Quaker News

A quarterly update on Quaker work in the care of Britain Yearly Meeting No 59 Summer 2006

Expanding Circles Eighty years at Friends House Junior Yearly Meeting 2006 Janet Pascoes latest walk

6 8 13 15

www.quaker.org.uk

Quaker News Summer 2006 Contents

Quaker Life news Expanding Circles Eighty years at Friends House QPSW speaking engagements Spiritual reviews JYM 2006 Get involved
Cover image: Quaker work: sowing the seeds of change Photo: Brad Harrison/stock.xchng.hu

4&5 6 8 10 12 13 14

Editorial
Our summer edition of Quaker News celebrates youth and experience. We record the joys of Junior Yearly Meeting (p13) and hear from Janet Pascoe, one of our most experienced fundraisers (p15). We feature the rst 80 years of Friends House and let you know how to book a speaker to come to share their experience of current Quaker work with your meeting (p10 & 11). In your Quaker News you will nd a copy of our 2005 Annual Review. This is a short account of the work done in your name by Britain Yearly Meeting. Before I worked at Friends House I had only a patchy idea of the wide range of Quaker projects supported by meetings. Maybe you are better informed than I was. If not, I hope you nd the review useful. You will see that each copy of the Annual Review also doubles up as a poster. I have heard many Friends say how much their meetings could use new posters to help with their outreach work. There are four different posters in this set, of which you have one. We encourage meetings to display one or more: perhaps in rotation, or maybe display them elsewhere, for example if you are running a stand at a summer fair. Let us know if you would like more copies. We have had around 100 requests for new house style materials to use locally. Information about how to get hold of these for your meeting is on p9. Have a good summer. Rachel Rees Head of Communications and Fundraising

Quaker News
Quaker News MMVI The Religious Society of Friends, published news of the centrally managed work of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. This work is one outward expression of the Societys religious beliefs. Central to Quaker work and life is the quiet meeting for worship, which takes place in over 500 centres in England, Scotland and Wales every week. Quaker Communications Committee oversees the publication of Quaker News, which is produced quarterly by Quaker Communications Department, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ. Tel: Fax: Email: Editor: 020 7663 1162 020 7663 1001 qnews@quaker.org.uk John Fitzgerald

Printed by Thanet Press Ltd

In brief
QPSW stamp club
The QPSW stamp club would like to thank all the meetings and individuals who donated packets of stamps, albums or hoards last year. These donations have enabled us to raise around 1,400 by sales from approval books or to stamp dealers and we have given about 300 in mint British stamps for mailing. Please dont send any more British rst and second class Christmas stamps or denitives (just the Queens head) of values below 30p as we can only get 25p per kilo for these. Wed also like to hear from anyone who collects stamps who might want to join our mailing list for approval books (1/3 of Stanley Gibbons catalogue prices). If you live near London, you could help us with sorting at Friends House. We do this about six times a year.

South Asia Peace Alliance launched in Kathmandu

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A series of networking and training events, supported by QPSW led to the formation of the new peace alliance.

QPSW Stamp Club qpsw@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1158

Review of CRB checking

Quaker Life used its recent Representative Council to obtain facts and gures from local meetings to contribute to the current review of safeguarding and criminal records procedures. Representatives were sent a questionnaire and responses were received on behalf of one hundred and seventy one meetings. The responses will inform the report which will go to Quaker Life Central Committee and on to Meeting for Sufferings in due course. Richard Summers, Assistant General Secretary, Quaker Life, welcomes comments and information about the review of safeguarding and criminal records procedures.

After working together for three years on nonviolent approaches to grassroots social change, QPSW has brought together leaders of six South Asian organisations from ve countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). This growing sense of mutual commitment led to the launch of the South Asia Peace Alliance (SAPA). The meeting took place

from 4-6 April outside Kathmandu where the stand-off between the Kings autocratic government and the main political parties took to the streets on April 6. Despite the large upheavals nearby, the meeting was wonderfully hosted by the Institute for Human Rights Communication Nepal. The leaders agreed to build a grassroots citizens movement through enacting

nonviolence training/ mobilisation and education in the region and to evolve a media strategy without which a critical mass for change cannot be achieved. Progress will be monitored when we meet in Pakistan later this year.

Contact Stuart Morton stuartm@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1162

Quilting at Swarthmoor
A new project to replace the fragile textiles at Swarthmoor Hall will begin in September 2006 with a patchwork workshop at the Hall. Work will start with making a replacement quilt for one of the historic beds. The old fabrics are in need of specialist care and conservation. Since the Hall is seen as a living place of spiritual refreshment for Quakers and others rather than a museum, Quaker Life Swarthmoor Hall Committee has decided that they should be replaced by new covers made by Friends to seventeenth century designs. As well as providing

Contact Richard Summers richards@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1096

Quaker News Summer 2006

artefacts for visitors to experience, it is hoped that this will become a creative community project that will help towards realising the ideal of the Hall as a focus for our development as a spiritual community.

