Issue 30-10-2009
Featured Story
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Cathedrals and caves: homecoming
Each summer I take a long motorcycle trip. Having built and fettled a thirty-year-old BMW, I was ready to head south, for the sun. As usual, with no fixed route and only a vague destination, there was an air of expectancy. Travelling alone by motorcycle frees the mind and being…
Top Stories
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Two worlds
Epping Forest, on the outskirts of London, covers a substantial area of land, but much of it has been destroyed since the city was built over a thousand years ago. It is the last standing part of the ancient forest that once covered the whole of the London area, the…
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Living simply, preserving the invaluable
‘Our most precious asset’, said our trustee, ‘is time’. Time the irreplaceable, that costs us nothing. Time that waits for no man, of which our ration is so short. The Society’s ability to use time is a function of our human resources. The trustee could have added human resource as… -
Quakers reap the benefits of evening worship
Last week, Beverley Meeting became the latest Quakers to introduce an evening Meeting for Worship – and of the eight people worshipping, two had never attended a Quaker Meeting before. Brian Fellowes of Beverley Meeting told the Friend: ‘they both said they’d been interested in Quakers for some time, had… -
‘Respect, equality, goodwill to all’ – Welsh Quakers make stand against extremists
Hearing that the so-called ‘Welsh Defence League’ (WDL) was going to hold an anti-Muslim protest on Saturday 17 October, Swansea Quakers got together with Swansea City of Sanctuary steering group and called for a silent vigil on the theme of ‘Respect, Equality, Goodwill to All’. We wanted to show that…
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Space to discover what Quakerism means to me
Are there any young Quakers? If so, what do they do? If you have been to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) you may have seen some of the younger members sporting the socks and sandals combination. Among the other groups of Quakers, the Young Quakers (YQs) have a tight-knit community of…
All Articles
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German Friends seek end to military
Germany Yearly Meeting (GYM) last week sent a letter to the politicians attempting to form the country’s new coalition government, asking for a fundamental demilitarisation of the country. GYM, which met from 15 to 18 October, called for a complete end to conscription (Wehrpflicht), which still requires that all male… -
Friends launch ‘media hustings’ campaign
The ‘Stand Up’ activities reported in the Friend last week were by no means the beginning and end of Quakers’ attempts to push climate change onto individual candidates’ agendas in the run up to the general election. Inspired by climate change workshops at Yearly Meeting, Friends in Cambridge are now… -
Stephen Fry holds Quakers in the limelight
In a recent debate hosted by the Intelligence Squared organisation the confirmed atheist and humanist Stephen Fry surprised few with his impassioned attack on the Catholic church. Speaking alongside Christopher Hitchens he took opposing speakers Anne Widdecombe and archbishop Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, to task on many topics, particularly Catholic… -
Meeting shares grief following murder of Young Friend
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Rekindling an old friendship
I recently returned to my local Meeting in Inverness where I also attended a talk about the ills of using depleted uranium weapons by a Quaker peace worker. It was hosted by the Meeting and was insightful. -
Thoughts about legacies
Seeing the notice of the death of Christine Rose prompted me to think about how we touch each other’s lives in so many ways we may never be aware of. I dearly remember Christine’s friendliness to me when she arranged home stays before the 1997 Friends World Committee for Consultation… -
Letters - 30 October 2009
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Gathering - an exhibition of painting and poetry in Lewes
The Hop Gallery in the East Sussex town of Lewes is an ideally light and airy exhibition space for ‘Gathering’, a collaborative venture where the work of three creative Quakers can be seen from 6 to 21 November. The exhibition has been staged by Ann Johnson and developed around twenty-five… -
Quaker Theatre Company: ‘Now We Are Sixty’
The Quaker Theatre Company arrived about an hour before the performance as we waited anxiously on a Friday evening at Long Sutton Village Hall in darkest Somerset. Alan, Judy and Katy, held back by traffic en route from their previous performance at Peterborough, soon had the set laid out and… -
Q-eye
A hall with a history We’re not historians on this page but we do like to hear the background stories of Meeting houses. One such has reached us this week from Jill Allum, warden of Quaker Hall, Beccles, which celebrated its centenary this month.
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