Quaker Week issue £2.00 thediscover the contemporaryFriend quaker way

Being a Friend the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 176 NO 39 28 SEPTEMBER 2018

3 Thought for the Week: 14-15 A spiritual journey Being a Friend Terry Waite Ian Kirk-Smith 16 Poem: My Old Execrable 4 A quiet joy – or a turbulent delight? Gillian Allnutt Stevie Krayer 17 A matter of conscience 5 Room for more room Rebecca Hardy Ben Pink Dandelion 18-19 Voices of dissent 6-7 Staging a Meeting Kevin Booth Rowena Loverance 20 Truth to tell 8 Room for more Diana Sandy Roger Babington Hill 21 Books: Poacher’s Pilgrimage 9 Humility Ian Kirk-Smith Harvey Gillman 22-23 From the archive: 10-11 A helping hand Faithful lives Members of QARN Janet Scott 12 Rachel’s story 24 Friends & Meetings Rebecca Hardy Cover image: A detail from the ‘: Lichfield, 13 Sharing stories Pendle Hill’ panel of the . Craig Barnett Photo: © Quaker Tapestry.

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

Desmond Tutu

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the Friend 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ • Tel: 020 7663 1010 • www.thefriend.org Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected] • Production and office manager: Elinor Smallman [email protected] Advertisement manager: George Penaluna [email protected] • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn [email protected] Sub-editor: George Osgerby [email protected] • Journalist: Rebecca Hardy [email protected] • Environment correspondent: Laurie Michaelis [email protected] • Arts correspondent: Rowena Loverance [email protected] of trustees: Paul Jeorrett • ISSN: 0016-1268 • The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Warners Midlands Plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH

2 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Thought for the Week

Being a Friend

ach year Quaker Week provides an opportunity to open doors and invite seekers, in a spirit of hospitality, to learn about and experience the Quaker way. What is this way? What makes it distinctive? What are its roots? Friends, at their best, are E‘practical mystics’ – committed to living a way of life that combines faith and practice. This issue of the Friend is a celebration of these words. There is, first, as Ben Pink Dandelion eloquently writes, a spiritual, mystical, engagement: ‘At the heart of the Quaker way is expanse, the expanse of the and the expanse of the mystery we experience in our attempt to nurture the human longing for divine encounter’. This longing is part of the human condition. Alastair McIntosh provides a fascinating account of it in his book Poacher’s Pilgrimage, reviewed in this issue, which records his exploration of spiritual sites from the pre-Christian and pre-historic era on the Isles of Harris and Lewis in the Hebrides. It has found expression, in the Christian tradition, in ritual, creeds, words and music. Those new to Quakerism will, like Terry Waite, discover ‘another dimension’ in the silence and stillness of a Quaker Meeting for Worship. Quakerism embraces an inclusive vision. Today, as Harvey Gillman points out, the sacred texts of many religions are full of the language of exclusion – heathen, damned, infidel – and sadly ‘there is a sorry return to such exclusive categories’ as many people, fearful of a rapidly changing world, grasp for old certainties. Having very strong convictions on particular issues, however, should not mean looking down on others who do not share them. Cherishing diversity and being a Friend are challenging. The Quaker way is no better than others. It is a distinctive way nurtured in Meeting for Worship and rooted in the Christian tradition. Authority lies not in priest, pulpit or book but in direct experience: the . Worship should prompt action, as members of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network demonstrate, and ‘reaching out in friendship’ to those in need. Janet Scott, in the introduction to her selection from the archives of the Friend published in 1918, asks: ‘What does it mean to be a Quaker?’ She answers: ‘Since we believe that religion is not about what we say but about how we live our lives, we can illustrate the meaning of our faith through telling stories of Friends who, in different ways… have led lives of faithful commitment.’ One story recalls the life of Martha Allen, a Friend from Brigflatts Meeting who passed away in October 1918, and who managed a modest small holding: ‘If a neighbour was ill, she was ready to help before being called upon to do so. She never had control of more than a sufficiency of this world’s goods, but what she had she shared, with that simple kindness which multiplies a gift an hundredfold…’ Take heed to the promptings of love and truth in your heart. Be patterns and examples.

Ian Kirk-Smith Editor of the Friend

the Friend, Being a Friend 3 Reflection

A quiet joy – or a turbulent delight?

Stevie Krayer writes about her experience of ‘the eternal’ s the eternal about ‘universal absolutes’ that It is significant to my mind that Jesus, in a vision, ‘cannot change’? Not for me. The only unchanging told Julian of Norwich that ‘…all shall be well’ – absolute in the universe is, I feel, change itself. not ‘all is well’. I’m not a scientist, philosopher or IThe notion of immutable truth almost causes me to theologian. I am a poet who is delighted by being in shudder. Immutability seems to me the characteristic the thick of life, travelling at breakneck speed through of things that are cold and dead. The whole cosmos time and space. I delight in the union between my is dynamic, constantly evolving, and in continual senses and my surroundings, in the swapping of and rapid motion through space, though it appears particles across the universe, in which my body majestically static to us because we are just specks participates. I’m excited by the thought that the stars with a lifespan of less than the blink of an eye. I feel look quite different from how they did a thousand something of the same can be said about truth; and years ago. some Friends seem to share this perspective. John Wilhelm Rowntree once wrote that it was ‘not a fixed I can’t tell you how beautiful I find the thought crystal’. of everything eternally coming into being. When I still myself and contemplate this constant amazing Is everything that exists firstly an idea in the ‘unfoldingness of reality’, that’s when I get a sense of infinite mind before it manifests in form? I am being held, literally, in ecstasy – a moment of dynamic still unconvinced by this. Everything I know and equilibrium beyond time and space. experience about the creative process implies that its outcome is not predetermined but flows Light spontaneously, one thing leading to another, leading that signs the river’s stones with fire – not to a completely unanticipated outcome. My intuition the unblinking glare of Godhead is that this applies to creating generally, not just to but its living quiver, instantly gone artistic creating. Obviously, I am not in a position to instantly renewed know whether this is the way the mind of works, gone renewed but I like to think that when we talk of the ‘God of gone renewed… surprises’ we also mean that God him/her/itself may sometimes be taken by surprise. I have great empathy with the following from Quaker faith & practice 20.06: I love the fact that the daffodil – or the elephant – could not possibly have been predicted from the Please be patient, those of you who have found a first flicker of bacterial life, and might have turned rock to stand on, with those of us who haven’t and out very differently. What Charles Darwin discovered with those of us who are not even looking for one. when he made his voyage on the Beagle was that local We live on the wave’s edge, where sea, sand and sky conditions interact creatively with the genetic material are all mixed up together; we are tossed head over of life forms and cause them to change over time. heels in the surf, catching only occasional glimpses The process is orderly, yes, but the order can only be of any fixed horizon. Some of us stay there from seen with hindsight. The outcome cannot be known choice because it is exciting and it feels like the beforehand. I can’t square this with the notion of a right place to be. pre-existing concept of a perfect daffodil in a vacuum, divorced from physical circumstances. Stevie is a member of Southern Marches Area Meeting.

4 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Spirituality

Room for more room Photo: NASA Hubble Space Telescope / flickr CC. / flickr Telescope Hubble Space Photo: NASA

Ben Pink Dandelion reflects on being faithful to the Spirit

t the heart of the Quaker way is expanse; Then, everything becomes possible. More than that, the expanse of the soul and the expanse of it becomes necessary. We are called back out of the the mystery we experience in our attempt absence that leads to the Presence, back into the world Ato nurture the human longing for divine encounter. to enact our calling. We are impelled to spread the This open-ended sense of space stretches before any expanse of the kingdom in all we do and amongst all spiritual seeker, both terrifying in its limitlessness and we meet; to speak truth to power and speak the truth exciting in its lack of constraint. Openness signals with power, to know in the heart that any idea that unbounded possibility. challenges the integrity of another lacks the imprint of Our challenge as Friends is not to shy away from the love of God and must, therefore, be challenged. We the magic of the mystical. We need to take ourselves must not hold back but translate the same infinity of beyond thought and fear into that intimacy with the divine into fuel for our witness as everyday mystics. Spirit, to hold back the tide of reason that wishes to Our lives are to be ones of radical spirituality, radical squash the unknown and unnameable. We need to hospitality and of radical critique. Let us practice what truly set self aside as we lean into the absence of the we are given to preach. Let us be open to ourselves, outward, amidst and embedded within our liturgy to each other, to God, to the discomforting potential of silence, trusting that in and through the vastness of the unknown, to the stranger we have not yet of wordlessness that God can and will dwell with us, befriended or learnt from. nudge us and guide us. We know that we can and will If we can lay our down in the blessed expanse be talked to, that we can be led, that the ‘I’, the ‘me’, will of the mystery of God’s love, we, as earlier Friends did, disappear amongst the company of seekers gathered will find ‘the Lord’ appearing daily to us and know a together. We need to embrace the expanse within and place to stand in and what to wait in. And we, too, can find it then mirrored without, linking us and joining us be formed as a generation to change the world, to be in our collective response to the holy. transformed in order to transform, to place community If we can be faithful in our approach to worship, to before individualism, to place faith before profit, to the mystical potential of everyday life, seeking clearness rekindle our Meetings and bend our structures into everywhere along the way, then we can be led beyond ploughshares and redundant practices into pruning our wildest imagination to the place of real hope and hooks. To live this life, we know, beckons us on into the real comfort. It is a place we cannot know or dream further reaches of the holy expanse at the heart of the of, for it is beyond what words can utter, but there we Quaker way, until we ever-so-joyfully can inhabit the can find true communion, the inward supper, and the permanently accompanied and grace-filled life. utter happy certainty that we are not alone, that there is some sense to be had of our daily struggles. We find Ben works for the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and true community. is a member of Pendle Hill Area Meeting.

