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Friends-Ad-21-May-2021-v3.indd 1 21/05/2021 17:03 the INDEPENDENTFriend QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843 28 May 2021 | Volume 179, No 22 www.thefriend.org

News 4 COP26, YMG and more Rebecca Hardy

Letters 6

Votes of conscience 8 Online hustings in North Wales Frances Voelcker

Thought for the week 9 Love life Kate McNally

Room for improvement 10 Quakers and the slave trade Elaine Green

‘Gentleman, Leveller, Quaker’ 12 John Lilburne Simon Webb

Bee in the bonnet 14 Quaker structures Frances Voelcker

Poem 16 Given Angela Arnold

Friends & Meetings 17

‘Our discipline and structures do not exist by themselves. The life of our Society is made up of the lives of its members. The faithfulness of our Society consists in the faithfulness of each and all of us. And none of us can expect ‘the Society’ to be more faithful, more committed, more loving, than we ourselves are prepared to be.’

From the introduction to chapter 18 of Quaker faith & practice for peaceful protest on the 2017 Yearly Meeting News several accounts: [It] Minute at Warwick sends an important ‘to examine our own [email protected] message to chief officers diversity’; the start of across the UK that revising Quaker faith & peaceful, safe protest in practice in 2018; and the support of racial justice first commitment to local Police apologise to trade. Despite complying and other important development workers in Quaker after unlawful with police instructions causes must be allowed. 2019. arrest to leave, and acting It shows that those who A Quaker arrested for independently, all four are campaigning for Quaker continues protesting during the were arrested, detained racial justice will not be witness to feminism January lockdown has and issued with Fixed silenced,’ she said. Quaker author Lucy- received an apology from Penalty Notices under The apologies followed Anne Holmes has the police, as well as what was later ruled as an a legal challenge and are interviewed fifty-one substantial damages. unlawful interpretation thought to be the first women from all over Ros Martin, from of the Covid regulations. time a police force has the world for a book Frenchay Meeting, In a statement agreed admitted it misapplied about sex. In Women was one of four people with the claimants, the coronavirus powers to on Top of the World – arrested by Avon and police said the arrests had ban protests. published in the US this Somerset police for been made on the basis Ros Martin said she month, following its UK demonstrating outside of ‘a misunderstanding plans to give the damages release in February – the Bristol Magistrates’ Court of the legal effect of the to charity. Hertfordshire Friend on 25 January. Along with regulations’ and admitted spoke to the women Paula Richardson, Taus all four ‘were unlawfully Paul Parker marks ten about ‘what they think Larsen and Rowland Dye, a r r e s t e d ’. years with BYM of during sex’ as part of the sixty-year-old Friend Ros Martin told Quaker Paul Parker has her longstanding witness acted in support of the the Friend that the written about his first to break down taboos ‘Colston Four’, the four arrests were ‘ludicrous’ decade as recording in discussing female defendants charged with and motivated by clerk of Britain Yearly sexuality. The Quaker criminal damage to the ‘intimidation and Meeting (BYM) in an successfully campaigned statue of Edward Colston, humiliation’. She said that article on the Quakers to end page three in The who traded in enslaved an inaccurate account of in Britain website. Sun in 2012-13 and has people. the arrests on the Avon Recalling ten Quaker since been using her Wearing masks and and Somerset police landmarks, starting with platform to discuss sex social distancing, Ros website had been taken the 2011 Canterbury and feminism. Martin and Paula down and replaced Commitment – when Lucy-Anne Holmes Richardson wrote with an apology. ‘My Yearly Meeting committed told the Friend that the messages of solidarity protest that morning was ‘to become a low-carbon, book was ‘an opportunity on the pavement in silenced by police officers sustainable community’ to have very real water-soluble chalk, manhandling me into a – he mentions milestones conversations about Taus Larsen arrived later police van, then into a such as the Sixth World how women actually feel playing music on a bike, police cell and then by Conference of Friends in about sex. So often female and Rowland Dye held trying to smear my good 2012 in Kenya, and the sexuality is presented by a placard highlighting name and character. This opening of The Light in men, so it was great to Bristol’s role in the slave is an important victory Friends House in 2015. hear a woman’s side of Describing 2020 as the the story. Aged between year Quakers went digital, nineteen and seventy- WORDS other key moments four, they share very include the 2013 decision intimately how they to become the first church navigate areas such as to divest from fossil fuels, sexual trauma, Female and the first same-sex Genital Mutilation, and ‘So often female marriages in 2014, ‘built gender reassignment on five years of work hormones, and describe sexuality is to get the law to match how they have been Quakers’ 2009 decision’. affected by menopause, He also mentions the illness and having a presented by men.’ 2016 Heritage project young family. One thing Quaker Lucy-Anne Holmes on her new book. with Historic England; that struck me is that

