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A helping

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2 the Friend, 1 July 2016

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Cover image: A powerful, 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Ecuador on 16 April 2016. The town of Portoviejo, close to the epicentre, was devastated. Photo: © European Union/ECHO/J Lance 2016 See pages 10-11.

CoNTENTS VoL 174 No 27

3 Thought for the Week: Good neighbours Ian Kirk-Smith

4-6 News

7 Return to Calais Anne M Jones

8-9 Letters

10-11 A helping hand Suzanne (Jill) Bennett

12-13 Road blocks Ian Beeson

14 Quaker renewal: A shared language Craig Barnett

15 q-eye: a look at the Quaker world

16 Friends & Meetings

Your brother

Even if it’s a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man’s help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.

For, remember, you don’t live in a world all your own.

Your brothers are here, too.

Albert Schweitzer

3the Friend, 1 July 2016

Thought for the Week

The result of the referendum has highlighted a difference between ‘direct democracy’ and ‘representational democracy’. More than seventeen million voted to leave the EU. No proposition has ever gained more votes in the democratic

history of the United Kingdom – but the final result revealed a very Disunited Kingdom.My country, Northern Ireland, voted to remain in Europe. So did our friends in

Scotland and Gibraltar; but we will all soon be taken out of the EU. It is a recipe for trouble and Britain now faces a time of great uncertainly, unease and difficulty. The result threatens an historic union of countries and has exposed deep divisions within British society: geographic, economic, cultural, political and educational.

A woman from a Manchester estate was asked why she voted leave: ‘If you’ve got money you vote in’. It is perhaps not quite as simple as that, but her words touched a nerve. People with third level degrees mostly voted ‘remain’. Those with none generally voted ‘leave’.

It may be uncomfortable for some Quakers to recognise themselves as part of a disliked ‘privileged elite’. Disaffected people revolted against a perceived, remote, group. In this case it is not just bankers in London, politicians in Westminster and bureaucrats in Brussels. It is, for some, people who, for example, passed the eleven plus, enjoyed a university education and had a successful career, often in some form of public service, experienced social mobility, and who have a house, garden and a decent pension. A ‘have’ rather than a ‘have not’.

Was the referendum really about EU membership for all the people of Sunderland? Or was it, for some, a cry of rage – a desperate plea just to be listened to and to have their everyday problems and concerns acknowledged? Britain is a profoundly unequal society – not just in terms of income and wealth. In their brilliant book The Spirit Level Kate Atkinson and Richard Wilkinson presented a compelling narrative: that a highly unequal society is a less contented society. The referendum offers further proof.

In the New Testament the parable of the Good Samaritan tells the story of the man who helped a stranger on a road when others walked by on the other side. The Good Samaritan showed compassion, empathy and mercy. He was a ‘good neighbour’ to the stranger in need. This is the challenge now: to reach out, heal and build bridges.

The people of Sunderland, and in communities like it across Britain, need to be listened to with an open heart and mind – not talked about in a patronising tone and with an air of condescension because of how they voted. They need a good neighbour. The people who voted remain also need, for different reasons, a good neighbour at this time.

Above all, the people who came to this country with hope and who are simply trying to do their best for themselves and their families need a good neighbour. They need to know that those who daub slogans on a Polish Cultural Centre or make unkind and shameful remarks at bus stops are a dangerous and unrepresentative minority who betray the heritage and values of the people of these islands.

Many people today have feelings of despair, apprehension, loss and confusion. It is a time for Friends to be both listeners and good neighbours.

Good neighbours

Ian Kirk-Smith editor, The Friend


News

THE QUAKER COUNCIL for European Affairs (QCEA) has highlighted the importance of Quaker values in the wake of the result of the EU referendum.

‘The UK has decided to step away from an organisation which acts as a mechanism for dialogue, and which is a pillar of peace in Europe and the world,’ said Andrew Lane, representative at QCEA.

