13 May 2011 £1.70 the discover the contemporaryFriend quaker way

Simplicity Simplicity and solar panelsand solar panels the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 169 NO 19 3 Reactions to the election results 4 BAE board challenged 5 Simplicity and solar panels Indigo Redfern 6 Living by means and ends Timothy Phillips 7 Ireland Yearly Meeting David Keating 8-9 Letters 10-11 Horace Alexander: Gandhi’s interpreter Andrew Clark 12-14 Looking for Agnes and Olga David O’Donoghue 15 Jesus – who is he? Jill Allum 16 Q-eye 17 Friends & Meetings

Cover image: Image this page: Solar panels. Horace Alexander Photo: Lilly Andersen/flickr CC. Photo courtesy Friends House Library. See page 5. See pages 10-11.

The Friend Subscriptions Advertising Editorial UK £74 per year by all payment Advertisement manager: Editor: types including annual direct debit; George Penaluna Ian Kirk-Smith monthly payment by direct debit £6.50; online only £48 per year. Articles, images correspondence For details of other rates, Tel/fax: 01535 630230 should be emailed to editorial@ contact Penny Dunn on [email protected] thefriend.org 020 7663 1178 or [email protected] www.thefriend.org/advertise.asp or sent to the address below.

the Friend 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ Tel: 020 7663 1010 Fax: 020 7663 1182 www.thefriend.org Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected] • Sub-editor: Trish Carn [email protected] • News reporter: Symon Hill [email protected] • Production/editorial assistant: Harriet Hart [email protected] • Arts editor: Rowena Loverance [email protected] • Environment editor: Laurie Michaelis [email protected] • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn [email protected] Tel: 020 7663 1178 • Advertisement manager: George Penaluna, Ad department, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Tel: 01535 630230 [email protected] • Clerk of the trustees: A David Olver • ISSN: 0016-1268 The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Headley Bros Ltd, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH

2 the Friend, 13 May 2011 News Reactions to the election results

Friends have given contrasting reactions to He insisted that they are still ‘standing up for liberal last week’s election results. No Quakers, as far as the values and liberalism’ on issues such as human rights, Friend understands, have been elected to the Scottish Europe and migration. He said these issues ‘define us parliament or the Welsh or Northern Irish assemblies, as a party much more than perhaps our position on although a number of Friends continue to serve as the economy or on how to deliver social services’. local councillors. John Marjoram of Stroud Meeting, who was The severe backlash against the Liberal Democrats re-elected as a Green member of Stroud District led to a defeat for Alex Cole-Hamilton of Central Council, said he was not surprised that Liberal Meeting, who was hoping to become a Democrat voters turned against the party once ‘they Member of the (MSP). There were began to realise the depth of the cuts’. He accused the also at least two other Quakers seeking election to coalition of a ‘betrayal’ of the NHS. Holyrood; Morag Balfour and Pam Currie were both He described the SNP’s success as a ‘pleasing candidates for the Scottish Socialist Party. surprise’ because of the party’s opposition to nuclear The last Quaker MSP was Mark Ballard of the Green weapons and the war in . As well as being pleased Party, who served from 2003-2007. There have been with the national increase in the number of Green no Quaker MPs at Westminster since 2001. councillors, he is also ‘delighted that the BNP have Simon Beard of Littlehampton Meeting, who done unbelievably badly’. contested Sevenoaks District Council for the Liberal Democrats, told the Friend that his party had at times struggled to convey a clear message. Symon Hill

China Convoy on Christian Aid Week the move supported Plans are under way to launch a website Quakers throughout Britain are devoted to the relief work done by conscientious supporting Christian Aid Week (15-21 May) objectors on the ‘China Convoy’. by raising funds and promoting campaigns on The suggestion was made at the annual reunion of global poverty. the Friends Ambulance Unit China Convoy held at Friends in Amersham Meeting are running Friends House on Saturday 7 May. The China Convoy a daily ‘soup and cheese’ lunch, while Ealing was the name given to members of the Friends Quakers are holding collections at their local Ambulance Unit who worked in China between 1941 railway station. Last week Christian Aid also and 1951. challenged supporters to attempt to live on a The reunion was attended by some original pound a day. members of the China Convoy and the children of Christian Aid emphasise that they work with other members. partner organisations in the global south to David Brough, whose father Bill was with the achieve long-term change. They have challenged Convoy, said: ‘Very few of the original members are the UK government on issues including corporate still alive. But their experiences constitute a story well tax avoidance and the war in . worth telling and preserving.’ ‘The continued existence of extreme poverty ‘We are keen to keep their memory alive and to in a world where so much else has been find new ways of doing this,’ said Annie Simpson, accomplished is an appalling indictment of our daughter of Convoy member John Simpson. ‘The priorities,’ said the organisation’s director, Loretta creation of a website is a natural development of the Minghella. ‘To merely accept it as a fact of life work the group has done.’ diminishes us all as human beings.’

the Friend, 13 May 2011 3 Report BAE board challenged

Symon Hill attended the BAE Systems AGM

What happens when the arms industry comes Dick Olver described BAE as a ‘force for progress’ in face to face with its critics? There is one day every year the Middle East. CAAT’s Anne-Marie O’Reilly asked when the representatives of a top arms manufacturer him how he felt when watching footage of the Bahraini are legally obliged to listen to opponents facing them protests, but he said he would not ‘comment on the in the same room: the annual meeting (AGM) use’ of BAE’s products. When she attempted to put of multinational arms firm BAE Systems. the question to the rest of the board, a visibly rattled The event has become an occasion dreaded by the Dick Olver snapped: ‘I will decide who answers the company’s board. In recent years it has been used by questions.’ critics and activists as an opportunity to hold BAE to The formal structure of the AGM broke down as the account. tempers of both board and activists began to fray. The Hundreds of shareholders packed into the Queen chief executive, Ian King, defended his recent trip to Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on 4 May. the Middle East with the prime minister (see ‘David They faced a stage on which the thirteen members of Cameron defends arms sales’, 4 March). He insisted: BAE’s board looked down from behind a long table. ‘every country has the right to defend itself’. There The AGM is open to all shareholders, who are not were shouts of ‘against its own people?’ only entitled to attend but also to ask questions. BAE BAE’s economic claims were challenged by activists made use of Powerpoint presentations and glossy pointing out that the arms industry receives well over brochures, but supporters of the Campaign Against half a billion pounds per year in subsidies. There Arms Trade (CAAT), having bought single shares in was a string of questions about bribery, fuelled by the company, were once again able to dominate the the remarks of High Court judge David Bean, who meeting. The law requires a firm such as BAE to hold said in court, in December, that BAE had benefitted an AGM and answer shareholders’ questions. from corrupt payments (see ‘BAE plea bargain gets It is sometimes joked that the AGM is not really a unbargained for results’, 7 January). BAE event, but a CAAT event at which BAE gets to Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the AGM came choose the date and the venue. after it had formally closed, when shareholders BAE’s chairman, Dick Olver, began the meeting by were invited to a free buffet lunch. The ‘genuine’ describing a company a world away from the popular shareholders tend to avoid the activists, although image of BAE. He spoke of the career opportunities this year a few engaged in polite conversation. One BAE provides and its contribution to the UK economy. shareholder approached the campaigners to accuse ‘BAE is committed to being a world leader in them of being ‘irritating’ and turning the AGM into a responsible behaviour,’ he insisted. ‘pantomime’. The themes changed abruptly once the meeting The unique nature of the AGM is demonstrated opened for questions, around three-quarters of which by arms trade researcher Barnaby Pace, who for a were asked by ‘activist shareholders’. The board was fourth year running used his question to challenge challenged about the Saudi forces who recently entered Dick Olver to a public debate. In the eyes of many, the Bahrain to help its government to suppress peaceful chairman’s consistent refusal suggests that he finds his protests. They used armoured vehicles made by BAE company’s annual humiliation in the Queen Elizabeth in Newcastle. II Conference Centre to be quite public enough.