4 the Friend 28 May 2021 wherever the women Our readings were from NUMBERS were, they had not had Quaker faith & practice enough sex education.’ 26.08 and 25.04. As we The Quaker has been were about to leave we hosting Zoom workshops noticed two groups of and talks on topics such walkers coming towards 240,000 as: healing after sexual us – the first people we’d trauma; the ‘wheel of met all day – so we were The number of signatures Lucy-Anne Holmes gathered consent’; and talking to able to share the message. in her successful petition ‘No More Page Three’. children on the subject. Despite the chilly weather Each event has had it had been an uplifting However, we will print and Interfaith Relations around thirty to forty experience. Not simply copies for those with (QCCIR). The event on attenders. She is also “lifting our eyes to the particular need. Be sure to 29 April featured talks planning a podcast. hills”, but feeling at one indicate on registration if by Quaker theologians with the natural world.’ this applies to you.’ Rex Ambler, Janet Scott Newport Friends For Young Adults and Ben Wood, and was Journey to COP 26 Bookings to open for at YMG there will be introduced by Marigold Newport Quakers climbed Quaker Gathering online spaces to connect. Bentley, secretary for Fan y Bîg in the Brecon Bookings will soon Meanwhile, Children and QCCIR. Beacons last month, open for the 2021 Yearly Families sessions, Young Mark Lilley, clerk for as part of the Journey Meeting Gathering People’s Programme and QCCIR, said the remit to COP26 initiative, (YMG), which is themed Junior Yearly Meeting of the committee is to where people went on ‘For our comfort and will run in the final week explain the positions pilgrimages to celebrate discomfort: living equality from 2 to 6 August. The of BYM to ecumenical the natural world. Three and truth in a time of theme of all Children and partners and to bring out local Friends and two crisis’. Online sessions will Families sessions is ‘Let’s views from other churches guests climbed to the focus on Quaker work explore our world and and faiths into the life of summit on 10 April to for climate and racial find who we are’. Britain Yearly Meeting unfurl their recently- justice, as well as ongoing ‘Already a myriad of (BYM). crafted Newport Quaker discernment around special interest groups He said it is ‘sometimes banner, as well as Cardiff gender diverse people. have signed up to host challenging to express Extinction Rebellion’s ‘All Clare Scott Booth, small sessions on Quaker a Quaker position on Roads lead to COP26’ clerk for YMG, said: faith in action. These aspects of the life of banner. ‘Moving the whole YMG are spread over a couple faith… QCCIR has to Anne Dunton, clerk online makes the event of weeks so participants speak two languages: the of Newport Meeting, accessible for some who can engage at their own language within BYM described the action: wouldn’t be able to attend pace. From 19 July, there and outside BYM. It can ‘In a time of silence we in person. Less travelling will be worship, welcome be difficult to translate took in the light from cuts our carbon footprint. and community building without considerable the world around us and And we’re printing fewer activities, theme-related commentary’. sent it to our leaders who documents. We’re hoping and fringe events. YM in Rex Ambler said his first can make a difference in as many as possible session will be over the point was that ‘Quakers’ Glasgow this November. will work electronically. two weekends from Friday attitudes to creeds and 30 July to 8 August’, said confessions of faith and a statement from Britain suchlike are very difficult Yearly Meeting. for other people to Registration for YMG understand, even other will open on 1 June on Christians. After all, creeds www.quaker.org.uk/ym are so much a part of their and must be done in life, that it is extremely advance. difficult for them to imagine what it could be Friends discuss being like to be a Christian and an interfaith church not actually have a creed’. Quakers discussed ‘What There was also a Q&A it means to be a non- session facilitated by credal church’ last month, Rowena Loverance. as the theme of a webinar The event can be run by the Quaker viewed on YouTube at

Photo courtesy of Anne Dunton Photo courtesy of Committee for Christian https://bit.ly/3oFiZkm.

the Friend 28 May 2021 5 forbidden to take biscuits into

theFriend Letters the prison for our Meeting for 173 Euston Road Worship on the pretext that we London, NW1 2BJ were trafficking, and Denzil took it 020 7663 1010 upon himself to bake us cakes and www.thefriend.org goodies. He had been hoping to The Friend welcomes your views, develop his baking skills on release. to [email protected]. Please Subscriptions There was a naivety about him that keep letters short. We particularly UK £95 per year by all payment belied his deep beliefs. He had an welcome contributions from types including annual direct enquiring mind and spent much children, written or illustrated. debit; monthly payment by of his time in prison exploring direct debit £8; online only £74 Please include your full postal other faiths. He had the ability to per year. Contact: 020 7663 1178 address, even when sending cut through the complexities of life [email protected] emails, along with your Meeting to the very essence. Denzil would name or other Quaker affiliation. have benefited from therapeutic Advertising treatment and early release, when In essentials unity, Contact we feel he would have become a in non-essentials liberty, George Penaluna: productive and valued member of in all things charity. 01535 630230 society. [email protected] Shepton Quakers, Somerset Denzil Editorial As a follow-up to the article in Overseer alternatives Articles, images, correspondence the 16 April issue about Denzil, Meeting for Sufferings has asked should be emailed to we regret to say that Denzil died us to find an alternative for the [email protected] alone in his cell on 17 April, word ‘overseer’ – a word with or sent to the address above. just a few weeks before he was overtones of supervision, hierarchy, due for release on 11 May. He and officialdom, from its use in Editor knew he was terminally ill with plantations, mills and factories. Joseph Jones a diagnosis of cancer, but he was Some Friends may be reluctant Journalist so hopeful to at least spend some to spend time on this. Some Rebecca Hardy time outside, and he had many are regretting the change at Production and office manager plans. Julia Richardson sensitively Friends House where rooms Elinor Smallman led his Quaker funeral on 10 May lost numbers and carried names at Boston Crematorium, when Sub-editor instead. Certainly we need to many of us were able to watch via George Osgerby tread warily. Words may change webcast. Denzil’s daughter, who over time, gathering nuances as Arts correspondent never had the opportunity to get they are adapted to new usage. Rowena Loverance to know her father, was able to Esher Friends soon found they Environment correspondent attend. She was grateful for the were rejecting one suggestion Laurie Michaelis opportunity, and we hope she is after another. It is helpful to start Clerk of trustees now able to see her father in a by working out some guidelines. Lis Birch positive light. Maybe some bridges First name the task and not the with the rest of his family will be attributes of the task holder – as ISSN: 0016-1268 built as a result. with clerk, treasurer, trustee, We knew Denzil when he was a warden. Second eliminate all The Friend Publications Limited prisoner at Shepton Mallet prison. nuance of age, gender, hierarchy, is a registered charity, We feel he was yet another victim superiority. Third choose simple number 211649 of our punitive criminal justice basic words, long-rooted in the system. At least, in his own words, language and free of nuances. Printed by Denzil was able to adopt a positive With the help of guidelines Warners attitude towards life and to use his it becomes clear why some Midlands Plc, time in prison to his best possible alternatives to ‘overseer’ are The Maltings, advantage. We all experienced unacceptable. We want our words to Manor Lane, Denzil as one of the kindest, most reflect our values and our Quaker Bourne, gentle of men, without any trace life – and to be simple and strong. Lincolnshire of malice in him. An example of Christine Cannon PE10 9PH his kindness was when we were Esher Meeting, Surrey