For further details or a booking form for the rst weekend of the project

Contact Bill Shaw

swarthmrhall@gn.apc.org

01229 583204

Jon Wisbey/stock.xchng.hu

Steve Whiting/QPSW

In brief
Exploring our Spiritual Tradition

Big Outreach Conference 2006

Is there a change underway in attitudes to outreach across Britain Yearly Meeting? Quaker Life Outreach Committee certainly thinks so. Quaker Quest and MOTs (Media and Outreach Training for Meetings) are both growing in popularity as Friends wake up to the challenge to speak out about our faith with a condent Quaker voice and to open the door and offer a warm welcome to newcomers. The second Big Outreach Conference will take place at the Sneaton Castle Conference Centre, Whitby, from 2729 October this year. We will be celebrating the progress of outreach since the rst Big Outreach Conference in Manchester three years ago and looking ahead to what we can do next. There will be a keynote address by Geoffrey Durham, from the original Quaker Quest team and Travelling Quaker Quest. We will also be looking at what makes a vibrant and attractive Quaker community and how we can effectively tell our personal Quaker stories. The Outreach Tool Kit will offer a choice of workshops such as Quaker Quest, Designing a website, University Chaplaincy, Inclusivity, Spiritual Hospitality and the forthcoming Outreach Week. There will be time too for sharing ideas, encouragement, reection and networking. We encourage MM representatives and individual Friends who are committed to outreach to attend the conference. Be warned! The rst Big Outreach Conference was a sell-out. We hope this will be too. Coach travel will be provided from York station: please book early to guarantee a place.

Quaker Lifes 1652 Committee have recently published their guide to planning your meetings visit to the places in the North West of England where Quakerism began in 1652. Contacting the Committee can make all the difference to a visit, as they can provide speakers, information and help with planning the itinerary. If your meeting has no plans to visit the area, but you would like to undertake a pilgrimage as part of your own spiritual journey, Swarthmoor Hall is providing an opportunity to visit the sites as part of a party based at the Hall. Spaces are available on the pilgrimage from 2124 August. Contact the Quaker Bookshop for copies of The 1652 Country: Planning your Pilgrimage and Swarthmoor Hall for details of their pilgrimages

Contact Carmel Keogh 020 7663 1017 carmelk@quaker.org.uk

Quaker Life supports change & growth in Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden Friends recently contacted Quaker Life Wardenship Committee about their plans to help the meeting connect with the local community by employing a warden. As well as being a welcoming Quaker presence and an organising force in the care and use of the building, the new warden will be asked to develop a small ofce facility for the use of local voluntary sector groups. Paul Parker, who is on the local working group said: At this stage we felt it was very important to ask for advice from Wardenship Committee, and a meeting was quickly arranged. This reassured us that our plans were realistic, and saved us, we hope, from making mistakes when arranging to employ somebody. When the meeting house caretaker retired, Friends in Saffron Walden took the opportunity for a thorough review of the meetings needs. They were excited by

Contact Quaker Bookshop 020 7663 1030 books@quaker.org.uk Swarthmoor Hall Bill Shaw
swarthmrhall@gn.apc.org

01229 583204

Joined Up Wardens
Lonely wardens without a computer can still join the Wardenship Egroup a forum for the exchange of ideas and sharing of problems. Go to the nearest library or internet caf, set up a webbased email account and go to http://lists.quaker.eu.org/ mailman/listinfo/wardenship and follow the instructions to subscribe. You can access your web-based email (such as Yahoo! or Hotmail) from any computer. Contact Richard Summers richards@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1096

the idea of making better use of the historic meeting house for outreach and developing the meetings witness in the town. The process of identifying and working up a scheme has had an invigorating effect which has resulted in some of the bestever attendance gures at Preparative Meeting. Quaker Life are keen to support meetings in thinking creatively about the use of their meeting houses and in exploring ways of engaging with the local community. Richard Summers, Assistant

General Secretary Quaker Life, says: Friends are keen to support and be involved in change and new ideas. The challenges of development can help our meetings to grow in spiritual depth and become more lively and inclusive communities. Saffron Walden Friends are now preparing to advertise and recruit their warden.