the Friend, Being a Friend 5 Interview

Staging a Meeting

Rowena Loverance interviews playwright Charlotte Jones

ow does your average audience member as admiring contemporary for their activism, respond when they enter a theatre and find a so why, I asked, did she choose this particular historical Quaker Meeting in progress on the stage? They setting? Hchat to their neighbour and fiddle with their phone, presumably. But no, apparently not. Rather, they fall ‘The play starts in the period of Quietism. But by the silent and uphold the Meeting. And maybe, even, this end of the play, and especially in the last scenes of the reflective start goes on to affect the quality of attention play, you see the essence of modern Quakerism. So, in they give to the rest of the play. As playwright Charlotte a way, the play charts the movement from introspection Jones, observing this audience behaviour, noted: ‘Silence to speaking out. Of course, the play was not written to is a very powerful practice. Afterwards, some people only appeal to a Quaker audience, but a mixed audience said to me: “I loved the silence. I wanted more!”’ of theatregoers, some of whom have no experience or knowledge of Quakerism. So, the play asks more general Her play The Meeting ran for a month at the Minerva questions: Are you living your truth? Are you living Theatre in Chichester in July and August 2018. It is set simply? How do we treat people who are different to us? in a Quaker community on the south coast of England Are you living well in community? How do we treat the during the Napoleonic wars. Already under strain, as deaf and disabled? Do we really afford them equality they try to maintain their witness to peace in a country and listen to their truth?’ fearful of imminent invasion, the group’s quiet way of life is shattered by the arrival of a stranger. Sexual For most of their history, Quakers have had a tensions, suppressed grief, patriarchal authority and dysfunctional relationship with the theatre. We got off to living with barely tolerated disability all take their toll. a bad start: our founding fathers were not well disposed Each individual must make their own choice, but it’s the to the theatre (‘mountebanks playing tricks on their fate of the group as a whole which generates the tension, stages’, according to George Fox), so it is not surprising and the resolution, of the play. that theatre responded in kind, with a succession of stock characters lampooned for hypocrisy and plain Best known for her startlingly successful Humble Boy, dress. (A typical example of this is Ephraim Smooth a contemporary take on Hamlet that won countless in John O’Keefe’s Wild Oats, 1793.) Even now, when awards in 2001 and transferred to Broadway, Charlotte Quakers have long since made their peace with the Jones has continued to write, but mostly for film and theatre, it is still possible to sense an underlying tension television. This play marks her return to the theatre – so between the theatre’s core business of illusion and the it is appropriate that its theme is finding one’s voice. Quaker emphasis on truth.

She is now back working on film scripts – though Lewes Meeting, it turns out, was able to supply a fair given the play’s warm reception there must be a good amount of background material for Charlotte Jones to prospect of a London transfer. I knew she had written draw on. In the work of local historian David Hitchin the play from an insider’s perspective – she attended (‘a mine of information’, according to the playwright) Lewes Meeting, Sussex, for five years – and is on record she found both names for her characters (Rickman, the

6 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Photos: Helen Maybanks.

Meeting’s elder in the play, was the name of the principal the team into the rehearsal room to run a special session Quaker family in Lewes in the early nineteenth century), for actors and crew. One of the key turning points in and, more significantly, some of the play’s key episodes. the play occurs as the group is forced to recognise that In 1788, Quakers in Lewes offered refuge to ‘an unhappy Rachel’s mother Alice, a deaf woman whose presence private of the Eleventh Regiment of Light Dragoons in their midst they have barely tolerated thus far, has from the barbarous and persevering malignity of one a voice that they need to hear. David Amos, one of of his officers’. This episode is echoed in the central the ‘Questers’, speaks movingly about the process of encounter between her heroine Rachel and Nathaniel, a working with actor Jean St Clair to create a sign for soldier who has deserted his regiment. ‘holding in the Light’. The beckoning gesture they came up with together became a core motif of the play. Rachel’s struggles to find her voice are the driving force of the play. For information on the prophetic role The designer, Vicki Mortimer, conjures a Quaker of Quaker women, Charlotte Jones turned to Phyllis Meeting out of a bare circle and a raised-and-lowered Mack’s Visionary Women (1992), which explains the steel band, which holds the wooden chairs, while the tension between early Quakerism’s radical willingness Sussex countryside is referenced by mounds of rough to allow women greater freedom of expression and the chalk stone. The shattering of the Meeting culminates constraining effect of communal discipline. in the shocking stoning of one of the characters; remarkably, David Amos was also able to contribute ‘I was interested in writing about a society that seems his memory of the stoning he suffered at the hands of to be equal,’ Charlotte Jones said, ‘but actually there is Israeli settlers while volunteering in the West Bank. a subtle patriarchy behind everything – because that is Charlotte Jones is full of admiration for Quaker activists the experience of most modern women, I think. The living out their faith today; she also recognises the role Quakers have always been very radical in their inclusion of ‘worshipful Quakers who hold the spiritual life of the of women, but subtle hierarchies still arise in Meetings Meeting’. She wonders, though: ‘Are Quakers continuing as they do in life. Equality is a hard testimony to live to make a real difference in the world? Rachel in the play fully, I think.’ worries that, despite the good intentions of the Quakers, what effect can we have on the world “if no one looks The Meeting represents, to my knowledge, the first in our direction”.’ It is a good message for Quaker Week. attempt by British theatre to stage a Quaker Meeting, so director, designer and actors were faced with a Rowena is arts correspondent of the Friend. considerable challenge. Director Natalie Abrahami turned for help to Quaker Quest in Euston, and invited The Meeting is published by Faber & Faber at £9.99.

the Friend, Being a Friend 7 Comment

Room for more Photo: Mattia Notari / flickr CC. Notari / flickr Photo: Mattia

Roger Babington Hill muses on the theme of Quaker Week

he theme for this year’s Quaker Week, which Our door to silence is always open to everyone who runs from Saturday 29 September until Sunday wants to come. Silence is the essential quality of our 7 October, is ‘Room for more’. worship – it is its distinguishing feature. In our hour of T worship, while individuals may stand to speak briefly, Friends have a distinguished history of caring for the we have no shared creeds or prayers to recite, no disadvantaged. For example, they played a major role psalms to sing, and this gives us a freedom and a space both in the ending of slavery and in the rescue, in the to explore what is new and challenging. Worshippers 1930s, of Jewish children from the horrors of the Nazi in other traditions value the cohesion that is given by regime. a common spoken ritual.

But Quakers certainly do not claim a monopoly We find that silence enables us to see more clearly, of giving service to others. This is just as much an and embrace more fully, the new ideas and tasks that essential part of the religious life for members of the are presented to us. many other Christian denominations, as it is for the followers of all the major religions, such as Judaism, Our shared silence gives us a chance to welcome Islam, Taoism or Buddhism. Compassionate service those who wish to worship with us without for others is a core principle that underlies how to demanding that they subscribe to any creed. We do lead a good and useful life, both for those who have a not require a history of baptism or confirmation. religious commitment, and for those who do not. Those with an affiliation to another religious tradition are equally welcome, and they are not expected to The theme of ‘Room for more’ is also one that leave it aside but rather to share its richness with us. resonates in our inner life. Quaker worship is based on silence. Silent worship can be found in most other Waiting in silence we have room for the new, room religious and spiritual traditions, for example in the for more. monasteries of , Taoism and Buddhism, and in the Sufi school of Islam, but in these it is Roger is from Totnes Meeting and a member of the thought to be something special or esoteric, and North Finland Worship Group. attendance is often closed to outsiders. This is a revised version of a ‘Thought for the Day’ to One of the distinguishing features of Quakerism is be broadcast on BBC Radio Devon in the first week of that our Meetings for Worship are accessible to all. October.

8 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Reflection

Humility

Harvey Gillman considers faith and inclusivity uakers talk of answering that of God in The former is the throng of seekers and explorers everyone – and we do mean everyone. Often who are trying (and failing) to live authentic and when we talk of outreach, we assume that with loving lives whatever names they give themselves – or Qour emphasis on equality everyone will be at home in ’s words: ‘Though the divers liveries with us. Some of us are sure that if only ‘they’ knew they wear here makes them strangers.’ You may meet about us, they would come flocking. And yet we’re one this congregation on the bus, the train, in the market, of the smallest of denominations and our member/ in school, and at work. This commitment to depth attendership is one of the most homogeneous. and social concern, this continuum of the divine and This paradox is part of the Quaker tradition. My the human, the divine in the human, is the basis of partner is an Anglican and we also attend a liberal my inclusive spirituality. This is the wider church high Anglican church together. The congregation there of friendship, though it might well reject the label is one of the most socially heterogeneous I have ever ‘church’. seen. It positively revels in its inclusivity. There are At the same time, as a Quaker I am aware of my people from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, need for a particular place and community, a visible and several people with learning disabilities. The home, to sustain my own path. I need a family as well people play an active role in the service. They do as a circle of friends. Families, however, are not always not see themselves as a church of the saved, but as a easy places to be in. Not all families are very friendly. motley crew on a journey. Some are more concerned with genealogy than with For all our Quaker talk of welcoming diversity, offering hospitality. The visible church is a version of we are heirs to the doctrine of the gathered church. the invisible one, not in opposition to it. Quakers are Yes, there is the potential in all people to live in the also a people of the world. It is in the everyday world Light, but the early Quaker community saw itself as around us that we live out the divine commonwealth. made up of those actually turned to the Light – hence The spiritual is the social. in early days many were disowned for ‘disorderly The sacred texts of many religions are full of the walking’, for being out of the Light. Though Friends language of exclusion: heathen, damned, unclean, didn’t talk often about being saved, there certainly was goyim (which might be a Jewish version of the the idea that ‘we’ were a sacred remnant as opposed Quaker ‘world’s people’), infidel. Interfaith relations to the world’s people whose potential was not (yet) are not always enhanced by quoting texts! In many realised. Of course, this is not how we see ourselves places today, there is a sorry return to such exclusive today, although our criteria for membership are often categories. In a rapidly changing world, there is a based on the question as to whether the applicant is at desire for the old certainties. It is not surprising that home among us (is really one of us?). Are we asking many people do find the heady freedom of the Quaker whether the applicant conforms to Quaker culture – path disconcerting, and the threatening silence that mostly middle class, educated, prudent, introverted may reveal truths, frightening and unattractive. Many (though with lots of exceptions!) – or is committed people may not indeed feel included by this freedom to a particular spiritual path? Are we even aware that and form of worship. In spite of all this I still find the we are making this distinction? And just how motley advice to answer (respond to, be midwife to) that of are we allowed to be? We are, on the whole, good at God in everyone, truly revolutionary and immensely theological difference and sex and gender issues but challenging. Not that we in so many words have ‘the poor on ethnic and social diversity. answer’, but we have ourselves and each other, our As a human being, I am a believer in the invisible vulnerabilities and our openness. That will have to do. church (the anonymous one that transcends religious differences), but without discounting the visible one Harvey is from Rye Meeting. He will be addressing (the institution with membership and texts and places Friends at the Blue Idol Meeting House on the theme of designated for religious meetings). inclusivity on Friday 5 October at 2:30pm.