6 the Friend 28 May 2021 Meeting for Worship March) and helped to understand impossible to predict, as I think The term ‘Meeting for Worship’ the depth of meaning of these two most medical practitioners and carries with it an acceptance that words. I have been following the nurses would agree. I have known there is a higher power, or at responses in your letters column. patients to live much longer than least an energy arising out of the For the term ‘Meeting for the predicted time, and with good collective activity of adherents. Worship’ I like Jan Arriens’ palliative care, the situation can That energy is not owned or suggestion (2 April) of ‘Meeting change to allow the patient to have created by us. It is an acceptance for Stillness’ and also Esther Boyd’s a good quality of life to the end. or characterisation of the simpler solution of calling our As for ‘no reason to be connectedness of human life and Meeting ‘Quaker Meeting’ (7 May). concerned that assisted dying could spiritual awareness. This at its best Ever since joining Quakers be imposed on disabled people, will allow, or lead, us firstly to eleven years ago, I have disliked the or anyone’, as Janet Toye wrote, I discern what actions are needed for term ‘Meeting for Worship’. I do believe examples from some other a universal good to be sustained not worship any being or anything, countries which have legislation to and nourished, and secondly to even a deity. Deities do not allow assisted dying dispute this. acknowledge and accept that each need to be worshipped. And the Dignity in Dying is just one of us has both the power and the explanation ‘worth-ship’ does not organisation that is interested in responsibility to make a difference do it for me. In a Quaker Meeting promoting a change in the law, according to our means. I seek ‘the Light’. Until a better term but there are many others such The bare term ‘Meeting’ does no is found, I shall in future speak of as The Christian Institute, Care more than describe a set of people ‘Quaker Meeting’ and am pleased to Not Killing, and Care in Scotland in the same place who are not know there are others who feel and which present these examples and ignoring each other and are hoping do the same. campaign for more support for to learn something from discussion Maria Grace palliative care so there would be no and common thought. Worship Newbury Meeting, Oxfordshire need for a change in the law. allows us to use silence both Pamala McDougall individually and communally to Changing with time Dundee Meeting identify or intuit a common need, Following the correspondence and at its best a likely solution or about attitudes changing with Language way forward to explore and deal time, I can foresee a possible I was sorry to read (14 May) that it with such a need. I would be very future time when our killing is felt Quakers should cease using sorry for the term to be dropped. and eating of animals would be the language of faith, and that Jesus Julia Cadman considered barbaric, and certainly and Christian spirituality ‘will not Liverpool Meeting unacceptable. Most people now do for our enlightened age’. Are don’t question this, but might we in we not all contemporary seekers? There has been recent the future be considered immoral Surely we have the generosity of correspondence on whether or not and uncivilised, the way we now spirit to embrace diverse ways of we should change or delete the regard those who enslaved people? expressing our own experience, and word ‘Worship’ in our Meeting title. Lydia Vulliamy to accept that those described are Its origin is from ‘worth-ship’ Ipswich Meeting, Suffolk cherished by many Friends. Can we – acknowledgement of worth. not ‘seek to know one another in In Meetings for Worship we are Assisted dying the things that are eternal’? aiming to respect or honour the I welcome the diverse views on Brian Ashley value of the spirit/inner light, or assisted dying in the columns of Shetland Meeting whatever it is we wish to give value the Friend and in our Meetings. I to, that is within each of us. also welcome with relief the wise I wonder if alternative words to We could just say ‘I’m going to decision of Meeting for Sufferings ‘religious’, ‘ministry’, ‘faith’, ‘worship’, Meeting’, but adding ‘for Worship’ which failed to reach unity on this ‘elder’, ‘church’, ‘Spirit’ and ‘God’ serves as a reminder as to why we extremely personal and emotive (14 May) could be found that are going and distinguishes it from subject. As my Area Meeting would express the same concepts small ‘m’ meetings which are likely minuted: ‘Failure to reach unity is in words which some would find to be more worldly. not a failure.’ more simple and honest. We cannot Peter Holland However, I feel I must respond understand each other unless we all Stone Meeting, Staffordshire to the view expressed by Janet Toye agree on what words mean, but I (7 May) who claims assisted dying cannot think of any alternatives. I was taken by David Saunders’ would be provided for people with Janet Weyers piece on ‘Silence and stillness’ (12 six months to live. This timing is Cheltenham Meeting, Essex

the Friend 28 May 2021 7 or years, Porthmadog Quakers have arranged public events prior to elections, Votes of conscience: as a service to the wider community. We invite community and faith groups, as Frances Voelcker on well as individuals, to submit questions in Welsh or English, and share these with the candidates beforehand. We have online hustings had between thirty-five and sixty people in the hall, and they speak in either language, with translation provided via earphones to any monoglot English. A door collection usually covers the cost ‘The candidates’ of hiring the venue and paying the translator. FThis year, with Covid, we were asked by several people responses were if we would hold an election forum online. Fortunately, I found a local community enterprise company, Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog, that has the kind of Zoom account that thoughtful and can provide a separate channel for translation, and makes no charge for its use by community groups. I also found a serious.’ grant for the cost of simultaneous translation. The challenge then was to contact the candidates (the registrar makes public only postal addresses, and sometimes these are party headquarters). The deadline for registration is one month before the election, giving, at best, three and a half weeks to contact the candidates, find out which days are possible, send them the questions, and publicise the event. In Dwyfor Meirionnydd (North West Wales) there were eight candidates this time. Four responded promptly. Using my previous contacts list, I could put out the call for questions, and share information about the online event complete with link and password. It was also put on the Porthmadog Facebook group by a supportive local county councillor. The final pieces in the jigsaw were: a chair; a timekeeper; and a host to manage Zoom. The bilingual vicar of Betws-y-Coed, Stuart, kindly agreed to be the chair. I was the timekeeper; and Ceri from Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog was the Zoom host. Six candidates agreed to participate but on the day three of them sent apologies, so we had Mabon ap Gwynfor for Plaid Cymru, Stephen Churchman for the Liberal Democrats, and Charlie Evans for the Welsh Conservatives. This meant they could each have three minutes per question, and we managed to cover ten of the twelve questions, even with some questioners probing further. The candidates’ responses were thoughtful and serious. There was a remarkable degree of agreement, and for the most part a clear will to co-operate with other parties if elected. I noticed two points of particular relevance to Quakers. The first was that both Mabon and Steve went beyond their party positions, in being personally pacifist and opposing the use of land in Wales for military purposes. The second was that Charlie, unlike the others, was not supportive of Citizens Assemblies or similar panels, stating that political representatives have been elected to make the decisions. With poor wifi connections, and various other human and technical errors, our audience this time wasn’t huge. It all felt rushed, too, but we coped, and afterwards received several messages of appreciation and thanks. As a means of outreach, this seems to be moderately successful. n

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash Glen Carrie Photo by Frances is from Porthmadog Meeting.