Contact Richard Summers richards@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1096

Quaker News Summer 2006

Richard Bloomeld

Childrens spiritual development

Chris Nickolay gets to the heart of what we try to do as adults when we offer Childrens Meeting or a programme for 0 12s at a Quaker event or gathering.
It can often feel like our preoccupations are activities, planning, worry, uncertainty, health and safety or just keeping them busy. In fact, enabling or equipping children in their spiritual development has to be the heartbeat of what we do and this requires the serious and sometimes difcult attention that we, as adults, attempt to give to our own religious seeking and expression. This doesnt mean there isnt fun and laughter as well as reection and sometimes discomfort. At a recent training day run by the Children and Young Peoples Travelling Team, one participant spoke about another event where participants of all ages were engaged in a reective, artistic activity. When people were sharing what they had done a little child came forward with her picture. Adults were ready to be perplexed about what the picture was and how they could or should respond. However, the child said, This is my picture of God. There was a range of possible responses: patronising Isnt it lovely

with an absence of real recognition; sentimental, Aaaa! perhaps with laughter or even a ripple of applause; genuine warm acceptance that acknowledges the signicance of what has been offered with maybe a thank you as we would give to any contributor; learning that accepts and acknowledges what is given and adds to the personal and corporate store of

Find out more at our training course

This autumn Quaker Life Children and Young Peoples staff team is organising a conference with a focus on childrens spiritual development. There are just 60 places on this conference which is being held at Woodbrooke from 17 19 November 2006. It will be a rich opportunity to explore and enhance our knowledge and understanding of childrens spiritual development and how to be alongside children on the journey that we share. We are very fortunate to have arranged for Rebecca Nye to be the keynote speaker and facilitator for the conference. Rebecca is one of the UKs leading academics and practitioners of ways of engaging with contemporary thinking about childrens spiritual development. Monthly Meeting clerks and others, including Monthly Meeting children and young peoples resource co-ordinators will be receiving the leaets and booking forms in May. Book early this will ll fast! Contact Bevelie Shember bevelies@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1013

felt experience and thinking of each person and the collective. How ready are we to accept the gifts and insights that children have and need to express? Are we brave enough to ask questions, sharing our experience and knowledge whilst waiting for and inviting the childs? Can we be like the Rabbis listening to the child Jesus in the temple or might we always be distracted by practical concerns? What are the childs relationships with their inner life, the world we all share, their friends and family, their sense of awe, wonder and mystery? Much of what we do in our childrens work actually does engage with all of this. It can be that we just dont recognise, value or name it in our Quaker all age communities where, getting to know each other, doing things together, valuing each other, sharing our journeys, supporting each other and worshipping together are part of our shared spiritual development.

Contact Chris Nickolay chrisn@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1014

For other ways to get involved with children & young peoples work, see p14

Quaker News Summer 2006

Circles of Support and Accountability

After ve successful years as a pilot project, Circles of Support and Accountability is now beginning to expand nationally. Helen Drewery looks at what this means for Quaker involvement. 6
The Home Ofce has agreed a fth and nal year of funding for the work of the QPSW pilot project, Circles of Support and Accountability. The ve staff, based in Didcot, are continuing to develop small circles of volunteers, each working with a sex offender after release from prison, supporting them in their moves towards living an offence-free life and challenging them if they show any signs of slipping back towards risky behaviour. The team has recruited, trained and selected volunteers for 23 circles in Thames Valley over the last four years, and is now getting four circles going in Hampshire. To date, the offenders provided with a circle have not been convicted of any new sexual offences, even though most of them were classied as high risk when they started with the project. The work also includes providing detailed help for new projects starting up across Britain including initiatives in Manchester, Somerset, Exeter, Norwich, Yorkshire, Bedfordshire and Scotland. In many of these, Quakers are playing an active part. In March, several QPSW staff, plus a Circles volunteer and a forensic psychologist, made presentations at a conference on Circles in Dublin. The

provided locally or regionally, and QPSW is planning to launch the Hampshire and Thames Valley project as an independent charity. We hope that most of the funding will come from the budgets of prisons, probation and police in the area, though we also plan

To date, the offenders provided with a circle have not been convicted of any new sexual offences, even though most of them were classied as high risk when they started with the project.
Catholic Church, struggling in Ireland to deal with very serious problems of sexual abuse by priests, was well represented at the conference. Circles could point them towards a way of being part of the solution, rather than being seen as a signicant part of the problem. From April 2007 funding for local projects in England will have to be to approach trusts - and any other local funding sources that come to light as we investigate possibilities. The Home Ofce is willing to provide funding for certain nationallevel functions, such as providing information, liaison among projects, research, media work and quality assurance. It is not yet clear whether these will be provided by

an independent new charity or by an existing organisation which is already doing related work. Again, QPSW is fully involved in the planning for this and willing to take on whatever responsibilities are necessary to bring these plans to fruition. QPSWs 50 page report, Circles of Support and Accountability in the Thames Valley; The First Three Years April 2002 to March 2005 has been distributed widely and continues to be valuable in informing professionals, potential volunteers, students and Quakers about the work. Not only is it on the Quaker website, but it has recently been put onto the intranet (internal internet) for the Probation Service, so please do draw it to the attention of any probation staff you know. Paper copies are still available, free of charge.