the Friend, Being a Friend 9 Faith in action

A helping hand

Members of QARN share their experiences helping people seeking sanctuary

embers of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) engage with people seeking sanctuary in a wide variety of ways: working with others (local churches and mosques, for example), offering practical support, raising funds, campaigning to Mchange the deeply flawed asylum system, and reaching out in friendship. Over the past year, the Sanctuary Meetings network has involved members in over eighty Meetings in campaigning and working to create a culture of welcome. Even if an asylum seeker seems to have adapted well to their new situation, the ‘coping’ façade simply hides an abyss of grief and mourning for what they have lost. According to a Friend: ‘Some of my asylum-seeking friends can go from laughter to tears in seconds, and I have seen strong women break down when telling their stories to primary school children.’ Friends support refugees and asylum seekers in different ways. In Lichfield, Staffordshire, for example, Quakers offer friendship and fundraising, from financing a much-needed psychiatric assessment for a very unwell woman from Syria to meeting the cost of a barrister for an immigration tribunal for another. In Hertfordshire, local individuals, churches, Muslim groups and Amnesty groups came together to campaign for the government’s Syrian resettlement scheme. Hertford Meeting recently became a Sanctuary Meeting. Members are closely involved with the local Syrian families, organising welcome meals and trips out, providing bicycles and supporting language learning. A Friend says: ‘I think perhaps the most important [element] is just sitting, talking and getting to know one another.’ People who come to Britain to find safety often find themselves in a system that can lead to confusion, distress and destitution. Here, in the words of Friends, are some of their stories:

Abdou’s story

Abdou was very distressed when I met him in Campsfield secessionist area. He made an asylum claim. The date House Immigration Removal Centre. A friend was of the hearing was postponed and during that time he interviewing him for BiD (Bail for Immigration was moved. We could not find out where he was. That Detainees) to see if they could get him out on bail; I had happens a lot. been asked to interpret from French to English. Abdou A year later, he phoned us from another detention was born in Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. centre. He had been taken from Campsfield to During the civil war his family moved, without Manchester and, from there, to Doncaster and then to papers, over the border to Senegal, where they lived Colnbrook. A friend of ours contacted the chaplain at in Casamance, a separatist region which has been in the centre and the Churches Refugee Network followed conflict for many years. Abdou decided to try and get up his case. They learned that there had been six to Europe. He was picked up in Dover with false papers attempts to deport him. On the last attempt, his luggage and sent to prison. On completion of his sentence was lost in Lisbon airport. He had been in detention he was put in detention. The authorities wanted to for nearly three years, not knowing what would happen deport him to Guinea Bissau where he was born, but from day to day. This treatment was described by one the country did not recognise him. Senegal refused visitor as ‘mental destruction’. to recognise him too, and he was afraid to go back for He was eventually returned to Senegal, and his fear that he might be imprisoned for coming from a mobile is no longer active.

10 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Amir’s story

‘In I have problem. When no problem I go back,’ that, Amir had been sent from pillar to post, and was said Amir.’ I first met him in Sheffield railway station. upset and very confused. As a refugee, Amir had the A French friend, who supports refugees in Calais, had right to work but could only find low-paid, temporary asked me to check how Amir was getting on since jobs. We met again several times, whenever I travelled arriving in England. I was also delivering a bag of to Sheffield (I live in Oxford). We had meals together, clothes which Amir had left behind in France. Amir and I introduced him to a friend who worked for a had applied for asylum and received refugee status in refugee support organisation. The last time I saw him record time. He had somewhere to live but did not know he was very depressed, and had decided to go back to how to get the first payment he was due. I managed to Iran. My French friend says he got back and is safe. persuade the person at the paypoint to accept the code Facing problems back home was, in the end, preferable sent to his phone and to make the payment. Before to facing the problems he met in our country.

Yasmin’s story Aisha’s story Yasmin and her husband had good Aisha is from one of the former Soviet republics. She and her children careers in Iran, two lively sons, lived across the road from us, so I visited regularly and helped sort out any a large flat, many friends, and a problems. She came in November 2014, but the children did not find school strong network. This all changed places until September 2015. Aisha is a lawyer by profession and could never when her husband was arrested for have imagined that her children would be out of school for almost a year. photocopying certain documents. The oldest girl is traumatised by her experiences and has had counselling. Yasmin had known nothing about The youngest, now three years old, is a British citizen because her father is these activities and was, of course, British. Aisha herself is traumatised by her experiences and suffers from shocked. Her father and her father- depression. She was recently granted Discretionary Leave to Remain, but she in-law arranged for her and the boys knows that in a few years’ time she will have to find nearly £6,000 to renew to be smuggled out of the country their status. As I write this, she and the four children are in a hotel room with that same night – by taxi to Turkey, beds for four people and a shared kitchen along the corridor. and then ten days hidden in a lorry across Europe. The accommodation Mary’s story provided for the family was close Mary comes from a West African country, where she was related to the to my house, so it was natural that president’s family. After he was ousted, she came to the UK, where her we became friends. The boys had to grown-up children had already settled. Her asylum case was rejected time wait six months for a primary school after time, and, as a destitute asylum seeker, she was given accommodation place, but after that they worked by a local project. When I visited her on one occasion she explained that hard, learnt English, and are now the boiler had broken down and she had to carry buckets of hot water (from doing well in secondary school. The kettles) up to the bathroom to wash. She was sharing the house with a new granting of their refugee status took occupant, a young pregnant woman. Fortunately, I was able to inform the five years to achieve, during which project in charge of the house of this situation, and the boiler was repaired. time they lived with constant worry She has now been granted refugee status. as applications were rejected, appeals were made and rejected again. After None of these cases would have one occasion, a woman from Syria, receiving their refugee status, they achieved any kind of status without having described the beautiful house were accommodated in a single the support of an immigration she had lived in before coming here, room in a hotel for six months, until advisor who provides free support produced a stunned silence when she they were allocated a flat after the and prepares their court cases. What told a Year Five class that she had intervention of a local MP. There will happen in the future when such never seen rats until she was given are tensions in the family as Yasmin support may not be available? Many a house in a part of Birmingham has become more independent and of these women are happy to tell their where rats are endemic. The women liberated, which is not welcomed by stories to school children as part of I meet are strong and inspiring. I feel her husband. our Schools of Sanctuary project. On privileged to know them.

Contributions from Rosemary Crawley, Bridget Walker, Barbara Forbes and Catherine Henderson.

Further information: www.qarn.org.uk and www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/social-justice/migration