4 the Friend, 13 May 2011 Talking point Simplicity and solar panels

Indigo Redfern reflects on the spiritual side effects of solar panels

A few months ago I read a detailed article in This was all unconscious, of course, and completely about solar panels and the new ‘Feed-in in conflict with my Quaker ideals. But suddenly these Tariffs’. Labour’s parting shot was this new legislation solar panels gave me a very different perspective. I’m that suddenly made solar not just affordable, but stuck here; I’m committed to this house with all its actually a sound investment. The solar electricity imperfections and limitations. My future life has been generated on our roof is fed back into the grid, for transformed from fantasy into reality – I know where which the electricity company is obliged to pay I’ll be spending the rest of my life; here, with my handsomely for the next twenty-five years. So the partner, in this house, in this town. £10,000 cost of installing solar panels is repaid over ten years at £1,000 pa by the electricity company And this is where the simplicity comes into the buying the electricity generated; for the next fifteen equation: it’s about the collapse of energy-sapping years we keep the £1,000 pa. And while all this goes illusions and the acceptance of life-enhancing reality. on, we also get to use all the free electricity we want The housing-as-investment illusion has been shattered; while the panels are generating. What could be better? my ‘investment’ has been transformed into a home. I Especially after adding in that smug, holy feeling for can breathe out and inhabit this house for me, now, reducing our carbon footprint… in this life, not be unconsciously preparing it for the approval of an unknown next owner. Alongside this, What I hadn’t realised was the spiritual side effects I’m accepting that I’m unlikely to suddenly become a of all this. About a month after the panels had been high-earning hotshot who can afford a mansion. And fitted, the awful truth began to sink in. This was actually, this makes me realise that I’m happy as I am, no short-term fix. This decision had repercussions. working part-time in a charity doing useful work with Unwittingly, I had effectively committed to stay in this people I like. I may not earn much, but it’s enough, house for twenty-five years, which is the rest of my life. and the work/life balance is invaluable to me.

I grew up in the Thatcher era, and imbibed the So these solar panels have led me to start dropping attitude that housing is an ‘investment’ rather than a out of the mental rat-race, and take a step towards the home. I’ve moved house at least ten times in my adult emotionally simpler mindset of accepting reality. I can life, some owned, some rented. There has always been recommend it. the tantalising feeling that there’s something better around the corner, that it’s necessary to ‘climb the ladder’, to ‘accumulate assets’, to keep on the move. Indigo is a member of Nailsworth Meeting

the Friend, 13 May 2011 5 Quakers & Business Living by means and ends

Timothy Phillips reports on a stimulating spring gathering in Edinburgh

mall is beautiful; scale is essential. It is easy to see Our visitor from the Royal Bank of Scotland what I can do locally. It is much harder to see how received Friends’ customary loving hearing. We my local choices affect the global economy. Are learned more about how banks can be essential –in Smy decisions irrelevant, or am I the butterfly flapping their reach to the work of the smallest, as well as its wings in the Rockies and causing a heatwave in the largest, of their customers. We learned how Europe? How can I and my Friends be that butterfly – enthusiasm for the ‘Equator Principles’ on social and produce intended change? and environmental responsibility in banking can live within an organisation being damaged by hubris. The Spring Gathering of the Quakers and Business Group, held in Edinburgh in early April, studied The Scottish writer and activist, Alastair McIntosh, how local actions focused on the common good spoke of humanity’s spiritual core and its essential and how individuals’ needs can be enhanced by a place in our creativity, especially when we work right relationship with the global scale of banks and together in complex harmony over time and distance. industry. Without using modern ways of collaborating Without an ethical steer from one’s faith, the risk of the worldwide, we are all the poorer. Banks enable trade greedier aspects of one’s nature sliding imperceptibly around the world, and using products manufactured into dominance is far greater. Top bankers are still not in far away China helps both Europeans and Chinese. sufficiently concerned about the obscure social value However, it is also true that the bigger we get, the of some of their activities, the inadequate design of the harder we fall when hubris takes hold. Simple greed or financial system, and the disparity of their rewards. poor system design (through ignorance, selfish intent Yes, they provide the wherewithal for trade, but why or boredom), all distort sharing the wealth created by must so much harm be sustained? humanity’s efforts to make life more comfortable. A lack of duty to the common good and a weak spiritual The system can become better balanced: sense of how humanity fits within the great scheme of the voiceless can be heard. We can all replace things can result in today’s barrenness, damage to our consumerism with more thoughtful, conscious common home and growing gaps between rich and consumption. All can use money only to lubricate poor. exchange and so remove its power to impoverish others via extortionate interest. With God’s help, when Eigg Community members, on their island in will we? the Scottish Inner Hebrides, wrestle with being a self-governing trust, generating their electricity We left refreshed with new ideas to try out, on bad and nurturing their island home for all, today and money creation, good governance for rewards and tomorrow. It’s complicated, but they listen to each sharing, and more besides. Join the conversation! other and seek unity. They have a five-kilowatt- electricity maximum in their homes. Their greener, Tim is a member of York Area Meeting. democratic tariff cuts out if they use more. Could we accept a limit here, to help sustainability? Do Alastair’s Q&B Lecture at: www.quakersandbusiness. you know your usage? What could be our home and org/sg2011.html business maxima? What electricity-hungry machines The Spring Gathering Minute at: http://bit.ly/e61Cif can you do without? The Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/eES4HU

6 the Friend, 13 May 2011 World family of Friends Ireland Yearly Meeting 29th April – 1st May 2011