Contact Helen Drewery helend@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1022

Quaker News Summer 2006

Jon Wisbey/stock.xchng.hu

A Peace Dividend for Northern Uganda?

A diplomatic seminar, jointly organised by Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) and Quaker United Nations Ofce New York (QUNO NY), took place in Quaker House New York on 28 February. The event brought together representatives from the World Bank, relevant UN agencies, key donors to Uganda, QPSW eld staff from Uganda and a Ugandan economist. For many of the participants the event provided the rst opportunity to meet each other, forming the basis for an ongoing relationship. The discussions centred on how changed economic circumstances might provide fresh incentives to both the Lords Resistance Army rebel group and the Government of Uganda to commit to negotiating and upholding a peace agreement. It was agreed that the conclusions from the meeting will be carried forward to a meeting between the Government of Uganda, UN agencies and donors in Geneva in March. The event was only possible because of the cooperation and co-ordination between the QPSW grass-roots peace building programme in Uganda, the QPSW work with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, our short term piece of work exploring the linkages between Economics, Militarism and Aid, and QUNO NYs work with UN agencies on raising awareness of the conict in Northern Uganda. We were able to make best use of this almost unique position to host this successful event.

Contact Alison Prout alisonp@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1035

QPSW and QUNO are uniquely placed to bring grassroots experiences to policy-makers at the UN

Safety dilemmas in Israel & Palestine

The EAPPI has faced two brief security crises since late January: the rst was over the hostile reaction in the Occupied Territories (OTs) to the publication of a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in Danish and other Scandinavian newspapers, and the second was over the Israeli raid into a Palestinian prison in the West Bank town of Jericho in mid-March following the withdrawal of British and American prison guards. During both crises Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) were temporarily withdrawn from a number of locations in the West Bank and they stayed in Jerusalem until things had calmed down. However, just as there was widespread
Quaker News Summer 2006

Trident campaigning pack now available

Would you like to know more about the UKs nuclear weapons and help to make sure that they are not replaced? You can: Quaker Peace & Social Witness has produced a new campaign pack available free (or for a donation). It is important to act now because the government wants to decide before the next general election whether to replace the current Trident system when it comes to the end of its working life in the 2020s. The pack includes a brieng about nuclear weapons in the UK, an action ideas sheet, and postcards and petitions to use in your Meeting and local community. Thanks to research by the Oxford Research Group, the pack includes a decisionmakers list key ofcials and Parliamentarians with a bearing on the Governments decision. There are also instructions for making paper cranes, which we are asking Friends to enclose with letters to decision-makers. Folding paper cranes is also an ideal activity for older children and young peoples groups. For your pack, please write to Kat Barton and David Gee, Peace & Disarmament Programme, QPSW, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ.

popular resentment amongst Palestinians towards the role of the British government in the Jericho prison crisis there was also plenty of condemnation of any threats made by a few Palestinian militant groups against the presence of British nationals in the OTs. Ordinary Palestinians, EAPPI local partners and other non-governmental organisations went out of their way to reassure publicly and in private any foreigners and not only EAs that they were welcome.

Contact Floresca Karanasou Middle East programme orescak@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1073

Contact disarm@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1067

Photo: Betty Press/QPSW

Eighty Years at Friends House

This year is the eightieth anniversary of Friends House. But it is more than just the anniversary of bricks and mortar. It represents a signicant era of Quaker work and witness. Eudora Pascall reects on the past and looks to the future.

Brief history of Friends House

Friends House was purpose-built for Yearly Meeting providing both central ofces and a meeting house large enough to hold Yearly Meeting. The western block was intended from the start to be let commercially to support the work of the Society. The Quaker architect of the building, Hubert Lidbetter, won the 1927 RIBA bronze medal for the best building erected in London, and Architectural

Review called it eminently Quakerly. Hubert Lidbetter continued to play an active role in the buildings development and modernisation over its 80 year history. In 1996 the building and its garden were listed by English Heritage as Grade II a building worth preserving. A book will be launched at BYM that looks into the history of Friends House. For further details contact the Quaker bookshop on 0207 663 1030 bookshop@quaker.org.uk or write to them at Friends House.