8 the Friend 28 May 2021 he dictionary defines worship as ‘to pay great honour to’ or ‘to show Thought for the reverence and adoration for’. The origin of the word is Old English, week: Kate McNally’s meaning an acknowledgement of the worth of someone. When I think of worshipping God, this definition love life makes me uncomfortable. Does God need me to pay honour to God? Does God need me to acknowledge God’s worth? It all sounds sycophantic to me if I’m honest. ‘Feeling this love seems Instead, Quaker worship feels to me like sitting still in Tthe love of God, feeling that connection to the eternal that like only half the work: takes me out of time and place and into a sense of fullness, of completeness. I don’t feel this in the busy noise of church rituals. the rest is to bring it Sometimes I find it in the silence of nature, of the forest or the fens, but most often worshipping with those Quakers back to the world.’ in whose safe and nurturing presence my heart can rest. Then I feel a flow of love that calms my spirit and awakens in me a sense of the universal. I believe that this flow of the love of God is something that goes on all the time; we just dip in and out, ‘The trick is to and can feel it when we let our walls down and open keep holding on ourselves to the love of God. to that love.’ When that happens, some of it sticks and I can bring that back to the world and fulfill the ministry that brings my great joy to the needs of the imperfect world. The trick is to keep holding on to that love, that feeling of absolute peace and presence that comes when worship happens. Often I fail. It’s hard to bring it back into the world of humans elbowing each other for prestige and recognition and wealth and power without putting up the fences and walls that I use to protect myself from a world that seems to have forgotten this amazing feeling of connection. Those walls and fences of self-defence bind up the flow of love and thus kill it. It needs to circulate. We only keep it by giving it away. But what if we could trust that sense of peace and presence? What if we could come back to the world and lay down those walls? Just live wide open? This sense of being in that perfect love feels like a fragile thing. Feeling this love seems like only half the work: the rest is to bring it back to the world. That’s hard to achieve where there is judgment or conflict or unresolved issues. Whether judgment and conflict are in our personal lives or in the greater world, they can block us from God’s love. Not because God doesn’t love us, but because they generate fear which clogs the channel through which that love flows. The simple admonition to ‘love one another’ holds the key to holding on to the sense of completeness and connection in a world that seems to be falling apart. It tells us to bring back the love of God that we find in worship and to give it away to those who need it most. Love one another. It’s that simple and that difficult. n

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash Fewings Nick Photo by Kate is from Belgium & Luxembourg Meeting.

the Friend 28 May 2021 9 Room for improvement: Elaine Green on the ‘shameful mantle’ of Quakers and the slave trade ‘I hope I am not blinded by sentimentality when I am called to ask what Love requires of me.’

Photo: ‘Diagram of a slave ship’ from Charles Crawford’s Observations, 1790

t is an awkward question for Quakers in Christianity did not find expression in any broader, Britain to consider deeply and truthfully. postmodern understanding of equality. The record of Quakers who enslaved people To be fair, already in 1688, there had been some in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries agitation against human slavery among US Friends in feels like a shameful mantle to wear, and it the little Meeting of German Friends in Germantown, is hard to know how it can be made good by Pennsylvania. But Philadelphia Yearly Meeting the current generation of the faithful. seemingly paid the concern little heed until 1754. Listening to Anthony Reddie, the director That was when John Woolman published his ‘Some of the Oxford Centre for Religion and considerations’ essay protesting slavery on religious Culture, giving the recent David Goodbourn Annual grounds, and the Yearly Meeting decided that the trade Lecture for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland was a matter of church discipline. (CTBI), I was reminded of the powerful image of the London Yearly Meeting had recorded a Ivengeful God of the Bible, intolerant of rivals, that was discouragement to Friends to trade in enslaved people taken into the Eurocentric Christianity of the third in the 1720s but did not speak out against profiteering and fourth centuries. From the symbolism of the mark from ‘that iniquitous practice of dealing in negroes upon Cain (Genesis 4:15) to the Lutheran interpretation and other slaves’ until 1758. Only then were all Friends of Paul’s ministry of faith over works (which said that urged ‘to keep their hands clear of this unrighteous gain righteousness was imputed from God and not gained of oppression’. by human action), there emerged a religious formula In developing the Lutheran doctrine of faith over that led white Christianity to collude with the practice works, Quakers of the eighteenth century – the so-called of slavery. The Palestinian rabbi from Nazareth did Quietists – paid more attention to discipline and not have a white face, but Jesus Christ from the fourth conduct as essential to individual salvation. This may century onward apparently did. have opened the door for some to a new moral realism. The Quakers of the seventeenth century were A reformed interpretation of the Christian scriptures, undoubtedly caught up in this way of interpreting the by such as John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, Bible. Although they would have felt the obligation to spoke through an anti-mercantilist and anti-slavery well-treat their servants and the people they enslaved, prophetic voice. Chattel slavery, it seems, was no longer some bringing them along to Meetings for Worship so sanctioned by God. that they too might have access to the Holy Spirit, they The generation of Friends that included William Penn did not see them as equal any more than the Mayflower held as a principle that graves should not be marked. Puritans saw the (also not white) indigenous inhabitants The Quaker distinction between earthly names and of what is now the United States of America. In both those ‘names in the book of life’ (Philippians 4:3), or Puritan Massachusetts and Quaker Pennsylvania, the those names who ‘walk with me in white: for they are precious sought-after freedom to practice all forms of worthy’ (Revelation 3:4), reflected a clear theological

10 the Friend 28 May 2021 Photo: ‘Diagram of a slave ship’ from Charles Crawford’s Observations, 1790