David Keating writes about the annual gathering of Irish Quakers

ucked away on the edge of Dublin, amid playing We learned how Quaker Quest had been of great fields and fine trees, lies King’s Hospital School. help to various Meetings, and, although not intended It provided an excellent location for 150 Friends as an outreach exercise, many enquiries resulted. The Tand attenders to hold Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM). clerk enjoined all Meetings to embark on Quaker Quest. The clerk, Felicity McCartney, welcomed all those attending including representatives from other We were delighted to hear Lizz Roe tell us how churches, and Friends from Britain Yearly Meeting Woodbrooke training programmes would be (BYM), Germany, Sweden and the USA. conducted in Ireland – with the hint of more extensive programmes in future. The thought for that first day expanded on the underlying message of the Meeting ‘Let your We were heartened by the work in Hlekweni lives speak’ and BYM’s Advices & queries 27: ‘Live reported to us by Lee Taylor of Milton Keynes adventurously. When choices arise do you take the way Meeting. We also heard of the work of Irish Quaker that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your Faith in Action, EcoQuakers, Quaker Council for gifts in the service of God and the community? Let European Affairs, Peace Committee and other groups. your life speak’. It concluded with the 1939 Christmas Our spirits were renewed by the reports of our Young message of George VI: ‘I said to the man who stood at Friends, in particular the two young Irish Friends who the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread spoke about their placements with the Quaker United safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out Nations Office in Geneva. into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be better than light, and safer than a This year W Ross Chapman, of Bessbrook Meeting, known way”.’ gave the annual public lecture, speaking on ‘Called to be Friends.’ He reminded us that Jesus called those Over the ensuing three days numerous reports were who follow him his friends, and not his servants, given and activities engaged in. We were reminded but this placed much more responsibility on us. His that outreach is achieved in many ways. Our historical address, leavened with his quiet dry humour, took records, even our graveyards, attract people with us gently through the meaning of being a true and varied interests, as indeed do all the opportunities that loyal Friend, pondering the difference between the arise that put us in touch with the wider community. terms ‘Quaker’ and ‘Friend’ and why there are more What do our lives say then? As a Friend observed, our references to Quakers than Friends. To have been lives are speaking for us anyway, whether we like it or present was to have felt its profound effect on us all. not. It is up to us to ensure our lives speak well. Heeding the words that ‘the harvest is plentiful but We were encouraged to hear from Julia Ryberg the workers are few’ we embark on another year. We about the impact that Swedish Friends, numbering pray our ship be seaworthy. just one hundred, had on their wider community, and how successful their outreach had been. She likened their Meeting to a ship, with its crew and passengers, that had taken them ten years to build and make seaworthy. David is a member of Waterford Meeting.

the Friend, 13 May 2011 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

The coalition, the cuts and the cost of Osama bin Laden. The attack may have been Like Tom Jackson (15 April), I was born before 1939 spectacular and hi-tech, but, in essence, it was just an and remember the days before the welfare state. old-fashioned lynch-mob. Vengeance is not the same Four times a year I used to enjoy sticking penny as justice, and as William Penn reminds us, ‘we should stamps onto hundreds of brown envelopes, bills that not do evil that good may come of it’. my parents, who were general practitioners, sent Caroline Westgate out to their patients. They would calculate just how 9 Quatre Bras, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 3JY much they could get away with charging those they considered well-to-do, to offset those who could not, Nuclear energy or would not, pay. Energy efficiency doesn’t get enough respect. Tom Jackson says that the coalition has agreed to There are faster, cheaper and less environmentally protect NHS spending, but the head of the NHS is damaging ways of realising our sustainable energy calling for £15-£20 billion cuts in ‘efficiency savings’; potential than embracing nuclear power. In addition and waiting lists are already growing again. (The to the genuine concerns about the health impacts of Tories also promised not to reorganise the NHS.) a nuclear renaissance in Britain (Frank Boulton, 29 I see things from a different perspective from April), according to recent research (see http://pubs. Tom Jackson: my biggest concern is the growing gap acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es102641n), energy efficiency between rich and poor. As The Spirit Level (Wilkinson and savings could cut energy use by over seventy per and Pickett, Penguin, 2009) shows, countries with the cent, which dwarfs all proposed and existing fossil largest gap between rich and poor are those with the fuel projects combined. It is about time the discussion most social problems, and are the least happy. moved on from how we replace our energy to how we Cutting public services, which hits the most use (and waste) it. vulnerable while allowing bankers to award themselves Paul Parrish increasingly obscene sums, can only exacerbate this. Quaker Council for European Affairs Mary Brown Stroud Meeting Boycott, divestment and sanctions It is possible to look at these issues in a simple way. The one thing the chancellor of the exchequer, George There is no doubt that Israel is by far the most Osborne, has been extremely successful at is selling powerful protagonist in the Middle East confrontation. the idea that this country’s budget deficit is ‘structural’ This means that Israel has a special responsibility to act (whatever that means), that it is unprecedented, in a conciliatory way to promote genuine negotiation. without current parallel and all ’s fault. All negotiations require making genuine concessions to He seems to have taken in many people, including our achieve peace. I can see no real evidence that the Israeli Friend Tom Jackson. government, as evidenced both by its public actions In fact, our level of debt in proportion to GDP and what has been revealed in leaked documents, has (Gross Domestic Product) is lower than for almost all any intention of seeking a solution, except entirely on OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and its own terms. That said, I do not wish to do business Development) countries. Our repayments, less than with Israel at this time. three per cent of GDP, are less than under Thatcher David Robson (5.15 per cent) and (3.8 per cent). One of the Blackheath Meeting reasons why the coalition is making these horrendous cuts to public spending is that they prefer to hit the Arboretum theological muddle public sector – and therefore the poor (‘sadly’, as Tom Roger Hill raises questions that reach beyond the says) – rather than raising taxes, which would be fairer. memorial to Quaker service at the National Memorial Look at the comparisons: the US has made almost no Arboretum, which now has the approval of both deficit reductions and is having the smallest recession Meeting for Sufferings and the Arboretum trustees. of any major country; Greece and Ireland have made When the working group pondered the wording drastic spending cuts and are in the worst trouble. to carve onto the benches that will constitute the It doesn’t have to be like this. memorial, we found ourselves asking a supplementary Chris Culpin question to George Fox’s original ‘What canst thou Wincanton Meeting say?’ – how canst thou say it? We have a unique opportunity to reach out to a Death of Osama bin Laden significant proportion of the 25,000 visitors who come Our Friend Ken Veitch (6 May) is right to call into to the Arboretum every month. How can we attract question some of the responses to news of the death and hold their attention, amongst the hundreds of

