we felt and how we were – or weren’t – coping. continued to be involved with the Quaker Meeting Through the app, we continued to support one another. We and other activities and groups. I went to concerts, also set up Zoom meetings, but they were no substitute for visited galleries and museums, and – very importantly meeting in person and being able to hug one another, and – joined a ‘Walk & Talk’ bereavement support group. in any case only a few people Zoomed regularly. So, a full life, but with a large G-shaped hole in the Anyone living on their own during lockdown will have middle. had to cope with isolation – the lack of human contact, As with most people, I became increasingly alarmed and solitary meals day after day. I know that many people as Covid-19 spread and the numbers of people found that very difficult. But those of us who were affected rapidly grew. So, though not shielding or bereaved had an extra dimension. Living alone not by isolating, I took all other practical steps to minimise choice, most of us found the absence of the person we the risk of catching the virus. But once it became most wanted to be with even harder to bear, with hours likely there would be a lockdown, with all my regular at home and no one to share it with. And if that was activities suspended, I had an even greater fear – of hard, how much worse for anyone who became bereaved the psychological effects of prolonged isolation and during lockdown. I have since met a few people who had the impact of that on mental health, including my been in that position, and they talked of the agony of not own. In discussions, I discovered there were a few being able to visit a dying partner or parent in hospital, of other people (mainly women) living nearby who having to greatly limit the number of people attending the

10 the Friend 1 January 2021 Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash.

funeral, and, worst of all, not being able to spend time shared reflection at a very deep level, and the next, with family or close friends who could offer care and a suddenly blank screen and I am plunged back into support and, most importantly, hugs. isolation and sometimes desolation. When the Quaker Meetings for Worship shifted to So, much as I have appreciated and valued being able Zoom, I was surprised at how gathered they felt and to continue worshipping together on Zoom through how we were able to reach some very deep places. But I lockdown and beyond, I will welcome the opportunity found the ending of Meeting, to be able to worship in person again. I know that for ‘While Meeting and the time immediately many Friends that is not yet an option, as some dare afterwards, really difficult. not risk catching the virus, and others do not yet feel by Zoom has At the Meeting house, there ready, and for some people worshipping via Zoom may been interesting, was time for socialising continue to be the best or only option for a long time, companionable, after Meeting, talking in maybe indefinitely. As worshipping communities, I small groups of two or think it is highly likely that Zoom will be part of our and sometimes three, maybe having lunch Meetings for the foreseeable future. fun, I have not together, and then the Blending Zoom and in-person Meetings for Worship journey home. But Zoom is not easy and may be challenging. This is not because felt able to talk does not allow for intimacy, of technical issues (awkward though they may be) with anyone in and after the Worship but because of the risk of feelings of ‘us’ and ‘them’ or planned discussion developing. a more personal afterwards has ended, the In 1667 Isaac Pennington wrote that: ‘Our life is love, w ay.’ only choices are to talk with and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, twenty other people on and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one screen, or not at all. While that has been interesting, against another, but praying for one another, and helping companionable, and sometimes fun, I have not felt one another up with a tender hand.’ able to talk with anyone in a more personal way in that My hope and prayer is that in these difficult and context. challenging times, when we are all probably struggling Also, with Zoom there is no transition from being with fear and anxiety, and all have different needs, we with other people and going away from the meeting will find a way to support and uphold one another place. Particularly when we have had very deep and our Meetings, and above all to be tender with one connections in the Meeting for Worship and/or another. n discussion afterwards, I have found the abrupt ending really hard to handle. One moment, connection and Louise is from Muswell Hill Meeting.

