28 November 2008 £1.

70

the Friend
DISCOVER THE CONTEMPORARY QUAKER WAY

An alcoholic’s recovery Inoculations withheld

Escape from the bottle Refugees are second class

A dream for Europe Kindertransport

Looking forward A survivor’s story
 the Friend INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843
CONTENTS Vol 166 No 48
3-5 News
3 Learning disabilities highlighted in new report
4 European pesticide proposals come under fire
5 Geneva Declaration success
6 A European Dream?
Ian Flintoff
7 Comment
Judy Kirby and Bob Miller
8-9 Letters
10-11 An anonymous Quaker’s recovery
12-13 Arts
12 A Kindertransport success story
Stevie Krayer
13 Small is still beautiful
Philip Bryers
14-15 Children, immigration removal centres
and inoculations
Crystal Dickinson
16 q-eye has been watching TV
17 Friends & Meetings

Cover image: Escape from the bottle. Drawn by Cally Gibson (www.callygibson.co.uk) See pages 10-11.
Images on this page: Top: David Tennant as Arthur Eddington with Andy Serkis as Albert Einstein from the
BBC2 show Einstein and Eddington, broadcast 22 November. Photo courtesy the BBC. See pages 7 and
16. Below: Friends from North Wales and Wirral & Chester Area Meetings at an elders and overseers day at
Wrexham Meeting House earlier this month. Thirty-three Friends from across the area were involved. In this
photo they are looking at how to greet new members, as part of their theme of creating and maintaining an
inclusive worshipping community. Photo: Andrew Backhouse.

Subscriptions Editorial
UK £72 per year; Hello, I’m Judy Kirby, editor of the Friend.
monthly direct debit £6.50; We welcome honest, succinct
online only £45 per year. and engaging material.
For details of other rates, Boldness with clarity – that’s our motto!
including direct debit details,
contact Penny Dunn on Articles and correspondence should be
020 7663 1178 emailed to editorial@thefriend.org
or subs@thefriend.org 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: Judy Kirby editorial@thefriend.org • Production editor: Jez Smith jez@thefriend.org • Sub-editor: Trish Carn trishc@thefriend.org •
News reporter: Oliver Robertson news@thefriend.org • Website editor: simon gray simongray@thefriend.org • Arts editor: Rowena Loverance
arts@thefriend.org • Environment editor: Laurie Michaelis green@thefriend.org • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn subs@thefriend.org Tel: 020
7663 1178 • Advertisement manager: George Penaluna, Ad department, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Tel: 01535 630230
ads@thefriend.org • Clerk of the trustees: A David Olver
The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Headley Bros Ltd, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH

2 the Friend, 28 November 2008


Learning disabilities
highlighted in new report
A major new report has highlighted
the problems that people with
learning difficulties have within the
prison system.
Prisoners’ Voices is the final
report of the Prison Reform Trust’s
(PRT) three-year investigation into
the experiences of prisoners with
learning disabilities and learning
difficulties. It concludes that the
problems these prisoners often
have, particularly with reading,
writing and being understood, have
had negative effects on the quality
of justice they have received.
The report, which looks at the
times before, during and after
imprisonment, includes interviews
with prisoners and details their
experiences of the criminal justice
system. Many felt unable to express
themselves properly and talked
about pressure from police officers,
confusing court procedures, prison
as a scary and lonely place and their
fears about what would happen
after release. One Scottish prisoner
said: ‘Nobody told my mum I was
going to gaol; she thought I was
dead. I asked how they were going
to tell my mum, but it took three
months for anyone to contact her.
I finally found someone to help me
write a letter.’
Juliet Lyon, director of the
PRT, described the work her
organisation has done on this as
‘completely ground-breaking’.
While people have been aware of
the issue, she said, it has not been
given the analysis and research that
other problems like mental health
in prison have received. However,
she added, during the three years
News
of the study the PRT has seen
practical improvements on the
issue in areas of staff training,
prison inspection and changed
practices in over eighty prisons.
The report has gone down well
in official circles, with ministers
in Scotland and Northern Ireland
committing themselves to
implementing its recommendations
in full, according to the PRT.
The Ministry of Justice, which
oversees prison policy in England
and Wales, said: ‘All government
agencies involved in the criminal
justice system, including Her
Majesty’s Court Service and Her
Majesty’s Prison Service, are
committed to ensuring those with
disabilities are given the necessary
care and support’.
Oliver Robertson

Business-minded Quakers consider future of work

‘The Future of Work’, the title of the fifth Quakers
& Business conference held at Woodbrooke Quaker
Study Centre on 18 and 19 November, could hardly
have been more apposite in the light of current
financial convulsions around the world, but the mood
among the forty-five participants was far from gloomy.
If anything, the crash of the ‘culture of greed’ was seen
as an opportunity for Quakers in business to wave the
flag for ethical practices, sound finance and treating
customers, suppliers and employees with equal
fairness.
As David Price, a marketer of shoes, socks and
hosiery, put it: ‘Practising Quaker values in business,
paying invoices within ten days, listening to feedback
from customers, and looking after your staff makes it a
better and more profitable enterprise’.
Felicity Kaal, the keynote speaker, introduced the
concept of Spiral Dynamics, a provocative insight
into individuals, organisations and cultures developed
by Don Beck, Clare Graves and others. Seven
participatory workshops repeated up to three times
in the twenty-nine hour conference gave plenty of
choice but still left time for informal and stimulating
networking and conversation.
‘Blue-sky thinking, doing things and meeting people
I don’t usually meet in my business life were the best
aspects of the conference’ is a typical reaction among
participants, who brought an amazing range of skills
to the event. A chat show host on Iranian TV, a social
issues film maker, the director of finance at a Quaker
school, a bespoke shoe maker, a creative learning
consultant and the CEO of The Retreat mental health
centre in York were just a few of the wide variety of
jobs held by those who attended and all were willing
to share their wisdom (and their bruises). More
information about the activities of the Quakers &
Business Group is available on their website.
Don’t let anyone tell you that there is no place for
business in Quaker life – it’s very much alive and
kicking!
Andrew James
Quakers & Business Group

the Friend, 28 November 2008 3

 News
European pesticide proposals
come under fire
Two proposed new European laws
on pesticides have led to heated
disputes between farmers and
pesticide campaigners.
The new rules, which would
redefine which pesticides can be
used within the European Union
and restrict the ways in which
they can be used, are expected to
be agreed in the next few months.
The present proposals would see at
least twenty-three – and possibly
many more – currently available
products banned. The proposals
have been vociferously opposed by
the farming industry.
Nick Mole, policy officer for
Pesticides Action Network UK
(PAN UK), which campaigns to
eliminate the dangers of toxic
pesticides, said that while the
organisation would like to see
stronger regulations, ‘overall
we’re pretty happy with the way
it is at the moment’. However, the
National Farmers’ Union (NFU),
which is against greater restrictions
on pesticide use, is also content
with the draft legislation. How so?
The reason is that PAN UK
is backing one version of the
law drawn up by the European
Parliament and the NFU supports
a different version proposed by the
Council of the European Union, the
grouping of European governments.
Paul Chambers, plant health adviser
for the NFU, argued that with
increasing populations but a fixed
amount of land for farming, the
world needed to produce as much
food as possible. ‘Pesticides are
already very very regulated’, he said.
‘They go through one of the hardest
registration systems.’ However, this
was dismissed as ‘misinformation’
by PAN UK; Nick Mole talked about
the ‘long history’ of supposedly
safe products being recognised
as dangerous. The reasons the
pesticides currently at risk are still
popular are, he said: ‘They work,
they’re cheap and they’re pushed by
the agro-chemical industries’.
One area of dispute is how to
respond to any potential risk.
While PAN UK advocates use of
the ‘precautionary principle’ to stop
the use of those pesticides which
could potentially cause serious
long-term harm to people or the
environment, the NFU instead
argues for a ‘risk-based’ system.
‘In a risk-based system you look at
the realistic use of a product in the
field’, explained Paul Chambers.
‘If you’re looking at how they
[pesticides] are actually used in
practice, they’re not dangerous.’
One likely feature of the laws
that could help allay the fears of
pesticide users is a clause that
allows blacklisted pesticides to be
used if there is no safer alternative.
‘We’d rather that that weren’t in
place but it’s a compromise’, said
Nick Mole.
Everyone is expecting a deal to
be thrashed out: as Paul Chambers
put it, ‘the process is devised to get
agreement’. However, the precise
nature of that deal is still uncertain
and Linda Craig, PAN UK’s
director, has called on the public to
contact their MEPs about the issue.
‘That isn’t something that Friends
often think about’, she said, adding
that while the proposed laws will
not achieve everything that PAN
UK wants, ‘we know that this work
happens in steps. It’s not all major
change happening at once.’
Oliver Robertson