Friends House today

As the direction and focus of Quaker

Highlights from eighty years at Friends House

1923 Site in Endsleigh Gardens purchased for 45,000. Architect Hubert Lidbetter appointed. 1926 The rst Meeting for Sufferings held at Friends House on 7 May 1926. 1927 (May) First Yearly Meeting held at Friends House. (November) Friends Service Council formed by amalgamation of Friends Foreign Mission Association and the Council for International Service. 1931 Mahatma Gandhi speaks at Friends House. 1938 London Yearly Meeting for Peace, held November 15-18 at Friends House 1939-1945 During the Second World War, Friends House remained a meeting place for the opponents of war - and for the many Friends assisting refugees from it - while its basement became a public air-raid shelter. 1941 Direct hit on Friends House by bomb - ofces on south east corner badly damaged. 1947 Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to British and American Friends (FSC and AFSC) for their post-war relief work in Europe. 1964 Large Meeting House hosts rst International Conference of Economic Sanctions against South Africa, organised by the AntiApartheid Movement. 1988 Premises Development Group set up to consider how to make more economic use of the whole building; the work was to extend throughout much of the 1990s. 1998 Friends House reopened following refurbishment. Drayton House, which had provided temporary accommodation during the building works, was vacated and let as a single property. 2003 Stop the War Coalition meet at Friends House to plan the largest anti-war demonstration in history. 2005 Friends House provides a haven for hundreds of people in the aftermath of the 7/7 London bombings. 2005 An internal report concluded that much more could be done to help Friends House represent Quakers. 2006 First phase of the latest development began in 2005 for completion by May 2006. It has involved internal and external cleaning of years of grime from the Portland stone, the redecoration of the interior, and new signage. The eightieth birthday of Friends House seems a tting time for such a face lift. If you are interested in researching Quaker history, contact the Library at Friends House: library@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1135

The Library of the Society of Friends

New House Style

The new house style for the centrally managed work of BYM is also available to local meetings. It can act as a useful way to promote outreach and encourage thinking about how your meeting appears to your local community. More than 100 Meetings have so far requested materials. If you would like to do so, please check with your Clerk/s and contact Graham Spackman grahams@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1103

work and witness has changed over the last 80 years, Friends House has changed with the times, too. Staff and committees based at Friends House carry out the central work on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends. This work includes: Overseas programmes in the Former Yugoslavia, South Africa, Uganda, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel, networking for peace in South Asia and the Quaker United Nations Ofce in Geneva Prison work including support to Quaker prison ministers, and Circles of Support and

Accountability Work on economic issues Peace education in schools across the UK Outreach and media work Work with children and young people Support for elders and overseers, wardens, treasurers and trustees Swarthmoor Hall Letting of space to a wide range of organisations including other faith groups and much more Quaker work today grows yet more outward-facing than before. Staff in Outreach and Communications are working with Quakers around the

country to share what Quakers do. A new look for Friends House will make the building more visible and welcoming to the public. Over the last six months, designers from Hoop Associates have worked with Friends House staff and BYM committees to come up with a comprehensive logo that can be used across all centrally-managed Quaker work. Friends House is being redecorated and the restaurant and bookshop have become key outreach resources. Britain Yearly Meeting 2006 will be a chance for Friends to look forward to the next 80 years of Quaker work and witness.

Speaking about Quaker work

Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) has a thriving speaking programme that encompasses all our work. One year peaceworker placements, returned Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) and UK-based staff travel all over the country talking to Quaker meetings, special interest groups and ecumenical partnerships. Miranda Girdlestone explains what QPSW speakers have to offer.
In 2005 QPSW took part in over 250 speaking engagements and has already spoken to over 120 groups around the country in 2006. We also travelled to Canada and America in 2005 to talk to Quaker groups there. Recent speaking tour themes have been the World Trade Organisations ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December 2005; and how better to work with MPs and Parliament to engage them in issues that Quakers and QPSW feel are important. We have also invited our workers in the post-Yugoslav the intelligent and useful questions that are asked. Often the questions are remarkably similar from meeting to meeting, which informs further work, especially the need for briengs and discussion documents. Alison Prout has been working on a short-term piece of work on Economics, Militarism and Aid. She recently fullled a number of speaking engagements. She says: Doing a speaking engagement involves lots of time and lots of work, but I think theyre really important. People are always very

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countries to talk about the extremely encouraging developments their work has been achieving. A new piece of QPSW work on the links between military policy and conict across the globe has also generated wide-ranging discussion in meetings.