principle of individual salvation through complete a critical element of our inclusive Quaker faith. It seems transformation. The reputation of the faithful remnant to have survived. people of God was a ‘name’ of which all members were I was never wholly happy with the raising up of to be worthy. Such reputation was far more important individual Friends to have rooms named in their to a people in unity than honour, but I accept the process of faithful discernment ‘I cannot look individual acclamation. Still which arrived at that decision. today, we Quakers worry I may be Quaker ‘old school’ in my regard for the a person with about how we select for principles of the earlier generations, but I hope I am black or brown written testimony at the not blinded by sentimentality when I am called by my end of a life of grace. We faith to ask what Love requires of me. I cannot look skin in the eye are uncomfortable about a person with black or brown skin in the eye and say and say with heaping praise on one with any integrity that their life experience and value, another, lest it offend our based on a heritage of hundreds of years of Christianity- any integrity commitment to equality. justified oppression, fuelled by the toxicity of modern that their life It must therefore have social media, is less important to me than how I name been quite a challenge a room. I cannot before my God declare that Quakers experience and when ten years ago, the getting rich on the back of colonial trading and slavery value, based Friends House Hospitality is a fact of my church’s history that need not concern on hundreds Company (now the Quiet me. I do feel an obligation to understand better the Company) raised the idea heritage of my rich and full life, one that involves of years of of naming rooms at Friends imperial trade and warfare. I do want to understand oppression, is House instead of blandly better the whiteness of my British Christian culture, as numbering them. I am not well as why it has such a grip on people like me. I do less important sure how it all unfolded, want to make what reparation I can, not in money, since than how I but my vague recollection that seems like crude tokenism, but in acknowledging was that many staff were what has been done in God’s name, and in effecting choose to name consulted and the selected some restorative justice. This is a high price for a people a room.’ names – taking account of of principle but, through grace and love, we can and age, gender and race as far should do this. n as practicable – was referred by management to the Britain Yearly Meeting trustees for approval. The most Elaine is from Bury St Edmunds Meeting, and represents contentious and last name to be changed (in 2015) was the Quaker Committee for Christian & Interfaith ‘The Light’, known to many Friends still as The Large Relations on the Churches Together in England Racial Meeting Room. That was not a person, but a concept of Justice Working Group.

the Friend 28 May 2021 11 Level headed: Simon Webb on the ‘Gentleman, Leveller, Quaker’ John Lilburne ‘He became, and remained, one of the most influential voices in the England of his time.’

e’re not exactly the Cockfield, birthplace of Jeremiah Dixon, the Quaker 1652 Country, but surveyor who, together with Charles Mason, drew the up here in County Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland Durham we do in the 1760s. Another noted Quaker who was born in have quite a lot of County Durham was the civil war soldier, Leveller, author Quaker history, and and agitator John Lilburne (1614-1657). Friends who in better times it’s not object that Lilburne was probably born at Sunderland unknown for Quaker should remember that at that time the city on the Wear pilgrims to visit us to was still included in County Durham, and had to answer see the sights. to the bishop. George Fox was often in the county, which he refers John was born into a minor gentry family and grew to as ‘Bishoprick’ in his Journal, due to its unique status up on the Lilburne estate at Thickley Punchardon, near Was a County Palatine, where the bishop ruled supreme Bishop Auckland where he went to school. As a younger between Tyne and Tees. Fox was generally safer in son, he had to shift for himself, and was apprenticed ‘Bishoprick’ than elsewhere in the north thanks to the to a London clothier called Thomas Hewson. Hewson protection offered by Anthony Pearson of Ramshaw introduced the young northerner to his network of Hall, a local Quaker bigwig who was convinced by Puritan contacts, some of whom were concerned with James Nayler in 1653. In fact Fox felt safe enough to printing illegal pamphlets and otherwise promoting travel to Durham to try to dissuade officials from religious and political ideas that were anathema to setting up a university there. This had been a pet project King Charles I and his equally ill-fated archbishop of of Oliver Cromwell’s, but unfortunately it died with the Canterbury, William Laud. Lord Protector. Lilburne’s involvement with the illegal printing Durham had to wait until 1832 for its university, which of Puritan tracts saw him subjected to a similar now owns the prominent seventeenth-century almshouse punishment to that suffered by the Quaker pioneer paid for by John Cosin, then bishop of Durham. This James Nayler. In April 1638 John was dragged behind a counts as a Quaker attraction because, although Cosin cart from the Fleet Prison to Westminster and whipped financed it, it was actually put up by John Langstaff, a on his bare back all the way. At Westminster he was put local Quaker builder. That Cosin should have employed in the stocks and gagged, but he did not have to suffer Langstaff is curious, given that the bishop was also an branding or boring through the tongue, as Nayler would enthusiastic persecutor of Friends. nearly twenty years later. Across the green from Cosin’s almshouse is the Lilburne’s brutal flogging, and the defiant way he university’s Palace Green Library, currently firmly shut had borne it, won him many admirers, particularly in due to Covid-19, which among other treasures houses London. He became, and remained, one of the most a collection donated by the Sunderland Quakers, and influential voices in the England of his time; it is quite another relating to the Quaker poet Basil Bunting extraordinary that he is now largely forgotten. (1900-1985). For the rest of his life John Lilburne put out a A short drive from Durham City is the village of stream of often inflammatory books and pamphlets

12 the Friend 28 May 2021 Image: John Lilburne, reading from Coke’s Institutes of the Lawes of England ,1649

on controversial religious and political subjects, and system to work for hire in the law. His involvement in a as a result he was repeatedly tried and imprisoned. He complex case concerning the ownership of a coal mine became a leader of the Leveller movement, a group that in Durham ended with his being sent into exile in 1652. was and is misunderstood because of its name, which When he returned to England without permission he was is a misleading misnomer. Even Clarendon, the great imprisoned on Jersey, and then at Dover Castle. historian of the period, took the Levellers to be a sort of It was at Dover (where he was allowed to visit his wife communist group whose members wanted everyone to and children, who had settled in the town) that John be equal. Lilburne encountered Luke Howard, a saintly Quaker In fact the primary concern of the Levellers, at least shoemaker, in 1656 (this Luke Howard should not be from Lilburne’s point of view, was to fight for legal confused with the other Quaker Luke Howard, the rights – the right to a fair trial in particular. It seems nineteenth-century chemist and meteorologist). Howard that they envisaged a time convinced Lilburne of the truths of Quakerism, and the ‘It is quite when many of the abuses tireless agitator was welcomed into the Quaker fold. Soon suffered by ordinary people he had written a pamphlet called ‘The Resurrection of extraordinary at the hands of the rich and John Lilburne’, in which he gave an account of a new that he is powerful in their own day mystical connection with God who ‘caused my soul to would simply not happen be awake with himself and to be really exercised in an now largely because they were not interchange of divine conference, contemplation or parley forgotten.’ legally possible. In my new with him’. But Lilburne was not to live long as a calm, book on John Lilburne, I contented Quaker: he died in August 1657. use the example of Boris Johnson’s attempt to prorogue There is no doubt that if the rights the Levellers had Parliament in 2019: it proved to be legally impossible agitated for had been enshrined in law, the persecution and was overruled by the Supreme Court. Quakers suffered could have been mitigated. As it was, I open the book with an account of the trial of even Durham saw anti-Quaker atrocities, once Anthony Ernesto Miranda in 1963. Because of sloppy work by the Pearson had reverted to Anglicanism. Arizona police, Miranda’s case was referred to the US Although he became a Quaker late in life, Friends can Supreme Court. In response to the case, it introduced still claim John Lilburne as one of their own. Until he was the celebrated ‘Miranda rights’ whereby suspects must nearly forty, Quakerism was not a prominent feature of be warned of their right to remain silent, and to legal the British scene in any case. The heirs of Lilburne are representation, among other things. Commenting on those who continue to campaign for human rights: for the case, the chief justice Earl Warren referred to John instance in Hong Kong and elsewhere in China, and on Lilburne, who had fought for similar rights in England the streets of western cities where rights are sometimes over three hundred years earlier. denied to individuals on the basis of race. Lilburne would When he was not fighting injustice, Lilburne tried his be proud to know that many of these are Quakers. n hand at several professions, including civil war officer on the Roundhead side, brewer, and even soap-maker. At Simon is from Durham Meeting. John Lilburne: Gentleman, last he decided to cash in on his experience with the legal Leveller, Quaker is available now from Langley Press.