Obamas opt for Quaker school

American president-elect Barack Obama and his wife
have chosen to send their two daughters to Sidwell
Friends School in Washington DC following his
inauguration in January.
This will be not be the first time that a US president
has selected America’s largest Quaker day school for
their children. Previously leaders including Theodore
Roosevelt and more recently Bill Clinton chose the
school, along with other politicians in Washington.
The Obamas were known to be considering one
of several Washington private schools for their two
daughters, who are currently being privately educated
in Chicago. Although highly regarded, Sidwell, which
has been described as ‘the Harvard of Washington
day schools’, was in one sense a controversial choice
since it remained racially segregated until the 1950s.
When its governors decided to de-segregate the school
its then headmaster resigned. However, according
to the school’s website, in the academic year 2008-9,
thirty-nine per cent of the student body are students
of colour and twenty-two per cent of the student body
receive almost $5 million of need-based financial
assistance. There are 1097 students at the school.
Stephen Taylor

4 the Friend, 28 November 2008


Geneva Declaration success
Following a landmark resolution passed unanimously by the United
Nations General Assembly last week, Oliver Robertson looks at the steps
The resolution itself might not
look like much. Only two small
paragraphs of the two-page
document ask for things to be done
to help prevent and reduce armed
violence through development.
But symbolically it is a major
step forward, providing what one
diplomat calls ‘global legitimacy’
to a process that has been steadily
building for two years.
A lead player has been the Swiss
government, which helped initiate
and guide the process known as
the Geneva Declaration on Armed
Violence and Development. Set
up in 2006 around the time of
the failed UN Review Conference
on Small Arms (likened by one
participant to ‘a head-on train
wreck’), the Geneva Declaration
was a way of talking about armed
violence away from the heavily
politicised environment of small
arms. It looks at the links between
armed violence and development
of all kinds, recognising the links
between poverty, social exclusion
and violence. This violence, which
can manifest itself in war and in
criminal violence on the streets,
has major and negative effects
on people’s lives and livelihoods.
In an attempt to move beyond
mere aspiration, the Geneva
Declaration process provides
examples of projects to help with
people’s economic and social
development, make them feel safer
and encourage them to move away
from using violence.
Some of the ways of reducing
violence and simultaneously
helping development are simple
that were taken to get there
in the extreme: putting up street
lighting reduces the fear people
have about going out after dark
as well as improving their general
quality of life. Other programmes
are longer-term: Landmine Action
is working in Liberia with ex-
combatants to train them in new
skills and provide them with the
materials to lead a productive
life without weapons. American
Friends Service Committee began
three projects in Latin America
in September to aid community
development and break down
stereotypes.
David Atwood, disarmament
& peace representative at the
Quaker United Nations Office
(QUNO), Geneva, argues: ‘It is that
insecurity that undermines people’s
confidence, makes them feel they
have to arm themselves’. QUNO
has been involved in the Geneva
Declaration process since the start
and has taken the lead in engaging
civil society (ie involving people
who aren’t governments).
Over the last two years the ‘core
group’ of Geneva Declaration
backers, which includes
Switzerland and is supported by
QUNO, has been steadily working
to build support for the Geneva
Declaration. Aided by a process of
regional summits across the world,
the number of countries signed
up to the Geneva Declaration
has expanded from forty-two to
102. This work came to fruition
on 17 November, the date of the
unopposed General Assembly
resolution. Now advocates of
the process will be working on
the Friend, 28 November 2008
news@thefriend.org
implementation: Swiss diplomat
Ronald Dreyer explains that ‘what
is important is really to build on
existing experiences and initiatives
on the ground, to give them
support and to learn from good
examples in other parts of the
globe’. David Atwood puts it more
bluntly: ‘If it ain’t happening at the
community level it ain’t happening’.
While there have been concerns
that getting involved in the
Geneva Declaration process
would mean more work, more
issues to consider, there is also
an awareness that this is an issue
that affects people everywhere
in the world. Additionally,
thinks Ronald Dreyer, the fact
that armed violence is such a
universal problem could mean
that countries back it sooner
rather than later. ‘It will probably
go much quicker than we thought
if we, the core group, can propose
some toolkits on how to [deal
with the problems].’ There is also
an economic incentive: ‘If you
want to spend your development
money well you need to address
these issues’, says David Atwood.
‘Equally, if you really want to
reduce armed violence there are
some development programmes
which will take away the rationale.’
Both Ronald and David are
positive about how the process
could develop. ‘It builds on solid
work we’ve been doing for years’,
says David. ‘It’s an example of
how you sow seeds and they then
become mainstream. Nobody
talked about this stuff ten years
ago.’
5
 Opinion
Ian Flintoff considers the possibilities for Europe after reading
Justin Webb’s article ‘How will you get rid of their accents?’
Justin Webb’s recent article (24
October) was useful for his insight
into US residency. May I add some
thoughts about our own continent?
A helpful point was made to me
by a Friend in Philadelphia this
summer. She said: ‘Americans like
to recall the birth of the United
States. We hear less about the
gestation.’ That gestation, the
prenatal origin, is something in
which Europeans and pioneer
thinkers like the Quakers played a
major part. The men and women
of the Enlightenment cannot be
separated from George Fox, John
Woolman and Margaret Fell.
For example, and in the light
of recent exuberances in the US
presidential election, we may note
that William Penn was one who in
particular dealt respectfully and
humbly with the native population
of the new continent.
On 16 August 1683 in
Philadelphia he wrote of the native
peoples: ‘If an European comes to
see them, or calls for lodging at
their house, or wigwam, they give
him the best place and first cut…’
With memorable foresight he also
later wrote (when charged with
treason for his sympathies towards
Catholics) a treatise on The Present
and Future Peace of Europe, by the
Establishment of an European Dyet,
Parliament, or Estates. This was
some 250 years before its time.
The influences of men and
6 the Friend, 28 November 2008
A European
Dream?
women in Europe who suffered
for beliefs and justice cannot be
divorced from the final words of
the Declaration of Independence
in 1776: ‘we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred Honor’, suggesting
a regime without racial, sexual,
cultural or religious prejudice.
Vilhelm Moberg, the Swedish
novelist, writes memorably of those
who left Europe for opportunities
across the Atlantic, many out
of sheer hardship with starving
children. But others, fortunately,
bravely stayed behind.
Many of these struggled to bring
equality, fairness and progress to
our own continent. Women like
Mary Wollstonecraft and then the
suffragettes, Quakers like Elizabeth
Fry, others like the Chartists, the
Tolpuddle Martyrs and the early
trade unionists, conscientious
objectors; these stayed home to
beat and change the system. It was
they who helped transform Europe
– a Europe for which they had
vision and hope.
America, as Justin Webb points
out, has been the instigator of
much improvement. Yet it is not
churlish to remind ourselves that
the native population was squeezed
into virtual non-existence, that
human beings were cruelly brought
from Africa to serve as slaves, that
women were often portrayed as
dumb blonde playthings for men,
and that extremism still thrives in
places despite lip service to equal
standing and respect.
While Moberg’s families
left Sweden because of brutal
conditions, others rushed with
greed and self-interest after gold,
or the amassing of wealth at all
cost – a downside to the American
Dream. Thanks to others who had
a dream for Europe, the European
Union is now an amazing feat of
history: nations united without
battle, without death, torture or the
humiliation of the vanquished.
I worked for a time with
the European Commission in
Brussels and was impressed by the
dedication and vision of the people
who worked there – contrary to
myths propagated by some of
the media. Appropriately, the EU
headquarters is just a few metres
away from Quaker House, both
urging peace and cooperation
everywhere.
From Athens to the liberation
of Eastern Europe it has been a
remarkable journey. We have the
scars, the fruits and the harvests,
and I would argue that we should
be proud of them. May the
European story finally be the tale
of human wisdom, bravely told.
Ian is a member of Oxford Meeting
and a former official spokesman
for the European Commission in
Brussels.