the Friend, Being a Friend 11 Witness

Rachel’s story

Rebecca Hardy talks to Quaker and patient advocate Rachel Jury

ow can our Quakerism support us in times of Rachel has had many operations, and, in 2012, she grave need? How do we respond spiritually had her first stoma formed – an ileostomy. ‘I was when gripped with ill-health? Being diagnosed twenty-four and I really struggled to accept this.’ Hwith a chronic illness can be a faith-testing time. Then, in 2015, a bladder investigation revealed the Watching someone we love struggle with something cells had mutated and she was told she needed her unimaginable can provoke profound questions. At the bladder removed. A second stoma was created, called a same time, we need the help of Friends more than ever. urostomy. Rachel was twenty-eight at the time. When Rachel Jury, a Quaker attender from Amazingly, however, she regards this as the ‘best Bournemouth Meeting, was diagnosed with a chronic thing that could ever have happened’. She says: ‘In illness, she was in ‘a very dark place’. However, the getting rid of the catheter, I now have my life back.’ thirty-one-year-old patient advocate from Bridgend, Around the same time, a friend suggested she visit a Wales, managed to turn it into something positive – Quaker Meeting. ‘I was welcomed with open arms, but thanks, in part, to the support of Friends. This month I struggled with the silence, and being with myself, she was awarded a National Diversity Award: Positive God and the Light. Gradually, however, I felt accepted Role Model for Disability for her campaign work and nurtured. The Meeting felt like an invisible hug, at raising stoma awareness. Nowadays, she is ‘happy and a time when I felt lost and broken. I’m not ashamed to thriving’ – but she wasn’t always like that. say I cried in a few Meetings. I realised I was searching Problems started during her third year at university, for my ‘‘spiritual’’ place, and, in Quakers, I found it.’ when she contracted campylobacter from badly cooked What does a Quaker Meeting give her? ‘It’s hard chicken. ‘It wasn’t long before I realised I could not to put into words, but it’s offered me a profound empty my bladder and bowel like I used to,’ Rachel acceptance of who I am. Exploring my “spiritual says. ‘My bladder was the first organ to fail to function, journey” has helped me accept my circumstances and and, after many urinary tract infections, my bladder stoma bags. It’s enabled me to support others. I will wouldn’t empty at all. This, at twenty-one, led me to forever be grateful to the people who introduced me to use self-catheters, which did not work well. Eventually, Quakers, and for all the Friends who support me.’ I had to have a long-term catheter, with a bag attached These days, Rachel says she has a ‘deep sense to my leg.’ of happiness’. Last January, she started a blog, Her health problems continued and forced her to Rocking2Stomas, and, later, a Facebook group, which stop working as a band 5 therapy radiographer at led her to meet her partner, who also has an ileostomy. Bristol Oncology Centre. She says: ‘I really loved my ‘So together we are rocking three stomas!’ She job, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I had continues: ‘Little did I know how much this would help to give up my dream career.’ What followed was the me accept my own stoma bags. I have a purpose again. gruelling distress known to many struggling with a I’ve done twelve public speaking events this year, and rare illness: the pain of diagnoses and misdiagnoses, been to Copenhagen numerous times to talk about my unanswered questions, medication failures and reviews. story. I’m open about my stomas to break stigmas.’ Rachel recalls: ‘It took five years to get a diagnosis After nearly thirty operations, Rachel regards her – five years of not knowing what was wrong and stoma bags and scars as ‘badges of honour’. She says: not trusting myself. This was a hard, dark time, but, ‘They tell a story of survival and resilience, and show eventually, the London neurology hospital discovered how miraculous my body is. I also have Quakers to I had autonomic neuropathy: in particular, a rare thank for believing in me, when, at times, I didn’t disease – pure autonomic failure – where the nerves to believe in myself.’ my bladder and bowel don’t function as they should, brought on, they believe, by food poisoning.’ Rebecca is the journalist for the Friend.

12 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Reflection

Sharing stories

Craig Barnett offers some thoughts on diversity and belief Photo: Housing Works Thrift Shops / flickr CC. Shops / flickr Thrift Works Photo: Housing

iffering beliefs within our Meetings are a longer share the stories that give Quaker practices source of disquiet for many Quakers. Some their collective meaning. As a result, some Meetings Friends worry that the loss of traditional and committees have abandoned the Quaker business DQuaker beliefs is undermining our collective worship method altogether, in the absence of any shared story and testimony. For others, the persistence of Christian about why it is central to the Quaker way. This is not, beliefs appears as an obstacle to Quakers’ relevance in at root, a problem of individual differences in belief, the modern world. but the loss of a shared vocabulary for communicating This preoccupation with individual beliefs may our different beliefs in mutually understandable ways. be misleading. There is no religious community in To move beyond this barrier to communication, we which everyone has identical beliefs. Every religious need to discover stories about the meaning of Quaker believer has their own ideas and interpretations that practices that we can share with each other and the are different in some respects from everyone else’s, wider world. due to their differing experiences, temperament and With our current diversity of background and education. What religious communities do typically experience, I don’t believe we can return to using share is collections of sacred stories. Shared stories, Christian stories alone as our shared vocabulary. such as the life and sayings of Jesus or Buddha, Perhaps, instead, we can draw on the wealth of stories provide a community with a common vocabulary and from the cultures and spiritual traditions of the world, a shared repertoire of meaningful images, symbols and wherever they are consistent with collective Quaker characters. experience. This calls for discernment, to recognise Until about fifty years ago, Quakers also had a the wisdom within different traditions that can shared collection of stories, rooted in Christianity, offer spiritual resources to Quakers today. Not every that enabled Friends with different understandings spiritual story is consistent with Quaker testimony, but and experiences to practise the Quaker way together, there are powerful stories in many religions, including communicate their experience, and engage in dialogue, Christianity, that can deepen our understanding of by referring to a set of familiar ideas and images. The Quaker practice. Quaker versions of Christian stories explained how all Many Friends already draw on the imagery and their practices were ways of seeking and responding to insights of Buddhist, Sufi, Pagan, Jewish and other the leadings of the Inward Christ. Since the late 1960s, stories to illuminate their Quaker practice. For Quakers have become far more diverse in the stories these to become shared Quaker stories, rather than we use to understand our experience and practice, just individual preferences, we need to share these so that Christian stories alone no longer provide a stories with each other. For too long we have avoided shared basis for communication. Instead of drawing sharing our stories and experiences, leading to on shared Quaker stories to explain what is happening misunderstandings and anxiety about our differences. in worship or business meetings, we now have to find If we can have the courage to tell each other the or invent our own individual stories, and then try to experiences and stories that are most meaningful to us, translate others’ words into our personal vocabulary. perhaps we will discover the shared stories that enable This is why it is increasingly difficult for Quakers us to make sense of our Quaker way in community. to give a common explanation for what we are doing in our worship, discernment and testimony. We no Craig is a member of Sheffield and Balby Area Meeting.

the Friend, Being a Friend 13

A spiritual journey Photo: Jenny Coles / SPCK. Photo: Jenny

Terry Waite reflects on music, silence, mystery and faith

ome time ago I was asked if I had completely when it came to singing some of the old well-known abandoned the Anglican Church of which I had hymns. It was this experience that contributed to my been a member all my life. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘but love of music, which has continued throughout life. Shaving become a member of the Society of Friends I might call myself a Quanglican!’ This half serious reply Decisions was truthful. I continue to call myself an Anglican and a Quaker, a position that may seem odd to some In my late teens, it was frequently suggested to me that Anglicans but certainly not to the majority of Quakers I ought to offer myself for ordination to the priesthood, whom I know. but such a move did not seem right to me. I never felt any vocation to this calling and thus resisted it. Looking My earliest memory of going to church goes back back across the years I have no doubt whatsoever many years to when I was barely four years of age. that this was the right decision and I have never once The second world war was still raging and it was not regretted it. I did, however, make a decision to work in unusual for me to see soldiers marching down the road a lay capacity within the Anglican Church and it was as outside our house. I was in church to receive my first a layman that in middle life I joined the private staff of Sunday School prize. When my name was called out I the . slipped into the aisle and marched towards the vicar. I remember saying to myself that I must swing my arms As far as I know there were no Quakers in the small smartly just as I had seen the soldiers do as they passed Cheshire village where I was a brought up and I have by our house. I failed to understand why there was so no recollection whatsoever of the first Quaker I met. much laughter in church. Although I was familiar with the history of Friends, my knowledge was increased as I travelled the world and The years passed by and I became a chorister at our witnessed their peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East local parish church. This sounds very grand but, in fact, and elsewhere. it was extremely simple. The choir did their best but we were a motley crew of villagers who could just about I was also impressed by the ethical position they manage Anglican plainchant but excelled, in volume, adopted and their championing of just business

14 the Friend, www.thefriend.org practices. It was only when I experienced almost five moment to light a candle and enter into a very personal years of solitary confinement as a hostage that I caught moment of prayer. a glimmer of the spiritual heart of the movement. Silent reflection and contemplation Solitary years Within much of the drama and rhythm of The years I spent in solitary were truly solitary years. language has been lost as leaders of services dispense My movements were severely restricted as I was chained with liturgical structure and seek to involve each and to the wall and there were no books or papers for years. every member of the congregation in some activity or My guards were forbidden to converse with me and other, so there remains no space for silent reflection and so, for hour after hour, I was alone with my thoughts. contemplation. To be totally truthful I can’t say that I found it to be a profound spiritual experience. I never felt what some Having spent a lifetime travelling the world and people claim to feel and that is the close presence of living amongst different cultures I do appreciate the God. fact that means of communication vary considerably. The rhythmic tones of a preacher in the Deep South of In saying this I do not mean to say that I lost belief the United States of America do little for me but I can but there was no feeling of a spiritual presence. In those see how meaningful such a sermon can be to the people days, I returned in my mind to my years as a regular, of that region. and sometimes reluctant, attender at my local parish church. I had no conscious memory whatsoever of the Mystery many sermons I sat through but the language of the psalms and the Book of Common Prayer had become Quakerism is unique insofar as it descends beyond a source from which to draw. The language had a liturgy, beyond the confessional boundaries and even distinctive poetic rhythm – likewise the music. beyond the great faiths of this world. It encourages each individual to make their own solitary journey into Harmony into the soul the silence, where they find they are not alone but are together with others who have, in their own way, found In the years when I was alone with nothing but a route towards that great mystery which is of God. memory to draw on I frequently said that both good language and good music have the capacity to breathe God remains a great mystery. The whole of our harmony into the soul. In recent years, since becoming existence on this planet is shrouded in mystery. It can a Quaker, I have discovered another dimension which be argued that the doctrines and dogmas inherent in all is to be found in the beauty and spiritual depth of a religions are not necessarily literally true but are there Meeting where together we sit in complete silence. as handrails to guide us towards that great mystery that As the Meeting progresses, gradually our individual lies within and beyond each and every one of us. Many thoughts move to a new depth where no longer are we religious disputes are arguments about the handrails, a collection of individuals but are together in a new not the essence. realm. Perhaps we touch what called ‘the collective unconscious’. Without a doubt, the Quakers have their own handrails or boundaries, for they are necessary if It may be that someone feels they need to verbalise any group of people is to keep together as a social something of that experience. When they do, more organisation. However, the silence that lies at the heart often than not, their thoughts capture something of the of Quaker worship is the very silence of the universe spirit of the whole gathering. A totally silent Meeting and the silence that speaks of the mystery of which we can be and is deeply refreshing, even though language but touch the hem of the garment. is sparse and music absent. Within the silence there is provided an opportunity For many years I have found the services of the for people who use different handrails to unite around Orthodox Church to be inspirational. On the one hand a profound experience that lies beyond the tangible the celebrants perform a great pageant which, by using and enters into a realm where both light and darkness all the senses – colour, fragrance, movement – invite coexist and where lies the very source of our existence. the congregation to relive the great mystery of birth, death and resurrection. The individual can become Terry Waite’s latest book, Solitude: Memories, People, a participant in the drama and also withdraw for a Places, is published by SPCK Publishing at £9.99.

the Friend, Being a Friend 15 Poetry

My Old Execrable

And the earth gave way unexpectedly like a newly arthritic knee and left me

over unable at a glance to find the way I’d made for myself alone among stars

so many of whom came at once surpassingly as an ambuscade of buses to carry me

with nothing on but my old execrable on wheels away.