the Friend 1 January 2021 11 s I reach the end of my second triennium as an overseer I’ve been Role call: Celia considering our name for this role. How many Quakers realise that Waterhouse says one overseers are the bishops of our church? The word ‘bishop’ derives name is an oversight from Greek episkopos, meaning, quite literally, over-seer: we perform the role of Good Shepherd ‘watching over’ the flock. In many churches the bishop carries the ceremonial crook, symbol of pastoral care. ‘We may well intend Our particular meaning of overseer is different from Aoutside the Quaker community, where it means ‘supervisor’, the Good Shepherd, the Latin equivalent. At best this denotes a mentor checking over work, an instructor, a line manager. At worst it but are we really conjures up a taskmaster wielding power in exploitative and oppressive circumstances. In these senses it implies both the listening to the superiority of the overseer and a hierarchy. When I began the role I didn’t understand the objections occasionally aired in the Friend. But I became uncomfortable meaning?’ with how ‘elder’ and ‘overseer’ were capitalised in minutes and reports – this too implied hierarchy. This year Black Lives Matter (BLM) has made a deep impression. We are uncovering terrible inequalities and injustices. Twenty years ago I was editing for a book of songs from around the world reflecting multicultural UK society. Since BLM we have looked with fresh eyes at the contents, which include traditional US songs such as ‘Li’l Lisa Jane’. We discovered songs arising from minstrel shows, which involved stock characters created to mimic and lampoon the names, speech and music of enslaved people, caricaturing life on the plantations in racist, demeaning ways. How times change. My organisation is taking new understanding on board and acting on it. Just because a particular song is enjoyable to sing or useful for pedagogical purposes, should we continue using it in teaching schemes and choirs once we discover its racist connotations, or find we are using a sanitised version which omits or alters original verses normalising violence, rape, and other forms of oppressive control? Two years ago on a clerking course at Woodbrooke I met a non-Quaker with a deep-rooted aversion to ‘overseer’. That made an impression. Weighing up tricky considerations about the appropriateness of certain songs in today’s world makes me realise I feel increasingly uneasy about it, particularly as Quakers already understand its historical baggage and fearsome connotations outside our community. We may well intend the Good Shepherd ‘watching over’, not ‘supervising’ with its implied hierarchy, but are we really listening to the meaning in the hearts and minds of the society around us? I’ve been thinking of alternative words giving a better sense of our Quaker meaning. Here’s a list for starters: accompanier; advocate; ally; befriender; buddy; colleague; companion; compere; comrade; confederate; co-partner; counsellor; friend; caring/designated/pastoral friend; mentor; pal; proponent; supporter. Isn’t it time to start a conversation Friends? What do you say? n

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash. Jordan Brett Photo by Celia is from Cambridgeshire Area Meeting.

12 the Friend 1 January 2021 earning how to recognise the seeds of The Black Book: The conflict and of peace is vital to Friends. Learning from history is an essential part of the process. In the late 1930s, Britons on the Nazi while parliament considered allying with Germany to defeat communism Hitlist, by Sybil Oldfield (the greater threat, as some saw it), the Nazi party prepared a list of 2,600 people to be arrested, or worse, when Germany invaded Britain. This was followed in 1940 by a second list for use by the occupying troops. Review by Peter Speirs Sybil Oldfield lists many of these people: politicians, Lsocial reformers, medics, scientists, writers, economists, historians, etc, together with some of the organisations to be proscribed, giving brief biographies. Among religious groups, Jews were particular targets; Quakers too would have had a hard time. Oldfield, whose mother was classified as an ‘enemy alien naturalised by marriage’, writes an illuminating and cautionary story, combining fascinating individual portraits ‘We need the with timeless lessons. No element of society archive of was ignored. Trades unions, history.’ arts associations, relief organisations, educational charities, social welfare bodies, Freemasons, scouts and esperantists were all listed. There are many well-known names: Virginia Woolf, Jacob Epstein, EM Forster, Violet Bonham Carter, Vera Brittain, Bertrand Russell. Some of the stories provoke profound admiration. Others are too harrowing for easy digestion. Most of the people were simply carrying out their occupations, openly and without hindrance, as is the pattern of British democracy, but in the suspicion, if not knowledge, of the possible consequences should the war end with defeat. There is tragedy, as in the case of the journalist and lawyer Rudolf Olden, who was followed through Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and France before reaching Britain. Arrested and interned as an ‘enemy alien’ at the outbreak of war, he eventually obtained permission to leave for the United States. He and his wife drowned when their ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic. And there is triumph, as with Fritz Saxl, who, with other members of staff, managed to leave Germany with thousands of books from the Warburg Library, along with countless other artefacts. There are glimpses of character, too. When the existence of the list became known, Noel Coward treated his inclusion as a hilarious joke; Nancy Astor was ‘relieved’ to find herself included. Sybil Oldfield asks ‘Why care about what did not happen?’ We need the archive of history to learn how we arrived at our present place. If history is ignored (or, worse, erased) then how do we recognise truth? Britain today, along with others in the democratic west, is deeply divided. It is divided within, and it views those ‘without’ with suspicion. In 1940 we interned thousands of refugees. How do we treat asylum seekers now? Dissidents? Protestors? Do read this book, Friends, it is important. n