Outreach goes universal
Two heroes of popular culture have
just achieved a miracle of outreach
for Quakers without even trying.
Doctor Who star David Tennant
and Andy Serkis, who plays the
malevolent Gollum in The Lord
of the Rings, gave remarkable
performances last weekend on
BBC2 (see Eye) in the story of
two ‘heroes’ of science, Arthur
Eddington and Albert Einstein.
Can we thank them enough?
Children have been known to
watch Shakespeare if ‘Doctor Who’
is playing in it. The actor brings
a vast TV audience with him.
Likewise Andy Serkis, currently
appearing in Little Dorrit on
BBC1. Add to this a wonderful
script by Peter Moffat and you
Not forgotten – not dead
This year, more than any I can
remember, focused for a protracted
period on the horrors of war,
particularly the first world war.
This year, 2008, is the ninetieth
anniversary of the cessation of the
war to end all wars, the ‘Great War’
of 1914-18.
BBC4 showed some poignant
programmes where the effects of
that slaughter still resonates with
those left behind. The poetry of
Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred
Owen is as relevant today as the
poems were then. The messages the
poems contain and the lessons to
be learned about the futility of war
are sadly still applicable.
We continue to enter conflicts
with no good reason and with
places such as Afghanistan, going
have an almost captive audience
of young and old watching how a
scientist integrated – at some cost
– his belief in God, his Quaker
faith and his longing to know the
workings of the universe. In many
ways, although this was the tale
of Einstein’s great discovery, the
focus of attention dwelt more on
Eddington, whose story is mostly
unknown outside the scientific
community.
Maybe there were some ‘factual
inaccuracies’ in the script that
readers may well want to point
out to us; apparently it wasn’t
Eddington who announced
his eclipse results to a stunned
scientific and lay audience, it
was the astronomer royal. Was
where we have been before and
never won. Yet we repeat the same
mistakes and citizens back in
‘Blighty’ have no clear idea of what
we are doing there.
Simon Armitage, the
Huddersfield poet, sums up
succinctly in the film Not Dead the
feelings of modern-day soldiers.
Returning servicemen from Basra
and Bosnia recite his poetry,
describing vividly their experiences
– mostly negative. The one single
thing that stands out is the lack of
support – the suffering physically
and mentally that scars for life.
Over 2,000 service personnel
returning from active duty since
2003 suffer from some kind of
mental illness. They, unlike their
predecessors in the second world
the Friend, 28 November 2008
Comment
Eddington given a white feather?
(There were certainly enough
people around in the first war
shouting ‘coward’ at pacifists.) But
would that be the most important
observation to be made about this
production?
People have always loved a story,
and loved to be moved by human
endeavour and pain. Much as we
have striven to get ‘the Quaker way’
before the general public with our
outreach activities, somehow we
are missing the common touch.
We need to take our stories out
into the world through culture
– popular or otherwise – if we are
to capture imaginations.
Judy Kirby
war, do not share a common bond
with each and every one of their
peers. They return nowadays to
civilian life, surrounded by others
who haven’t the faintest idea of
what they have been through
– adding to the trauma by asking
crass questions such as: ‘Did you
shoot anyone?’
Let’s hope this present young
generation never forgets what has
gone before, understands its effects
and does everything in its power to
unite the future world in peace and
harmony.
Bob Miller
Guildford LM
Bob is a member of the Siegfried
Sassoon Fellowship and is a Winston
Churchill travelling fellow.
7
 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend
Unity in diversity
I have to say that I read the article by Rhoda and John
Wharton (21 November) with a growing sense of
impatience. Quaker literature in general and Quaker
faith & practice in particular are the product of a huge
amount of prayerful consultation. I know of no other
religious body that can match this process. In particular,
Quaker faith & practice was approved at special Yearly
Meeting sessions, where a very large and representative
body of Friends recognised that it was not perfect, but
that it was a mirror of where the Society was at the time
and that it would in any case be rewritten in due course.
Indeed, bits of it are the subject of amendment at the
present time.
The literature we produce for National Quaker Week,
or for other similar purposes, should reflect where the
Society is and not where a minority of Friends would
wish it to be. The suggestion that it should be rewritten
to be inclusive of the sometimes outlandish beliefs of
every last Friend would ultimately result in our total
inability to say anything to anyone. It seems to me that
we all need to quietly accept that on certain issues we
may not be mainstream, but that we nevertheless want
to be part of a particular faith journey.
Metford Robson
Ipswich & Diss Area Meeting
Rhoda and John Wharton are very optimistic if they
think they can find language that suits all Friends. Their
energy and time could be better used more profitably!
Patricia Piqué
Flat 17 Altamont, Westview Road, Warlingham
CR6 9JD
Rhoda and John Wharton have found the ‘theistic
flavour’ of much Quaker literature not to the taste of
some members. Hence material should be ‘rewritten in
language that speaks to all of us’.
There is a danger that the resulting text would speak
to none, or few, of us. I prefer a ‘salad bowl’ approach
to diversity. I have learnt to value the spoken and
written ministry of theist and atheist Friends, and of
the many Friends who reject such ‘notions’. There are
many flavours in Quakerism. These should not be
concealed, but savoured and celebrated.
Advices & queries 12 urges us to receive the ministry
of others ‘in a tender and creative spirit. Reach for the
meaning deep within it, recognising that even if it is
not God’s word for you, it may be so for others’. With
tenderness, I hear the Whartons’ complaint that their
beliefs are under-represented. However, would it really
be the best use of our creativity to delete ‘God’ from
our dictionaries?
Mark Dewey
Forest Hill Meeting
8 the Friend, 28 November 2008
A framework for action
Whilst appreciating Roland Carn’s views (14
November) about what A framework for action might
have done, I take the opposite view about what it
actually does – open up Quakerism to the ordinary.
For me, the document is one of the most useful,
accessible and comprehensive practical guides to
Quakerism that could have been produced – precisely
because it is capable of being meaningful, in Roland’s
words, to ‘anyone of any religion or political party’.
I picked up the booklet one Sunday morning and
read it within ten minutes while on doorkeeper-duty
waiting to let latecomers join the Meeting. I danced
a metaphorical jig and punched the air with a burst
of silent energy as a resounding yes leapt from my
being. I like to think of myself as an active Quaker,
working at a senior level and in some high-profile
roles across the public, private and third sectors – and
thereby working with a large network of people who
know little or nothing about Quakers. I don’t wear my
Quakerism on my sleeve in my various roles although
it lies at the heart of my being and informs all my
actions and judgments. A framework for action has
provided me with a simple, coherent and universal
coathanger on which to place the fabric of my beliefs,
one that can be easily understood by all the non-
Quakers I come into contact with in my daily life. I
shall use it to bring Quakerism to a wider audience.
Ann Limb
Milton Keynes Meeting
JRCT investments
I am glad to learn from Susan Seymour’s response
(14 November) to my letter (27 October) that the
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) is hoping
to ‘invest in employee-owned businesses’ in the
near future. Nearly all the 394 employee-owned
businesses in UK are cooperatives in style (eg one-
person-one-vote rather than one-share-one-vote)
and the majority of them are also cooperatives in
structure, registered under the Industrial & Provident
Acts rather than incorporated under the Companies
Acts. They are thus part of the wider values-based
cooperative movement which also embraces all
mutual building societies and credit unions.
In forty years of direct experience of employee-
ownership I have always been convinced, never
more so than today, that the cooperative structure
is the appropriate business model for people
concerned for justice at work and that there will be
a major cooperative business sector in due course
in this century. So, well done JRCT – go for it!
Roger Sawtell
20 Old School House, 201 Billing Road,
Northampton NN1 5RX
 editorial@thefriend.org

Share local Quaker projects at Yearly Meeting Gathering

Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) is an opportunity
for Quakers from all over Britain to come together, to
explore issues, make decisions, have fun, learn together
and grow as a community. It will have all the buzz and
business of Yearly Meeting, all the fun and fellowship of
Summer Gathering and all the energy and excitement
of Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM). We hope YMG, from
25 July to 1 August at the University of York, will
encapsulate all that it means to be a Quaker today.
One of the many opportunities which YMG offers
is for Quaker groups to share their work and interests
with a great many Friends. Some of this will be
centrally managed work, some will be the work of
Listed Informal Groups and, we hope, some will be
projects supported by Local and Area Meetings.
The opportunities for this are:
• a one hour interest group meeting at lunchtime
• a table at the fair, which runs from Wednesday
evening (29th July) through until Friday lunchtime
(31st July)
To take advantage of either of these opportunities we
will need an Area Meeting minute confirming that
this is a Quaker project and supporting its presence at
YMG and an ‘Interest Groups’ booking form available
online from www.ymg.org.uk or from the YMG office at
Friends House – 020 7663 1040 or ymg@quaker.org.uk.
Paul Parker and Lizz Roe
Co-clerks to Yearly Meeting Gathering

