the24 May 2019 | £2.00 Friend

‘A voice within him told him more bloodshed was pointless.’ Marian Liebman visits Rwanda 24 May 20/5/19 15:27 Page 1

Woodbrooke Learning: nurturing the life of the spirit Will you be at Britain 2019? Come to one of our events and find out more about: • Postgraduate Quaker Study & Research • Equipping for Ministry • What Woodbrooke can offer you and your meeting. Details of times and locations are listed in the Yearly Meeting programme. Visit us on the Woodbrooke stand in the East Corridor all weekend and find out how we can support you and your Quaker community to deepen and grow. Not at BYM? See www.woodbrooke.org.uk/learn to discover all about Woodbrooke learning. Swarthmore Lecture 2019 ‘On Earth as it is in Heaven; The Kingdom of God and the yearning of Creation.’ To be given by Eden Grace at 7:15pm, Saturday 25 May, as part of Yearly Meeting. Exploring Quaker eco-theology, from early Friends to today and how Quaker witness in response to climate change can be radical, prophetic, joy-filled, corporate action. A book based on the lecture will be published later in the year. The lecture will be streamed live via www.woodbrooke.org.uk/swarthmore-lecture the IndependentFriend Quaker Journalism Since 1843 24 May 2019 | Volume 177, No 21 www.thefriend.org

News 4 COs, Art the Arms Fair, and more Rebecca Hardy

Thought for the week 7 ’s outlet Siobhan Haire

Letters 8

Winging a prayer 9 Gospel of Matthew Janet Scott

Beautiful vulnerability 10 Eden Grace, Swarthmore lecturer Oliver Robertson

Artful project 12 Peacebuilding in Rwanda Marian Liebmann

Getting the PIP 14 Structural violence Barbara Harris

Review 15 Brief Answers to the Big Questions Reg Naulty

Friends & Meetings 16

Sharing the Quaker message today does not mean sharing it [only] in English. It means carrying it in French, from Burundi Yearly Meeting to Madagascar. Or standing in Kenya, telling of your faith as a Bolivian Friend in Aymara to be translated into Spanish and then into English and then whispered into Luragoli for the old Friend in the back row! Those who carry the Quaker message today are not only those who worry about whether sanctions against South Africa are right or wrong. Quakers today are the victims of violence and racism in Soweto. Quakers today are not simply watching pictures of famine on their televisions; they are farming the inhospitable altiplano in Bolivia; they are facing drought in Turkana.

Val Ferguson, 1987

Quaker faith & practice 28.12 included pictures of Meeting House, Mount News people currently in Street, organised by the prison because of their Peace Garden Group [email protected] refusal to fight or take up and the Area Meeting conscription. Peace Promotion Howard Cheesman, Group. Friends held from Carlisle Meeting, placards with messages Quakers mark a CO, told the Friend that told the Friend that including ‘Resist All International her talk focussed on the after the vigil there was Wars’, ‘Honour COs’, Conscientious centenary of ‘absolutist a screening of the film ‘Stop the Arms Trade’ Objectors Day COs being released from War School, followed and ‘It Takes Courage Quakers around prisons in the first world with ten-minute worship to be a CO’. There was the country marked war’ as well as ‘women’s sharing (‘because the also a Peace Trail around International congress in Zurich, film is so powerful’) and central Manchester, Conscientious Objectors which is good, and the a discussion. He said: which, according to Day last week with publication of the Treaty ‘There were twenty at Manchester Friends, vigils, ceremonies and of Versaille, which is the film followed by a covered ‘Manchester as arts events. Friends rather less good’. She said lively discussion and five a centre for peace and gathered for a ceremony it was important to share names [joined up] for radical political activity, at the ‘commemorative the COs’ stories nowadays a subsequent follow-up including John Dalton, stone’ in Tavistock for ‘peace education’ and exploration of a Peace/ Mines Advisory Group, Square in London on to highlight the more Anti Militarisation Group the Nobel Peace Prize, 15 May, which was just ‘complicated history’ of to investigate taking local Gandhi’s visit, Peterloo one of many events ‘conscience and decision- actions.’ and campaigns against that took place all over making’ in combat, and He said the group was slavery’. the world. In countries ‘those who aren’t usually formed as ‘we felt it was According to Oldham in which conscription involved in mainstream good to have an outcome Peace and Justice Group, is still in force, such remembrance’. and focus after the film, which also hosted a as Israel, South Korea Jay Sutherland spoke instead of people going screening of War School, and in Sweden, where about the targeting of away feeling aggrieved’. followed by a Q&A it has recently been working class teenagers Manchester Quakers with the film’s director, reintroduced, there were for military recruitment: also held a vigil on the Veterans for Peace, and protests. ‘The same psychological steps of the Friends’ Demilitarise Education, This spring marks the tactics that the armed centenary of the release forces and their allies used then are being used of most – but not all – words conscientious objectors now… In the village I (COs) still in prison in grew up in, which was in 1919 for refusing to fight a rural part of Scotland in world war one. and very deprived, I saw ‘This is Speakers at the the army first-hand come Tavistock Square event into my community not just to honour which was organised and try and persuade by the First World War and convince people Peace Forum, a network who were hit hardest the COs of the two of peace and human by austerity to keep rights organisations, buying into the the very world wars but also included historian Lois structure and state that Bibbings, an expert had harmed their lives.’ those... who face on the conscientious Edinburgh Quakers objectors of the first also held a vigil, with the dilemma of world war, and Jay songs by Protest in Sutherland, a Scottish Harmony and brief talks pacifist who has by CO descendants, as whether or not they challenged military did Carlisle Friends at activities in his school in the plaque at Hardwick will kill for their Ayrshire. Circus, which was Lois Bibbings, professor instigated by Quakers country.’ of law at University of and dedicated to COs Bristol whose father was in 2018. The vigil Oldham Peace and Justice Group