Peter is from Wirral and Chester Area Meeting.

the Friend 1 January 2021 13 rtist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen has built a career out Small Axe, created of truth-telling. Moving from his acclaimed art, which earned and directed by Steve him a 1999 Turner Prize, to his celebrated film work, the west McQueen London-raised son of Caribbean parents has always been drawn to depicting the truth, the raw truth and nothing but the truth. Sometimes this goes in some Review by Rebecca surprising directions – witness Deadpan (1997), in which he reenacted a famous stunt by Buster Keaton. Other Atimes it is disturbingly raw. His groundbreaking 12 Years Hardy A Slave (2013) made him the first black director of an Academy Award-winning best picture (2014), and earned plaudits for its unflinching look at slavery. In his latest work, the TV series Small Axe, McQueen manages to depict the tough, eroding experiences of everyday racism in the communities he grew up in. Part- exposé, part-celebration of his Caribbean roots, Small Axe takes an uncompromising stare at the challenges facing many black people in modern Britain. Like many Friends, I’ve been educating myself about black history; this series has been a satisfying part of that. The five short episodes chronicle the everyday lives and struggles of black British people from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s. In Steve McQueen’s own words, they explore ‘the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today, calling myself a black British person’. The generation he portrays is not the Windrush generation, he has stressed, but ‘a later generation who were already established here’. The first episode ‘Mangrove’ begins in 1968, the year of Enoch Powell’s famous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. It shines a spotlight on something that should be underlined in our history books but, tellingly, isn’t: The Mangrove Nine’s landmark Old Bailey trial is one of those pivotal but unsung moments in British history when justice was finally seen to be done, yet this is the first time the case has been dramatised. With luminous camerawork and stellar acting from an impassioned cast, we witness local Notting Hill man Frank Crichlow as he builds up his restaurant The Mangrove, only to have it routinely trashed by the local police force. That the authorities chose to target such a place had a particularly cruel significance, as The Mangrove was the well-loved hub of the immigrant community, with regulars including young Darcus Howe and the British Black Panther leader Altheia Jones- LeCointe. Even Bob Marley occasionally dropped in. The title Small Axe is taken from a Bob Marley song, and describes those seemingly small moments of racism that culminate in giant acts of cultural vandalism and oppression – the small axes that hack away at a person’s life chances and self-esteem, and at the fabric of the communities themselves. This is what we see in ‘Mangrove’, as the police’s relentless harassment drives Crichlow to despair. Facing racist bullying on a regular basis (the premises were raided twelve times on spurious grounds, between January 1969 and July 1970), the community eventually comes together to peacefully Micheal and Amarah-Jae in Lovers Rock. in Lovers Amarah-Jae and Micheal