Who we speak to
QPSW normally receives invitations to speak from Quaker meetings but we also encourage Quaker meetings to consider us for any meetings of special interest groups where a Quaker viewpoint may open up another discussion or encourage further investigation of a topic from a Quaker viewpoint. We do not expect groups to have an especially in-depth knowledge of the topic before arranging a visit. We expect the speakers introduction of the topic to be enough to encourage discussion, and we provide leaets and printed materials to help continue the discussion further within the meeting. Many groups are, however, well informed about the topic prior to the speaker arriving, as is evident from

welcoming and its great to get an idea of how our work is perceived at rst hand. Suzanne Ismail, who spoke to a number of meetings last year, also nds engaging with Friends is an important part of her work. She says that speaking to meetings afrms the work we do. It reminds you of why youre doing the work. Quakers as an audience already have some knowledge and interest and are very good at coming forward with questions. We would encourage Quaker

Brad Harrison/stock.xchng.hu

People are always very welcoming and its great to get an idea of how our work is perceived at rst hand.

The QPSW speaking programme helps to spread seeds o

and may act as a useful pull for an ecumenical gathering. Even a small number of listeners can be a useful opportunity to reach someone who has not considered the topic from a Quaker viewpoint before.

Quakers as an audience already have some knowledge and interest and are very good at coming forward with questions.
meetings to consider inviting a QPSW speaker at least once or twice a year, even if you think not many people may turn up. It is often the case that meetings in the smaller towns are better attended due to the relative scarcity of such opportunities for discussion Speakers also welcome the chance to hear questions. Dialogue like this gives QPSW staff insight into how our work is being received. When well received by an audience it can be an excellent condence boost for the speaker and the work on their
Quaker News Summer 2006

Forthcoming speaking events

Speakers from QPSW visit meetings throughout Britain right through the year. See the list below for speaking events happening in the next few months. For more information, contact Helen Bradford (details below). Linda Craig, General Secretary of Quaker Peace & Social Witness, will be talking about future and recent QPSW programme work 4 June Abergavenny 6 June Bangor 7 June Lampeter 8 June Newtown Lani Parker is currently working at Peace Brigades International as a QPSW one-year worker 4 June Rugby 18 June Bridgend, South Wales Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel 18 June, Whitstable: Jan Sutch Pickard 30 June, Salisbury: Jan Sutch Pickard 3 July, Threlkeld: Johanna Alberti 24 September, Fleet: Jan Sutch Pickard 25 September, Kettlewell (Dales): Jan Sutch Pickard 9 October, Preston: Johanna Alberti 21 October, Aberystwyth: Jan Sutch Pickard

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Invite a speaker to your meeting

To invite a QPSW speaker to your meeting, please contact Helen Bradford for more information, Email: helenb@quaker.org.uk, Tel: 020 7663 1071 If you would like to invite an EA to speak at a meeting in your area, please contact the EAPPI Programme Coordinator, Email: eappi@quaker.org.uk Tel: 020 7663 1144.

of inspiration in many directions.

programme. We will give detailed advice and guidance on organising a meeting and inviting a speaker, so experience is not necessary: just enthusiasm. It is a great help to staff if you can give plenty of notice and preferably a choice of dates.

Speakers straight from the eld

All Ecumenical Accompaniers are in Israel-Palestine for three months and then undertake speaking tours when they return, so recently returned workers are always available to speak to your meeting as part of their advocacy work. Our one-year workers and placements are encouraged to talk to as many groups as possible to spread information about the work that they do in the peace movement and to gain
Quaker News Summer 2006

See Get Involved on p14 for the latest QPSW events

Spiritual Reviews
However can you spiritually review your meeting? The language of audits, targets for growth and quantitative measurement may suit the meetings practical and nancial matters but we need quite different concepts when considering our spiritual life. Barbara Windle of Committee on Eldership & Oversight reviews a new handbook.
Quaker faith & practice 12.16 urges regular spiritual reviews and a new version of Spiritual Reviews, in the Quaker Life Committee on Eldership & Oversights handbook series, is being prepared for publication. What concepts does it offer? The scope can be as wide-ranging or as limited as the meeting wishes. After all, a regular process means that the next review can focus on different questions. Those responsible for eldership and oversight usually set things in motion, organised. Is it possible, let alone desirable, to organise something related to spiritual life? It sounds woolly, interminable. How is it going to be useful to our meeting? There is of course an element of truth in such reservations. On the other hand, if we never attempted the impossible, we would not have become Quakers in the rst place. Better to get part way to our goal, than remain stuck at go because we gave up without striving at all. Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be given thee. In that spirit, those of us who have tried the process out feel very enthusiastic. We have not achieved the impossible, but we have found the effort distinctly worthwhile. To my mind, ve positives stand out. Through the process we can: Learn about our meeting, where it is strong, where Friends want to strengthen it Consider anxieties Friends may have about the meetings direction or drift Focus everyone on the common goal of deepening the meetings spiritual life Draw out unspoken thoughts, feelings, ideas, revealing unmet and unknown needs Draw on the wisdom and experience of all Friends, including the more reticent The beauty of a spiritual review is its exibility. No one imposes a one size ts all pattern on your meeting. You choose the focus that is helpful to your situation. You take what action seems appropriate afterwards. For certain, you will end up knowing more about one another in the things that are eternal and will have the joy of having really worked together on things central to our Quaker life.