Bible Society insert Quakers and art

The Quaker Meeting which I attend has
already responded to a recent appeal insert
from the Bible Society which appeared
in the Friend (7 November) and I hope to
do the same personally. You are therefore
incorrect in thinking that ‘it is unlikely to
be the kind of work Friends would want to
support’ (21 November). I hope that you
will continue to carry appeals from the
Bible Society and give your readers the
choice of contributing if they wish.
John Scott
scott22j@yahoo.co.uk
‘A young Hindu man is invited into a
church. His life will never be the same
again. He wants to get a copy of the key
book of his new faith.’
This ‘is not something that Quakers
would want to be connected with’ (21
November).
We have been inviting people into
our Meeting house for the last two years
and several former Catholics, Anglicans
and others have decided that there is
something about us that makes them want
to stay. Perhaps it was just the offer of a
heavily subsidised copy of Quaker faith &
practice. I must ask my Meeting next time
somebody suggests that we run another
Quaker Quest if this is something we
would really want to be connected with?
As a more sensible response I decided to
do my bit to ensure that the young man,
and others like him, gets his Bible.
Christopher Thomas
10 Laithwaite Close, Cockermouth
CA13 0AQ
I do not often write ‘letters to the editor’ but an interesting mix of
things from recent issues of the Friend is prompting me to do so.
I am mentioned by Rowena Loverance in the special outreach
issue (3 October) and have an image alongside Angela Schütz’s
article this week (21 November). In this, Angela challenges
Rowena’s proposition that ‘being an artist does not directly
contribute to the betterment of human kind…’ and asserts that it
does.
The word ‘directly’ is the one that prompts me to reflect that
though, like Angela, I believe in the enriching of our lives by all
the arts, they do not provide a bowl of rice. If a person is truly
starving the choice between food for your children or a piece of
‘art’ is, I think, very clear and this is perhaps what Rowena was
suggesting.
John Hawkins (21 November) is concerned about the
‘profligacy’ in the production of A framework for action,
suggesting that nine pages of photographs are ‘surplus to
requirements and contradict the idea of sustainability’ asking:
‘Does not the Society still have a commitment to simplicity?’ My
thought is that simplicity need not mean austerity.
As an artist I thought it a most attractively produced pamphlet
and the pages of pictures he considers ‘surplus’ emphasised the
text with vividness and subtlety.
Perhaps John, like me, would have been comforted if there had
been some mention of, for instance, ‘vegetable based inks’ and/or
‘recycled paper’.
Caroline Coode
Newcastle upon Tyne Meeting
The Friend welcomes your views. Please keep letters short
and include your full postal address, even when sending
emails. Please specify whether you 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 are published at the editor’s discretion and may be
edited. Write to: the Friend, 173 Euston Road, London NW1
2BJ or email editorial@thefriend.org
Remember if you are online that you can also comment on all
articles at www.thefriend.org

the Friend, 28 November 2008 9

 Personal growth
An anonymous
My wife thought I would get up
and walk out from my first meeting
of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
AA meetings usually start with a
recitation of the Twelve Steps (see
page 11) suggested as a programme
of recovery; six of them mention
God or derivatives. I was a surly,
cynical agnostic and my wife, sitting
beside me, thought: ‘This won’t
work’. But I was a week away from a
suicide attempt that I’d survived by
the skin of my teeth – in no state to
engage in theological wrangling. I
listened with laser-like attention to
anything that would keep me alive
and that meant not drinking.
My last binge had not been
that spectacular; in fact I thought
I deserved a pat on the back for
arriving home before the pubs
closed. But my wife took one look
at me as I reeled through the front
door and fled out of the back door
with our daughter. As they drove
off into the night I cursed them
for being so unkind. I then turned
the place upside down, wreaking
my frustration and resentment on
the furniture. The next morning
as I surveyed the wreckage I knew
this could not go on. I’d never
smashed the place up before and
was appalled and horrified. It
finally dawned on me that while I
kept on drinking my life just got
more chaotic. Despite all my well-
meaning and strenuous efforts I
could not stop drinking. I couldn’t
face another ten, twenty or thirty
years of that living hell so decided
to end it all. As an alcoholic,
loneliness was a way of life. I felt
despised and rejected, shunned
like a leper; I despised and rejected
myself. But that morning I felt
10
as though the cosmos itself had
rejected me. The pain of being
alive was impossible to bear. Words
diminish it.
As I left the house, my wife and
daughter arrived home. I muttered:
‘They shoot mad dogs, don’t they?’,
and pushed past them. I went to a
chemist’s and tried to decide how
many aspirins would do the job:
twenty-five, fifty or a hundred.
I bought a hundred just to be
sure, and a bottle of orange juice.
I walked into nearby woods, left
the path so I wouldn’t be found,
sat under a tree and gulped down
the aspirins in handfuls. I then
lay down and waited to die. I was
saved by luck and ignorance. I
thought I would swiftly lapse into
unconsciousness and the oblivion I
craved; I didn’t know how long the
tablets would take to work. I was
aware of an insect scratching away
next to my ear. I felt woozy but
that passed, as did the ringing in
my ears. I watched the sun passing
through the branches. At one point
I began to panic and struggled to
get up. But I forced myself to stay
there and told myself I had to go
through with it.
Baffled that nothing seemed to be
happening, I thought: ‘You haven’t
killed yourself but you haven’t done
yourself any good so you’d better
get help.’ A cynic might say: ‘Well,
why didn’t you put your head on
a railway line?’ I don’t know the
answer to that. All I know is that I
was confused, bewildered – I wasn’t
thinking straight; maybe the instinct
for self-preservation had kicked in. I
walked back into the town and gave
myself up to the police. Two young
PCs rushed me to A&E with the car
the Friend, 28 November 2008
siren blaring and lights flashing.
One of them said: ‘Don’t you be sick
in our car’ and: ‘You’re not going to
like what they’re going to do to you.’
I found out what he meant when I
was pumped out. I really did think
then that I was going to die.
My wife refused to visit me; here
was yet another disaster caused
by my drunkenness. The kids
persuaded her to come but she just
sat at the end of the bed, quivering
with rage, refusing to speak to
me. Before I was discharged a
psychiatrist told me: ‘If you’d left
it any longer before getting help,
all they could have done was
watch you die’. I didn’t plan to cut
it that fine; I just wanted off the
planet. He told me I would need to
arrange psychiatric aftercare with
my GP – and suggested I attend
AA. I’d turned my nose up at AA
years before but now I was terrified
that if I drank again I would die;
and I just knew I would drink
again because that’s what I always
did. In AA I often hear members
say they lacked the courage to
commit suicide. It seems a perverse
sort of courage that enables
someone to die but not to live. I
didn’t want to die but didn’t know
how to live; I lacked the courage to
live. I’ve seen suicide described as
a supremely selfish act. In my case
morality didn’t come into it; I just
couldn’t take any more. Depending
which statistic you believe, a third
of male suicides are drink-related.
When I got home I phoned
AA and the surgery. My GP
encouraged me to go to AA and
arranged an appointment with the
consultant psychiatrist at an NHS
addiction treatment centre. That
s Quaker’s recovery
evening two AA members visited
me and told me their stories. They
invited me to an AA meeting,
which I went to with my wife.
She had put me on probation.
She thought going to AA was just
another one of my ‘tricks’; I was
always making solemn promises
not to drink again. At that first
meeting I got hope that this was
no longer my unique problem; that
there was help if I was prepared
to use it. A few days later I met
David Marjot, the psychiatrist at St
Bernard’s hospital, west London.
He listened to my story and said:
‘Well, I confirm the diagnosis.
You’re a chronic alcoholic and
from now on things can only get
worse.’ I thought: ‘I’ve just tried
to kill myself – how much worse
can it get?’ He went on: ‘I’ve seen
hundreds of men like you. You’re
in your mid-forties, still employed
and married – it will all go if you
carry on drinking, and with your
pattern of binge drinking you’re in
danger of having an oesophageal
haemorrhage and bleeding to
death.’ He offered me an inpatient
bed but said there was a seven-
week waiting list. He added: ‘I’ll
keep a place for you but in the
meantime keep going to AA’. That
was in September 1984. I still have
his letter of appointment; I hope I
never have to use it.
In AA there’s a saying which I
found immensely consoling: ‘I’m
not a bad person trying to get
good – I’m a sick person trying to
get well’. I always blamed myself
for not being able to control my
drinking. I didn’t realise I was
very sick. The illness theory is
controversial but I find it a useful
metaphor. If not scientifically exact,
it works for me as experiential
verification. And it doesn’t let me
off the hook. I had to try to put
right the damage and hurt that
I’d caused others in my alcoholic
descent. As soon as I felt well
enough I went to the police station
and thanked the two PCs who had
rushed me to hospital. I wrote to
the hospital and thanked them
too. Those people saved my life.
I’ve tried to be the husband to my
wife that I’d denied her while in
my alcoholic wilderness. I’ve made
amends to our lovely kids.
The AA group that I began
attending met at a Quaker Meeting
house. There was a poster on the
notice board that said: ‘A silent
Quaker Meeting for Worship can
be a quiet process of healing and a
journey of discovery’. That spoke
to my condition so I plucked up
courage one Sunday and went to my
first Meeting for Worship. I was not
told what to believe but welcomed
for who I was. I was attracted by
the similarities between Quakerism
and AA. Both are practical, non-
hierarchical, egalitarian and non-
creedal – the AA programme makes
useful suggestions about recovery;
Quakers have our Advices & queries.
Both say the spiritual life is not a
theory – we have to live it. I’m still
an agnostic, though more open-
minded than before. I thought the
worst thing that happened to me
was being an alcoholic; it turned
out to be the best thing. If I hadn’t
found AA and the Quakers I
wouldn’t have found myself. I drank
for limitless expansion, but that
thirst was never satisfied. Today it is,
one day at a time.
the Friend, 28 November 2008
The 12 Steps
1 We admitted we were
powerless over alcohol
– that our lives had become
unmanageable;
2 Came to believe that a Power
greater than ourselves could
restore us to sanity;
3 Made a decision to turn our will
and lives over to the care of
God as we understood Him;
4 Made a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves;
5 Admitted to God, to ourselves,
Reproduced by permission of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous Great Britain.
and to another human being
the exact nature of our wrongs;
6 Were entirely ready to have
God remove all these defects
of character;
7 Humbly asked Him to remove
our shortcomings;
8 Made a list of all persons we
had harmed and became willing
to make amends to them all;
9 Made direct amends to such
people wherever possible,
except when to do so would
injure them or others;
10 Continued to take personal
inventory and when we were
wrong promptly admitted it;
11 Sought through prayer and
meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God
– as we understood Him
– praying only for knowledge of
His will for us and the power to
carry that out;
12 Having had a spiritual
awakening as the result of
these steps we tried to carry
this message to alcoholics, and
to practise these principles in
all our affairs.
© AA World Services
11
 arts
A Kindertransport
success story
Kindertransport, Before and
After: Elegy and Celebration by
Lotte Kramer. Edited by Sybil
Oldfield. Centre for German-
Jewish Studies, University of
Sussex. 1997. £10 + £2.50 p&p
Her personal experience Her
personal experience of the
Holocaust is a theme that Lotte
Kramer has felt compelled to
return to time and again in the
thirty years since she began writing
poetry. Now Sybil Oldfield has
had the inspired idea of drawing
out these poems from among
Kramer’s prolific oeuvre, arranging
them in chronological order and
issuing them in one volume to
commemorate this year’s seventieth
anniversary of Kristallnacht and
the start of the Kindertransport.
The metre and rhyme are
unassertive, the language and
imagery direct. This may be because
the poems are written in a language
that is not Kramer’s mother-tongue
(she was fifteen by the time she
left Germany); yet there is an
assurance about them that draws
the reader deep into their reality,
leaving such analytical thoughts
behind. It is difficult to explain
where this book’s piercing power
comes from, other than from an
intolerable and indescribable truth
bravely faced and accurately named.
But prose could perhaps do that.
These poems, though, have a spare
music to them that, like a Bach
violin partita, touches the deepest
emotions by some means beyond
explanation.
Kramer has a knack of distilling
huge themes into a few apparently
12
simple words. Poem by poem she
finds small yet telling emblems of
a many-faceted pain: survivor’s
guilt, orphan’s hollowness, helpless
empathy for the suffering she
herself escaped. Here is the frayed
tablecloth, handwoven by her
rather fearsome grandmother, its
fragility symbolising
the broken peace,
The rootlessness, our dread.
Here is the pile of books beside her
father’s armchair and the smoke
from his cigar, an illusory ‘yellow
screen’ against the madness outside
that he thought he could stare out.
A glass of water recalls the thirst of
the deportees in their cattle-trucks.
Shutting the door of her house, she
pictures her mother leaving home
under guard, never to return:
…maybe, you looked around
As if before
A holiday, leaving
No trace of dust,
No crumbs for pests, no moths…
Turned off the water, gas…
Some of her vignettes contain a
black irony, like the new teacher
singling out a boy as the ideal
specimen of blond Aryanism – but
little Heinz is Jewish. Kramer does
not comment on or underline the
moral; the laughter of the other
children speaks for itself. But the
intent of the most impressive
poems is to bring back to vivid
life, for a brief moment, the
beloved figures of her childhood
world with its illusory sense of
the Friend, 28 November 2008
permanence that was to turn to
shards and ashes along with those
same loved ones. Here are not
only family members, but Lena the
maid with her ‘yeasty body’ and
‘rough hands square with love’; the
doomed ‘guru of groceries’ in his
‘Kosher-white coat’; the scholarly
headmaster who committed
suicide, unable to bear the
destruction of Kristallnacht that
Frank Meisler’s Kindertransport memorial stands outside Liverpool Street Station. Photo by StoneColdCrazy
‘throttled all sense’. She celebrates
acts of kindness and courage, both
great and trivial – the teacher who
dares to remonstrate with Nazi
looters; the shoemaker’s wife crying
as she secretly returns their illicitly
mended shoes,
Her red-blue eyes
Like sores in her face.
The celebration and the snuffing-
out are held in irreconcilable
tension. The well-meant
consolation offered by ‘the lady
of good works’ cannot cancel the
unbearable suffering.
I was a post-war baby, born in
security and under the care of
the NHS. Yet, as for many other
Jews, the horrors of the immediate
past have remained an icy weight
on my heart. Most of my life I
assiduously avoided either learning
or writing about the Holocaust. So
I could well understand those who
prefer to avoid this book. (Indeed,
Kramer herself would understand;
for her it was thirty years before
‘the wall unbricks itself ’.) But in
avoiding the pain, you will also
miss the transfiguring love.
Stevie Krayer
South Wales AM