14 the Friend 1 January 2021 protest. On 9 August 1970, 150 people marched to the thirteen, being placed in a class for children who were local police station where they chanted the name of considered to be academically struggling. This was the racist officer Frank Pulley who they said had been definitely ‘informed by class and race and privilege’, he has abusing them for years. The protesters are subsequently said. ‘Absolutely. No ifs or buts or maybe about it.’ charged with ‘inciting a riot’ for which nine of the These episodes don’t just portray hard knocks and supposed antagonists are taken to trial. In a brilliantly- challenges, however. They are also full of joy, love and realised court drama, ‘Mangrove’ brings to life the hope, revelling in British-Caribbean culture: ‘Mangrove’ machinations, humiliations and triumphs of the trial, brings to life the happy camaraderie that Frank Crichlow until eventually the Nine are cleared of their charges. created in his West Indian restaurant, so clearly redolent Crichlow’s character arc is one we see often in this of the swinging sixties. ‘Lovers Rock’ is a music-lover’s series, with four of the episodes based on real life and joy, telling the story of a young couple meeting at a one imagined. It shows people valiantly attempting to rise party. With the kind of attentive eye usually born from above their daily humiliations, and live out their lives in a close experience, the piece is a loving homage to the west near-constant racist backdrop, until the abuse overwhelms London house parties of the late 1970s and early 1980s – them and they can no longer look the other way. you feel you are gyrating to the blues music yourself and We see this in the straight-up-and-down work ethic feasting off the goat curry stew. The films are beautifully of Leroy Logan, as he comes into collision with the shot and so intimate you feel the heat of the dance floor prejudices of his police peers. ‘Red, White and Blue’ shows prickling under your skin. The scene where, for four the struggles of this real-life forensic scientist, who has joyful minutes, everyone on the dance floor sings to Janet to endure the twin challenges of surviving as the only Kay’s 1979 hit ‘Silly Games’ is spell-binding television. black officer in a majority-white force, and the alienation The programmes are also full of the kind of insight he faces at home. In a community that has learnt to link that only someone from the community can show. Over the police only with random violence, and with a father, dinner in ‘Red, White and Blue’, as one woman’s chicken is Kenneth, set on taking the praised, she admits to adding sugar to the sauce, to which ‘These rich, police to court for beating another female relative sniffs that she would never add him up, Leroy struggles to be sugar. It’s a beautifully-observed detail, bringing to life the evocative stories accepted even on his home richness and complexity of these familial relationships stay with you a turf. of which we hear so little. The episodes abound with Based on a true story, the details like this, delivering you into the heart of these long time.’ dramatisation highlights underrepresented communities. an issue rarely seen on Similarly, in ‘Lovers Rock’, we are plunged into the mainstream television: how black communities terrorised heady thrill of being adolescents, sneaking off for an by racist policing can start the painful, slow journey illicit night-out. As the young woman sets off on top of a to regain trust in the institutions that have for so long double deck bus she notices a passer-by carrying a white ground them down. As the Metropolitan Police moves to cross. The image repeats a while later, but it isn’t until the come good on the target for forty per cent of new recruits programme’s final scene, as she crawls into bed, that we to be from ethnic minority backgrounds, the question has realise its allure. As her mother calls her down for church, never felt more timely. we spot the white cross hanging above her bed and realise McQueen often retreats from showing the full horror her religious upbringing and the significance of these of racial violence, but creates an atmosphere of threat and secret nights out full of hedonism. unease. In one scene Logan walks into a changing room The episode also highlights the microaggressions and and finds ‘Dirty Nigger’ scrawled on his locker. It carries power plays that make up everyday racism. There’s a as much emotional punch as a scene showing brute force. moment when a posturing young black man, eager to In Alex Wheatle, we see how the eponymous real-life impress his new girlfriend, is brought back to life with activist suffered abuse at white hands in a south London a bump when his cocky white boss catches them in the care home, years before his involvement in the 1981 garage. The unequal dynamic plays out: the machismo Brixton uprising, for which he was imprisoned. of the young boss eager to humiliate his black employee You can see why all this truth-telling could take a toll a subtle reminder of those half-unseen moments of on McQueen. ‘It’s about putting oneself in places that are condescension and social one-upmanship that are only not going to be comfortable,’ he told The Guardian, ‘but, visible to those who have to endure them on a daily basis. by going there, you might uncover the truth of what is These rich, evocative stories stay with you a long time. actually going on. Basically, my attitude is: we’re all going For me, they were an eye-opening depiction of the daily to die anyway, so let’s just go for it.’ struggles these communities have endured for years. How The London of McQueen’s youth shines through far these slights and battles stretch back, and how deep these pieces, and we see his clear affection. ‘Education’ the damage must go, affects not only the remedy, but the is perhaps the most personal episode for the filmmaker, depths of reparation that they are owed. For Friends keen showing twelve-year-old Kingsley labelled a ‘disruptive to broaden and bring to life their understanding of black influence’ and packed off to an ‘educationally subnormal’ British history, they are an excellent tool. n school in a racially-biased system that is stacked against him. McQueen’s own school experiences include, at Rebecca is the journalist at the Friend.