He said that more effort is now needed to ‘find ways to keep peace in Europe and to preserve the

positive’ and stressed the need to ensure that the UK does not withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

‘Europe, including the UK, will be in greater need of Quaker values as an antidote to an emboldened far-right and to increased division and volatility that will be felt worst by the most vulnerable,’ he continued.

The UK, he asserted, has voted to leave the EU, but ‘cannot leave Europe, and nor can it walk away from very real global challenges’.

Without the EU, he added: ‘The UK needs to find other ways to work in an integrated way with countries in Europe and beyond to address war, poverty and climate change.’

Immediately after the result was announced QCEA opened the doors of Quaker House Brussels for anyone affected or worried about the UK leaving the EU and set aside space for quiet reflection.

In February 2016 QCEA’s governing council discerned that the UK should remain a member of the EU.

QCEA reaction to referendum result

BRITAIN YEARLY MEETING has made a statement on the EU referendum.

The statement expressed concern that the outcome of the EU referendum and the campaigning that led up to it had ‘shown up and sometimes exacerbated divisions within and between our communities’.

The statement says: ‘There is now a great need for bridge-building, for reaching out to one another in love, trusting that below the political differences lie a shared humanity and a wish for flourishing communities.

‘Inequalities run deep in society and some are exposed by the vote. Quakers in England, Scotland and Wales are committed to working together and

with others – including Quakers across Europe – for a peaceful and just world. In the coming year our Quaker Yearly Meeting will focus on building movements with others locally and globally. We refuse to prejudge who is, or is not, an ally.

‘Turbulent times can be frightening, but the Spirit is a source of strength for all, guiding us in who we are and what we do. We take heart from the knowledge that with change comes opportunity. We will look for creative ways to find common cause, to listen, to influence and to persuade. As the status quo is shaken we and our neighbours must look to one another for support, wisdom and above all ways of healing divisions.’

Quaker comment on EU referendum

Step forward for peace education in ZimbabweTHE QUAKER CHARITY Friends of Hlekweni has joined with a number of other charities and faith groups in a peace education pilot project in Zimbabwe.

Friends of Hlekweni has joined the Brethren in Christ Church, Bulawayo Quakers, Mennonites and Grace to Heal, a local faith-based peacebuilding organisation, on a new advisory council that will oversee the project.

The Peaceful Schools Project will be run by a smaller management committee, and will be led locally by Sibonokuhle Ncube of the Brethren in Christ Church. Four secondary schools and five or six primary schools will take part. Several of the schools supported by Friends of Hlekweni will be invited to participate.

The project will focus on ‘peace clubs’. These are volunteer groups of students who meet to consider

ways to become peace ambassadors in their school. These students are trained to offer peer mediation for fellow students and will work to address bullying or discrimination in schools.

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Don Rowe and peace activity with Hlekweni youth club.

5

[email protected] by Tara Craig

the Friend, 1 July 2016

QUAKERS from Belgium and Luxembourg held their residential Yearly Meeting in Maldegem Youth Hostel, between Bruges and Ghent, from 10-12 June.

Thirty-five Friends – and friends – attended. Among them were representatives of Britain, France and Netherlands Yearly Meetings, and the clerk of the Europe and Middle East Section of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (EMES-FWCC).

The theme, ‘Who am I as a Quaker in this rapidly changing world?’, was facilitated using the Open Space method, in which all those present created the agenda through spontaneous contributions and all-age activities.

‘‘‘Being” was as important as “doing”, and there was much playfulness and quiet thinking,’ Kate Macdonald, clerk of Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting, said.

Kate added that the Meeting also discerned the way forward for initiating an annual statement of membership.

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Being and doing

LEAP CONFRONTING Conflict, the national youth charity founded and supported by Friends, has published its 2015 impact report.

The charity reported that last year it ‘not only worked directly with 1,027 young people, offering them intensive training and support, but also trained 521 of the adults who work with them, like teachers, youth workers and prison officers’.

Highlights in 2015 included the addition of four graduates to its pool of thirty-eight trainers and an initiative that helped 426 young people from five schools in Lambeth to understand peer mediation and conflict resolution.