4 the Friend 24 May 2019 ‘We were keen to spread to Philip Austin, NFPB numbers the message that this is coordinator, the group is not just to honour the hoping to raise awareness COs of the two world of and take action on wars but also those in ‘a number of aspects’, countries today with including the need for conscription who face 66 international action for the dilemma of whether nuclear disarmament and The percentage by which average weekly earnings are or not they will kill arms control to be taken higher in London than in the north east of England, for their country. We seriously. according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. also mentioned ways The May Update in which we can resist newsletter highlights Friends and others to Friends. During Christina the jingoistic pull of the fact that preparatory help build capacity for Lawson’s time as librarian militarism today in our work is underway at further lobbying and at Woodbrooke, she supposedly peaceful the United Nations for awareness-raising. collected a number of societies.’ a review in 2020 of the pieces, but a recent search The day also included non proliferation treaty, Bid to publicise there produced no trace art events, with The Peace against ‘a backdrop of the Quaker composers of them now.’ Museum in Bradford US and Russia having The Quaker author John According to John holding an event called decided to withdraw Lampen has reached Lampen, he received a ‘Prisoner of Conscience: from the Intermediate out to Friends asking letter from Friends House An exploration of [Range]Nuclear Forces for help in supporting Library saying there are COs from The Peace (INF) Treaty’. It says and publicising Quaker collections relating to the Museum’s collection’ another aspect of the music including what Leaveners, including the with a talk from Tim situation is the transport he calls ‘closet’ Quaker Leaveners archive and Briggs, a family member of nuclear warheads composers. material on open access. of one of the COs. At between Burghfield in The author raised the According to the the Quaker Service the south east of England subject in a chapter in his Library, a seach in the Memorial at the National and Coulport in West book Quaker Roots and online catalogue will Memorial Arboretum in Scotland. Branches on Quakers and reveal ‘many original Staffordshire, there was a Philip Austin said that music-making, which was compositions, some by Meeting for Worship. NFPB is now involved reported by the Quaker Quakers and some not. in the UK networking Arts Network. The material varies from Northern Friends meetings of the He wrote: ‘British musical scores and lyric Peace Board sets up International Campaign Quakers gave up their sheets, to ephemera new working group to Abolish Nuclear resistance to music long that relates to actual Northern Friends Peace Weapons (ICAN). It has ago. We now have some productions, such as Board (NFPB) has set also made a submission recordings of Leaveners programmes’. up a new working group to a House of Lords’ performances, two to support Quaker select committee inquiry Quaker song-books, and Chester Quakers action against nuclear and signed up to a the recent publication explore economy and weapons at what it new European Nuclear of material by Alec climate justice describes as ‘a time which Disarmament Statement. Davison and Tony Biggin The Chester Quaker is clearly particularly The group is hoping by Friends in Tune. But Economic and Climate dangerous’. According to offer workshops to are there also hidden Justice Group hosted treasures? a talk this week ‘When I organised exploring how moving a concert of music by towards environmental Quakers at the Bradford sustainability could Summer Gathering simultaneously bring real many years ago, I was improvements in human surprised at the number wellbeing. of Friends who wrote Martin Wilkinson, to me offering a piece representing The Equality of (usually unheard and Trust delivered the talk unpublished) music. on ‘A Convenient Truth: ‘So I wondered recently A better society for us whether there was any and the planet’ on 22 British collection of May as part of a series

Photo: Courtesy of BYM. unpublished music by of talks organised by

the Friend 24 May 2019 5 an event organised by planned under the the Italian aerospace proposal, funding soldiers’ and defence company salaries, or strengthening Leonardo. the combat capabilities of third-country militaries, is QCEA question EU the most effective way to military spending do this.’ Quaker Council for It added: ‘We strongly European Affairs believe there is a need (QCEA) joined thirteen to slow down the entire other civil society EPF process and begin organisations last week by asking what the EU, to express their ‘deep as a global peace actor, concern’ about proposed aims to achieve in its EU military spending in engagement in conflict- the form of the European affected countries. If the Peace Facility (EPF). EPF seeks to strengthen Martin Leng, the EU’s role in the world communications as a peace actor, then the coordinator at QCEA, EU should reflect on the said the letter specifically evidence of how it can questions ‘the aspects support peaceful changes which foresee the training to occur and avoid and equipment of third- investing in militarised country militaries – approaches that are prone including the provision of to failure and risk’. weaponry’. Signatories include The letter says: ‘While Care International, we recognise the need Christian Aid Ireland, Image: Warhead 2 / Stop the Arms Fair by Peter Kennard. Courtesy of Art the Arms Fair Art the Courtesy of Kennard. Peter by Arms Fair 2 / Stop the Warhead Image: to strengthen the EU’s Oxfam and Pax Christi ability to exert a positive Flanders. The letter urged the Chester Quaker Art’s role in fighting influence in the world to the EU to re-think this Economic and Climate climate change and prevent and end conflicts, proposal ahead of the Justice Group. driving action we do not agree that Foreign Affairs Council Diane Williams, from The ground-breaking granting weapons and meeting which took place the group, told the anti-war artist Peter ammunition as currently on 14 May. Friend: ‘It is very good Kennard made a timing as the Institute passionate case for words for Fiscal Studies has the role of art in just announced that communicating and it is doing a five-year driving climate action analysis of inequality. It’s at the launch of the ‘I have seen first a coincidence, but the Grantham Art Prize last timing has been perfect.’ month. hand the military She said: ‘Olivia Hanks The photo-montage from Quaker Peace & artist, who contributed trying to recruit my Social Witness came to art to the partly Quaker our meeting to give a talk initiative Art the Arms in February on the New Fair in 2017, told a own friends at school Economy for Climate packed room: ‘Art shows Justice, which was very what data cannot.’ The from a young age. well-received with fifty artist also praised the Quakers and non- Extinction Rebellion Militarism is a youth Quakers attending, so we movement and said there felt there was an interest was great creativity there. issue and it must be in Chester in these kind Last year Peter Kennard of talks. We are keen to withdrew his work addressed.’ emphasise the two things from a Design Museum are linked: economic and exhibition in protest at climate justice.’ the museum hosting Jay Sutherland, campaigner against militarism in schools

6 thethe Friend 24 May 2019 am writing this five days before Yearly Meeting begins. The last few weeks have involved Thought for the week: meetings with the clerking team, phone calls with members of Agenda Committee, Siobhan Haire prepares writing introductions, reading epistles and testimonies, and worrying about draft minutes for Yearly Meeting and emails – so many emails! You’d think that by this stage I might find it easy to articulate the core of the matters that are being laid before us. And yet, I struggle. The matter is tricky, and I ‘The Spirit made am not a prophetic Quaker. I rely on people around me to grasp the core of what we are hearing when we discern Ithe will of God. When I clerk Agenda Committee my role clear that the bridge is to listen, catch hold of ministry, draw it into a minute, and hold it up to ask ‘Is this what you heard, too?’. between climate and And what we have heard since October, when we began discerning the agenda, is that climate emergency and discrimination was inclusion are more connected than I once thought. I expect that all of us are broadly on board with the structural privilege.’ idea that climate change, as well as discrimination and exclusion among humans, are Bad Things, about which We Should Do Something. But these two Bad Things, certainly for me, existed on different planes. Climate change was external, a hard physical fact resulting from burning fossil fuels. Diversity and inclusion – or rather, discrimination and exclusion – were internal, about how humans were socialised not to see each other as fundamentally equal. I believed that both issues were problems but, aside from them both being problems, there wasn’t much that connected them. When Agenda Committee began its discernment, it was obvious that these issues were, and still are, something Friends have to confront. We have Yearly Meeting minutes that acknowledge this, and ask us to take action. This year, the Spirit made clear in our discernment that the bridge between these problems was structural privilege. Structural privilege is a concept that needs some unpacking. It is the system by which I, as a white person in a white-majority country, can feel fundamentally at ease when a non-white person might not. It allows me, as a heterosexual person, to choose, if I wish, to remain oblivious to the hatred that can be directed at gay people. It allows me, as someone living in the global north, to fool myself into believing that climate change isn’t really happening yet, because it isn’t really happening yet to people who look like me (although, of course, it is). As I see it, the connection between climate emergency (and it is euphemistic to call it anything but that) and diversity and inclusion is that the privileged few, both socially and globally, can choose not to engage in these issues because to them (to us), they may not seem like problems. But the disprivileged have no choice but to live the reality of that, at all times. Our privilege holds us back from seeing each human as equal, and as connected. If we can recognise our privilege and find ways to dismantle or counteract it, perhaps this allows us to find a route to taking action in greater unity. n