the Friend 28 May 2021 13 Bee in the bonnet: Quakers are stuck in awkward structures, says Frances Voelcker ‘If you cannot draw a clear diagram of a society’s structure, then it is likely that there is structural problem.’

ollowing Yearly Meeting (YM) in 2018 their lives are still moving, between education, training various words resonated with me, and jobs. The structure that suits most older Friends, and various images remained. Others settled householders, of applying to an Area Meeting noted ‘bold’, ‘creative’, ‘change’, and (AM) for membership, and being listed as attending ‘vulnerable’. I noticed also ‘finding the worship in a Local Meeting (LM), is irrelevant for many balance’; ‘the barriers of our structures’; young Friends. They participate in worship with YFGM and ‘wonderful bumblebees’. Did you in intense bursts at weekend gatherings. Only rarely do know that, according to the laws of many older Friends experience the benefits of extended aerodynamics, bumblebees should not time together, at Woodbrooke or Swanwick or Yearly be able to fly? Meeting Gathering. Then we return to our local Meetings We decided to review our book of discipline, to ensure re-charged, re-affirmed in our identity as Quakers. that it remains relevant. Here was an opportunity to So why don’t we credit the Young Friends’ identity as Fgo far beyond a book. While books remain treasured Quakers? In time they may become settled householders resources (and in the many situations in the UK where and migrate from the YFGM list to the AM/LM list. And there is neither internet nor mobile reception, a printed they may not. We all have different journeys to make. book remains the only means of accessing this source of But surely it is very little risk to recognise their status guidance and wisdom), it does not mean that we should and admit them to membership of the Society now, not explore digital communications and use sound and with YFGM being an equivalent to an AM? Far greater image as well. Chris Alton’s exciting and heart-lifting the risk of discouraging their ongoing participation by Swarthmore Lecture showed us one way of reaching out – withholding full membership. and reaching in – with humour and grace, to subvert the Another problem is demonstrated by the Sustainability established order of (our) privilege. Group, set up by Meeting for Sufferings to oversee the The Quaker bumblebee is still muddling along. implementation of the 2011 Canterbury Commitment. Bumblebees don’t do (very) high speeds. But they can It was stranded in isolation from all the other do bee lines. I hope we are homing in on this revision compartments of the Quaker structure, without staff or directly and purposefully now, remembering our a budget of its own. Nobody intended that the group principles but cutting out the clutter we have built up. should fail but, with hindsight, it is evident that it would There are specific issues to address. Why after all these struggle. Sustainability was not even in the terms of years, have we still not worked out that Young Friends reference of most of the other central committees – General Meeting (YFGM) are Quakers? That they already until this was seen in 2017 by Britain Yearly Meeting do belong, by being here, doing it? Many of them are (BYM) trustees and rectified. So, despite the 2011 already better at practising Quaker ways than we older Commitment, it is not altogether surprising that Quaker ones. There may be practical matters to sort out, such as Life, Stewardship, Property and Finance etc had not pastoral care, although they are also doing that already considered it. for each other, as shown in their work since 2014 on An even greater issue is that Yearly Meeting discerns mental wellbeing, and more recently, on recognising momentous commitments to action (the renewed racism. They use social media to keep in touch, since commitment to economic justice of YM 2015 is another