Rekindling Community:
Connecting People, Environment
and Spirituality. Alastair
McIntosh. (Schumacher Briefings
15) 2008. Green Books Ltd. £8.
ISBN 978 1 900322 38 6
When did you last read Fritz
Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful?
This slim volume makes a
compelling case for us all to
reread it. Schumacher is most
often associated with ideas about
appropriate technology, but
Alastair McIntosh explores what
he has to say about how the right
ordering of our outer and inner
lives can rekindle community.
The book stems from work by
the Centre for Human Ecology
and research projects undertaken
by thirteen WWF International
scholars, whose diverse findings are
interspersed with the main text.
All the studies fall within the
bounds of human ecology –
defined as ‘full human community’
– with one another, with the Earth
and with Spirit/Self/God. This
is expressed in a variety of ways.
McIntosh explores what he calls the
triune basis of community in terms
of Society, Soil and Soul. These
elements describe our community
with one another, with the earth
and with the divine. He outlines
our engagement with these three
aspects of community – through
head, heart and hand.
Having provided this framework
for our relationships, he sets out
a model of the human psyche,
drawing on the ideas of C G Jung
and describes a vision of growth
Small is still
beautiful
from the ego, or small self, to the
great Self, or deep awareness of
the unity of our being. These steps
in defining a holistic conceptual
framework are helpfully expressed
visually in a series of illustrations
ideal for use by discussion groups.
It is this emphasis on wholeness
which gives the book relevance
to a wide range of issues, from
healing at both individual and
societal levels to our care of the
environment. McIntosh considers
how we might transform the
institutions which dominate our
lives from Schumacher’s ‘idolatry
of economism’ to his ‘economics
as if people mattered’. The book
concludes with a call for the
spiritual bravery which will be
needed if we are to attain that deep
community which ‘involves being,
doing and having together’.
Rekindling Community is full
of ideas and is the latest in a
series of Schumacher Briefings. It
contains something for everyone –
including a persuasive argument in
support of belief, or metaphysical
awareness. A sense of what
McIntosh calls the ‘essence of life’
is set against the nihilism of ‘selfish
gene’ proponents such as Richard
Dawkins.
The case studies alone prompt
all kinds of ideas. They deal with
subjects quite different from what
one might normally expect. They
are characterised by a commitment
to listening. One student studied
the human ecology of the River
Findhorn in Scotland, travelling
the length of the river by canoe
and on foot in order to achieve
the Friend, 28 November 2008
arts
an awareness of place and a
deeper sense of cultural identity.
Another worked with the Scottish
Parliament to develop a policy on
social responsibility in purchasing.
In doing so he showed what can
be done by creating safe spaces
in the workplace for people to
explore personal values. Several
studies focused on what constitutes
genuine community regeneration,
juxtaposing their conclusions
against the management-led efforts
of many official regeneration
agencies.
The message from all the studies
is beautifully encapsulated in a
quotation from an essay entitled
‘Real People in a Real Place’ by
the Scottish author Iain Crichton
Smith: ‘It is the holiness of the
person we have lost, the holiness of
life itself, the inexplicable mystery
and wonder of it, its strangeness,
its tenderness’.
What a refreshing and
invigorating way to look at
community in all its manifestations.
Having read this book you
may be tempted to delve into
Alastair’s other writings (via
www.alastairmcintosh.com). If,
one day, he were to be invited to
present a Swarthmore Lecture I
am sure Friends would be treated
to a fascinating and challenging
presentation on how we can
become again ‘the radical voice
[we] once were’. Do you recognise
those words? If not, look again at
page 10 of A framework for action
2009-2014.
Philip Bryers
East Scotland AM
13
 Concern
My daughter Janet intends to
work in Ghana for five months
from February 2009. Her NHS
family practioners contacted us
in September 2008 to set up the
schedule for inoculations they
consider essential: a booster for
hepatitis A and typhoid, paid for by
the NHS. Additionally, we must pay
for yellow fever and hepatitis B
(both compulsory for visitors to
Ghana), rabies, meningitis and the
appropriate course of anti-malarial
pills to be taken before and during
her travels, plus a mosquito-
repellent sleeping net. The total
cost will be about £300, but not
to spend that money could easily
prove fatal.
People forcibly removed from
Britain via Yarl’s Wood and other
immigration removal centres have
no entitlement whatsoever to any
inoculations, unless they are either
six and under or pregnant. If so,
they are only entitled to malarial
prophylaxis, which is designed to
last about a month after arrival
and enable families to arrange their
own prophylaxes, accommodation,
purchase of sleeping nets etc.
People are frequently returned
destitute to communities which,
for various reasons, may be less
14
Children,
immigration
removal centres
and inoculations
than supportive.
There is such a thing as malarial
immunity, built up over years,
which adults coming to Britain
from tropical countries often have,
but as little as three months in a
temperate, mosquito-free climate
is sufficient to destroy it; children
who are young or born here never
have it. Anti-malarials appear to be
offered to under sixes and pregnant
women because the NHS actually
advises all voluntary travellers
simply not to go into malarial areas
when pregnant or very young. It is
considered too dangerous.
Janet has received from the
NHS her share of its ever-evolving
pattern of inoculations from
babyhood upwards. Even babies of
failed asylum seekers living in the
community share her entitlement.
The UK Borders Agency (UKBA)
tries to give the impression that
the medical care given to detainees
held in immigration removal
centres is the same as that provided
to ordinary citizens by the NHS.
This is, quite simply, not true in
several important ways, including
choice of medical practice with
which to register. Perhaps most
seriously of all, babies detained
before or during their normal
the Friend, 28 November 2008
courses of infant inoculations
are not allowed their ‘jabs’. Yet it
is widely accepted that measles,
in particular, is a major killer of
young children in the third world
and measles survivors are too often
permanently damaged by resulting
deafness, blindness, etc. Diphtheria,
mumps, tuberculosis, polio,
rubella and croup are even more
serious for anyone inadequately
fed, housed, or with poor access to
clean water. Vaccinations against
these diseases are part of babies’
entitlement under our NHS.
The theory seems to be that
because detained children are
being returned to their own
countries, in which the appropriate
inoculations are ‘freely available’,
no serious deprivation results
from not receiving inoculations as
scheduled under the NHS. (Recent
research into Egypt, Mauritania,
Zambia and Mexico suggests a very
different picture.) Even in countries
where appropriate inoculations
are available cost-free through
international charities, these are
often delivered intermittently at
temporary centres in major towns.
Access is thus effectively denied to
poor villagers unable to afford the
journey.
 Very many sub-Saharan African
women see themselves as deeply
tied, spiritually, emotionally and
socially, to their home villages of
birth (or sometimes marriage).
Life elsewhere in their own country
is an almost unimaginably grim
prospect, however scant the
welcome they anticipate from
their village. Therefore, if forcibly
returned from the UK, such
women almost invariably head
back to their own villages with
their children. Those villages are
often over a hundred miles from
the nearest, infrequent, vaccination
centres… returned destitute, what
priority can returnees give to the
necessary, expensive, journey?
Friends, is this acceptable? If not,
what, if anything, should we be
doing about it?
Three possible changes to our
UKBA policy suggest themselves:
a) To stop removal of pregnant
women and children under
the age of one year to malarial
areas, in line with NHS advice to
voluntary travellers. All pregnant
women and their children would
thus be entitled to release from
immigration detention, which
is designed to hold only people
‘whose removal is imminent’.
(Superficially desirable, but
such a policy could lead to
situations comparable to that
of eighteenth-century women
condemned to death who kept
themselves perpetually pregnant
to avoid execution.)
b) Might it be more realistic to
insist that all detained families
are offered the full complement
of age-appropriate NHS
inoculations and not removed
until at least opportunity has
been given for the thirteen-
month MMR (measles, mumps
and rubella vaccine)?
the Friend 28 November 2008
the Friend, 28 November 2008
c) Would not a better alternative
be to abolish altogether the
immigration detention of
families and removal of children
under thirteen months?
Obviously, if no families were
detained, and if free appropriate
prophylaxes were offered those
facing removal, an absolute
guarantee would also have
to be given that under no
circumstances could a family
or any member be ‘snatched’
at a prophylaxis session or any
journey connected with it.
I would greatly welcome Friends’
comments – snail-mail please, as
my computer is misbehaving .
Crystal Dickinson
26 Brecon Way, Bedford MK41 8DD.
Crystal is a member of Luton &
Leighton AM.
15
15
 Q-eye has been watching TV
Einstein and Eddington
BBC2 22 November
“We’ve all heard about Einstein, but what about this other chap?”
Every schoolchild knows of Albert
Einstein. Do they know who
Arthur Eddington was? Unlikely.
(Left) Arthur Eddington photo courtesy the Library at Friends House and (right) Albert Einstein courtesy ArtToday.
In every big story there will be two
voices (at least) – a mover and an
enabler, but one may well be heard
louder. In the story of penicillin,
for example, everyone knows
that it was Alexander Fleming
who discovered the mould which
became a life-saving drug, but
how many know the role of the
Australian scientist Howard Florey
who got penicillin into hospital
wards?
And so it was with Albert
Einstein and Arthur Eddington.
English science was in the shadow
of Isaac Newton when these
two geniuses were starting their
challenging work at the beginning
of the first world war. ‘We know
how the universe works, we just
need to measure it’, says Oliver
Lodge, one of the luminaries of
the Royal Astronomical Society.
The Quaker astrophysicist
Eddington was the director of
the Cambridge Observatory
and ‘the best measuring man
in England’. So he was sent to
discover why the German military
were interested in the work of an
unknown scientist called Albert
Einstein. The answer was not to the
academic establishment’s liking,
however. Newton was about to be
overturned. The universe was going
to be much harder to live in as
16
Radio Times, 22-28 November
previous certainty crumbled.
This documentary drama by
Peter Moffat, who did a similarly
impressive job on Stephen
Hawking, made Eye proud to be
Quaker. Our man’s role was shown
to be crucial in the recognition
of the general theory of relativity
and his deep spirituality was
portrayed as his driving force. We
saw the reality of public disgust at
pacifism – Eddington presented
with a white feather and spat at.
We saw Eddington and his sister
Winnie taking in the German
Müller family and welcoming them
at Meeting after they had been
assaulted.
In Germany Einstein was also
trying to stay aloof from the
military who were funding his
research work. He saw the effect
of poison gas on a chamber of
pigeons and protested at the
destructive use of science in the
pursuit of war. In their separate
ways, and without having met,
both Eddington and Einstein were
seeking to protect scientific truth.
After poison gas killed so many
at Ypres, the viewer has a glimpse
of Eddington’s own anguish in the
loss of his loved friend William
Marston, who enlisted to fight. He
can only share this with his sister
and we listen dismayed as Oliver
Lodge demands of him: ‘What do
you know of grief? I have lost my
son.’
the Friend, 28 November 2008
eye@thefriend.org
Proving that space bends was no
simple matter but Eye appreciated
the dramatist’s helpful illustration
of a tablecloth held aloft in the
Eddington household and a round
cob loaf thrown into the middle,
with an apple sent in to circle the
globe. The space between them is
forced into shapes so that straight
lines can’t be maintained. You
could try this at home. Eddington
deduced from Einstein’s figures
that starlight is bent by the sun,
and therefore stars would be
moved by the gravitational pull.
The proof would come from
matching photos of a solar eclipse
(taken by Eddington in Africa)
with other photos of earlier
eclipses. If there was a gap between
the stars when the photographic
plates were placed on top of each
other, showing a movement from
a previous position, then Newton
was wrong. And there was a gap.
Like the wonderful Michael
Frayn play Copenhagen this
scientific drama was about much
more than science. Eddington
confronted science as a believer,
and it profoundly affected his life.
He looked at the new universe that
he helped to introduce and he said:
‘I have no doubt that I can hear
God thinking’.
A profile of Arthur Eddington was
published in the Friend on
2 November 2007.
Ad pages 28 Nov 24/11/08 22:02 Page 3
Deaths
Edna STROUD 11 November.
Wife of the late L John Stroud.
Mother of Imogen and Nigel.
Member of New Milton Meeting.
Aged 97. Meeting for Remembrance
to be arranged.
Joan THORNTON 14 November.
Mother of Peter, Barbara, Jennifer,
Kathleen, and the late Christine.
Grandmother of Kate, Chris, Rob
and Susie. Member of
Middlesbrough Meeting. Aged 86.
Donations: Teesside Hospice Care
Foundation.
Changes of clerk
CENTRAL YORKSHIRE AM
(formerly Pontefract MM). Clerk:
Geoffrey Hutchinson, 146 Barnsley
Road, Darfield, Barnsley, South
Yorks S73 9DG. Tel. 01226 753440.
Email: geoffrey146@talktalk.net
Notices on this page
Births, marriages, deaths, anniver-
saries, changes of clerk, new
wardens, changes of address,
diary items, etc., should preferably
be prepaid. Personal entries
£15.75 incl. vat, Meeting and
charity entries £13.40 (zero rated
for vat). Max. 35 words. 3 Diary
entries £36 (£30.64). Add £1.70
to receive a copy of the issue with
your notice.
Entries are accepted at the editor’s
discretion in a standard house
style. A gentle discipline will be
exerted to maintain a simplicity of
style and wording which excludes
terms of endearment and words
of tribute. Please include a day-
time phone number. Deadline
usually Monday am. Cheques
payable to The Friend.