Siobhan is first assistant clerk of Yearly Meeting 2019. Photo: Oliver Cole / Unsplash. Photo: Oliver

thethe Friend Friend 2424 MayMay 20192019 77 Perhaps the main message to us the Friend Letters is how fortunate we are to have 173 Euston Road no persecution for our beliefs, London, NW1 2BJ whereas Steven faced prison and 020 7663 1010 spent much time visiting other www.thefriend.org incarcerated Quakers. The Friend welcomes your views, The book is in a somewhat to [email protected]. Please Subscriptions delicate condition but when our keep letters short. We particularly UK £88 per year by all payment warden took it up to his flat it welcome contributions from types including annual direct deteriorated further so it has been children, written or illustrated. debit; monthly payment by returned to the original cupboard. direct debit £7.40; online only Please include your full postal Here it can, with careful handling, £71 per year. Contact Penny address, even when sending still be examined. Dunn: 020 7663 1178 emails, along with your Meeting Richard Stewart [email protected] name or other Quaker affiliation. Ipswich Meeting, Suffolk In essentials unity, Advertising in non-essentials liberty, Balancing act Contact George Penaluna: in all things charity. Have Quakers lost the right 01535 630230 balance between Business [email protected] Meeting and trustees? Kindertransport Trustees deliver and Quakers Editorial Odd that the Friend’s report (10 keep things simple but the Articles, images, correspondence May) of the eightieth anniversary ultimate authority is our should be emailed to of the Kindertransport ‘rescue Business Meeting. We follow [email protected] effort’ nowhere records that the the guidance in the Handbook or sent to the address above. children rescued were Jewish for Trustees of Quaker Meetings: children, whose families were ‘[Trustees] are responsible for Editor later murdered in the Holocaust. their trust as a body, and must Joseph Jones If the Nazis had occupied Britain, not act individually, except within Journalist those children and all the other defined parameters (for example, Rebecca Hardy British Jews would also have been the work of the treasurer).’ Production and office manager sent to the gas ovens. I believe the current balance has Elinor Smallman Laurie Andrews had unintended consequences. Sub-editor Mid Essex Area Meeting Our Area Business Meeting lacks George Osgerby substance in its agenda, because Arts correspondent Crisp and even? so much has been decided Rowena Loverance In our Ipswich Meeting House elsewhere. We have increased cupboard we have a book written the number of our committees Environment correspondent by Steven Crisp, dated 1694 with and lost ‘task and finish’ groups. Laurie Michaelis a twenty-seven-word title and 543 I worry that trustees may act as Clerk of trustees pages. It has an interesting series individuals, with the increased Paul Jeorrett of ‘ownership’ signatures on the risk of bullying and employment inside covers, probably indicating tribunal decisions against us. ISSN: 0016-1268 the precious nature of early books. We aspire to be a democratic Beside the matters detailed society. Does there need to The Friend Publications Limited in the review by Stuart Masters be Yearly Meeting guidance is a registered charity, (3 May), there is an interesting to restore the ‘right’ balance number 211649 section addressed to the women towards Business Meeting? of Ipswich Meeting – separate Is this something for Quaker Printed by from the men in those days. Life and Quaker Stewardship Warners He advises them ‘not to walk Committee to work on together Midlands Plc, disorderly or wantonly, but (bringing together our spiritual The Maltings, that they be admonished and and worldly)? We are first and Manor Lane, counselled speedily’. He also has foremost a faith group, not only a Bourne, harsh words for other religions, charity or a business. Lincolnshire something contemporary David Fish PE10 9PH Quakers would read with unease. Coventry Meeting, West Midlands

8 the Friend 24 May 2019 n the middle of the sermon on the mount Winging a prayer: Janet Matthew sets the prayer which Jesus teaches his followers. Putting it here is deliberate and significant. Matthew is presenting Jesus as a Scott reads from the new Moses. Like Moses, he has escaped death at the behest of a cruel king; he has been gospel of Matthew brought out of Egypt; and now he is giving the people a new law and new teaching. This prayer is perhaps the one thing that all churches have in common. But it is so familiar and routine that some of the meaning can be lost. ‘Our Father.’ It is worth looking at how Matthew leads up to the Iprayer. In what are called the Beatitudes we find (5:9) (Matthew 6:9) ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.’ And in the antitheses, where the new law is set against the old law (5:43-5), to the command to love your enemies is added the explanation, ‘so that you may become the children of your heavenly father’. It seems to me that Matthew is saying that to address God as a parent is to make a claim to be a peacemaker and to love one’s enemies. We must already have started on the path of peace before we can begin this prayer. The content of the prayer reinforces this, as it sets out the qualities of life in the peacemaking community. Firstly, we should note that it is a community prayer. All the petitions are in the plural. It is our father. One prays this not for oneself but for all those for whom God is a parent. The relationship of those who pray is familial, where all are sisters and brothers, all equally loved. Secondly, the community is based on that essential for peacemaking, forgiveness. It is both forgiving and forgiven. The two are interdependent. Matthew has a clear use of tenses, Forgive us… as we have already forgiven. After the prayer, the first comment Matthew records (6:14-15) stresses that the father’s forgiveness follows the forgiveness of offences. But there is even more to this petition, for the Greek which we commonly translate as ‘Forgive us our trespasses’, can just as easily be translated as, ‘Let us off our debts as we have let off those who owe us’. It is committing to a form of economic justice based on generosity and redistribution from those who have to those in need. It is putting the good of the community above the accumulation of wealth. There is also a form of justice in the petition about bread. The word usually translated ‘daily’, epiousion, is uncertain of meaning but can mean necessary or sufficient. Give us, says Matthew, the bread we need today. Whether this is the bread which is the symbol of the Kingdom or the bread of everyday sustenance, this petition looks to meeting everyone’s need. The peaceable community will see that resources are shared and that all have sufficient. Calling God a parent is a commitment to peace and justice. Can Quakers pray this prayer? The words of the prayer can be a reminder of our call to be peacemakers, but this is, I would suggest, a prayer that has to be lived rather than spoken. n

Photo: Nathan dumlao / Unsplash. Janet is from Cambridge Jesus Lane Meeting.

the Friend 24 May 2019 9 Eden Grace, director of Global Ministries for , will be giving next week’s Swarthmore Lecture. Oliver Robertson met her last year ‘Quakerism is premised on an excruciatingly beautiful vulnerability.’