8 the Friend, 13 May 2011 [email protected]

memorials on the site? The more we try to say, the less rather as signposts on our journey of trying to be likely people are to linger and read; and every letter faithful to what love requires of us. The danger is not has a cost – and should still be in place 300 years from that they are credal, but that we can use them lazily, now: as far into the future as our historic Meeting talking the talk without walking the walk. houses’ original buildings are from us in 2011. The Lucy Pollard working group feels that Peace, Equality, Simplicity Ipswich & Diss Area Meeting and Truth express values which the Society commonly accepts as guides to live by, and would wish to pass on Roger Hill’s question (6 May) can, I hope, be clarified as part of our legacy to generations to come. as follows (and there are many other ways). We are also responding to the invitation of the Quaker faith & practice 1.01 seems to me to say that Arboretum curator to describe the work of the Friends the testimonies grow from leadings of the Spirit. It Ambulance Unit and Friends Relief Service, and is therefore possible to regard the testimonies not as using this opportunity to quote the Nobel Peace Prize credal, but as practical – what Quakers as a collective citation (1947) to Friends, and explain the significance do, rather than what they believe. The four words of worshipping in a circle. (The memorial will take the proposed to express these practices on wooden chairs form of four benches, with high backs to protect from can be regarded as summarising at a very high level the wind, thus providing a place where people can generality, four types of practice that Quakers typically pause, and maybe contemplate, as they walk round the have been, and still are, led by the Spirit to adopt. The 150 acres where there are few other seats.) belief or creed that lies behind these practices seems to We have been aware of the pitfalls of presenting me to be that they are in some sense inspired (and not twenty-first century Quakerism as a credal system, at just the outcome of individual practical deliberation) the same time as we posit our commitment to peace in and that all can draw on such inspiration. To try to a location that is not one of our usual comfort zones. express that motivating force in a word on a chair We look forward to presenting our final design and could be very unhelpful. To give examples, even at a wording to Friends at Yearly Meeting Gathering in July, high level of generality, of the practices that Quaker just twelve months after Meeting for Sufferings invited worship inspires tells the world something useful us to contact Area Meetings with our idea for outreach. about Quakerism in practice (as one form of the good Anthony Wilson life). Of course, to gain any level of knowledge and For Staffordshire Area Meeting, Memorial Working understanding of what Quakerism means in Spirit and Group. [email protected] in practice, one has at least to attend some Quaker Meetings. The proposed chairs might prompt thoughts I read with interest Roger Hill’s letter (6 May) and that generate enquirers. found much to agree with in it. Harry Baxter If something exists, then ‘belief in it’ becomes 486 Street Lane, LS17 6HA irrelevant. As I write this, I look through the window and see trees, bushes, lilac in flower. If I walk in Peace poles the garden, I can smell, touch, experience and Please can you help? My Meeting, Leyburn in North acknowledge these things at close hand. Yorkshire, is thinking about having a Peace Pole Similarly, we see ‘that of God’ in everyone. We may installed. I was asked to approach other Meetings to also see ‘that of evil’ in others (and in ourselves). They find out if they have such poles. If you have, please are a matter of observation and experience, not belief. contact me with details of your approach and any other What we may believe is that we can reach out/speak to matters that helped you in your discernment. that of God, in others, in ourselves. I am no theologian, Peter Neale but this seems an important distinction to me, and not [email protected] a matter of creed. We remain a non-credal organisation. Regarding the Arboretum seats, I feel no discomfort The Friend welcomes your views. Please keep letters in celebrating Quaker testimonies through them. short and include your full postal address, even Paul Nicholas when sending emails. Please specify whether you Worksop Meeting wish for your postal or email address or Meeting name to be used with your name, otherwise we will print your post address or email address. Letters I disagree with Roger Hill (6 May) about the credal are published at the editor’s discretion and may nature of our testimonies. Like the word ‘god’, the be edited. Write to: the Friend, 173 Euston Road, subjects of the testimonies are words/concepts which London NW1 2BJ or email [email protected] – as Roger himself says – imply a range of possibilities. Remember if you are online that you can also They are not of themselves statements. I think of them comment on all articles at www.thefriend.org

the Friend, 13 May 2011 9 Books Horace Alexander: Gandhi’s interpreter

Andrew Clark looks at a new book on the Quaker pacifist

orace Alexander was in the first of two cohorts The first world war was a complete shock to of weighty Friends who, as peace emissaries, Friends, and they shared the liberal view that the moved us through the twentieth century. Treaty of Versailles was going to be a disaster. HThe first was spearheaded by Carl Heath, Horace Horace Alexander assumed the post of lecturing in Alexander, Corder Catchpool and Agatha Harrison – international relations at Woodbrooke and followed the list is not exhaustive. Then came those whom we his father’s World Federalism by advocating the have lost more recently, Duncan Wood, Sydney Bailey, League of Nations. In 1923 he visited Germany and Adam Curle, Wolf Mendl and Walter Martin. His life Austria and began to see the devastating effects of and work are the subject of a new book by Geoffrey the Versailles treaty and the groundswell of anti- Carnall. Semitism.

I met Horace Alexander in the His first visit to India in 1927/8 was in USA when he was ninety-nine connection with the opium trade. He ‘had and value that tenuous link. I the pleasure of betraying’ the confidences could still recognise the brilliant of both the Swarajists (Nationalists) and caricature of him sketched the governor to each other by explaining circa 1951. He was born in to the latter that the Swarajists would 1889 and went to Bootham and actually accept higher taxation if opium Cambridge, where he learned revenue was forfeited. (The rules of his anti-imperialism from Philip confidentiality were unclear here.) Noel-Baker and was influenced by JM Keynes. His bronchial His conversion to the cause of Indian condition precluded service with independence was gradual but complete the Friends War Victims Relief by the end of 1927 when he had been with organisation; however, he was Tagore. This led on to the first two ‘Round already at the heart of peace Table’ talks and the formation of the India campaigning in 1917 as secretary Conciliation Group in 1931. An Indian to the War Sub-Committee of Meeting for Sufferings. businessman, GD Birla, funded Agatha Harrison’s salary as its secretary. Horace Alexander ‘felt unable to cope with uneducated people, and reluctantly decided that his Meanwhile, at Woodbrooke in 1927/8, Horace mission had to be to the élite’. He was also appallingly Alexander had made a close friend of Fritz Berber, a condescending about the intellect of his fiancée Olive German academic. After the burning of the Reichstag, Graham, an Oxford history graduate. They were Fritz Berber came to the and Horace married in July 1918. Sadly, she developed what was Alexander visited Germany, concluding that he had ‘to probably multiple sclerosis later that year. She played seek… “that of God” in the instruments of this terror, a deeply-appreciated role at Woodbrooke, including and to understand what real desires for good may helping Jomo Kenyata on his visit there in 1931, until be in their hearts’. Horace Alexander was with Fritz her premature death in 1942. Berber on Kristallnacht.

