One of the things Quakers can be most proud of is constantly plugging away at the war in Northern Uganda which is destroying an entire generation of the Acholi people. From the ground in Uganda and in small groups in other countries to the Quaker UN offices, Friends have been working to draw attention to the conflict, to fundraise for work there and give support.

I distinctly remember the first time I heard about what was happening, in the QUNO office in New York over two years ago. So far away from the reality of the IDP camps, the night commuters and the brutalised child soldiers, somebody took the time to make me aware of something that I hadn't read about in the newspapers or seen on TV. I remember hoping that something might happen that year and 18 years of war might end. I thought the story was shocking enough that if more people wrote about it and talked about it, something had to change. Plenty have since and little has. It isn't the sort of the thing that blows up, it is simply the unrelenting tragedy of children robbed of their childhood, people killed, mutilated and displaced, year after year.

However, two years on more people and governments do know about it and the Responsibility to Protect agenda, agreed by the UN last September, has started to make people say that we should be protecting the children of Northern Uganda. Not in a military way because the LRA are mainly the children, pushed to the frontline as cannon fodder, but with protection so civil society can function. Until the international community comes together to provide fully resourced protection, in villages rather than camps so that people can regain their economic independence and society, there will be little progress. Quakers have already been running programmes to help the child soldiers reintegrate into society and the people of Northern Uganda are ready for reconciliation. There are arrest warrants for the leaders of the LRA. All that remains is the will of governments to put their resources into this tragic conflict. If or when the peacekeepers come, it will be the work done by Friends and other NGOs with the people themselves which will ensure a lasting peace.

On Friday 3 March at Friends House in London, David Newton, Quaker Peace and Social Witness representative in Gulu, will be talking about their work there to promote peace and reconciliation. If you want to go, contact contact John Fitzgerald: johnf @ quaker.org.uk. If you're not informed about this already, go and see the pictures and try to tell other people. It's not something any of us should be ignorant about.

Here’s another tale of our New England ancestors:
Staying on personal Quaker histories (which seem to engage readers considerably) we have a anecdote sent us by our Friend Albert Lamb, who pens our delightful Inklings cartoons. This story, handed down by Albert’s great-uncle Albert Boyden, concerns the Varney family.
‘Ebenezer Varney built a house in Dover, New Hampshire in 1680’, says our Albert. His uncle wrote: ‘These Varneys were Quakers whose kindness had been so generously bestowed upon the local Indians that when the famous Indian massacre was visited upon the Dover Settlement, the Varney home was spared amid the carnival of bloodshed, and the Varneys next morning were active in errands of mercy among the wounded and dying’.

What do coffee, Quakers, Milford Haven and Lady Hamilton have in common? We won’t keep you guessing. Alan York of South Wales provides the links to a fascinating story. ‘Milford Haven was founded and established by Quakers from Nantucket,’ he says. ‘The land was owned by Lord Hamilton (of Lady Hamilton fame) and the idea was to build a port at this deep harbour on the Milford Haven river.’
Hamilton’s agent invited a group of Quaker whalers (non-animal rights’ activists, obviously) from Nantucket to come to Britain to build the town. They had been having a hard time so they accepted the invitation. ‘The town streets are set out on a rectangular American pattern, though this may be a coincidence,’ says Alan.
The Nantucket Quakers didn’t forget to put in a Meeting house and this is where the story gets interesting. In the graveyard there are many stones bearing the name ‘Starbucks’. Could this be the family whose coffee shops are taking over our high streets throughout the country?
‘If you go into a modern Starbucks café’ suggests Alan ‘you will find they sell a number of products apparently originating in Nantucket.’
If that’s the case, Eye will feel a lot more comfortable drinking their coffee.

Eye has been listening to some old audio cassettes sent in by Ron Drew of a programme broadcast on Radio Carlisle in the 70s. The mists of time swirl up through the sound, making it seem much longer ago than it is. On tape are the voices of Cumbrian Quakers explaining their faith, rather elegantly Eye thought – where were the local dialects? – in a touching fashion.
Ron found these old tapes while rummaging at home, as one does (last week old tapes of the poet Philip Larkin reading his verses were found in a work colleague’s attic) and he told us the story of Sleepers Awake. ‘In the early 1970s Radio Carlisle approached the various religious organisations in Carlisle and District and asked them to make a short programme about themselves. They were given a tape recorder, and some tapes, and then left to their own devices.’ Typical! Who said reality broadcasting was new?
As Ron was a broadcast engineer, he was asked to oversee the Quaker contribution. ‘The tape recorder was first sent to Pardshaw MM and then to a Family Weekend at Glenthorne organised by Carlisle and Holm MM,’ said Ron. ‘I made a rough-cut guide from the tapes which I then delivered to Radio Carlisle.’ But was that enough for these lazy radio journos? ‘I was then informed that they would need an introduction and links. I wrote these using Quaker pamphlets and some of my own words. I thought that they would provide an announcer to read them.’
Wrong again! ‘I was persuaded, against my better judgement, to read them myself, something that behind the scenes technicians do not do!’
Ron has asked the local radio station if they would search their archives for the dates of transmission. ‘Several of the contributors are deceased’ he tells us.
Eye’s favourite contribution on the tape came from a Friend describing how a very young visiting French couple sat through a totally silent Meeting. The Meeting was sad that there had not been any ‘action’ for the newcomers but were surprised to discover that they had been overwhelmed by the silence and felt the form of worship would greatly appeal to young people.

Ever wondered where “Your first time in a Quaker Meeting” originated? A recent edition of the Radio 4 programme In our Time (Melvin Bragg) discussed 17th print culture. During this century more people first learned to read and then to write. Reading was a socially specific skill; the richer were more likely as were men. It was estimated that by mid-century two thirds of men and half of women in London could read. There were no government newspapers of the time but Protestant factions were using print to a greater effect so that by the 1680s there were some 3000 publications per year.
Mention was made of the effective use of this new medium by early Quakers. Friends would produce and distribute leaflets in the market before preaching in the town. Women's voices were particularly evident in this respect for of those leaflets produced by women a majority would be by Quakers. However it seems we learned that we needed some control for 'Tuesday Meeting' had this subject before it.
The BYM website states that Friends House library 'was started in 1673 when the Second Day's Morning Meeting agreed to acquire two copies of everything written by Quakers and one copy of everything written against them.' We can forgive the programme participants for not knowing the difference between Tuesday and Second Day.
- Andrew Farrar

Are any readers members of the Lucas, Colby or Bryant families? If so, there is a feast of memorabilia awaiting you at Friends House library. Gilbert Bryant, whose Quaker family was one part of the Bryant and May matchmakers, worked at the Natural History Museum in the 20s and 30s, and wrote a biography of the Lucas family. The album is a detailed and beautiful account going back to the early 19th century, illustrated with news clippings, photos, letters, sketches and watercolours.
Joanna Clark, photo librarian, tells us that Nicholas Tapp, who is a professor of anthropology at the Australian National University, gave the library the album from the estate of his father John. 'Although not a Friend himself,' says Joanna, 'John Tapp received the album from the late Gilbert Bryant.'

Meeting for Sufferings started with much laughter from all present when the clerk announced 'Will whoever has chained their bicycle to one of the chair-lifters in the lobby, please remove it?” Eyes swept around the room to spot the offender – only to settle on The Friend's news editor rising to his feet with a sheepish look on his face. Definitely a case of 'the biter bit'!
Quick as a flash, it was immediately pointed out by the Table after his departure, that 'this might be a good moment to get certain more tricky matters through before he comes back!'