Who are you and can you tell us a bit about your grounding for its commitment to sustainability. The background? lecture committee has asked me to draw on the My name is Eden Grace and I am a member of New relationships that I have among global Quakers to bring England Yearly Meeting, but I have been non-resident in some of the testimonies and experiences of Friends in for fourteen years. The first nine years of that I was other contexts. One of the things I will be doing in the living in Kenya and working among Friends in East lecture is to present several testimonies from Friends in Africa and then five years ago I moved to Richmond, other parts of the world who are witnessing faithfully Indiana, where I serve as the director of Global around the issues of sustainability and climate change. Ministries for Friends United Meeting. I will certainly be looking at Quaker work on climate and creation, but also, more broadly, in other Christian What is Friends United Meeting? How does it connect and spiritual sources, and trying to draw that in. I think with other types of Quakers? that sometimes we as Quakers forget that we stand Well, unlike Friends in Britain, Friends in North in a larger stream and have other wise voices that we America underwent a series of schisms in the can listen to. In particular, the recent encyclical from nineteenth century that resulted in, basically, different Pope Francis, I think, could be very helpful to us in denominations of Friends, and so we have three large understanding the theological meaning of creation and umbrella organisations that represent the theological the care of creation. spectrum of Friends today. Friends United Meeting is the one in the middle. You’ve also talked about the role of sin and this being It’s the largest of the three, and it’s the one that has a difficult concept for Friends in the British Quaker a rather tenacious commitment to being both fully tradition. Christian and fully Quaker. We have both programmed Yes. I think that liberal Friends – not just in Britain and unprogrammed Meetings, we are an association of – have a very difficult time coming to terms with thirty-five Yearly Meetings in fourteen countries, ninety the presence of sin and evil in the world, but I think per cent of our membership is in East Africa. we reject those concepts at our peril. In my life the thing that I have felt compelled to come face-to-face Can you tell us something of what the lecture, entitled with is the Rwandan genocide, and, if my faith is not ‘On Earth as it is in Heaven; The Kingdom of God and adequate to the task of understanding something like the yearning of Creation’, will be about? the Rwandan genocide, then it is not an adequate faith. I’ve been invited by the lecture committee to help the Then my faith is too weak and I need to search more. Yearly Meeting find a deeper theological and spiritual I think among those in the world who have the

10 the Friend 24 May 2019 yearning to ground that work in a deeper spirituality. And then in the closing worship of the gathering, a Friend was led to rise and read from Romans chapter eight, which is the very passage that I drew from in the title of the lecture. And that was a great sense of confirmation.

Has this deepened your own journey of faith? Every piece of ministry I take on is an opportunity to deepen my own learning and my own path of discipleship. Sustainability is not my normal area of focus, so it has led me into a lot of learning which I’m really grateful for. And that has an impact not just on my intellectual and spiritual life, but also on the way that I and my family live in our home and the way we look at our energy choices, so the topic has also taught me quite a lot.

What do you hope will be the effect of the lecture on Friends? Or is that not for you to say? First of all, I’m really clear whenever I minister that the effect of my words is not my job. It’s not something that I can control and it often happens that somebody will hear something that is not what I thought I’d said but is what they needed to hear. My job is to be faithful to the message I’m given. God’s job is to convey that message to the hearts of others. So, having said that, I hope it brings Friends in the Yearly Meeting into a place of deep spiritual worship, which for me is the centre of greatest privilege and the greatest access to resources, everything we do as Quakers. it can be very easy to shrink our faith to a personalised Quakerism is premised on vulnerability, on stripping spirituality that doesn’t do an adequate job of away all constructs and safety nets and laying ourselves understanding the real nature of suffering. For me, the bare to the real presence of the living God in our midst. cross and the resurrection are the place that ground a And that’s an excruciatingly beautiful vulnerability. faith that is strong enough, But it means that there is no guarantee that it’s going ‘It’s proved to that is real enough, to face to work every time or for everyone. And we enter that even a genocide. And so, space together as a community and sit down on those be surprisingly when we’re looking at the chairs next to each other knowing we’ve taken a risk by fruitful and potential consequences of doing so… I think that’s beautiful and I wouldn’t have it climate change – in species any other way. life-giving to extinction and perhaps even me, to be asked apocalyptic visions of the What’s it been like preparing for the lecture? How future – I think we have to does it feel? to go to take a have a faith that can make I’ve undertaken it with fear and trembling, as one deep dive into sense of evil, otherwise should undertake any new ministry, and I think I spent our theological those scenarios are just too the first six months trying to convince the committee terrifying. that I wasn’t actually the person they wanted. But it’s and spiritual proved thus far to be really, surprisingly fruitful and tradition.’ How have you got a sense life-giving to me, to be asked to go to take a deep of where British Friends dive into our theological and spiritual tradition, and are at regarding sustainability and climate justice? to draw from that well a bucket of new water for the I think the most important thing that I’ve found is Society of Friends today. That’s a precious task, so just to come here to participate in the Yearly Meeting I feel really honoured and energised and spiritually Sustainability Gathering at Swanwick [in October] enlivened by that. n and to listen. I am normally a rather vocal person and I found myself being quite clearly led to listen and to Oliver is from Reading Meeting. He spoke to Eden when observe and to not interject. he was part of the Swarthmore Lecture Committee. He is One of the things that came really clearly out of that now the head of witness and worship for Britain Yearly gathering is the spiritual hungering of the people who Meeting. This interview first appeared in 16 November, are on the front lines doing sustainability work, they are 2018.

the Friend 24 May 2019 11 Marian Liebmann is a mediator and an art therapist – activities with conflict resolution at the centre. After reading about a Quaker healing and rebuilding project in Rwanda, she was determined to visit ‘A voice within him told him more bloodshed was pointless.’