the Friend 1 January 2021 15 Poem: Circles

Dana Littlepage Smith

We gauge things differently now as we walk down the street: eyeing up personal space. A man whose dreads unfurl, mouths his thanks for the room I make as he legs it past me. Vectors of responsibility wiggle, billow, go plop in a puddle of resounding echoes. Will I hurt you? Will you infect me? We drift along, too close or lost in lock-down’s leaf fall. Gentle pandemonium runs in our park, where figures are painted an arrow marked between: Two metres, scribbled out. Two trillion… chalked with planets spiralling off. Standing on one side of the glass, I finger my mother’s hand. We miss each other closely. Remain untouched. Schools contain new orbits. Bubbles pop, spheres implode: You mean I can kill gran? Vigilance, a globe on thin shoulders falls. Strangers stare when we embrace. How many months of air-hugs are enough, until they aren’t? What to do when a kid stops dead and screams when he rounds this corner into us? Circles on circles. An ever widening whole. Where we are one, where our new truth comes home to roost on a basket of eggs next to bats where the man who walks by them, readies to fly around our small blue orb. He gentles in to our green isle where Love’s circumference shrinks as it grows wide. He bends to kiss my cheek; I kiss him on the other. This is our home.

Dana is from Exeter Meeting. Hatsukami Morgan on Unsplash. Robson Photo by

16 the Friend 1 January 2021 Q Logo - Sky - CMYK - Black Text.pdf 1 26.04.2016 04.55 pm

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Y Glenthorne Quaker CM Guesthouse and MY CY Conference Centre CMY

Quaker Life K Local Development Workers Four posts from April 2021 Salary: £23,630 per annum (£29,538 pro rata per annum). Contract: Permanent. Hours: Part time - 28 hours per week including some weekends and evenings. Frequent travel (when restrictions are lifted). Location: Based at home or in a suitable office in the region. We wish all our guests, One post each in: Scotland Yorkshire (based Carlton Hill Meeting House, Leeds) past and future, a very East Anglia happy new year. Cumberland and the North-East We are seeking enthusiastic, pragmatic, optimistic people who are Why not give yourself excited by what spirit-led growth might mean in a faith context. something to look Our expanding local development team is a key part of our plans to forward to - book a reinvigorate Quakerism and to help Quaker communities thrive. course at Glenthorne! As a local development worker, you will support Quaker communities to be inclusive, welcoming and all-age. The support areas include Creative Writing worship, community, organisational management, social action, Led by Tony Rossiter collaboration in the wider community, and outreach. You will provide Monday 29 March – Friday 2 accompaniment, facilitation, project support, and training. You will April 2021, £450 pp work alongside others in Britain Yearly Meeting and Woodbrooke Learning to provide resources and opportunities that grow from the Art History in the Lake identified needs of local Quakers. District Led by Roy Love We invite applications from people who are: • Good listeners, with experience of working with groups to develop Friday 23 – Sunday 25 April and deliver a shared vision 2021, £410pp incl. entrance fees. • Familiar with Quaker worship, community, witness and organisation For the Beauty of the Earth • Organised and resourceful; able to research information, analyse Led by Mey Hasbrook and sift it, and apply it appropriately to a range of situations and Monday 10 – Friday 14 May personalities 2021, £450 pp • Creative and adaptable; able to encourage innovation and support experimentation A Concise History of the • Digitally curious; willing to experiment in using digital platforms and Quaker Way programmes to develop community and to progress work. Led by Ben Pink Dandelion Alongside the opportunity to transform the experience of Quakers Friday 11 – Sunday 13 June across Britain, we offer a generous benefits package. To arrange 2021, £245pp an informal discussion of the role, please email Sophie Smith on (under 35s qualify for £100 [email protected]. reduction via bursary) Closing date: Monday 25 January 2021 (9am) We have extensive Interviews: w/c 22 February 2021 - online Covid -19 precautions For details of how to apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs in place so you can Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its employment enjoy your stay. practices. Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to safeguarding children and Glenthorne Quaker Centre, adults at risk and expects all its staff and volunteers to share and Easedale Road, Grasmere, uphold this commitment. Cumbria LA22 9QH T: 015394 35389 Quakers have a faith commitment to equality, and we encourage and welcome applications for posts from all sections of society. You do E: [email protected] not have to be a Quaker to apply for this post, but we expect you to W: www.glenthorne.org uphold the values of our organisation. Reg. charity no. 232575