14 the Friend 28 May 2021 Photo by Venkata Suresh on Unsplash

in a local energy network. Each transaction is a block of data added to the chain. The chain is a network of nodes, with the new block added to and checked by every node/computer. This requires an enormous amount of computing power, because each transaction entails: data sent by buyer and seller; data received; data checked; data confirmed; date shared with whole network; consensus on whole network achieved; block added to chain at each node as a record; chain now ready for next transaction. It occurred to me that perhaps our structures are a special blend of several models. We are not exactly centralised, despite our dependence on (and occasionally ill-founded resentment of) Friends House or BYM trustees; nor are we a simple hierarchy, despite the individual-local meeting-area meeting-national or regional meeting-yearly meeting structure, because – as that sad diagram does show – the individual Friend is a full member of, and directly in, Yearly Meeting at the very top of the hierarchy. Quaker action starts as an individual concern. The direction of leadership springs from the grassroots. Yet despite our individual consciences, we are not operating example) then asks Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) to as a blockchain, with fully-dispersed, equally-powered implement them and to co-ordinate them. MfS itself and fully-transparent transactions, as in a distributed cannot by its nature co-ordinate anything. It is a shifting ledger. Our structures can present a multi-layered barrier, group of 100 people, half of them strangers to each more or less incomprehensible until you are well inside it. other, meeting briefly a few times a year usually for I am not a manager nor a strategic thinker, but I spent just a few hours. With the greatest of skill, the clerks much of my life surveying old buildings to understand and arrangement committee and Friends House staff the underlying structure, and then removing the choreograph how to present information and suggest how piecemeal alterations that made the building difficult the business might be handled, to enable discernment. to use for the way we want to live nowadays. I think we The actual co-ordination has to be carried out by central may need an analogous process in the Society of Friends. committees and staff (if we give them the money); the The stories we tell ourselves affect how we feel. An actual work discerned has to appropriate analogy may be attractive or repugnant, and ‘All of us are be carried out by ‘the Quaker selected for that reason. on the bench’. But too many Rather than thinking of a wall confronting the bumblebees; we Quakers on the bench are too bumblebees bringing a concern, we could think of a net, appoint each busy servicing over-elaborate itself made up of bumblebees, forming a sieve. The sieve Quaker business structures to bumblebees consider the size and shape of the concern, other and any do very much of the work we how brightly it is burning, how many bumblebees are of us may be would like to be doing. combining to bring it, and then they work together to open the mesh to admit the concern. Or perhaps it’s a appointed.’ Our current book of discipline contains one sad spiritual safety net, preventing a damaging fall. little diagram of our structures. It is simplified, and shows You might ask ‘But who appoints the sieve only some of the committees, and some of the feedback bumblebees?’ until you remember that all of us are loops, and the most significant is in a tiny font, easily bumblebees, we appoint each other, and any of us may be overlooked. It seems to me if you cannot draw a clear appointed as a sieve bumblebee for a time. diagram of a society’s structure, then it is likely that there So after all, a blockchain may be a suitable analogy: the is structural problem. data is our minutes going back and forth, the nodes are Recently, I decided to find out what people meant various groupings/nests of Quakers, and the effectiveness when they talked about a ‘blockchain.’ I had thought it of the whole system depends on each bumblebee playing might be related to the principle of a block and tackle, its part fully. It requires a lot of energy to maintain, but it whereby significant work can be done with less effort has the potential to achieve much more than a top-down by distributing the load. Sadly no, I find it is a computer hierarchy where those nearer the bottom are not fully programme using a decentralised and non-hierarchical engaged, and those near the top may be group-thinking model to record transactions, known as a distributed or stuck in a rut. The whole colony flourishes when each n ledger. This was originally developed for trading in bee plays its part. cryptocurrencies (the best known being Bitcoin) but is now also used for more benign trading, such as the flows Frances, a former BYM trustee, is from Porthmadog Meeting.

the Friend 28 May 2021 15 Poem: Given Angela Arnold

The words lined up nicely – didn’t they just. Big and small, banging their pans till their echoes rattled in my tight chest, their once-, twice-swallowed meaning doing its level best to squeeze clear of the Light, into the light of day: my throat just a handy device, a dispenser, me just by the way, coincidental. Next, and without another word, a sudden silence inside and out. Nothing clamoured – it all went on its way, the better to please itself.

Another Friend stood, staggered through a firewall of mumbled preamble, found the sweet spot where you switch your self off, and let, and delivered. n

Angela is from North Wales Area Meeting. Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash For details of placing a notice email [email protected] or call George Penaluna on 01535 630230. Friends&Meetings Deaths To Thine Own Self be True Miriam BRANSON (formerly A London Quakers meeting and ERNSTBRUNNER, née CROOKES) conversation about gender diversity 21 May in Compton Hospice. Saturday 12 June, 10am–12 noon via Zoom Member of Stourbridge Meeting, To provide a forum in which Quakers can learn and talk about formerly Dudley, Great Ayton and gender diversity, hear personal testimonies from Friends and others Muswell Hill. Aged 80. Enquiries about how gender issues have affected their lives, and discuss the to Jane Stanley: janepizzey1974@ issues in a Quaker space. gmail.com Registration link (registration is mandatory): Tove Ruth ROBSON 15 May. http://bit.ly/ToThyTrueSelf Peacefully at home. Wife of Peter, Email queries to: [email protected] mother of Sophia, member of Scarborough Meeting. Aged 83. No cards/fl owers please, further infor- mation, including donation charities and copy of memorial livestream at www.mykeeper.com/profi le/TRR Colin WICKS 13 May. Widower of Rosalind, father of Christopher, Josephine, Paul, Penelope, Douglas and Martin, grandfather of 11. Member of Malton Meeting. Aged 87. Donations to Marie Curie. Celebrating support to Zimbabwe Enquiries: [email protected] Announcing the closure of Memorial meetings David FIRTH A memorial meeting Friends of Hlekweni will be held for David, former editor Friends of Hlekweni Trustees have agreed with regret to lay of Th e Friend, at Friends House at down the charity. This year, 2021, will be our last year of 11am on Saturday 26 June. All are operation, with plans to make closing grants in 2022. welcome. Th is meeting will be both in person and online. If you wish to We do this knowing that the needs in Zimbabwe remain attend online via Zoom, please email pressing, but with joy that it has been possible to support the clerk of Friends House Meeting schools and peacebuilding activity for fi fteen years - and at [email protected], and with gratitude to all the Meetings and F/friends who have request the Zoom link. You can generously donated to support both the Hlekweni Training also email to obtain any further Centre and the work of Friends of Hlekweni. Over £750,000 information needed. has been given to date. Diary There is more information on our website at www.friendsofhlekweni.org.uk D H LAWRENCE - THE POET REVEALED wrestling with serious We are communicating with stakeholders and partners directly. Christianity. From Oxford Centre for Please continue to give generously this year, so we have Spiritual Growth. An online retreat suffi cient funds for grants to support education and peace- led by Prof. Valentine Cunningham. building into 2022. We will signpost other charities with similar Saturday 10 July, 2-4.30pm. Detaiils/ registration: www.ocsg.uk.net or objectives for those who want to continue supporting Zimbabwe. email [email protected] Donations can be made to our Co-op bank account: ‘FRIENDS OF HLEKWENI R/C 112659’, sort code 08 92 99, CORRECTION - Friends account 65319891; or by cheque or charity voucher to: Quarterly Conversations Friends of Hlekweni, The Quaker Centre, 1 Oakley Gardens, This online event will take place Downhead Park, Milton Keynes MK15 9BH 7-8pm on Wednesday 9 June. Please register at: Registered charity no. 1126598 www.woodbrooke.org.uk/FQC2

the Friend 28 May 2021 17 Classifi ed advertisements 54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T 01535 630230 E [email protected]