t Yearly Meeting Gathering Dialogue (bringing together women genocide survivors in Warwick 2017 I spoke and women married to perpetrators); trade training for to Cecile Nyiramana, clerk vulnerable young people (car mechanics, hairdressing of Rwanda Yearly Meeting. and cookery); and much more. Many young Quakers She encouraged me to go to volunteer to help with these projects. Rwanda, and also asked me to All the Quakers I met were extremely helpful in do some of my workshops on getting me organised with money and a phone card, ‘Anger Management with Art’ taking me around Kigali and to Musanze, inviting me for Quakers there. She had to church services and to their homes, and generally heard that I had done similar work in northern Uganda. making sure I had everything I needed. It took me two years and five Quaker charities – my Local and Area meetings were among them, with very Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities Agenerous contributions – to get the funding together. My first aim in travelling to Rwanda was to learn about But finally, this year I got to spend six weeks in Rwanda. the HROC trauma-healing model I had read about and I was hosted by Rwandan Quakers – the Evangelical wanted to experience. The HROC Centre in Rwanda Friends Church of Rwanda. Quakers only began in started in Kigali (the capital) and then moved to Rwanda in 1987, evangelised by US Quakers from the Musanze for cost reasons – they were able to buy a small Evangelical tradition. There are seventy-six Friends’ property and then add facilities such as a training room, churches and groups there, concentrated in certain toilets and bedrooms. Musanze is in northern Rwanda, areas, but several are currently closed, as their buildings near the volcanic region where gorilla treks take place, do not meet new government regulations. There is also and is a big vegetable growing area. Rwanda Friends Theological College, as well as several Because of the interest in their work, the HROC Quaker schools, primary and secondary. Their form of centre runs an international training course twice a worship is programmed, Bible-based and pastor-led, year. On my course the nine participants were from the very different from Quaker worship in the UK. UK (me), Kenya and Rwanda. Past participants have But the common ground is the emphasis on peace come from the US (where much of the funding comes work, and Friends Peace House in Kigali offers: a from), Burundi, Congo, South Sudan and Nigeria. Our Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) facilitators were from Rwanda and Kenya. This meant project; an Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) in that the course needed to be bilingual, in English and all of Rwanda’s fourteen prisons, with fifteen trained Kinyarwanda. In Rwanda older people speak French facilitators; a Help Increase the Peace Project (for young and younger people speak English, but everyone speaks people); transformative mediation in the community Kinyarwanda. The three-week course included team (with fifteen trained volunteers); a children’s peace building, attending a basic HROC workshop, training library and peer mediation in five cities; Women in of trainers, and then running a basic HROC course

12 the Friend 24 May 2019 workshop as it gave him the opportunity to release some of the ‘rubbish’ still inside him.

Anger Management with Art After the HROC training course I went to Kigali to stay at the Quaker Peace Garden Guest House and ran courses on ‘Anger Management with Art’ for three groups organised by the Friends Church. One was for adults under thirty, one for women, and one for church leaders. These were based on work I had developed as an art therapist working in mental health settings in the UK, and which I had taken to northern Uganda. The workshops took place in the local church at Friends Peace Garden. In these groups participants used art materials (some of which I had brought) to look at aspects of anger, such as: What is anger? Is anger good or bad? What are the physical symptoms of anger? What’s underneath the anger? We also considered early family patterns, anger and conflict, the triggers of anger, ways of calming down, trauma and anger, and relaxation. The groups went well, as people could see the links between their experiences and anger, which caused ongoing problems for many people. Clearly I could not ‘magic everything right’ with a three-day workshop, but

Photo: Hanna Morris / Unsplash. Photo: Hanna Morris I hoped it could provide some helpful tools along the way. Many people said ‘Please come back!’ but of course ourselves for a local community group. I was paired that is not so easy. with team members from Kenya and Rwanda and our I had asked for a co-facilitator to work with me, to allocated community group was made up of young enable the work to continue after I left. The person single mothers, a growing group in Rwanda. appointed was a high-ranking pastor, who helped me The structure of a basic HROC workshop, each on with many of the organisational tasks. My interpreters consecutive days, is: were excellent and also acted as co-facilitators at times. In addition I had invited two former colleagues from • introduction to trauma – definition, causes, Uganda, and introduced them to the Rwandan group. symptoms and consequences So I hope there are several people who can help take the • loss, grief and mourning, including time for work forward. personal reflection and sharing stories in the group – dealing with anger Genocide memorials The third aspect of my visit involved visiting genocide • building trust – trust walk, tree of mistrust, memorials to see how Rwanda is trying to recover from tree of trust, how to build trust. the terrible time in which a tenth of the population was During the course of the workshop, we heard many killed. This year Rwanda is commemorating the twenty- distressing stories. Many participants had been fifth anniversary of the genocide. children during the genocide, and had experienced A couple of times I decided to disclose my own death of family members, fleeing for their lives, background as the daughter of Jewish refugees from Nazi being refugees in Tanzania or Congo, and the total Germany. This resulted in those groups seeing me in a dislocation of their communities. different light. Paul was so moved by this that he brought One of the people who shared his story was Paul. He me a present on my last day in Musanze. And the was sisteen when the militia came to his village dressed Women in Dialogue group said ‘So these things happen in wedding clothes but hiding machetes underneath. elsewhere, not just in Rwanda? You are just like us.’ They accused people of working with the Rwandan As well as commemorating the genocide, Rwanda has Patriotic Front (RPF) and tied people up and killed implemented many peacebuilding processes. Quakers them. He fled and never saw his family again. As he ran have initiated many of these, as described above. to different areas, he heard his family had all been killed Other organisations also have peace and trust-building and realised he was the only survivor. He joined the initiatives, and I met several inspiring individuals all army. In 1996 he had a pass to go home, and took a gun working to repair the damage and make sure that ‘Never and 200 bullets, intending to kill the people who had Again’ comes true for Rwanda. I think we have things to killed his family. But when he got there, a voice within learn from them. n him told him more bloodshed was pointless, so he let them go. He was grateful for the invitation to the HROC Marian is from Redland Meeting.