10 the Friend, 13 May 2011 Gandhi leaving Friends House. Photo courtesy Friends House Library. Photo courtesy Friends

Horace Alexander worked through two groups: the Gandhi’s affection for Horace Alexander India Conciliation Group and the Group for Anglo- subsequently gave rise to this note in 1947: German Understanding. He developed very influential political contacts, particularly the then parliamentary ‘Dear Horace, under-secretary in the India Office, RA (RAB) Butler of Naughty of you to be ill. I must make a desperate Saffron Walden, and Leo Amery, secretary of state for effort to see you in your bed and make you laugh. India, who ‘value your ideas and ideals’ in the face of an Love Bapu’ [and indeed he came]. implacable establishment, viceroys and civil servants. The India Conciliation Group and the relief work There was ‘the revulsion of senior German army of the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in Bengal are officers against Nazi barbarity’ (in 1939/40) to which fascinatingly related. Horace Alexander’s relationships Churchillians were impervious. In 1940 Butler with the nationalists and British political leaders and requested Horace Alexander to give Friends’ alternative civil servants were crucial. The book moves to the strategy to the second world war, which is, indeed, climax of Indian independence and partition, with interestingly, albeit briefly, outlined. Writing to Halifax, extraordinary details of the Quaker presence alongside the foreign secretary, in 1940, Horace Alexander the Congress negotiating team in Simla in 1946. appreciated that the second world war was unavoidable ‘in view of the temper and mentality of the present The post-war years are important as Horace rulers of Germany’. Nor was Fritz Berber, even under Alexander continues to act, and reflects: ‘…I have no Ribbentrop’s protection, any more effective. Despite his doubt that some (political leaders and high officials) compromises, he was nevertheless fearlessly critical of are striving for peace and disarmament as honestly… the crime against the Jews and may have saved 250,000 as any pacifist. It is only if we hold to our faith in them of them in Hungary from genocide. that we are likely to be able to help them.’

The major focus of this study is the relationship that Gandhi’s Interpreter is academically excellent, well evolves between Horace Alexander and the Indian written and explains what really happened. It is also a independence leaders, most particularly Gandhi. After book that, incidentally, challenges twenty-first century Charlie Andrews’ death in 1941, there was a role for Quaker central work. an Englishman for which Horace was clearly the best fitted to ‘…understand me, pitilessly cross-examine Andrew is a member of Jordans Area Meeting. me, and then if you are convinced be my messenger’. Indeed, at one point Gandhi loses his cool, and Horace Gandhi’s Interpreter: a life of Horace Alexander by Alexander calms him. Geoffrey Carnall. Edinburgh University Press.

the Friend, 13 May 2011 11 History Looking for Agnes and Olga

People may deal with the Holocaust in various ways, but it can be a deeply affecting and spiritual journey, as David O’Donoghue reports

A drab, grey bus station in the Prague suburbs, just in Brussels but never saw Breedonck, the transit camp before 10am. I have left my family behind to go it near Antwerp. But now, on a flying visit to the Czech alone. It’s a pilgrimage in search of Agnes Barsdorf and Republic, I’m determined to see Terezin, as the Czechs her daughter Olga Grunberg (née Barsdorf). call Theresienstadt.

Olga died in Theresienstadt concentration camp in In recent years, I have been studying my mother’s December 1942. Her mother Agnes was transported family – the Barsdorfs. Originally from Strelitz in to Auschwitz in May 1944 (it is thought that she was Mecklenburg, Prussia, my maternal great-grandfather, gassed on arrival). Salomon Barsdorf, emigrated to the north of England in 1852. His son Walter (born 1874) had three children And so I’m at a bleak bus station called Nadrazi with his non-Jewish wife Fanny Bratt: Paul Barsdorf Holesovice. The word ‘Terezin’ doesn’t appear on the (born 1916), and the twins Della (my mother) and number seven bus, but everyone knows where it’s John Barton (born in Birmingham, West Midlands, going. Are they pilgrims too? 1919). The family changed its name by deed poll in 1917, as did many families in Britain with German- Everything seems grey: the sky is grey, the rickety sounding names during the first world war. bus is grey, the overall mood is grey. One day, when I was a young teenager in Dublin in About ten years ago I went to Dachau with a the 1960s, my mother told me about her real family German friend. We couldn’t speak for about an hour name. I was uninterested at the time but became afterwards. It seemed impossible to put anything intrigued in later years. In recent years, I checked out into words. I’ve also been to the transit station in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site and found Amsterdam from where Dutch Jews were sent by rail that two Barsdorfs had perished in the Shoah: two in to Auschwitz – so efficient, like clockwork. A huge six million. I am determined to honour their names. black marble wall carried the names of the deportees. So here I am hurtling along a Czech highway in the early leafless spring – not like Dubcek’s Prague spring I lived in Paris but never went to Drancy, and I lived of 1968 – to find Terezin.

12 the Friend, 13 May 2011 National cemetery and the star of David at the small fortress in Theresienstadt. Photo: martijn. munneke/flickr CC

The landscape is barren, the trees bare, all awaiting Our little group wends its way around Terezin. spring’s loving embrace. Pylons stand to attention Three Norwegian women from Stavanger and a young in fields with just a hint of green shoots. There’s the Israeli man who is studying at Syracuse University in odd cement works, a quarry perhaps and, of course, a New York. ‘Have you been to a camp before?’ he asks monastery. I think of monsignor Jozef Tiso, the wartime me. ‘Yes. I was in Dachau near Munich’, I reply. ‘And fascist leader of neighbouring Slovakia, hanged at the have you been to other camps?’ I ask him. ‘No. This is end of the war. A far-off tractor looks motionless. I read my first one’. I tell him about the two Barsdorf women, Jo Nesbo’s Redbreast to clear my head. mother and daughter, who were sent here. ‘I’ll have to go to Auschwitz because one of them died there’, I say, The Czech guide has a lilting voice. I ask her if she’s adding: ‘I have all the family papers, which I want to a student: ‘No. This is my full-time job since leaving donate to the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv’. He school’. She offloads the awful statistics: 600 prisoners nods. Then he carefully takes pictures of everything: to a room, half-starved, frozen, dying. The Jews could the entrance gate with the words Arbeit Macht Frei; only take cold showers, even in mid-winter. Her face is the wash room; and the squalid dormitories, with one kind, but she shows no shock – she just looks straight freezing toilet for hundreds of prisoners. at us. Perhaps the shock wears off when you’ve done the tour hundreds of times. But the first time it leaves Then he asks me to take his picture in front of a you numb. The power of the words and chill in the air forbidding door marked Block A. Will he show all combine to deliver a double whammy. the snaps to the students at Syracuse? My guess is he won’t, but may do so on his summer holidays to Israel I think about what shape the Holocaust would have – who knows? taken had the Nazis reached Ireland. What transit camp would have been used and who would have been Holocaust assimilation is a very personal matter our Quisling? I also think about the sinister lists of and I suppose people deal with it in different ways. German Jews circulated in the 1930s by the German But what about Olga Grunberg who died here in legation in Dublin to local Nazi party branch leader, December 1942? I ask the lady in the exhibition hall Adolf Mahr – an Irish state employee who was director who calls a colleague from a nearby office. She takes of the National Museum. my papers and re-emerges five minutes later. ‘She’s not

the Friend, 13 May 2011 13 Memorial sculpture in the mall Fortress section of Theresienstadt. Photo: martijn.munneke/flickr CC.