Am I beautiful in my new old vulnerability?

I carried them once as I carried ignorance on my head and shoulders.

Their light in me now long overdue, as if newly –

Gillian Allnutt

Gillian Allnutt writes: ‘“My old execrable” is the name I have for a shabby old raincoat that is now more patches and darns than original material but which I can’t bear to let go of.’

Gillian was awarded the 2016 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.

16 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Witness A matter of conscience

CO Donald Sutherland

talks to Rebecca Hardy Photo courtesy of Ian Sharp. The community in 1941 at Collow Abbey Farm.

his month, in a Labour Club in Lincolnshire, a Donald moved to the Lincolnshire community, where ninety-nine-year-old Quaker stood up and told he lived happily for twenty-five years. ‘I can’t remember an audience about his experiences in a pacifist receiving any opposition from the local people,’ he says, Tfarming community during the second world war. ‘but, when I was handing out pamphlets in Newcastle, Donald Sutherland, a conscientious objector (CO), protesting about the imprisonment of COs, a woman was performing in Conchies! by Ian Sharp. The play slapped my face.’ tells the story of an idealistic anti-war community that Based on interviews and testimonies amassed over grew up around the villages of Legsby and Holton- the years, Ian Sharp’s play movingly captures the cum-Beckering in Lincolnshire. The community, challenges many COs faced. Although he says that COs which contained several Quakers, started when Roy in the second world war ‘were treated massively better Broadbent, father of actor Jim Broadbent, and fellow than in the first world war’, many lost their jobs and CO Dick Cornwallis, decided to set up a cooperative some were imprisoned. But, as the play unfolds, we see training farm for COs at Collow Abbey Farm. how the locals softened their stance. ‘I joined the community after I left my job for ‘When they first arrived, there was lot of suspicion,’ refusing to fight,’ the nearly-centenarian says, who is Ian Sharp says. ‘The Germans had just invaded France, thought to be the community’s sole surviving CO. ‘I so people were frightened, and some locals reported was a Presbyterian and didn’t agree with conscription. the community, saying they were spies for Germany.’ I knew I was breaking the law, but it was a matter of What happened next, he explains, was a ‘turning conscience. What does your conscience tell you? It’s an point’. One hundred soldiers turned up at their doors inward struggle, particularly if you’ve not been brought demanding to be shown their ‘weapons store’. He says: up with Quaker ideas of nonviolence.’ ‘Of course, there wasn’t one, so they were bundled into Donald first came into contact with Quakers when a lorry, people booing as they passed, and interrogated he registered as a CO – or ‘Conchie’, as people called at the police station.’ It was soon discovered they them. ‘This was the first time I came across the Quaker weren’t spies, and the locals changed their views. attitude to war,’ he says. It was here, too, that he first Nowadays, the community is remembered with huge heard about the pacifist community in Lincolnshire. affection and many of the cast are direct descendants of ‘It was a difficult time,’ says Donald, ‘particularly as I’d the original members. ‘It still exists. I feel it, still,’ says been to Germany and seen what was happening. But one character in the play, which has been performed at the British government supported Hitler before the war, sixteen venues so far, including the Edinburgh Fringe, because he was against communism.’ with more hoped for next year. Donald went to one of the notorious tribunals and For Donald Sutherland, his ‘inward struggle’ will was granted exemption on religious grounds. But he always stay with him. ‘The whole solution of peace is paid a price. He lost his job in an insurance firm, where such a difficult one. All you can do is what you think he had worked for six years, and was shunned: ‘On the is right. It was so matter-of-fact, so traditional, the idea day I lost my job, a manager said he wanted to see me. that you should fight for your country. You don’t think He said: “I’m very sorry about what has happened.” He about it until the time comes when you have to register was a member of the Independent Labour Party, which – the nitty gritty of signing up. Nowadays, we don’t was for peace. No one else in the office spoke to me. have to think about it. We pay our taxes, and someone All the chaps were signing up. One young man was just else does our dirty work.’ married, and I found out later he lost his life.’ He sighs: ‘It was very difficult.’ Rebecca is the journalist for the Friend.

the Friend, Being a Friend 17 Conscientious objection

Voices of dissent All photos courtesy of English Hertiage. Kevin Booth, senior curator at English Heritage, tells the Friend about a project at Richmond Castle that celebrates the witness of imprisoned conscientious objectors in the first world war

n the past few years English Heritage has been fiancé Bert Brocklesby, who was sentenced to death in conserving and stabilising graffiti on the walls of the France a few days after drawing it. He later travelled nineteenth century cell block at Richmond Castle in to Vienna after the war with the Friends’ War Victims IYorkshire. It was written, drawn and scratched over Relief Committee. Bert Brocklesby became a Quaker many decades. Some, done during the first world war, but never married his fiancé. Annie Wainwright, whose are a precious resource in the story of conscientious brother had been killed in action, could not support his objection in Britain. decision to help the very people who had killed her Attention has been given to one group of prisoners, sibling. Soon after he left for Vienna, the engagement the ‘Richmond Sixteen’, imprisoned in May 1916, was broken off. months after the Military Service Act was passed. They were absolutist conscientious objectors (COs) who were sent to France and sentenced to death by firing squad – a sentence commuted to ten years hard labour by prime minister Herbert Asquith. However, the story of the graffiti goes well beyond the Richmond Sixteen. The absolutist COs imprisoned during the first world war were a disparate group – all individuals prompted by religious or political reasons. Some were working class and some were middle class. Every piece of graffiti represents an individual’s voice. Each voice tells a story. Some express a sense of loss and separation from loved ones. The majority are religious. A Quaker CO imprisoned in the cells for his absolutist stance was Norman Gaudie, who played for Sunderland Football Club. Much is political. There are snatches of hymns and biblical verses, political slogans, a bottle of Bass There’s an image of a piece of lace. This was done by beer with the assertion ‘beer is best’ alongside the a lace-maker from Long Eaton in Derbyshire who was sober advice ‘left alone’. There are words taken from a CO. One of my favourite pieces of graffiti from 1916 folk songs, a verse from the socialist anthem ‘The Red says: ‘Socialism is the worker’s salvation.’ Someone later Flag’, an image of Annie Wainwright drawn by her then added: ‘Nay, lad, work’ [is the worker’s salvation].

18 the Friend, www.thefriend.org In the National Archives there are letters preserved There are six layers of limewash pre-dating the and handled by curators with white gloves. This graffiti first world war. Since then the images have not been is of equal importance. It’s a unique record of COs vandalised or defaced – even by regular soldiers whose hopes, motivation and background are revealed who, since 1918, have occasionally been stationed at in their graffiti. The motivation that drove them to a Richmond Castle. prison cell was not greatly understood at the time or in This project has led me to see so much more than the wake of the war. the Richmond Sixteen. One image that grabs me is Some of the COs were earnest and resolute. Others, from 1939 when a dart board was obviously put up. like Richard Lewis Barry, were pranksters and wits. He Soldiers stationed at Richmond probably had a league. wrote a telling quote on a wall: ‘You might as well try Scores are written on the wall. Then you see the words: to dry a floor by throwing water on it as try to stop this ‘Cancelled due to war.’ war by fighting.’ All were sincere in their conviction and willing to go through any sacrifice for what they The exhibition, ‘The Cell Block’, runs at the Peace believed in. Museum in Bradford until 26 October 2018.

the Friend, Being a Friend 19 Reflection

Truth to tell

Diana Sandy considers the idea of truth Photo: Jane Garratt / flickr CC. / flickr Garratt Photo: Jane

hat is truth? How can we know? One of in this context that could be different from any other the early names that Friends who gathered responsible group? together in the 1650s were known as was W‘Friends of the Truth’. When considering the topic many other words and phrases mingle in: integrity, listening, simplicity, For the early Quakers, ‘Truth’ was the revelation of communication, honesty/dishonesty, the use and the Holy Spirit, the eternal, universal awareness that misuse of language; and, also, such things as motive, they experienced in their lives and worship as they corruption, self-interest, ignorance (in both senses), sought answers and guidance. misunderstanding, and deliberate misleading.