Friends&Meetings
Diary
RE-VISIONING SOCIAL JUSTICE
Jeremy Corbyn MP & Jonathan
Dale. Chair: Beth Allen
Presentations, dialogue, questions
Saturday 29 November, 2 – 5pm.
Friends House, 173 Euston Road,
NW1. Admission £6, at the door.
A public event: everyone welcome.
LONDON QUAKER LESBIAN
AND GAY FELLOWSHIP meet on
the second Saturday of each month
from 5 - 7pm at Westminster Friends
Meeting House, 52 St. Martin's Lane,
WC2 (Hop Gardens side entrance).
Tea, MfW and discussion.
JUST ME by Sheila Hancock is
still available at £15 post free (rrp
£18.99). Send your cheque,
payable to The Friend, to:
Ad Dept, 54a Main Street,
Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL.
Send your
Christmas
Greetings
through
The Friend
We will be printing readers’
Christmas Greetings in our issue of
Friday 19 & 26 December. Using
The Friend to send your love and
best wishes has always been simple,
economical and Friendly. It is also
green - saving the environmental
cost of producing and delivering cards!
The cost is £15.75 for up to 40 words
(including your address if you want
it printed). Extra words 48p each.
We will also send a complimentary
copy of the 19 & 26 December issue
containing your greeting to a Ffriend
of your choice.
Simply send your greeting, the name
& address for any complimentary
copy and a cheque payable to The
Friend to:
Meeting up
SINGLE? WANTING TO MEET
THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE? Use
the Meeting up column! Single entry
£15.75 inc. vat for 35 words. 3 entries
£36, 6 entries £62. Box reply service
included. Replies forwarded 1st class.
Please send all entries and replies to:
Box _ _ _, c/o The Friend, 54a Main
Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL.
WOMAN, 48 YEARS YOUNG,
seeks male 45-55. Loves life, cats,
Cornwall, family life, Quakers,
learning. Seeking soulmate to share
good and bad times. In return
offering laughter, comfort, space for
own interests. Be brave, please reply!
Box 905.
Europe:
Power for
Better or Worse?
QCEA Study Tour