buried in the graveyard here’, she says. ‘She could have Later that day, about a mile away, I find the riverside been cremated. The ashes were dumped in the local memorial with its harrowing inscription: ‘At this place river. They did discover a mass grave in 1958 but the in November 1944, the ashes of 22,000 Jewish victims remains are now buried in another mass grave under a from the Terezin ghetto were ordered by the Nazis to pile of stones.’ I’m staring at her and feel the words like be thrown into the Ohre river’. soft blows to my stomach. I have to breathe deeply to take it all in. Six memorial candles with Hebrew writing stand on the memorial, burnt out. The early March sun does So Olga has no fixed grave, no final resting place. its best to warm me up. ‘Spring is coming’, it seems I like to think her spirit lives on, floating along the to say. In the distance I can hear a man hitting a golf banks of the Ohre river. She was spared the sight ball – a very post-communist activity. The calm of the of her mother being transported to Auschwitz in river Ohre (Eger in German) with its trees and ducks, May 1944. Spared the final indignity of a daughter’s belies what happened here. A weeping willow stands anguish. But what of a mother’s grief, seeing her guard over the memorial. Whoever chose the tree, daughter die and then taking the death train? I like to chose well. The spirits are in the air above the tranquil think that Olga paved the way to heaven, where she flowing water. ‘Don’t forget us’, they whisper. I won’t. saw her mother Agnes again eighteen months later. Far from the pained persecution and torrid torment of the camps – reunited in God’s loving glow where evil David is an attender at Eustace Street Meeting for cannot flourish. Let it be thus: qu’il soit ainsi. Worship in Dublin.

14 the Friend, 13 May 2011 Reflection Jesus – who was he?

Recently, I have been reading A High Wind in Jamaica How cruel if someone had said it wasn’t him? My by Richard Hughes. It is the weirdest book I have unbelieving mother died at fifty. Her last words were: ever read. Rebecca West calls it: ‘A hot draught of ‘Where is Jesus now?’ What would you have answered? mad, primal fantasy and poetry’. One experience is of He is far more than the stories in the Gospels. My children witnessing an adult showing his anger and Muslim friend in our inter-faith group speaks the the comment is: ‘In exact opposition to the witnesses name of Jesus and says: ‘Peace be upon him’, giving at the transfiguration, they felt it would have been him equal weight as he does the name of Mohammed. good for them to be almost anywhere but here.’ Like Many of Jesus’s sayings are very similar to verses in the TS Eliot, it is presumed that everyone understands Koran. He even does miracles there. references to the transfiguration or the annunciation. Artists, poets and musicians will never cease to be These are in our archetypal unconscious, a deep part intrigued by ‘Christ’ and to inspire or horrify us with of our corporateness. their creations. The names are powerful and we use Our Bible study group has just looked at Matthew them as swear words or incantations when we need 14:13-22 on Jesus walking on the water. Most said: some magic. They will never go away. ‘Of course, it didn’t really happen.’ I said: ‘I think it Quakers may say we don’t believe this sort of talk did. I believe in ghosts.’ Whether it did or not doesn’t but the people we mix with will. Something of Jesus is really matter. It’s part of our psyche. Jokes can be made in every ‘man’. about it. Jesus won’t go away. He has lasted 2,010 years. He Jill Allum still comes to us, sometimes as we are dying. Someone I know saw him standing at the end of her deathbed. Jill is a member of Beccles Meeting.

the Friend, 13 May 2011 15 a wry look at the Quaker world [email protected]

Warmed by the Spirit All aboard!

‘The Society of Friends is not the first religious Friends in the Wensleydale area will be body to have attracted comment on the underwear asked to ‘mind the gap’ this summer as they board the worn by some of its adherents,’ our friend Jill Inskip train bound for Redmire, next stop Firbank Fell. The explained in a letter to Eye. She shared a couplet from event takes place as part of the Wensleydale railway an unknown author that reads: excursions and guided walks, and offers a choice of three destinations. Participants may choose to visit ‘Under the cassocks of priests and of monks Farfield textile mill, Sedbergh Book Town or join Lie warm combinations and cellular trunks.’ Friends for an annual, open-air Meeting for Worship on Firbank Fell. The meeting happens every year to Jill also confided that she thinks that whoever commemorate the visit of George Fox in 1652, leather wrote this ‘was someone who spoke from personal breeches and all. experience, having greatly appreciated the considerable benefits of much layering of undergarments when in It was on this hillock, 359 years ago, that George Fox cold ecclesiastical buildings.’ Eye agrees, thinking of a spoke to the local people in an attempt to convince number of Meeting houses across the country whose them to dissent. The plaque set on a rock on the hilltop thick walls and stone floors cause them to be quite cool records the event, claiming that about one thousand even in summer. seekers gathered to hear him preach for about three hours on the thirteenth June, 1652. Eye admires their Friends in Exeter, Pennsylvania, have a potbelly stove dedication, noting that those early seekers did not have in the middle of their meeting room that serves to the delights of Wensleydale railway to get them there warm the congregation every Sunday. Members who either! sit on the front benches get quite warm. Unfortunately they lost half of their roof, recently, when the chimney of the stove caught fire!

Eye dreams of a happy medium, where Meeting A moral muddle houses are warm enough for underpants and the only flames are stoked by the spirit. An attender At the BAE Systems annual general meeting drew Eye’s attention to ‘a taste of irony’ at the complimentary lunch on offer. Held for all shareholders, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade activists (see p4) to the arms dealers and manufacturers themselves, the lunch included a Into the woods vegetarian option and was followed by fairtrade coffee.

On the theme of outdoor worship, Brian Wardrop wrote in to tell Eye of a fascinating little walk he had recently. He and his wife went down to the woods to seek out the beautiful blue carpet of silent bells. Reaching a crossroads of paths deep in the wood they paused to sit on a bench and admire the ‘sea of blue’. It was then that they noticed a narrow path wending its way off into the flowers. Their curiosity aroused, they followed the path, which led further into the trees. Eventually it reached a circle of rough log seats, with a central log table on which was a candle.

Brian writes: ‘We sat in silence, surrounded by dappled sunlight, woodland birdsong, and an all- pervading aroma from the surrounding bluebells – a wonderful, spiritual experience. Anyone for a woodland Meeting for Worship?’ The bluebell wood. Photo: Brian Wardrop

16 the Friend, 13 May 2011 Ad pages 13 May 10/5/11 15:03 Page 3

Friends&Meetings Deaths Golden weddings Notices

John HOLIDAY 7 March. Robert BATES - Jean MACAULAY JAMES TURRELL'S ART: 'Go Husband of Betty, father of Stephen 20 May 1961 at Friends Meeting Inside to Greet the Light' DVD. and Hugh. Member of Cardiff House, Carlton Hill, . Simple, equal, contemplative. Voice: Meeting, formerly of Wimbledon Judi Dench. Available from Quaker Meeting. Aged 86. Donations: The outlets or £7.25 inc p&p by cheque Woodland Trust. Diary to YQAP, 26 Stanhope Court, Brownberrie Lane, Leeds LS18 5SR. Dorothy Sophia WILLIAMS (née AGED 18-30ISH? Interested in Adams) 3 April in Cape Town. Quakerism? Come to YFGM in Widow of Frank Williams. Former Bristol Redland Meeting, 27-30 May. staff member at Friends House and For details contact: 0121 472 1998.