When we are asked ‘How hath the Truth prospered This is not an issue that lends itself to a central amongst you?’ it is this Truth that is being sought in response at this stage. Friends need to come our answers. to clearness for themselves, within their local communities and families and within their Meetings, When the early Friends refused to swear an oath it in order to fashion an appropriate response if and was because they knew that there was only this Truth when required. and it could not be divided or expanded into the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (Friends were Getting to know each other in those things that later able to gain recognition and allowed to affirm.) are eternal is probably a secondary element after we have got to know ourselves in those things. As So, what canst thou say? How does this Truth part of these processes we may have to get to know prosper in our individual lives and our Quaker each other and ourselves in those things which are communities? Friends nationally are currently being temporal. asked by Meeting for Sufferings, the representative body of Britain , to enter into a period If we can do that honestly we may be able to of discernment relating to ‘a post-truth world’. discern the eternal Truth of which we are the Friends.

The concern relates to truth in the more secular And we may then have something to offer the sense and the world of politics, the media and local world of untruth, fake news and open dishonesty. communities. Do our Quaker insights offer any guidance in this field? What canst thou – or we – say Diana is a member of Beverley Meeting.

20 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Books Poacher’s pilgrimage

Ian Kirk-Smith shares a trek through Harris and Lewis Rodel, south Harris, the start south Harris, of the Rodel, Alastair McIntosh. pilgrimage. Photo:

lastair McIntosh, a Scottish Quaker, writer, readily mix, but Alastair McIntosh demonstrates broadcaster and activist, records, in Poacher’s respect, tolerance and affection for them. Pilgrimage, a twelve-day trek from the bottom In the latter part of his pilgrimage he decides to Aof the Isle of Harris to the top of Lewis in the Hebrides. attend a Free Church of Scotland service. The sermon Along the way he walks through some of the most prompts him to record words from the pulpit: ‘You isolated landscapes in Britain with a rucksack and must not judge a man by his plenty or by what is in his tent, cooking equipment and a fishing rod, enduring hand, but by what is in his heart.’ This section reflects sunny days, ‘soft’ rain, ‘heavy’ rain, and all kinds of the open-mindedness he brings to people, places and weather in between. There are wonderful descriptions ideas throughout the book. He reminds the reader that of his appreciation of just ‘being alive’ in a wild place there is complexity at the heart of all faith traditions and the geology, animals, wild plants and birds he and more to most people than meets the eye. encountered. His pilgrimage is also a spiritual and It is a recurring theme. The walk was done in 2009, religious journey. He shares thoughts on the Christian just after he had been lecturing on violence and story – on the meaning of resurrection, redemption nonviolence to military personnel in establishments and atonement – but at the heart of the book is his throughout Europe, and he writes about this search for ‘holy’ sites from a pre-Christian and early experience; again, he is non-judgemental of people Christian era, and a desire to explore a place and its but firm in his personal convictions. Recounting spiritual heritage. a tense conversation with a brigadier, he drifts off His encounters with derelict beehive dwellings, holy to a reflection on how the message of nonviolence wells, and ‘temples’ from the Celtic and prehistoric brought to the Roman empire by early Christians era prompt digressions that make the book more than was transformed into a belief that violence could be the record of a long hike. He has a fascination with justified in certain circumstances, but ‘just war theory’, the etymology of words and, while not a native Gaelic he says, ‘locks religion into an endless identification speaker, his emotional connection with Gaelic culture with violence. This has been an enduring tragedy for and identity is evident. Words of place, as in Ireland, millions.’ often connect the physical to a non-material world His meetings with local people along the way and he explores this, recounting local legends, myths punctuate the trekking and internal narratives. Many and stories, considering their moral and message, and live simple lives. A craftsman, he tenderly observes, cherishing a people who, in their spiritual lives, were ‘doesn’t do poverty but “dignified frugality”’. ‘faithful to the truth of nature’. The book celebrates a distinctive spiritual culture The trek is also an opportunity for him to re-engage and is a plea to reconnect with its mystical truths. It is with his childhood. He grew up in Stornoway, where also an engaging record of a journey that transcends his father was a doctor, and his pilgrimage is an the beautiful landscape of Harris and Lewis, and answer, spiritually, to a deep inner call. The book is a presents a compelling case for the importance of compelling record of it. identity, fellowship and belonging. In Poacher’s Pilgrimage he reveals a ‘soft spot’ for the ‘Wee Frees’ – the Free Church of Scotland – a Ian is the editor of the Friend. conservative, Calvinist congregation whose influence has been hugely influential on life in the Hebrides. Poacher’s Pilgrimage: An Island Journey is published Quakerism and the values of the ‘Wee Frees’ do not by Birlinn Ltd at £9.99.

the Friend, Being a Friend 21 From the archive Faithful lives

Janet Scott describes the personal stories of some Friends in 1918 hat does it mean to be a Quaker? Since we when B. Jackson visited out-stations, were trying to believe that religion is not about what we say both, but I do not remember hearing from either the but about how we live, we can illustrate the least suggestion that they thought it hard. Wmeaning of our faith through telling stories of Friends who, in different ways and different circumstances, have Henry Davidson went on to describe how, on a final led lives of faithful commitment. In the autumn of 1918, visit: the Friend had several of these stories. We sat long into the night, and I listened to the stories Lucy Harris of my friend’s experiences, his disappointments, his failures, his hopes and successes, how he laboured and Lucy Harris was a doctor who went to the mission field planned for the people whom he loved… and his great in China. Her letters from Tung Chwan, reported in the faith in the power of Christ to save them. 23 August edition of the Friend, say that she had over 300 outpatients in a week, many of them soldiers or James and Beatrice Ryan connected with the military: Charles E Stansfield, also in the Friend’s 1 November Fighting was still going on in the district which edition, wrote movingly about James Ryan and his brought more wounded soldiers for treatment… widow, Beatrice: These new patients belonged to the opposite side to the ones treated before, so the care they received …in Tananarive we discussed with James Ryan and showed that the doctor was ready to help either side his wife our plans for their future service on the indiscriminately. west coast. A mission on Quaker lines, with no paid preachers or evangelists, but just the power of two Benjamin and Florence Jackson Christian lives to influence a circle of young men and women who should be taught gardening and wood On 4 October the torpedoing of the ship Hirano Maru off work and the simple duties of housekeeping and the the coast of Ireland caused the death of two missionaries: rearing of children, and then return to their homes to Benjamin Herbert Jackson, who was returning to China, communicate the ideas they had learned… and James Ryan, returning to Madagascar. The Friend They faced a task requiring the greatest self-sacrifice on 1 November contained appreciations of their lives. and endurance. Before their own house arrived from W Henry Davidson and his wife sailed for China at the Europe they lived for months in a native hut, without same time as Benjamin and Florence Jackson. Henry privacy… a prey all the time to swarming mosquitoes Davidson wrote: and in overpowering heat.

We went out with the light-heartedness of inexperience, Another Friend, A T Alexander, added: but none of us ever looked back with regret… We spent the first two years together at Chungking, I do not think that our friend was much concerned after which B. and F. Jackson took up work in the new with theological questions, but his faith shone in station at Tungliang… Occasionally we visited them, his life, and he seemed to go on from strength to and these were always visits to be remembered, cut strength just doing diligently and with his might the off, as they were, for the greater part of the year from work that came to him to do wherever he was… His European companionship. They gave themselves to life is another story added to the many that adorn the service of those who but partially understood their the annals of Christian history and missions of one motives and whose response came slowly. The courage called from the humble working home with but few and hopefulness with which they carried on their advantages other then the test of hard experience to work are beyond all praise. The frequent separations, be a messenger of the Gospel.

22 the Friend, www.thefriend.org Edward Fry all round and little chance of finding food or clothing sufficient for all who were coming to him. A long obituary published in the Friend on 25 October detailed Edward Fry’s long career as a barrister, a judge, With the British advance he was taken prisoner and and after his retirement, a chair of many commissions: transferred to a camp for prisoners of war. Shortly after his arrival he resumed his medical work. The same issue The crowning distinction… came to him when in of the Friend noted that: his 80th year, he was appointed… [to] the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. In his address to the Daniel Oliver has continued at his post at Ras-el- Conference, Sir Edward Fry spoke… of the dream of Metn throughout the war. He wrote… “We have an a golden age long cherished by all noble and inspired orphanage here… where we are taking only absolutely minds, an age of universal peace, and pointed to the destitute boys; and I have also undertaken on behalf disastrous way of ever-increasing armaments along of Friends, the support of the destitute boys in the which the European nations were then travelling. Hospices in Brummana… It is estimated that half the It was his privilege… to make the offer from the population have perished from hunger and disease… British Government of steps which might lead to [The pressing] need is for money to buy bread. mutual international arrangements for reduction of armaments. Such proposals, alas, never reached Martha Allen fruition… A Quaker life does not have to be lived in faraway He also proposed an international court of justice. places. On 22 November, under the title ‘An Ordinary Life’, the Friend reported: Joseph A Woods Few will know the name of Martha Allen who passed The Friend, again in the 1 November edition, reported away on the last day of October, at Brigflatts meeting- an acknowledgement in the House of Commons of house, which she had cared for during several years. Joseph A Woods and his wife who: Yet in any modern list of servants of the Church she deserves a place… …without remuneration afforded dental treatment to A quater of a century ago… already a widow… [she all our prisoners interned in Switzerland who needed lived] on one of the slopes of Whernside. There she his services. managed a small farm, turning out in early morning, summer and winter, to milk, feed the calves and pigs In two years Joseph Woods treated more than 1,200 and care for the poultry. If a neighbour was ill, she prisoners. The Friend observed that: was ready to help before being called upon to do so. She never had control of more than a sufficiency Joseph Woods courteously declined the decoration of this world’s goods, but what she had she shared, offered him by the Government. with that simple kindness which multiplies a gift an hundredfold… A J Manasseh and Daniel Oliver I used to say that if anyone wanted to know how Christianity worked they should be sent to Martha Early in October British and French troops entered the Allen’s house! I have seen her in great trouble as , ending four years of silence, during which well as in much happiness; when I called upon her the country had been almost completely cut off from last July she was lying in weariness and pain, but in the West. Friends were at last able to hear reports from full possession of faith, hope and love, and rejoicing workers who had remained in the area through a period in Him who enabled her to transmit these great of intense starvation. The following appeared in the Christian qualities to others. Friend on 20 December: Truly Martha Allen was a direct descendant of those noble men and women who made of Brigflatts [Dr Manasseh] told us of his work early on in a holy place. She felt the spirit of Jesus ever drawing Brummana and of his starting a soup kitchen. Then of near, and thus strengthened and inspired, she nobly his three months in Damascus, caring for Armenians performed life’s many duties. who had been deported there, and afterwards of his time in Baalbek running practically three Institutions, ‘From the archive’ is complied by Janet Scott. his Military Hospital, Orphanage, and Home for the Civilian Sick; living crowded days with awful need Janet is a member of Cambridgeshire Area Meeting.