the Friend 1 January 2021 17 Friends&Meetings Deaths

Tony HALL 10 November, suddenly Britain at home. Member of Kingston Meeting, formerly Chelmsford and Yearly Brisbane, Australia. Memorial Meeting at 10am GMT Tuesday 12 January. Zoom link 5450865472, Meeting password LQMFW. Information from: [email protected] Legacy Fundraiser £20,828 (£34,748 pro-rata) per annum – London Madge (Marjorie) Gladys STABLES, Salary: £17,722 (£29,538 pro-rata) per annum – Regional BEM 12 December, peacefully at Contract: Permanent. home. Wife of the late Leonard Hours: 21 hours per week – hours can be worked flexibly (former housemaster at Leighton Location: Based at home or at our offices in either Leeds or Park School), mother of Mally, Friends House, Euston Road, London Bridget and the late Roger. Member of Reading Meeting. Aged 103. About the role We aim to ensure that Quakers in Britain continues its work for equality and for a sustainable and peaceful world. Our new fundraising team was established a year ago to ensure the organisation has the capacity to successfully raise income from a range of sources. We Please note are looking for an experienced legacy fundraiser to help us do this. The notices and advertisements in About you this week’s issue went to press at • You will be ambitious with a flexible approach to work and be excited by the opportunity to develop and launch a new and noon on Monday 21 December. inspiring legacy promotional campaign. Please accept our apologies for the omission of any material • You will have demonstrable experience in legacy fundraising, received after that time. including developing and managing marketing campaigns and maintaining relationships. • You will have a sound understanding of what motivates individuals Friends & Meetings to leave legacies to charities, organisations campaigning for social Personal entries (births, marriages, change and faith-based bodies. deaths, anniversaries, changes of • You will also have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, address, Meeting up, etc.) charged demonstrating the ability to work collaboratively with a range of at £41.50 incl. vat for up to 35 different stakeholders, including volunteers. words and includes a copy of the magazine. Meeting and charity Working for us notices, (Changes of clerk, new Quakers are committed to equality and encourage applications from wardens, new Members, changes all sections of society. You do not have to be a Quaker to apply for to meeting, etc.) £34.58 zero rated this post, but we expect staff to uphold the values of our organisation. for vat. Max. 35 words. Three You can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a entries £83 (£69.16 if zero rated); generous holiday allowance, staff discount at Friends House Café six entries £120 (£100 zero rated). and Restaurant, a season ticket loan, and flexibility that will ensure DIARY NOTICES: £36 incl vat for you enjoy a good work–life balance. up to 35 words, £30 zero-rated. Three entries £72 incl vat, £60 For more details of this exciting role and how to apply, please zero-rated. 6 entries £108 incl. vat download our application pack at www.quaker.org.uk/jobs. £90 zero-rated. Closing date: 14 January 2021 (12pm) Deadline usually 12 noon Monday. Interviews: 27 January 2021 Entries accepted at the editor’s discretion in a standard house style. Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to equality in all its employment A gentle discipline will be exerted practices. to maintain a simplicity of style and Britain Yearly Meeting is committed to safeguarding children and wording that excludes terms of adults at risk and expects all its staff and volunteers to share and endearment and words of tribute. uphold this commitment. Guidelines on request. Quakers have a faith commitment to equality, and we encourage and The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL welcome applications for posts from all sections of society. You do Email: [email protected] not have to be a Quaker to apply for this post, but we expect you to Tel. 01535 630230 uphold the values of our organisation.

18 the Friend 1 January 2021 Start 2021 with the20 November 2020 Friend | £2.00 a subscription to ‘Silent waiting is necessary in creative the Friend! work too.’ Sally Make time for the Friend. Enjoy reading it each Beamish week to enrich and inspire your Quaker life right Plus: through 2021, and help you stay in touch with the Yearly Meeting Quaker world. Delivered right to your door for just online £1.86 a week. While Meeting for Worship in person has not been possible, with many Meeting Houses closed by the pandemic, the Friend has been a lifeline for many. Just look at what Friends are telling us: • Y our magazine is my tonic of the week. • The Friend is first rate these days. • In my opinion one of the best journals available. • I renewed [my subscription] early this year and have found it hugely beneficial in all sorts of ways during the current disruption of the pandemic... many thanks to all of you... • I just want to say thanks for the exceptionally good issues you’ve been putting out recently. We really need them, and you’re offering them. • I wanted to say that I am astonished and very impressed by the quality of writing and presentation in the Friend every week. • I send it on... but some articles I like to keep so upped my subscription to two copies each week. • As someone new to Quakers I always look forward to the post arriving each Thursday with my copy of the Friend - the articles can be so encouraging but yet also so challenging.

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