   April 
Brussels & Strasbourg
The QCEA Study Tour is the
perfect opportunity to
learn discuss and reflect on
what Europe means to you
Application forms available at
www quaker org/qcea
Or contact:
QCEA Sq Ambiorix
B
 Brussels Belgium
The Friend, 54a Main Street, The Friend, 54a Main Street, Tel:   


Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Fax:    
Tel. 01535 630230. Telephone 01535 630230.
Email: studytours@qcea org
Email: ads@thefriend.org Deadline: Friday 12 December.

the Friend 28 November 2008 17

Ad pages 28 Nov 24/11/08 22:02 Page 4
Classified advertisements
54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL T&F: 01535 630230 E: ads@thefriend.org
job vacancies
TELEPHONE ASSISTANT REQUIRED.
I am a Quaker with special needs seeking
to support myself in independent living
with the help of specialist social services.
I need someone to provide telephone
support in the mornings to help me focus
on the day and deal with any distress
relating to the disorientation of my
condition of Asperger’s Syndrome.
I would require a daily telephone call in
the mornings, which would last half an
hour. I can call back as soon as the call is
received. The person would be paid
£7.85 per hour or £9.40 per hour self-
employed. Telephone 01302 737707.
THINKING OF RECRUITING A WARDEN
or Resident Friend? Contact Quaker Life
for friendly, helpful advice. Richard
Summers 020 7663 1096.
richards@quaker.org.uk
where to stay
HOTELS, GUESTHOUSES, B+BS
HIGH CHAPEL HOUSE, RAVENSTONEDALE,
Cumbria. www.highchapelhouse.com
Peaceful, rural B&B in stunning walking
country. Cookery days also available:
www.cookincumbria.com
Yelly 015396 23411.
WARM, FRIENDLY NEWCASTLE B&B
Jesmond. Quiet, adjacent Metro/city.
Veggies welcome. 0191 285 4155.
SELF-CATERING HOLIDAYS
BEAUTIFUL, RUGGED PEMBROKESHIRE.
Two eco-friendly, recently converted
barns on smallholding. Each sleeps 4.
Coastal path 2 miles. 01348 891286.
holidays@stonescottages.co.uk
www.stonescottages.co.uk
COTSWOLDS. Autumn/Winter vacancies
still available. Spacious barn conversion in
Charlbury. Sleeps 2+. Convenient Oxford,
Stratford. Tel. 01608 811558 or email
Nick.Parker@hixetwood.demon.co.uk
WEST CORNWALL. Studio flat, sleeps 2.
Near south coast. Walking. Beautiful
beaches. Contact 01736 799170.
lee.stev@live.co.uk
OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS
POLAND. Mountain house for rent.
Amazing views. Sleeps 1-6. Mark 01223
423333. www.holidayhomeinpoland.co.uk
18
WINTER HOLIDAY IN VIENNA. Culture,
cafés, character. Well-situated ground-
floor apartment, sleeps 4. From £275pw.
Easy access countryside walks, Danube
cruises, skiing. Christmas markets. New
year celebrations. 01904 733545.
www.holidayapartmentinvienna.co.uk
work camps
AFRICAN SUMMER WORKCAMPS 2009.
AGLI - The African Great Lakes Initiative
of Friends Peace Teams is sponsoring
intergenerational workcamps in Burundi,
Kenya, and Rwanda June 24 - July 25.
Workcampers assist building or repairing
clinics, schools, peace centers - no skills
required. Open to all ages. Details at
http://www.aglionline.org or contact
dawn@aglionline.org.
courses & events
NEW YEAR RETREAT. If you're tired of
starting the New Year with holiday
excesses catching up on you, why not
instead make it a time for spiritual focus
and reflection? This retreat emphasizes
one's own direct experience of Truth,
taking you to the heart of the ancient
question ‘Who am I?’. Start 2009 with an
infusion of clarity, energy and inspiration.
Held in Bath, Monday 29 December -
Friday 2 January. See www.ei-bath.info
or phone Emma on 01225 446972.
for sale & to let
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 2 bed flat to let
unfurnished above 18thC Quaker
Meeting House. Active MfW. Use of large
garden. Quiet location 27 miles to Euston
by train. Details: quakers@dsl.pipex.com
IPSWICH OFFICES. Concord Media,
22 Hines Road, Ipswich IP3 9BG has
several rooms, small or large, to let to
charities or not for profit organisations.
Flexible time periods. Frequent 75 minute
train service to London. Please telephone
Eric Walker on 01473 717088 for further
information.
ISLINGTON. Pleasant room. Friendly
house. From January. Near tube. £120pw
inclusive. 020 7607 2271.
NORTH OXFORDSHIRE. House to let
Feb-July 2009 inclusive. Three bedroom,
one ensuite, study/bedroom and main
bathroom. Three recept, downstairs WC,
utility, conservatory, garden, easy access
Oxford/Stratford/London. Friendly village.
Tel: 01295 720900.
the Friend 28 November 2008
Classified ads in
The Friend
Standard linage 48p a word, semi-
display 74p a word. Rates incl. vat.
Min. 12 words. Series discounts 5%
on 5 insertions, 10% on 10 or
more. Cheques to The Friend.
Ad Dept, 54a Main Street
Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL
T&F: 01535 630230
E: ads@thefriend.org
WEYMOUTH. 3 bed semi-detached
1930s family home. Close Castle Cove,
Rodwell Trail, good schools. No chain.
Many original features. £199,950.
020 8363 0446.
personal
HOUSE/CAT SITTER NEEDED, YORK.
Warm, comfortable house. Friendly cat.
15-29 December. Anne 01904 733545.
RECENTLY RETIRED TEACHER
Zimbabwe Friend couple seek voluntary
unpaid short-term service opportunities
(relief wardens, house sit?) including
accommodation, April to June 2009.
Friend references available.
Offers or suggestions to
knotty@mweb.co.zw
gifts
IN FOX’S FOOTSTEPS
This fresh and newly-researched
account by David and Anthea Boulton
of George Fox's 1652 journey
from Pendle Hill to Swarthmoor
is back in the bookstores in a
new (third) printing.
Fully illustrated in colour photographs
and line drawings.
“Absorbing... a breath of fresh air...
a masterly estimate of the values
we may have salvaged from
those early years” - The Friend.
£12 including postage from
DHM, Hobsons Farm,
Dent LA10 5RF.
JULIAN OF NORWICH Beautiful silver
pendants and broaches, made to raise
funds for The Julian Centre, Norwich.
Wonderful gift. Tel. 01603 767380.
Ad pages 28 Nov 24/11/08 22:02 Page 5