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Trust and Integrity in Business Which questions do we ask? And of Whom? A Quakers and Business Conference Wednesday 5 December 2018 - Friends House, Euston, London, 9.30 - 4.30 • A one day interactive event discussing the issues of trust and integrity in businesses of different sizes, e.g. what does trustworthiness look like? • Three parallel streams - one sponsored by The Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics • Sessions include debates, roundtable discussions and workshops “The glue that holds all relationships together (including relationships between the leader and the led) is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” – Brian Tracy @QuakerBusiness For more information and booking go to qandb.org/QBC18 LinkedIn Quakers & Business Group

Friends in Tune

All day singing workshops led by Tony Biggin & Alec Davison Featuring a selection of their most enjoyable songs. ‘Lively Quaker music-making for over 100 years!’ Venues - anywhere, 10am–5pm [email protected]

Quaker Peace & Social Witness Peace & Disarmament Programme Manager Salary: £27,841pa (£39,774 pro rata pa). Contract: Permanent. Hours: 24.5 per week (3.5 days per week). Location: Friends House, Euston, NW1. Quakers have been committed to peace for more than 350 years. We are passionate about disarmament and anti-militarism, and need someone who shares that passion to join our team. The demands of the post are wide ranging and you’ll need real conviction to succeed in it. You’ll work closely with Quaker committees and colleagues in peace education. But good peace campaigning also requires networking skills, as well as a thorough knowledge of the issues that are relevant across the country. This is an exciting time to join us. If you want to make a real impact and raise the profile of peace and disarmament – if you want to make war less likely – we’d love to hear from you. In return we offer a generous benefits package, including a pension scheme, 27 days holiday, and other non-financial lifestyle benefits. Closing date: Monday 8 October 2018. Interviews: Wednesday 17 October 2018. For further details about Quakers in Britain, see www.quakers.org.uk and for information about how to apply please visit www.quaker.org.uk/jobs is committed to equality in all its employment practices. Registered charity no. 1127633.

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Elizabeth Brown Grants A project of Golders Green Quakers Listen to the Silence Do you ever feel the need for time out from your hectic life? Time out to be quiet, to reflect, to listen, just to BE? The Elizabeth Brown Fund was donated by the children of Elizabeth to honour her memory and life. One of Elizabeth’s many qualities was that she fully appreciated the value of just being in silence. A main objective of the Fund is to encourage others to discover the value of just being. There are many opportunities at Quaker Centres and Meeting Houses around the UK to experience a time of quiet contemplation, a retreat or a course to introduce you to one of the many ways (from many faiths) of finding stillness and clearness within. The Elizabeth Brown Fund can offer financial help to those who want to attend such courses. The fund aims to support those who are trying this for the first time. For more details please email [email protected]

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Friends of Hlekweni Our small Quaker charity continues to support four primary schools in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Secondary Bursary scheme and peacebuilding work in schools and the community. Newsletters and more information: www.friendsofhlekweni.org.uk or [email protected] Donations and support from individuals and Meetings are always warmly welcomed! UK charity no 1126598

A Quaker response to poverty

Quaker Bolivia Link works to improve the living conditions of some of the poorest people in Latin America: the Aymara of the Altiplano. Through small scale sustainable projects, we work with Bolivian Quakers and local rural communities giving them the means and the opportunity to improve their own lives. In over 20 years, QBL has provided over 2000 families with access to clean water and improved food security. Many more are asking for our support. Please help us to keep this work going. Donate at www.qbl.org or email us at [email protected] Quaker Bolivia Link is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1055192.

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Near Death Experiences, Reincarnation, Communication Beyond Death, Universal Welcome to Consciousness... Glenthorne ...is there a Quaker view? in the heart of the Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies has been asking the Lake District questions and sifting the evidence for nearly 20 years, with fascinating results. A FREE copy of our journal Reaching Out is available from: Angela Howard, Webb’s Cottage, Woolpits Road, Saling, Braintree, Essex CM7 5DZ Email [email protected] Visit our website www.quakerfellowshipforafterlifestudies.co.uk V `HARNEY ANOR Great food, wonderful scenery and a peaceful Programme 2019 atmosphere. February 15-17 The Drawing room Kel Portman March 22-24 Writing with the spirit Kim Hope Vegetarian and special diets catered for. April 12-14 Finding out about Quakers Enquirers Retreat Quaker Quest team Mainly ensuite rooms Apr 30-3 May Experiencing Shakespeare John Lampen & colleague with two rooms designed June 12-14 Experiment with Light Experiment with Light team for disabled access and July 23-25 Poetry: where words walk on the edge of silence wheelchair use. Philip Gross August 23-25 Working with those who support asylum seekers Dinner, B&B - Groups Sanctuary Everywhere Programme and walkers welcome. September 6-8 Finding out about Quakers Enquirers Retreat Quaker Quest team Special interest holidays October 23-25 The Holy Mountain: Deep nonviolence and sustainability Laurie Michaelis and budget breaks. November 1-3 Finding out about Quakers – Membership Retreat Bursary help available. Quaker Quest team November 22-24 Sinking down the seed Alex Wildwood All are welcome. All events are £200 (deposit £100) except Experiencing Shakespeare £420 (deposit £210). Bursaries up to 50% may be available (one per person per year). Contact: Retreat Administrator Nicola Cooper Glenthone Quaker Centre & Guest House We also offer individuals an option to have a few days of relaxation on a Easedale Road Bed and Breakfast or fully-catered basis. Grasmere Please contact us for further information. Cumbria LA22 9QH Manager: Gillian Peaston Charney Manor, Charney Bassett, Wantage OX12 OEJ. Tel/Fax 015394 35389 Tel: 01235 868 206 [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.glenthorne.org Web: www.charneymanor.com

Charney Manor is a registered charity, no. 237267 Reg. charity no. 232575

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For how to place a notice on this page please email [email protected] or call Friends&Meetings George Penaluna on 01535 630230. Memorial meetings Quaker Mental David HENSHAW A memorial Health Forum meeting to give thanks for the life of our Friend David will be held in the Saturday 3 November, 10am–4pm Sarah Fell Room, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, Mental Health and young people 2pm Saturday 29 September. Details: Our annual day conference this year will focus on mental health and [email protected] young people. The day includes worship, workshops, sharing in small groups and creative responses. No charge. All welcome. Venue: The Priory Rooms, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF Diary Enquiries: [email protected] CARLISLE - THE QUAKER Please book via www.eventbrite.com - search ‘Quaker Mental Health’ INFLUENCE EXHIBITION Thursday 4, Friday 5 and Saturday 6 October at the Friends Meeting Meetings Meeting up House, Fisher St, Carlisle CA3 8RR. 11am–3pm. Talk on Thomas Edmond- QUAKER MEETINGS IN KOREA GAY FRIEND, 50 - ridiculously, seeks son at 2pm on Thursday and Saturday. Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship tactile, smoke-/cologne-free man for Details: [email protected] every Sunday at 11am in Seoul loving relationship grounded in ([email protected]) and shared values including Quaker MUSICIANS FOR PEACE AND DIS- 10.30am in Daejon (meditanz@ testimonies, commitment, compan- ARMAMENT Recital by Louise hanmail.net) both followed by shared ionship, playfulness, giving/receiving, Alder, soprano, and Roger Vignoles, lunch.Visiting Friends always welcome. encouragement, affection, apprecia- piano. Music by Schumann, Faure, Email the clerks for details/directions. tion, living lightly and deeply. QF&P Strauss, Britten. 7.30pm Thursday 22.47. Replies please Box 992 c/o 11 October. St Philip’s Church, ORGANISING AN EVENT? Let everyone The Friend Ad Dept. Earl’s Court Road, London W8 6QH. know with an advertisement in the Friend! www.mpdconcerts.org

MINDFULNESS AT WORK Two Day Retreat, 15-16 October. GATHERING Whatever your workplace - school, Fri-Sun 29-31 March 2019 office, medical practice, corporate - join us at Charney Manor. Learn tools Woodbrooke Study Centre to bring clarity and calm to any work Birmingham situation. Details: Georgeanne 07765 045939. www.ascotmindfulness.co.uk Unity, Diversity, QUAKER ASYLUM AND REFUGEE Boundaries NETWORK QARN will meet on 13 October, at Peace Hub, 41 Bull St, • Can there be unity Birmingham B4 6AF, from 11-4. in diversity? Everyone welcome, tea and coffee • Are there boundaries provided, please bring your own to diversity? A QUAKER BASE IN lunch. Further details: CENTRAL LONDON [email protected] Speakers: Hugh Rock (NFN) Marisa Johnson (FWCC-EMES) Central, quiet location, QUAKER SOUTH ASIA INTEREST Tony Philpott (QUG) convenient for Friends House, GROUP www.qsaig.co.uk British Museum and transport. Comfortable rooms tastefully AGM Saturday 13 October, 10.30am - Cost £250. Bookings/info: furnished, many en-suite. 4pm, Selly Oak QMH, 930 Bristol Rd, [email protected] Full English breakfast. Birmingham B29 6NB. Speaker Discount for Sufferings and Elizabeth Harris: 'Postwar Sri Lanka, Organised by the Nontheist Club members. challenges to reconciliation'. Friends Network: a forum 21 Bedford Place All welcome. Details Stuart Morton: for Friends who view religion London WC1B 5JJ [email protected] 0121 472 5305. as a human creation. Tel. 020 7636 4718 [email protected]

nontheist-quakers.org.uk The Penn Club www.pennclub.co.uk

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Quaker Arts Network Connecting Quakers through the arts Take a look at our new website www.quakerarts.net (re-enter the address completely and/or press Refresh if you’ve looked before) Add your exhibitions and performances to our Events page (‘Events’ then ‘Add event’) Join Quaker Arts Network!