the Friend 24 May 2019 13 recently returned from a trip to 1652 country. Getting the PIP: In Brigflatts Meeting house we were told of the steadfastness and convincement of the early Friends. At Lancaster jail we heard graphic detail Barbara Harris responds of the cruel punishments they received, and the courage with which they endured, or sadly did not to a recent letters page endure, their fate. These days punishment is more subtle, as was described by Adam Curle in his Swarthmore Lecture in 1981: ‘But there was violence before, of the sort termed structural violence… This term refers to the political ‘These claimants are and economic inequalities which are built into the social Istructure. T he violence of the system deprives those at the being discriminated lower end of the socio-economic scale of what is necessary to fulfilment, both materially and, since they are made to feel against.’ inferior and insecure, psychologically.’ My disabled family member has been unable to work since 2007 and claimed Disability Living Allowance until this was changed in 2016 to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The suffering began immediately with his claim being denied by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Simultaneously, other benefits ceased. Months elapsed before the case came to tribunal and his benefits were restored with back pay. But there is no compensation for the worry and unnecessary hardship the family endured. Last year the cycle began again with a DWP interview, after which the PIP was again stopped, as was the linked Carer’s Allowance. Despite a Mandatory Reconsideration we were again refused and joined the long queue of refused claimants for yet another tribunal. As yet, we have no date. The PIP procedure is based on a false premise, namely that it is possible to judge a disability case by looking only at the actions the claimant is capable of managing. The claimant’s state of mind and body appears to be ignored, as are, in our experience, consultant’s letters. In a letter from the DWP to our MP, a DWP complaints resolution manager stated that ‘Entitlement to PIP is not dependant on the medical diagnosis of a condition but on how that condition affects a person’s ability to walk and manage their own self-care on a daily basis.’ There are fifteen questions to be answered on the form, with further discussion at a PIP interview. There is, however, no specific question about mental acuity/sleepiness/chronic fatigue and so claimants/patients are prevented from fully describing drug-induced sleepiness or chronic fatigue experienced as in cases of MS, ME, Parkinson’s, epilepsy or Motor Neurone Disease. No question means no point score. There is no question about pain, as with arthritis, so that too goes unreported and unscored. These claimants are being discriminated against, and prevented from fully reporting how their disability affects their lives. Structural violence! I would not advocate writing to our MPs: they are merely serving as postmasters, we have learned. But I am hoping that Quakers the length and breadth of the country might treat this matter as a concern and take it through the concern process. The shocking statistic is that seventy-three per cent of refused PIP claimants have their benefits restored at tribunal. Surely this indicates a flawed process. Quakers can do this – speak truth to power and bring this unjust process to an end. n

Photo: Averie Woodard / Unsplash. Woodard Averie Photo: Barbara is from Frenchay Meeting.

14 the Friend 24 May 2019 tephen Hawking was working on this book until the time of his death. It Brief Answers to the contains a valuable introduction by a friend and scientific collaborator, Kip Big Questions Thorne, and a fond memoir by his daughter, Lucy. by Stephen Hawking It is impossible not to respect Stephen Hawking, as he achieved so much despite suffering the effects of Motor Neurone Disease. Nevertheless, he would not want criticism withheld on that account. Review by Reg Naulty So what he writes about God must be open to debate, and he is quite clear about what he believes: ‘No one Screated the universe and no one directs our fate… there is probably no heaven and afterlife either.’ His reasoning for asserting that is that ‘Everything can be explained by the laws of nature.’ But that is not science. That is ideology. And for all anyone knows, science may one day explain how someone made the universe. Hawking writes that ‘protons really can appear at random, stick around for a while and then vanish again, to reappear somewhere else’. He continues ‘The laws of nature itself tell us that not only could the universe have popped into existence, like a proton, and have required nothing in terms of energy, but also that it is possible that nothing caused the Big Bang. Nothing.’ A non-specialist cannot argue with Hawking about what is permitted by the laws of nature, but some claims about them strain belief: ‘A living being like you and me usually has two elements: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and how to reproduce itself, and a mechanism to carry out the instructions.’ Given that biological evolution is basically, as Hawking says, a ‘random walk’, it is hard to see how it could come up with a set of instructions. Then there is the universe originating in ‘a single point of infinite density’. How can something without volume have any density, let alone infinite density? Objects such as this, as with black holes, are known in physics as ‘singularities’ – that is, regions in which the laws of physics do not hold. Who knows what mysteries may unfold there? Despite his strictures, Hawking believes that people will always cling to religion because it gives comfort, and because they do not trust or understand science. With respect to the latter point, Hawking has forgotten a predecessor of his at Cambridge, Arthur Stanley Eddington, a Quaker who did understand science and was a theist. There are other things of interest in the book. Hawking remarks that, now we have mapped our DNA, we are in a position to make corrections. Then we can make improvements. Hawking believes that those venturing into space will be more capable than us, because their genes will have been improved. He also thinks that self designing, self replicating computers are coming. He wisely remarks that we should build our values into them. n

Reg is from Canberra Meeting, Australia.

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Friends&Meetings QUAKER CONCERN FOR Deaths Calls for contributions ANIMALS AT YEARLY MEETING AGM: Saturday 25 May at the Penn Helen ALBANS 10 May. Peacefully Oscar WALLIS Leicester elders are Club, 11–12.30. Special Interest at home after a short illness. minded to write a testimony to the Meeting: Quaker spirituality and Member of New Earswick Meeting. grace of God in Oscar's life. Friends species equality, Saturday 25 May, Aged 61. Memorial meeting on who would like to contribute 5.45–6.45pm, Friends House. Tuesday 28 May 1.30pm at The Folk thoughts and recollections of Oscar All welcome. Details: Hall, New Earswick, YO32 4AQ. please contact Jean Harbour on www-quaker-animals.co.uk Enquiries: [email protected] [email protected] QUAKER FAMILY HISTORY Kathleen SCHMITZ-HERTZBERG Golden weddings SOCIETY London Meeting and (née Brookhouse) 29 January. AGM, 11am Saturday 8 June, The Peacefully in Ontario, Canada. Colin and Jane (née Bastin) Fry Room, Westminster FMH, Widow of Friedrich (Fritz), mother 8 Hop Gardens, off St Martins Lane, of Evelyn, Andreas and Martin. HENDERSON were married on 24 May 1969 at St. Peter's Church, London WC2N 4EH. Everyone Member of Toronto Meeting, interested in Quaker Family History formerly Stafford Meeting, England. Woodmansterne, Surrey. Now members of Friargate Meeting, York. welcome. Details: www.qfhs.co.uk Former member of Friends email [email protected] Ambulance Unit. Aged 102. Contact: [email protected] David & Joolz (Julia, née Corden) SCOTTISH COs IN WW2 SAUNDERS 24 May 1969 at Conscience Matters exhibition at Dorothy PEARSON (née Hollis) Manchester Mount Street Meeting the National War Museum of 19 May after a short illness. Mother House. Now at Caprice, Clubbs Scotland in Edinburgh Castle. of Sue, Rose and Chris, mother-in- Lane, Wells-next-the-Sea NR23 1DP. Including Peter Tennant, FAU China law to Alan, Stacey and Tracey, and Burma. Until January 2020. For grandmother to Jess, Abbie, Emily Diary free entry email [email protected] and Matthew. Member of Evesham giving names and date of visit. Meeting, formerly of Bull Street (Birmingham). Aged 93. Funeral BANBURY & EVESHAM QUAKERS 12 noon Wednesday 5 June at Vale Adderbury Gathering, 3pm Sunday Crematorium, WR10 2QR. The 16 June. Spiritual Ecology: A deeper Friends & Meetings family welcomes contributions to revolution. Speaker: Amrita Bhohi. Free event and afternoon tea. Personal entries (births, marriages, the Testimony to the Grace of God deaths, anniversaries, changes of in Dorothy's life. Further details: Adderbury Meeting House, OX17 3EW. Details: Lynne 01608 238298. address, etc.) charged at £35 [email protected] incl. vat for up to 35 words and includes a copy of the magazine. CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS - Meeting and charity notices, Memorial meetings CREATIVE AND MINDFULNESS (Changes of clerk, new wardens, RETREAT Wednesday 21 August - new Members, changes to Ruth BAKER A Memorial Meeting Monday 26 August, Yorkshire Dales. to celebrate Ruth's life will be held Recharge body, mind and soul. meeting, Diary, etc.) £29 zero at Oxford FMH, 43, St Giles, at 2pm Facilitated by Friend Sita Brand. rated for vat. Max. 35 words. on Saturday 1 June. Enquiries: Residential places from £395. Three entries £70 (£58 if zero [email protected] Contact 05603 845693 or see rated); six entries £100 (£83.33 www.settlestories.org.uk/birds zero rated). Deadline Anne FLETCHER A Memorial usually Monday morning. Meeting to celebrate Anne's life will COVENTRY HIROSHIMA DAY Entries accepted at the editor’s 6pm, Tuesday 6 August at Coventry be held at Bull Street FMH, 40 Bull discretion in a standard house Cathedral. Coventry Quaker Street, Birmingham, at 2pm on style. A gentle discipline will be Saturday 20 July, followed by Meeting welcomes all. Reflection to exerted to maintain a simplicity refreshments. RSVP and enquiries: be given by Paul Parker, Recording [email protected] Clerk of . of style and wording that Information: [email protected] excludes terms of endearment Website: coventrycityofpeace.uk and words of tribute. Guidelines Subscribe at on request. TRUTH ACHE: BEING AUTHEN- The Friend, 54a Main Street, Yearly Meeting TIC IN A WORLD OF FAKE NEWS Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL A short talk and honest discussion Tel. 01535 630230 See us in the North Corridor! with staff from The Friend. 5.45- Email: [email protected] 6.45pm, Sat. 25 May, B04 Drayton Ho.