miscellaneous OUR PIANOS SAVE TREES. Climate

ECO ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING and
permaculture design. Sustainable, ecological
designs and consultants. Website:
www.eco-architectureandplanning.com
Telephone: Sophie 01235 529266.
JUST ME by Sheila Hancock still available
at £15 post free (rrp £18.99). A moving,
honest and charming account of her life
after the death of husband John Thaw.
Send your cheque, payable to The Friend,
to: Ad Dept, 54a Main Street, Cononley,
Keighley BD20 8LL.
investing
friendly pianos. Sale or rental. Removals.
Part-exchange. Restorations. Associate
Blind Piano Tuners. Member Quakers &
Business Group. All enquiries welcome.
i.e ethically ltd
wwwcambridgepianolacompany.co.uk working with you to plan a secure financial future
01223 861348. without exploitation, repression or pollution
QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES,
We can now offer
partnerships, commitments, notices and interviews and advice
other calligraphy. Liz Barrow 01223 369776. all over the country
SHEILA HANCOCK’S new book ‘Just Me’ Telephone 01603 30 90 20
is still available at £15 post free (rrp £18.99). contactus@investing-ethically.co.uk
Send cheques, payable to The Friend, to: Authorised and regulated by the
Ad Dept, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Financial Services Authority.
Keighley BD20 8LL. Member of the Quakers and Business Group.

LEISURE LEARNERS. This website started

by a Quaker fills the gap left by
restrictions on government funding for
adult recreational learning. Free
Membership/Students. Free Trial/Tutors.
www.leisurelearner.com
NB amended web address.
WORTHY ORTHOTIC INSOLES can make WRITING YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY?
ready-made shoes far more comfortable. Books typeset for your family’s pleasure.
James Taylor & Son, Bespoke shoemakers, Photos and other graphics can be included.
4 Paddington Street, (near Baker Street), Contact Trish on 020 8446 5772.
London W1U 5QE. Telephone. 020 7935 trishc@compsbycarn.demon.co.uk
4149. www.taylormadeshoes.co.uk Other printed material also prepared.

Give an irresistible gift this Christmas

...a subscription to The Friend!
Plus - get a FREE copy of New Light, the new anthology of
the highly regarded ‘12 Quakers and...’ series
Make your gift last all year by giving someone you care about a subscription to
The Friend this Christmas. Each week The Friend provides a forum through which
Friends and attenders can share and explore their spiritual journeys. It’s just like having
a little bit of Meeting delivered to your door every Thursday.
As well as sending them their copy of The Friend each week, we will also send you a copy
of New Light, the new anthology of the highly regarded ‘12 Quakers and...’ series. Just out
on 5 December, the book usually costs £11.99 + £1.50 p&p from the Quaker Bookshop.
I was very moved by the honesty and openness of the contributors on such thorny questions
as pacifism, evil, simplicity and their understanding of God. The tone is far from preachy,
and I was helped greatly in my own understanding of the spiritual life. Harvey Gillman
For orders received by Wednesday 17 December the first copy of The Friend sent will be the Christmas issue,
which we will send along with a note of greeting explaining who the gift is from. Gifts to yourself are permissible!

Christmas Gift subscription form

I enclose a cheque, payable to The Friend, for £72, for a one year UK Gift subscription or debit my
Visa/Mastercard number: _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ Exp _ _ / _ _ Security code _ _ _
Your name..................................................................................Address..............................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................................
Postcode.......................................................Daytime tel......................................................................................................
Send a gift sub to.......................................................................Address..............................................................................
.......................................................................................................................Postcode.........................................................
Daytime tel............................................................Email......................................................................................................
Please send the renewal notice to me (tick) ___ the recipient (tick) ___
Please return this form to: Penny Dunn, The Friend Subscriptions, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ.
Offer expires 5 January 2009. Not valid for renewals. Annual subscriptions only.

the Friend 28 November 2008 19

Ad pages 28 Nov 24/11/08 22:02 Page 6

vol 166 No 48
ADVERTISEMENT DEPT EDITORIAL

the Friend
54a Main Street 173 Euston Road
Cononley, Keighley London NW1 2BJ
BD20 8LL T 020 7663 1010
T 01535 630 230 F 020 7663 11-82
E ads@thefriend.org E editorial@thefriend.org

For your cards, calendars,

diaries... and books INVITATION
Look no further than the Quaker Bookshop! Prison Reform Trust
Come and browse for just the right calendar or diary. Find the Annual Lecture
perfect gift book. Enjoy a relaxing coffee in our wi-fi enabled café.
The Quaker Bookshop, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ Warning from America:
Tel. 020 7663 1030. www.quaker.org/bookshop the social and economic
impact of over-incarceration
and how to avoid it
Prof. Bryan Stevenson
QUAKER HOMELESS ACTION
Company number: 02978545. Charity number: 1041921 Monday 8 December at 6pm
Notice is hereby given that the Gt. Russell Street, London WC1
Annual General Meeting of Quaker Homeless Action
Entry by complementary ticket
will be held on
only (donations welcome).
Saturday 17th January 2009 at 2 pm Please download booking form
at Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, Islington, London N1 2UN www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk
John Ward Company Secretary or email: will.mamah@
QHA’s registered office is 136 Mount Road, Sunderland SR4 7QD prisonreformtrust.org.uk

Gardening
Friends 2009
An energetic person is sought
to work with our gardener, Steve
Lock, to help develop and care
for our beautiful gardens, to
cover April to June. You will
work 25 hours in the garden
each week and be one of a
team of staff and volunteers
resident on site. In return we
offer room and board, expenses,
the opportunity to join in the
short course programmes free
of charge and use of Wood-
brooke's other facilities.
Closing date 31 December 2008.
We are still pleased to receive
offers of short term help.
Please download an applica-
tion form from
www.woodbrooke.org.uk
or call administration on
0121 472 5171.
Glenthorne
Quaker Guesthouse and Conference Centre
FRIEND IN RESIDENCE - Fixed term for one year
Situated in Grasmere in the heart of the Lake District, Glenthorne is a place that
offers guests’ peace and relaxation as well as vibrancy and energy. It is held dear
to the Quaker community to which it belongs but extends its welcome to all.
There now arises a vacancy for a Friend in Residence. The ideal candidate must
be a member of the Religious Society of Friends and possess the necessary
skills to develop, promote, support and nurture the Quaker ethos and charitable
work of Glenthorne.
It is very much a hands on role with duties varying depending on needs and
requiring flexibility. Working hours are initially 20 hours a week on a flexible
basis. Living at Glenthorne is a requisite of this post and full board accommo-
dation is available at a cost of £30 per week. The salary is £7,600 per annum
and the contract for the post is fixed for a term of 1 year initially.
If you have any queries regarding this post please telephone John May on
01253 810659.
If you are interested in this post and have the required skills/experience please
submit your CV to:
The Trustees, Accra, Hackensall Road, Knott End-on-Sea, Lancs FY6 0AY
by 19 December 2008 at the latest.
Applicants who are successful in reaching the shortlist will be contacted within
two weeks of this date.