Yealand MID-WALES, DOLOBRAN, Meeting House jobs cottage. Simple, rural, heavenly retreat. Quaker Sleeps 3. Donations. sandsmeade@ Meeting btinternet.com, 01938 500746, PRINCIPAL www.dolobran.llanhub.uk RESIDENT FRIEND THE MOUNT SCHOOL, YORK ROOKHOW, LAKE DISTRICT. Quaker ‘WE KNOW GIRLS CAN’ bunkbarn. Sleeps up to 16. Tel 07557 www.mountschoolyork.co.uk 919879, https://rookhow.org.uk The Mount School York is seeking to appoint a dynamic and innovative HOLIDAYS Principal to lead the School following the retirement in December 2021 of the current Principal, Adrienne Richmond. QUAKER CAMPERS Founded in 1785, The Mount is Britain’s We are camping at only all-girls Quaker school, educating Llancloudy, Herefordshire, day pupils from 3-18yrs and boarders from 7 to 14 August. from age 11. All welcome to join our Yealand Meeting is part of Full details of the job and application annual community. Central Lancashire and North process are published on the school website Enquiries to AQM, and is located 10 miles The closing date for applications is [email protected] North of Lancaster, in an at- Noon 7 June 2021. tractive small village. We have an historic Meeting House and accommodation burial ground, and Yealand where to stay WANTED Old School, which is run as a COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING INVERNESS AND SURROUNDING VILLAGES simple hostel. Three adjacent CORNWALL, 14TH CENTURY COTTAGE Soon to be Member from Andover seeks houses are owned by the overlooking sea. £210-£250pw. Short 3 bedroom long-term rental accommoda- Meeting. breaks. Email [email protected] tion from mid-July. Single mother of two or see: https://oldcottage.wordpress.com (1 uni student and 1 teenager). References We envisage the work of the available. Please contact Heather 07827 332753 or [email protected] Friend in Residence will need DISCOVERING PEACE AND SIMPLICITY, no more than 10 hours/week. We’re open! Comfortable Quaker eco- friendly self-catering, North Yorkshire. NORTH WEST ENGLAND/NORTH WALES In return for the work involved, 14 beds. Information and bookings: Female Attender, 60’s, seeks lodgings, we have available a 3 bed- www.worfolkcottage.co.uk or call Steve house share or furnished accommodation Hallett 01482 327574. for about four months from July. roomed traditionally built Tel 07552 995757. house on site. EAST DEVON THATCHED COTTAGE For further details please Beautiful, spacious, Grade II listed, 4-bed- RELOCATING TO LANCASHIRE and would rooms. Peaceful village close to Axminster like to rent from a Friend, if possible. Short contact Alan Tyldesley: and Jurassic Coast at Seaton. From £520 or long-term lets. No pets. Non-smoker. [email protected] per week, 3 nights from £250. Details from References provided. If opportunities avail- or call 01524 732336 or Rosie Houldsworth: 01608 643967 or able, please contact: [email protected] 07929 254587. [email protected]. Closing date for applications ECOLOGICAL QUAKER HOME, Scottish miscellaneous 11 June, interviews w/c 14 June. Borders, offers fully self-contained accommodation for peaceful respites. FRIENDS FELLOWSHIP OF HEALING Starting date fl exible. www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/29589794Q Logo - Berry - CMYK - BlackFollowing Text.pdf 1 in02.02.2015 the footsteps 01.27 pm of George Fox, the FFH seeks to restore the Quaker tradition of healing. 01425 626112 / 07512 C 890768. www.quaker-healing.org.uk M

Y Pollard & Dickson Trust QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES CM and other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow MY 01223 369776, [email protected] CY www.lizbarrow.co.uk Hardship Grants for CMY K WRITING YOUR BOOK? Biography, individuals of any age family history, novel or non-fi ction, let me help with layout, typesetting, printing. We can offer grants of up to £1,500 to members and attenders Photographs/images can be included. Free quotes. Leafl ets/brochures also of Britain Yearly Meeting who are in fi nancial need. prepared. Trish: 01223 211155, [email protected] Please send enquiries and applications to the FREE ADVERTISING ADVICE! Call 01535 administrator: [email protected] 630230 or email [email protected]

18 the Friend 28 May 2021 Cirencester Quaker Meeting RESIDENT WARDEN Cirencester Friends are seeking a part-time Warden for our lively Meeting. 17.5 hours per week over 5 days including Sunday. You will be familiar with and sym- pathetic to the worship and testi- monies of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). You will ensure the smooth running of the meeting house and manage bookings/ invoices. You will keep the meeting house and garden clean and tidy. Accommodation in adjoining 2 bed- room premises under a Service Occupancy Agreement. Salary £5,078.70 pa after deduction of Accommodation Offset Allowance. Paid holidays and contributory pension provided. Starting date on or after 1 October 2021. Further information/application pack from: steven.goldblatt@ gmail.com or 01285 885413. Closing date: 30 June 2021. Interview date: 15 July 2021.

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119197_RAT_Greenbank_friends_ad_165x114mm_AW_v03.indd 3 the Friend 2805/03/2019 May 2021 14:17 19 V179 N22 ADVERTISEMENT DEPT EDITORIAL 54a Main St, Cononley 173 Euston Road Keighley BD20 8LL London NW! 2BJ T 01535 630230 T 020 7663 1010 E [email protected] the Friend E [email protected] Quaker United Nations Office Director - QUNO Geneva Salary: 135,000-145,000 Swiss Francs gross per annum Location: Quaker House, Geneva, Switzerland.

The Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva is looking for its next leader. Our current Director has been in post for over ten years and is retiring this year. This affords a unique opportunity to take the work forward and there could not be a more crucial time to serve the world in this way. We seek an exceptional individual who is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and whose values exemplify the Quaker fundamentals of integrity, equality, simplicity, community, stewardship of the Earth, and peace. We need someone who is passionately committed to building peace and justice and who possesses the understanding and sensitivity necessary to encourage and facilitate change in the complex arena of diplomacy, non-governmental agencies and with other stakeholder organisations. A deep understanding and experience of change management is therefore key. The new Director will deeply understand the values, skills and attributes consistent with the Quaker approach to work and life. In terms of leadership style and preferences they will engender spiritual sustainment for the QUNO team which we see as an essential part of the role. Since the inception of the UN the Quaker United Nations Office has earned a deeply appreciated and unique reputation globally. The new Director will be responsible for maintaining and developing this status and for enhancing the partnership between QUNO Geneva and QUNO New York. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from those with diverse backgrounds and from any part of the world subject to the candidate being open to travel and being based at Quaker House in Geneva. If this opportunity is attractive to you or someone you know, please see further details at: www.quno.org Closing date for applications: 7 June 2021 at 09:00 UTC (GMT)

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