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Photo: Peter Daniels

A successful spiritual review can shed new light on the life of a meeting

The new booklet (like the current one)

The beauty of a spiritual review is its exibility. No one imposes a one size ts all pattern on your meeting.
sets out different ideas and suggestions about how a meeting could approach the process.

choosing two or three open-ended questions, considering how to ask them and what will happen to the answers. Friends with little experience of the process may have understandable anxieties: Review our spiritual life: Whatever does that mean? A daunting prospect. We have so many divergent religious viewpoints in this meeting well never agree on what our spiritual life actually is. Spiritual life includes everything how are we going to focus? Regularly review sounds very

Contact Anne Hosking anneh@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1023

Quaker News Summer 2006

Junior Yearly Meeting 2006

Photo: Simon Best

A good new experience for me, my rst Quaker event. Everyone was friendly and open. The guest speakers were fun and interesting.

...Time to socialise as well as the spiritual side of things. All in all, a wonderful few days!

JYM is a chance to be me! Its a chance to be part of the Quaker community! I love it!

Being able to explore both the theme of identity and my own feelings in the company of other like-minded Friends has been a truly wonderful experience.

I had a really good time both spiritually and practically... I loved the base group sessions and getting to know a small group of people well.

I got so much out of the sessions and the theme was extremely interesting to explore.

Get involved
This section gives details of upcoming events and ways that you and your meeting can get involved in Quaker work.
Course on Group Work Skills
29 September 1 October This years Quaker Life Group Work Skills weekend organised through the Children and Young Peoples staff team is at the Guy Chester Centre in London. If you are 15 18 years old and have been, or are involved in an organisational capacity at a Quaker youth event, this is a great opportunity for you to build on all of your experiences. You can simply attend the weekend or apply to complete a portfolio of your learning to achieve an accredited award. The assessment of your portfolio is equivalent to a GCSE and those who completed this in previous years have impressed potential universities and employers by having it on their CV. If you are interested please contact Cat Burgess by the end of August at Children & Young Peoples staff team, Quaker Life, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ and you will be sent further details including an application form. Contact Cat Burgess 020 7663 1011 catb@quaker.org.uk

Courses at Swarthmoor Hall

30 June 2 July Experiment with Light with Bronwen & John Gray 7 9 July Enquirers Weekend with QL Outreach 21 24 August 1652 Country Pilgrimage with a team from 1652 Committee 25-28 August Silent Retreat with Caroline Jones 15 17 September Nomad, Tourist or Pilgrim with Christine Davis See www.swarthmoorhall.co.uk for more details, or call 01229 583204

QPSW Middle East programme hosts Yehuda Shaul

who will speak about Breaking the Silence a group of former Israeli soldiers who have served in the Occupied Territories and have decided to speak out about the reality of the occupation as they have experienced it. Thursday, 25 May at 6.30 pm room 1, rst oor Friends House. All welcome

Travelling Together as Neighbours

17 June Quaker Committee on Christian and Interfaith Relations annual gathering People of other faiths as our neighbours from the experience of three generations living in a multi-faith community Saturday 17 June 10am 4pm at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, 1046 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham. The day will include up to three presentations from people from other faiths about their experiences as individuals and as part of a wider family. The purpose of the day is to encourage learning and reection about multi-faith Britain among Friends. Lunch will be served to all participants. We look forward to welcoming you. Please see www.woodbrooke.org.uk for travel guidance. Please note that all participants must book in with Anne Wilkinson and provide payment of 28 and their dietary requirements. Contact Anne Wilkinson 020 7663 1062 annew@quaker.org.uk