The Friend, 1970-1988. Aged 83. [email protected] the Friends Memorial Meeting Friends House, London 12 noon Saturday 2 July. KABBALAH: THE TREE OF LIFE Quarterly An introduction to the mystical tradition. New Jordans Programme Memorial meetings Retreat Day: Friday 10 June (10am- Issue two 2011 4pm) with Natasha Morgan. Frances HODGE A Meeting for Advance booking required, £35 or Knowing and feeling three: Worship to celebrate Frances’ life what you can afford. Contact: 01494 Isaac Penington’s trinitarian will be held at Hertford FMH, 50 876594 or [email protected] experience David Ian Hamilton Railway Street, 3pm Sunday 5 June. LIVING IN THE PRESENCE Finding our vision Ben Pink Dandelion Sampson David MARRIAGE Frank Parkinson. Spiritual practices A Memorial Meeting to give for living the Life, as grounding for Breaking the chains thanks for Sam’s life will be held Sunday Meetings. Kindlers event, Stephen Sayers 6.30 for 7–9.30pm, 11 May. Friends at Chelmsford FMH, 82 Rainsford Do your investments destroy Road, CM1 2QL, 12 noon Friday House, Euston, London. £5 at the or care for the planet? 20 May. door. No booking; all welcome. Robert Howell www.londonquakers.org.uk

Notices on this page SIMPLICITY MADE EASY Single copies £5+50p post. Friends & Meetings notices should Quaker Centre, Friends House. Annual subscription £20. preferably be prepaid. Personal Tuesday 24 May, 6-8pm. Jennifer entries (births, marriages, deaths, Kavanagh launches and speaks Send an annual subscription anniversaries, changes of address, about her new book. Free but book- to Friends Quarterly starting etc.) from 4 January 2011: £17.20 with issue two 2011 incl. vat at 20%. Meeting and charity ing essential at www.quaker.org.uk/ notices (changes of clerk, new war- simplicitymadeeasy or call 020 7663 Send a single copy of dens, alterations to meeting, diary, 1030/1031. issue two 2011 etc.) £14.34 zero rated for vat. Max. 35 words. 3 Diary or Meeting Name...... up entries £39.80 (£33.18 zero THE RIGHT TO REFUSE TO KILL rated); 6 entries £67.40 (£56.16). A ceremony to mark International Add £1.70 for a copy of the issue Conscientious Objectors Day, noon Address...... with your notice. Cheques payable Sunday 15 May. CO Stone, Tavistock to The Friend. Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1...... Entries are accepted at the editor’s Everybody welcome. discretion in a standard house style...... A gentle discipline will be exerted to maintain a simplicity of style and Postcode...... wording that excludes terms of endearment and words of tribute. Moving house? Cheque payable to The Friend Deadline usually Monday morning. and sent to: The Friend, 54a Main Street, Let everyone know your Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Penny Dunn, The Friend T. 01535 630230. new address with a notice 173 Euston Road, London E. [email protected] in the Friend! NW1 2BJ

the Friend, 13 May 2011 17 Ad pages 13 May 10/5/11 15:03 Page 4

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

COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING PEMBROKESHIRE, NEAR TENBY. Golden jobs sands, castles, Coastal Path. Two comfort- able flats attached to 16th Century farm- 14TH CENTURY CORNISH COTTAGE house, each sleeping 5. Peaceful environ- overlooking sea. 0117 951 4384. ment. 01834 845868. malcolm.gregson@ INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S www.wix.com/beryldestone/cornishcottage littlewedlockgallery.co.uk PEACE SERVICE (IWPS) [email protected] Seeks female volunteers RICHMOND, NORTH YORKSHIRE To join its work in Palestine. ALNWICK. Comfortable house neigh- Characterful flat. Sleeps 2. Open fire, IWPS supports non-violent bouring Castle, Gardens, Barter Books, close to river, woods,walking, town resistance to end Israeli occupation Centre. Excellent for Coast and Country. centre. Sorry no pets, smokers or children. and peacefully intervenes Flexible breaks. 01904 412307 evenings. £180-200pw. Short breaks considered. in human rights abuses. [email protected] Gaynor 01748 829442, or [email protected] More information at BEAUTIFUL, RUGGED PEMBROKESHIRE. www.iwps.info Two eco-friendly, recently converted barns on smallholding. Each sleeps 4. SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE IN BANGOR, Coastal path 2 miles. 01348 891286. North Wales. 20 minutes from Snowdonia where to stay [email protected] National Park. Good base for beaches, www.stonescottages.co.uk mountains. Sleeps 3-5. Available from GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BS 13-27 July. £25 per day. Discount for one week or more. Email: teulu.webb@ CAERVALLACK GARDEN COTTAGE, btinternet.com or tel. 01248 361315. EDINBURGH. City centre accommodation Cornwall. Beautiful 2 person cob cottage at Emmaus House. Tel. 0131 228 1066. within 2 acre walled garden. Superb walks www.emmaushouse-edinburgh.co.uk around Helford river. Meditation studio. OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS Email: [email protected] Organic pasties. 2 pubs/great restaurant walking distance. www.build-art.co.uk/ caervallackgarden or: 01326 221339. MALTA: Spacious flat for holiday use in FOXWOOD, ISLE OF SKYE. Inspirational centre of colourful fishing village. Sleeps 6. setting amid mountains, sea, islands. Further details: [email protected] Delightful accommodation. Sauna, jacuzzi COTSWOLDS. Spacious barn conversion or 01467 624483. bath, therapies, special diets. B&B £30. in Charlbury near Woodstock. Sleeps 2+. www.scotland-info.co.uk/foxwood Wood burner. Lovely walking. 01608 01470 572331. 811558. [email protected]. NEAR CARCASSONNE. Small pretty house (sleeps 5) in beautiful village among sun-soaked vineyards. Friends’ CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT ORDER FORM price £300 pw plus utilities. Car needed. [email protected] Do not use this form for Births, Marriages & Deaths - see p. 17 Classified advertisements should be prepaid and a minimum of 12 words long. Send to The Friend, Advertisement Dept, 54a Main Street, Cononley SOUTHWEST FRANCE. Two comfortable houses sleeping 4/5, 6/7 respectively. Fine Keighley BD20 8LL Tel/fax 01535 630 230 Email [email protected] views. Large garden. Pool. July/ August Please enter my advertisement in The Friend times, under £500-600 per house per week; less at other times/for longer. Contact 01235 the heading, starting with issue dated 200537. [email protected] I want it to appear: weekly fortnightly monthly on specified dates attached VISIT VIENNA. Comfortable apartment, sleeps 4. Convenient location. City of Irequire a box number: Yes No Box number £2 extra per entry. culture and cafés. Tel. 01904 416840. I also want it published on The Friend website at an extra £1 per weekly entry [email protected] www.holidayapartmentinvienna.co.uk I enclose £...... Please make cheques payable to The Friend Please use BLOCK CAPITALS. Organising an event? Copies of the 2010 Outreach issue are still available. 5 or more copies Name just £1 each incl. postage Address from: Postcode The Friend, 173 Euston Road, Rates per entry: standard linage 51p/word; semi-display format 78p/word. VAT London NW1 2BJ. Discounts included in rates. Series discount: 5-9 insertions 5%, 10 or more insertions 10%. on orders over 25 copies.