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Friends in Tune

Saturday 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–4pm [email protected]

INVITATION Quakers & Business Group Come and see us at the Groups Fair at BYM, 6-8pm Sunday 26 May. AGM/Gathering 7 September at The Priory Rooms, Birmingham Annual Conference 28 November at Friends House Please put in your diary and check the website for details. The third edition of our ‘Good Business - Ethics at Work’ book is now available to download free from our website! For further details visit www.QandB.org

Christian, Quaker, teacher, linguist. Michael Langford has at Yearly Meeting 2019 spent his life in teaching and writing about the Christian Quaker way. His deep knowl- edge of the Bible and its sources can inform and stimulate someone who seeks to understand a life grounded in Christian Quaker practice. This new compilation of his wide range of writing sets out Michael’s ideas. His insights into the nature of Revelations, his thoughtful analysis of the relationship between early Want to know about Yearly Meeting’s own housing Quakers and modern Quaker practice, and his remarks on charity? Who we are, what we do, and who we help? a wide range of topical issues Find out at our special interest meeting on Sunday are valuable. 26 May at 12.30pm Drayton House Room B19 and Paperback £14 or e-book £4 at the BYM fair on Friday afternoon 24 May. at http://bit.ly/LangfordBFH www.qht.org.uk Also from Quaker Bookshop.

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Classified advertisements George Penaluna, Ad Manager, The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T: 01535 630230 E: [email protected] SHREWSBURY MEETING HOUSE. Simple where to stay accommodation for one or two Friends/Attenders. No set charge but Classified ads GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BS appropriate donations requested. Booking clerk: [email protected] or tel. Standard linage 60p a word, CLARIDGE HOUSE RETREAT CENTRE 01743 860793. semi-display 90p a word. Rates En-suite B&B, Lingfield, Surrey. 10 miles incl. vat. Min. 12 words. Series discounts: 10% on 5 insertions, Gatwick Airport. Wonderful vegetarian food. VISITING FRIENDS HOUSE and need Single £65, double £80. 01342 832150. accommodation? Quiet, garden flat 15% on 10 or more. Cheques 15 minutes from Euston. Quaker discount. payable to ‘The Friend.’ THE DELL HOUSE, MALVERN. Relaxing www.highgatehome.co.uk The Friend Ad Dept, 54a Main St, B&B for individuals, couples and groups Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL (up to twenty). Vegetarian options. Perfect WEST CORNWALL. Peaceful Cottage for walking, historic houses, gardens. Tel. 01535 630230 and Studio on smallholding. Sea views. Email: [email protected] www.thedellhouse.co.uk / 01684 564448. Dogs welcome. 01736 762491. www.lowerbalwest.co.uk YOUR FRIENDLY BIRMINGHAM STAY For business or leisure Woodbrooke is a great place to stay. Explore or relax, the RETREATS choice is yours. Near Bournville/public Books for you transport. Historical library, beautiful PERSONAL RETREATS, FRANCE. Make gardens, delicious meals. Great value. space to reflect and be still. Beautiful old from Book at www.woodbrooke.org.uk or farmhouse in rural Auvergne offers 0121 472 5171. supportive, nurturing environment for individual retreats. Simple daily rhythm: the Friend meditation; silence; contemplative/artistic COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING activities. Walking. Organic vegetarian food. www.retreathouseauvergne.com A WARM PEMBROKESHIRE WELCOME Quaker Renewal awaits you in 2 cosy well equipped by Craig Barnett cottages each sleeps 4. Woodburners, OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS sea views, coastal path 2 miles. 01348 What does it mean to be a 891286. [email protected] PORTUGAL. National Park. Spacious www.stonescottages.co.uk house in unspoilt coastal village; optional Quaker today? cottage. Gardens, pool. Accommodates CORNWALL, 14TH CENTURY COTTAGE 2-8. Secluded beaches, fishing, cliff-top overlooking sea. £200-£240pw. Short walks, riding, birdwatching. Available all breaks. Email [email protected] year. 07731 842259, www.vilad.com Gleanings or see: https://oldcottage.wordpress.com by Laurie Michaelis

