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One of the spiritual programs I practice begins its meetings with this statement: ‘In this meeting, we speak about our own experience, strength, hope and feelings. We accept without comment what others say because it is true for them, and we work towards taking responsibility in our own lives, rather than giving advice to others.’
The Quaker Prison Chaplains (QPC) Conference, held 16-18 October, marked a milestone in the history of the event. For the first time our annual conference was organised and financed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
Friends, I have a confession. This article was my idea. Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)’s Investment Committee had been talking about how to tell you what we actually do, and in a moment of folly I suggested an article. Naturally, I got the job of writing it.
Last month the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield. Quakers in Britain lamented it. Oliver Robertson, director of programmes, called it short-term thinking at its worst, a decision that betrays those who suffer most from climate breakdown. He is right. Jackdaw will meet about two per cent of UK gas demand over its life, will not cut bills, and could release more than 35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Sometimes, during a Meeting for Church Affairs, I look at the situation as a visitor might: amazed by the silent waiting of the gathered body while the clerk writes a minute; surprised at the apparently ultra-keen attention of those gathered to the precise detail and the correct term to capture truth in that minute; impressed by the patience of the clerks in accepting all contributions, while keeping an eye on the heavy agenda, knowing there are external speakers later in the Meeting. All these were much in evidence on the morning of Saturday 24 October, as thirty Friends gathered, during the course of the day, to turn the Crynwyr Cymru/Quakers in Wales (CCQW) strapline ‘Syml; radical; ysbrydol’ (simple, radical, spiritual) into an active living statement of being Quaker in Wales today.
Two documentary films released in 2026 had Quakers involved in their making. While there have been some non-commercial screenings of both in Meeting houses here in Britain and during the All Age Gathering in Cologne in August, there must be more Friends who have yet to see them!
Over many years I’ve written a large quantity of reviews about recordings on the Discus Music label. I’ve also played on a couple of their albums (never ones I’ve reviewed). The Friend is not a magazine I’ve ever sent specialist avant-garde musical reviews to – such explorative discoveries are not its usual content priority. But these are unusual times.
We shouldn’t take ‘in’ literally
Early Quakers:
puzzling
over
The Life within
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