18 the Friend, 13 May 2011 Ad pages 13 May 10/5/11 15:03 Page 5

QUAKER LESBIAN & GAY FELLOWSHIP QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES, for sale & to let A welcoming, supportive national net- partnerships, commitments, notices and work with local groups for Ffriends of all other calligraphy. Liz Barrow 01223 369776. sexualities/identities. Ruth (F), 46 The Avenue, Starbeck, Harrogate HG1 4QD. WHY NOT HAVE YOUR SHOES made for ALLONBY, CUMBRIA. E-mail: [email protected] you by James Taylor & Son, bespoke shoe- 2 Bed house to let. maker est. 1857. 4 Paddington Street, Sea View. Garden and Parking. READ THE SMALL ADS every week! (near Baker Street), London W1U 5QE. Eden Housing Association, Managing Telephone 020 7935 4149. Agents for Allonby Alms Houses. www.taylormadeshoes.co.uk SAVE WATER AND ENERGY Contact Stella Jones on 01768 861471 or Jen Glassford on 01768 861415 Sustainable building products for Meeting WRITING YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY? for further details. Houses and homes . Books typeset for your family’s pleasure. Photos and other graphics can be included. Green Building Store Contact Trish on 020 8446 5772. Tel: 01484 461705. LOUTH, LINCOLNSHIRE WOLDS. [email protected] www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk Characterful, comfortable extended early- Other printed material also prepared. Victorian semi in heart of town. Lovely family home or roomy holiday house. 3 beds, family bathroom, 2 reception, breakfast kitchen, utility, downstairs wc & shower, nice garden. Easy reach Grimsby and Lincoln meetings. Accessible walking, nature reserves, sandy beaches 30 min- utes drive. £154,995. Contact Alvon Stewart 07531 450453. miscellaneous Religious Society of Friends in Britain (Quakers) ACCOUNTING SERVICES Charity Accounts prepared. Children and Young People's Officer Independent Examinations carried out. Bookkeeping Services. Permanent role. Full time: 35 hours pw. Starting salary: £27,796. Contact David Stephens FCCA Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1. on 07843 766685. Email: [email protected] The Children and Young People's Work Staff Team is part of the Quaker Life department in Friends House, seeking to help DISCOVER JOHN MACMURRAY. Quaker meetings in their engagement with children and young Visit our new website to learn more: people and offering national events for young people. www.johnmacmurray.org The Children and Young People's Officer is involved in the man- HELPING QUAKER BOLIVIA LINK. agement and delivery of national events, including playing a key Printer cartridges/mobile phones needed. operational role in relation to children and young people's pro- Free recycling envelopes from grammes that take place as part of annual all age gatherings. The www.qblrecycle.co.uk post holder also provides support to the provision of programmes for Quaker children and young people locally and regionally.

PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY This is an ideal role for someone with experience of working with &TAXATION SERVICE children and young people, who wishes to be part of a small Quaker Accountant offers friendly team seeking to maintain and develop opportunities for children service countrywide. Self-assessment & small businesses. and young people within the Quaker context. Richard Platt, Grainger & Platt The starting salary for this post is £27,796 rising to £31.896 with Chartered Certified Accountants 3 Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR annual increments. Telephone 01228 521286 [email protected] Closing date for applications: 5pm on Monday 6 June 2011. www.grainger-platt.co.uk Interviews: Wednesday 29 June 2011. Further details and application pack are available at Those in the know... www.quaker.org.uk/jobs or email [email protected] If you would like to have an informal discussion about the role ...always start at the back! please contact Howard Nurden on: 020 7663 1012. You never know where an Registered Charity No. 1127633 ad in the Friend might lead!

the Friend, 13 May 2011 19 Ad pages 13 May 10/5/11 15:03 Page 6 vol ADVERTISEMENT DEPT EDITORIAL 169 54a Main Street 173 Euston Road Cononley London NW1 2BJ Keighley BD20 8LL T 020 7663 1010 No

T 01535 630 230 F 020 7663 11-82 19 E [email protected] the Friend E [email protected] A message of thanks to readers of the Friend HTV Circles have been overwhelmed by the response to our appeal leaflet in the 25 March issue of the Friend. We are extremely grateful, not only for the generosity of donations received, but also the expressions of support for the work that our team of volunteers undertake. We are pleased to be able to say that we have survived this period of austerity intact, in no small part due to your contributions. Thank you.

www.htvcircles.org.uk HTV Circles, PO Box 240, Didcot OX11 1AT Reg. charity 1123361

Threshings 2011 Five fortnightly Wednesday evenings 2. WORSHIP: THE SACRED VOID Huw Lloyd-Richards A fresh look at worship - creating space for the artwork of the Spirit. Quaker Peace & Social Witness 6.30 for 7.0 - 9.30 pm 25th May Friends House, Euston, London Admission £5: pay at the door. Burundi Peaceworker No booking, all very welcome. Quaker Peace & Social Witness has an exciting new opening for www.londonquakers.org.uk a peaceworker to be placed in Burundi from September 2011 for one year. You will be based with the Friends Women's Association (FWA) in Bujumbura, and you will spend the year supporting a grass- roots organization that brings people together for community based trauma recovery and reconciliation in Burundi. FWA has programmes in HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, community health and education and micro-finance. This post is open to anyone committed to the values of the Religious Society of Friends. You must be adaptable, culturally Ifield Park sensitive, a French-speaker and able to work as part of a small Residential and Nursing Home team and on your own initiative. Transferable skills in administra- Crawley, West Sussex tion and communication are essential, as is a desire to develop Ifield Park is set in 3.5 acres of your career in the field of peace and conflict transformation. beautiful grounds on the edge of A modest maintenance and housing allowance will be provided. Crawley. We offer a permanent home to 72 residents in two resi- Further details and an application pack are available at: dential and one nursing home. We www.quaker.org.uk/jobs or email: [email protected] also provide palliative care, respite quoting reference: QPSW Burundi 2011. Documents: and short stays. In addition, Ifield Park has recently opened a new • Burundi Peaceworker - Friends Women's Association (FWA) wing caring for dementia. Burundi job description We offer high quality care within a • Application form, Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. homely atmosphere, to enable resi- dents to maintain as much inde- Closing date for applications: 5pm Friday 3 June 2011. pendence as feasible, with a busy Interview date: 15 or 16 June 2011. and varied activities programme. Human Resources Office, Friends House, Euston Road, London, To visit, or for more details, NW1 2BJ. United Kingdom. Fax No: (+44) 020 7663 1120. just call Louise Steward on 01293 594200. Registered Charity No. 1127633.