Order more copies now! Extra copies of this special issue available at £1 each incl. UK postage. In multiples of 10. Call 01535 630230 or email [email protected]

Quakers in the North of Britain supporting peace action, reflection and witness We offer workshops on: • Building peace together • Speaking out and talking with others about peace • Looking at new approaches to security For information about these and other aspects of our work, as well as new of opportunities and events: NFPB, Victoria Hall, Knowsley St, Bolton BL1 2AS Tel. 01204 382330 or see Email: [email protected] Web: nfpb.org.uk Scottish Charity 024632

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Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Ad Manager, The Friend, 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T: 01535 630230 E: [email protected]

CLARIDGE HOUSE RETREAT CENTRE THE DELL HOUSE, MALVERN. Relaxing where to stay En-suite B&B, Lingfield, Surrey. 17 National B&B for individuals, couples and groups Trust properties within 1 hour. Wonderful (up to twenty). Vegetarian options. Perfect GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BS vegetarian food. Single £65, double £80. for walking, historic houses, gardens. 01342 832150. www.thedellhouse.co.uk / 01684 564448. B&B AT WOODBROOKE, BIRMINGHAM. Explore Birmingham and the Midlands EDINBURGH. City centre accommodation COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING or relax in 10 acres of gardens and at Emmaus House. Tel. 0131 228 1066. woodland. Close to Bournville and public www.emmaushouse-edinburgh.co.uk transport. Wonderful library, delicious Email: [email protected] A WARM PEMBROKESHIRE WELCOME meals, Friendly welcome. Great value. Scottish charity SC042957. awaits you in 2 cosy well equipped Book at www.woodbrooke.org.uk or call cottages each sleeps 4. Woodburners, 0121 472 5171. sea views, coastal path 2 miles. 01348 You never know what might happen 891286. [email protected] Read the Friend every week! when you advertise in the Friend! www.stonescottages.co.uk A WARM WELCOME AWAITS at Ffos Ddu holiday cottages, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire. Each cottage sleeps 2. Set in 28 acres of woodland, meadows The Friend Publications and lake. Close to many tourist attractions. Pets by arrangement. [email protected]

CEO and Editor of the Friend CLAVERHAM, NORTH SOMERSET Cottage adjoining historic Meeting House The Friend Publications is responsible for in rural area close to coast. Ideal for short publishing the Friend magazine and breaks or family holidays. Sleeps up to seven. Website: www.claverhamtrust.org.uk website, Friends Quarterly and a range of Enquiries: Tom Leimdorfer, telephone books. Both editorially and in governance, 01934 834663. [email protected] we are independent of Britain Yearly Meeting. CORNWALL, 14TH CENTURY COTTAGE As the Friend this year celebrates 175 years overlooking sea. £200-240 pw. Short breaks. www.wix.com/beryldestone/ of continuous publication, and with the cornishcottage 0117 951 4384. introduction last year of full-colour printing, this is an exciting moment in our history. COTSWOLDS. Spacious barn conversion in Charlbury near Woodstock. Sleeps 2+. We are seeking a person of vision and Woodburner. Lovely walking. 01608 811558. [email protected]. energy to work closely with trustees and www.cotswoldsbarn.com staff to further develop and implement the strategic plan for the Friend Publications. COUNTRY COTTAGES near Ludlow. Walking, wildlife. Short breaks. Families. As well as responsibility for editing the Friend, the strategic plan Pets. Green awards. Ffriends’ discount. looks to this post to extend the range and format of publications, 01547 540441. www.mocktreeholidays.co.uk to reach out to the Quaker community and beyond. SCOTTISH ISLES (HARRIS), WIND, RAIN, The post of CEO and editor requires someone who is an rainbows, sunsets, seals, otters, walks, imaginative and able team leader, with editorial and managerial eagles, golden beaches, orchids, Heaven! experience allied to strong journalistic skills. Applicants should be Shorefront contemporary bungalow. Sleeps 2. All comforts, horizon views. able to demonstrate an understanding of and close familiarity www.milbothy.co.uk, 01859 530400. with the Religious Society of Friends. The post is based in our London offices. Some weekend working will be required. SIMPLE PEACE AND QUIET West Cornwall. Cottage on smallholding. The person appointed will work with a dedicated and professional Sea view. Sleeps 2. Tel. 01736 763803. team, working hard within tight deadlines to produce a weekly magazine in an atmosphere of mutual encouragement and trust. for sale For further details and an application pack please email the BANKFOOT, GREENHEAD, nr. BRAMPTON company secretary Janet Barlow: [email protected] Northumberland. Outstanding natural beauty. 2-bedroom terraced cottage for Closing date for applications 11 October, interviews late October. sale. Wonderful home or holiday potential. Between Northumberland and Lake The Friend Publications Ltd is a registered charity, no. 211649. District National Parks. £90,000. 01595 694480 or [email protected]

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accommodation PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY &TAXATION SERVICE Subscribe today! WANTED Quaker Accountant offers friendly We hope service countrywide. NORWICH. Young Friend (28) seeks room you’ve Self-assessment & small businesses. in houseshare or lodging in Norwich area enjoyed for 6+ months from October/November. Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt reading this Offers or signposting welcome! Please call Chartered Certified Accountants special issue Rhiannon: 07813 792356. 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR and you’d Telephone 01228 521286 like to join [email protected] www.grainger-platt.co.uk us every events week. Use QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES the form in the centre to ROOTS OF FRIENDS TESTIMONIES and other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow AND PRINCIPLES 01223 369776, [email protected] subscribe! IN THE TEACHING OF JESUS www.lizbarrow.co.uk Talk by Irish Quaker Charles B Lamb 3–4.30pm Friday 5 October Sibford Village Hall Experiment Sibford Gower, near Banbury (Opposite village church) All welcome. with Light miscellaneous

AFFORDABLE WEBSITES for your The “Experiment with Light” is a Meeting, charity, business or family. Easy to manage, professional images, good Quaker discipline that helps people marketing practices. 07811 880595. deepen their spiritual lives by www.shineyourlightmarketing.co.uk exploring what it means to “wait in the Light” as the early Quakers did. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT & CONSULTANCY Opportunities to Fri – Sun, 30 Aug – 1 Sept Bookkeeping, Wardening Cover, Lettings, Glenthorne Quaker Centre, Outreach & Project Management for experience this Quaker Quaker Meetings & small businesses. Easedale Road, Grasmere Wendrie Heywood practice at residential Tel. +44 (0)15394 35389. 07881 220829 www.glenthorne.org [email protected] centres in 2019 www.mindfulbusinessservices.com For a full introduction Deepening the FRIENDS FELLOWSHIP OF HEALING Practice Retreat Following in the footsteps of George Fox, to the practice: the FFH seeks to restore the Quaker Fri – Mon, 21 – 24 June tradition of healing. 01425 626112 / 07512 Fri – Sun, 15 – 17 February , Ulverston, 890768. www.quaker-healing.org.uk Woodbrooke Quaker Study Cumbria LA12 0JQ Centre, Birmingham B29 6LJ Tel. +44 (0)1229 583204. THE PRIORY ROOMS Tel. +44 (0)121 472 5171 www.swarthmoorhall.co.uk Meeting and conference facilities www.woodbrooke.org.uk in central Birmingham. Quiet Day Comfortable, flexible accommodation with a full range of support facilities Weds – Fri, 12 – 14 June Sat – Sun, 21 – 22 September and optional hospitality packages. Charney Manor, Charney Woodbrooke Quaker Study See www.theprioryrooms.co.uk Bassett, Wantage OX12 0EJ Centre, Birmingham B29 6LJ Tel. 0121 236 2317 Tel. +44 (0)1235 868206 Tel. +44 (0)121 472 5171 [email protected] www.charneymanor.com/events www.woodbrooke.org.uk WRITING YOUR BOOK? Biography, family history, novel or non-fiction, let me All courses are led by an experienced team of friendly help with layout, typesetting, printing. Photographs/images can be included. Experiment with Light facilitators. Free quotes. Leaflets/brochures also For more information visit www.experiment-with-light.org.uk prepared. Trish: 01223 363435, [email protected] Email [email protected]

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ADVERTISEMENT DEPT 176 54a Main Street EDITORIAL Cononley, Keighley 173 Euston Road BD20 8LL London NW1 2BJ No

T 01535 630 230 T 020 7663 1010 39 E [email protected] the Friend E [email protected]