COTSWOLDS. Spacious barn conversion property wanted What is Quaker about in Charlbury near Woodstock. Sleeps 2+. our commitment to Woodburner. Lovely walking. 01608 RURAL LET REQUIRED. Semi-retired 811558. [email protected]. couple with no dependents or pets seek sustainability? www.cotswoldsbarn.com quietly located cottage or bungalow with off-road parking. Please contact MID-WALES, DOLOBRAN Meeting House [email protected] Words cottage. Simple, rural, secret, heavenly retreat. Sleeps 3. Donations. sandsmeade by Harvey Gillman @btinternet.com, 01938 500746, appeals www.dolobran.llanhub.uk Can we still use religious QUAKER-BASED CHARITY, Scholarships vocabulary creatively and PORTPATRICK, GALLOWAY, SCOTLAND. for Street Kids, needs a replacement Accessible well-equipped cottage, sleeps 4. school minibus in Myanmar (Burma), to imaginatively? Peaceful, rural setting, sea/country views. transport children safely between rural Pet friendly. Red squirrel, hare and bird villages and our Learning Centre. watching. Owner ex-Leavener. Details: To purchase and refit a good secondhand [email protected] 01776 810092. minibus will cost an additional £5,000. £5 each Can you contribute some or all of this amount, please? See our work at: QUAKER CAMPERS will be camping near www.s4sk.org.uk, email: or all three Hartington in the Derbyshire Peak District, [email protected]. from 27 July to 3 August. Families and Registered charity no: 1131559. individuals of all ages are welcome. for £10 Information from [email protected] Subscribe at ROOKHOW QUAKER BUNKBARN, Only at Yearly Rusland, Lake District. Sleeps 16. £250 per night. www.rookhowcentre.co.uk Yearly Meeting See us in the North Corridor! Meeting!

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events

FRIENDS FELLOWSHIP OF HEALING at In Fox’s Footsteps... BYM. Come and learn about training in the healing ministry with FFH at 12.30pm 1652 Quaker Pilgrimages from Swarthmoor Hall Sunday 26 May (venue in Daily Listings). We invite you to join one of our ‘open’ pilgrimages for individuals, couples and small groups, from Monday 1 - Friday 5 July or QUAKER CONCERN OVER POPULATION Monday 16 - Friday 20 September. It isn’t all walking! The group Yes, It’s Urgent! stays at C16th Swarthmoor Hall, set in its own gardens in the Oxford Quaker Meeting House South Lakes. Home of , meeting place and sanctuary 43 St Giles, Oxford. for early Quakers. Here Friends eat and worship together with their Saturday 29 June, 12.15-4pm guide for the pilgrimage. Travel is by mini bus. 12.45 Short AGM. 1pm Lunch - bring your own. On Monday evening the guide gives a background talk on the Drinks provided. 2-4pm Yes, It’s urgent! turbulent times of 1652. We visit Brigflatts, Clitheroe Meeting House, Here’s Why, and What works. Firbank Fell, the at Kendal, Lancaster Jail, Sunbrick Semi-structured group discussion Burial Ground, Swarthmoor Meeting House and, of course, there is Enquiries: an opportunity to climb Pendle Hill with a Meeting for Worship at [email protected] the top. A tour of historic Swarthmoor Hall is another highlight. Tel. 01252 712628 www.qcop.org.uk Cost: £550 ensuite full board with packed picnic lunch; £490 each Please let us know if you hope to attend. for two people sharing a room; £284 non-resident full board. Travel By Rail to Ulverston Station and walk 20 minutes across the fields or take a taxi. By Road 30 minutes from junction 36 on the miscellaneous M6, off road parking at the Hall. By Bus Stagecoach service X6 from Kendal to Ulverston. By Air Ulverston station is two hours by rail from Manchester Airport. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT & CONSULTANCY Book now: Clare Dent, Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston LA12 0JQ Bookkeeping, Wardening Cover, Lettings, Tel. 01229 583204, [email protected] Outreach & Project Management for www.swarthmoorhall.co.uk Quaker Meetings & small businesses. Wendrie Heywood 07881 220829 [email protected] www.mindfulbusinessservices.com Overseers, and anyone

NOVELIST HELPS YOU WRITE/PUBLISH with a concern for others... Creative tasks, big or small? Communications guru can help: Amessage from Talking Friends outreach, fundraising, anything. [email protected] Will you help visually impaired Friends in your Meeting https://bit.ly/2HhN5X5 achieve greater independence by suggesting audio recordings PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY of The Friend, Friends Quarterly, Quaker News or Towards &TAXATION SERVICE Wholeness? Subscription rates are very reasonable. Friendly service countrywide. There is also a library of Quaker audio books and pamphlets. Self-assessment & small businesses. Distributed on USB memory sticks, the recordings can be Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt Chartered Certified Accountants played on a computer or USB equipped hi-fi. Alternatively we 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR can supply an easy-to-use memory stick player. Telephone 01228 521286 [email protected] “For decades the Talking Friend has been keeping me www.grainger-platt.co.uk in touch with the wider Quaker community with its news, QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES views and inspiring stories. I wouldn’t be without it.” and other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow 01223 369776, [email protected] “My mother so enjoys receiving her copy of The Friend www.lizbarrow.co.uk each week.” We want to reach as many visually impaired Friends and WRITING YOUR BOOK? Biography, family history, novel or non-fiction, let me Attenders as possible. See www.talkingfriends.org.uk help with layout, typesetting, printing. Photographs/images can be included. Or contact: Alan Johnson, 8 Norman Rd, Birmingham B31 2EW Free quotes. Leaflets/brochures also Tel: 0121 476 0217 prepared. Trish: 01223 363435, [email protected] Email: [email protected]

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ADVERTISEMENT DEPT EDITORIAL 177 54a Main Street, Cononley 173 Euston Road

Keighley BD20 8LL London NW1 2BJ N T 01535 630230 T 020 7663 1010 21 E [email protected] theFriend E [email protected] FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR FRIENDS IN NEED

The trustees of William Gunn’s Charity invite applications for assistance from Friends in need. Applicants may be individuals or families and must be Members of Britain Yearly Meeting. Applications on behalf of groups or other charities cannot be accepted. We are unable to assist with continuing commitments such as education fees. All applications must be supported either by local Overseers or a Friend who is familiar with the need for the application. Our Grants Correspondent is Val Brittin 01905 25472 or email [email protected] for details. Jacqueline Fowler, Clerk 01952 253378. Jane Spiers, Treasurer and Financial Correspondent.

In conjunction with Give Peace a Chance Trust

QUAKER ARTS NETWORK “Fragile Abundance” Saturday 20 July 2-7pm, Adults £10 Swarthmoor Quaker Peace OUT exhibition Meeting House Exploring LGTBQ+ peace activism OPEN TO ALL Creative workshops and Launching Thursday 23 May performance with the Visit the museum on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays “Seeking Routes” exhibition: 10am - 4pm and at other times by prior appointment. Experimental drawing and collage - Chantraine dance The Peace Museum, 10 Piece Hall Yard, Bradford BD1 1PJ Textiles - Creative writing. Email: [email protected] For details and booking go Tel: 01274 780241 to quakerarts.net/events www.peacemuseum.org.uk Please note, we are up some 60 steps with no lift. More events at www.quakerarts.net Visit our table at the Groups Fair at Yearly Meeting or seek out Jonathan Fox or Beryl Milner (Trustees). Add your own events! Email: [email protected] The Peace Museum is a registered charity, 1061102.