Witness truth to power
In our programme we were exploring the three main yearly meeting themes of Quakers and politics; a celebration of Quaker work and the ministry of giving. We shared our site with the 15-18s which we really enjoyed and gave us a stronger feeling of community.

When we first arrived via our various means of travel we were all quite apprehensive about the weekend ahead of us. However our worries were washed away when we realised what a relaxed and friendly group we were part of. Old friends were reunited and new friends instantly made. Our base groups made stronger bonds between us and we valued them as a nice break from the intense timetable. We appreciated the fact it was lead by the under 20s on the team and were grateful of the over 20s support.

As a group we felt we achieved many special things. Our weekend was geared towards a corporate witness that we all felt passionate about. In the run up to this we learnt about the work of Quaker Peace & Social Witness by two speakers coming to talk to us. It was inspiring to hear about Friends wider work particularly in the troubles in Northern India. We also learnt the difference between a corporate witness and a protest, and decided that in order not to get arrested we should use the Quaker traditions of being peaceful and reflective.

A business meeting decided our theme for the corporate witness, which the whole group felt was important. Our theme was prejudice against teenagers because we experience this in our everyday lives and felt being stereotyped was unfair. Prejudice is common in our society amongst different groups, so this is why we took our placards and other materials on the train to make an impact on ordinary travellers, as well as the wider Quaker community.

Music was interwoven into our programme. We felt so strongly about music and we decided that it should be an integral part of our corporate witness. Hearing from other Quakers at Britain Yearly Meeting it seemed that our corporate witness was well received and that made us feel proud.

We learnt many things about Quakerism throughout the weekend. One of the most inspiring things we saw during our trip to the library was the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Friends in 1947. We enjoyed the stillness of the worship room, the bustle of the Quaker Centre and were also interviewed by the world’s only weekly Quaker magazine – The Friend.

After a busy day we really valued the evening sessions, such as an entertaining storyteller and the shocking but fascinating film, Taking Liberties, which made us realise how naive we can sometimes be. The Swarthmore lecture was also valued by those who attended.

We finished each day with epilogue which through reflection allowed us to appreciate the friendships we had made and the experience of the day. These we prompted through reading, silence, music and prepared singing from group members. We felt that our friendships were formed quicker and stronger than those we have had before and it is rare to trust so many people in such a short space of time.
Junior Young People (12 to 15-year olds)

Making waves against injustice

As Wave-makers, we have been considering some questions: such as

What does it mean to be a Quaker?

What do we like about Quakers and what helps us?

How do Quakers help others, and what can each of us do?

We made masks to show visually how we present ourselves to the world and what being a Quaker means to us.

We learnt more about Palestine and Israel; we felt sad about the story of the suicide bomb, and the impact of that and the occupation on children in two families.

Messages about Palestine and Israel. | The Friend.

We discovered the horrible conditions and measly reward of 1⁄2 a penny that the workers in banana plantations receive and the value of fair-trade. We will never look at bananas the same way again.

We welcomed all the under 12s and other guests to our meeting for worship where we thought about people who needed our help and made prayer flags to fly our messages out into the world.

Amongst the hard work, we had a great time and played bits of games.

We heard the story of the paper chains, created by Quaker children to symbolise the chains of poverty, which were taken to the Prime Minister.

We learnt that, no matter how small and ordinary you are, you can still make a big difference, and we’d like to see more people making waves.
Wave-makers
(8 to 12-year olds)


Engaged and passionate
We explored the themes of Britain Yearly Meeting, Engaging with the political process and The ministry of giving, through a range of sessions and activities.

We started off with a debate with looking at the different methods of engaging with the political process. We had two speakers, Sam Walton and Jane Harries who presented the methods of direct action and engagement. Drastic drama explored the stories of many Quakers’ involvement in the political process and how they made an impact on the issues they felt strongly about. These sessions revealed to people the amount of different ways that people can use to speak truth to power to help bring about change.

Chat rooms helped explore the theme of the ministry of giving, it helped us think about way we as young Quakers can give back to the society, the session prepared us for the main BYM session on the same theme.

Going into some of the main BYM sessions made people feel involved in the society and event as a whole, it also gave us an opportunity to contribute to the decisions and discussions of them. Some of us went to the Swarthmore lecture which we found both inspiring and interesting. The rest of us watched Taking Liberties, a film about Tony Blair’s 10 years in power and the negative changes they made to people’s lives and civil liberties. These sessions encouraged and inspired people to make a stand against these injustices.

Base groups gave us a secure and informal group in which we had a chance to discuss and reflect the issues that had arisen out of the event. Free time allowed people to share past experiences and stories which had a great impact on people’s thoughts and issues and made many passionate to create the changes we all seemed to feel our society needs.

We had time for worship in prologues, epilogues and Meeting for Worship. These gave us time to reflect on our experiences of the day and the event as a whole. The weekend has been both enjoyable and though provoking. Many issues have been raised and we all have been inspired to the make the changes needed to make our society a more equal and just places.

Senior Young People
(15 to 18-year olds)

Connecting Friends
Over the weekend we have enjoyed making Friends, playing games and doing craft activities, like making an ocean.

On Saturday afternoon we explored the idea of giving and receiving, we were given the gift of the Magic Penny song by Andrew. We decided that it is better to give than receive. We made boxes to take back to our local meetings with the gifts of love, friendship and respect.

On Sunday we joined all of the other 0-12s for meeting for worship where we made our prayer flags that had our hopes for a peaceful future.

We used drama to explore how we made Friends and this made us realise that the people in our lives are more important than the amount of money we have.

On Monday morning we were joined by the Leaveners for music and movement. Now we are sad to be leaving all the lovely Friends we have made but are glad that we have had such a good time.
Quaker Explorers (6 to 8-year olds)

Sharing stories and experience
Eight Bubbles have floated in and out of Room 3 during Yearly Meeting.

They have renewed friendships made in York; as well as making new friends here in London. Hopefully they will grow up meeting each other annually at Yearly Meeting.

The children have shown affection for one another and are learning to negotiate over favourite toys. Taking turns has also been high on the agenda.

Both giving and receiving have been real learning experiences in many different ways.

We found a new toddler-friendly small play-park and spent a very happy sunny afternoon playing together.

Handa’s Surprise, Sharing a Shell and Angel Baby have been popular stories, as have the various activities of making play dough, playing cars, puzzles, tunnel exploring and sand digging and sieving. We have also shared many favourite songs.

At the close of each session a musical-box has helped us settle for a quiet time together.

We leave tired but smiling and look forward to seeing each other again.
The Bubbles (0 to 4-year-olds)

The Light inside all of us
Welcome to the Flapjacks
This is what we have been doing in the past few days.

We have been thinking about the light inside all of us,
and how we are different outside,
but on the inside we are all the same.
We thought how we are different
and we used dolls to realise
the help some people need to do things.
We went to meeting with the other children
where we made prayer flags.
We thought how Quakers can help each other
people, as God gave us love.
We decorated jam jars with paper
so we can show the inner light,
and the piece of God we have inside us.
We made peace doves so we all have
something to take away and
and remember each other.
Flapjacks (4 to 6-year-olds)




The originals are available from www.quaker.org.uk/ym.