Children and Young Peoples Work training coming to a venue near you?
The Children and Young Peoples Committees Travelling Team are delivering a series of workshops in a variety of locations throughout BYM in the autumn of 2006 and continuing through 2007. The will provide practical ideas ion particular topics, and provide Friends with skills to use in their meetings. Venues are booked until February 2007 and further details will appear in the next Quaker News. If you would like to host a workshop after this date please contact Howard Nurden howardn@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1012. 16 September 11am - 3pm at Aberdeen Meeting House Working with young people 16 September 10.30am - 1pm Exeter Meeting House Developing work with children and young people 16 September 1.30pm - 4pm Exeter Meeting House Working with low numbers across a wide age range 7 October 11am - 3pm Winchester Meeting House Working with low numbers across a wide age range For more information, and a whole variety of training opportunities, go to www.quaker.org.uk/cyp and select the training option, or give us a call. Contact Bevelie Shember 020 7663 1013 Email: bevelies@quaker.org.uk

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Peace Curriculum for Schools

The Peace Education Network, of which Quaker Peace & Social Witness is a member, has produced Education for Peace - A Guide: Educating to make the 21st Century a more peaceful one. This Peace Curriculum is for use in schools and other learning environments, and would be an excellent tool for childrens meeting. We encourage Friends and meetings to request copies if they have a childrens meeting, and for any schools they have contact with. It is a free 8-page document, but postage is appreciated for bulk copies. Contact Jaci Smith jacis@quaker.org.uk 020 7663 1087

Volunteers needed in children & young peoples work

Be a part of the Travelling Team offering training in a variety of ways to Quaker meetings Help maintain the service offered to borrowers by the Resources Room Contact Howard Nurden 020 7663 1012 howardn@quaker.org.uk

Quaker News Summer 2006

Fundraising news

Benet BYM with your windfall

Janet Pascoe during her latest fundraising walk

As we go to press it seems likely that Standard Life will demutualise this summer. If this happens, many Friends will nd themselves with an unexpected, if welcome, windfall. Mary Latham from Quaker Communications Central Committee and Rachel Rees, Head of Quaker Communications and Fundraising, are both in this position and have decided to donate their windfalls to BYM. They have written to meeting treasurers asking them to encourage Friends to join them and with a poster for display. If you will be receiving a windfall and would like to donate some or all of it to BYM please contact Kate Cargin at the address below.

Kevin Burrows

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The unstoppable Janet Pascoe has just completed her latest fundraising walk in aid of Quaker work. She reects on the ups and downs of over a decade of charity cycles and walks.

It was due to a friend called Clarrie Brinkman that I got involved in fundraising. She put forward my name for the Communications and Fundraising Committee just as they were launching an appeal for Swarthmoor Hall. I decided to do a cycle ride the 100 miles from Pendle Hill to Swarthmoor via Firbank Fell, on my three-gear shopping bike to raise money. I succeeded beyond my dreams thanks to the fact that I fell off and fractured my hip. The rst day had gone well but the second day there was ice on the roads. I cycled over a few patches without mishap but just as I was thinking I would be there before lunchtime, I either skidded or was knocked off. I shall never know because I was unconscious. Kendal hospital put a pin in my hip and I made a very quick
Quaker News Summer 2006

recovery. Friends were so concerned and sympathetic that the eventual sum raised was over 3,700. That was 1996, and totals have not approached that sum again, but all my rides, with the possible exception of one, have raised over 1,000. Since then I have cycled to Woodbrooke, 128 miles along the Grand Union canal, then 150 miles from Crewherne to Friends House for the refurbishment of Friends House. In 1999 it was from Basel to Geneva for QUNO, then Lyon to Budapest for FWCC. In 2001, I had intended to cycle in Yorkshire for Glenthorne but because of foot and mouth I went to Luxembourg instead. Next I went the 155 miles from Conway to Llanwrtydd Wells for the Quaker Archive video project. In 2003 it was from Loughborough to Leicester (a lot of it on local trains) but I was

beginning to fall off repeatedly, and I eventually realised that I would have to give up cycling. The following year I was not able to do anything, but in 2005 I walked from Bristol to Bath, along the excellent Sustrans Path, for the Quaker Tapestry. This year I did 20 miles from Marlborough along a circular route in aid of Friends House Library Befriend a Book Scheme. Sponsorship forms are still available by ringing 020 7663 1135.

Would you like to raise money for our Quaker work?

For support and advice, contact Kate Cargin 020 7663 1112 katec@quaker.org.uk

For more information

How to support Quaker work
TO DONATE, CONTACT: Kate Cargin Quaker Communications Friends House 173 Euston Road London NW1 2BJ 020 7663 1112 katec@quaker.org.uk Also see our Get Involved section on page 14 for ways to get involved in Quaker work, forthcoming events, publications and conferences.

You can nd out more or donate online at

www.quaker.org.uk/donate

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