Collaboration with other organisations was also an important theme in 2015. Leap worked with Fight for Peace and Worth Unlimited to deliver three-day leadership training courses for young people. The charity also began working with Lambeth Youth Offending Service last year in providing conflict resolution training for sixteen young people over six weeks.

Mark Spelman, chair, and Thomas Lawson, chief executive, said the young people they work with had inspired them through ‘their spirit and courage’.

REFUGEE WEEK 2016 took place across Britain between 20 and 26 June.

This year it celebrated acts of welcome shown to refugees by individuals and communities across the United Kingdom and Europe. Friends were among those who took part.

Lichfield Hope Support Group (LHSG), established by Lichfield Friends in 2012, held a fundraising concert on 26 June. Its aim was to raise funds for destitute refugees.

Berry Dicker, of Lichfield Meeting, told the Friend that LHSG was set up ‘to help those refugees who couldn’t go back to the persecution they’d fled but were not given any means to survive in this country’.

It has since broadened its remit and now helps local groups working on behalf of refugees in the United Kingdom or internationally. The concert featured a local choir, the Lichfield University of the Third Age ensemble and two young musicians.

Chichester Friends took part in a vigil for refugees in the Lady Chapel of Chichester Cathedral on 21 June. The vigil ran from Mattins (7.30am) to Evensong (5.30pm) with participants attending both.

The chairmen of two local refugee organisations (Sanctuary in Chichester and Friends Without Borders Portsmouth) spent the day at the vigil and over sixty other people joined for some of the time. The day was punctuated by

seven programmed ‘reflections’ on topics ranging from Calais to the programmed arrival of Syrians in Chichester.

The following day Quaker Michael Woolley, chairman of Friends Without Borders Portsmouth, took part in a panel discussion following a showing of the Stephen Frears film Dirty Pretty Things at the University of Portsmouth.

Central Manchester Friends Stewart and Elizabeth Bailey spoke on grassroots support for asylum seekers, on behalf of Oldham Unity, at a Refugee Week event organised by the North West Regional Asylum Activism project and United for Change, in collaboration with the Portico Library, Manchester and Pod Collective.

Refugee Week 2016: Different pasts, shared future

Being and doing Leap looks back at 2015


BRITAIN YEARLY MEETING staff were among those who led sessions at a national conference for primary schools on peace education, which was held on Friday 24 June at Friends House.

The theme of the conference was ‘Learning through Peace’, and the eighty delegates included head and deputy head teachers, other staff involved in peace education, school governors and children from two schools who acted as ‘roving reporters’ throughout the day.

The workshops included: ‘Creating and embedding a values-based culture’; ‘Developing inner peace for children’s well-being’; and ‘Interfaith tolerance and respect’.

Isabel Cartwright, peace education programme manager for Britain Yearly Meeting, explained why Quakers are hosting this event: ‘The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations earlier this month, called for the UK government

to intensify its efforts to tackle bullying and violence in schools, including through teaching human rights and improving students’ conflict resolution skills.

‘This is why initiatives such as the Peaceful Schools Movement are so important. It’s civil societies’ way of helping teachers, governors, parents/carers, students and others,

to inspire each other to take new steps to build a culture of peace. The Movement encourages schools to work towards building peace at all levels, from inner peace, to inter-personal peace – providing children with the skills to handle conflict constructively – to engaging in wider issues of peace and social justice.’

Learning through peace

THE FIRST EvER Festival of Peace held by Sidcot School, the Quaker school in Somerset, attracted more than 300 visitors.

The festival, which took place on 19 June and was inspired by Refugee Week, aimed to put peace on the map, the organisers said.

Jackie Bagnall, Sidcot School’s director of peace and global studies and creator of the festival, said: ‘We wanted the Sidcot Festival of Peace to provide thought provoking ideas delivered through a variety of ways. From dance, drama, art and poetry, through to song and the spoken word, these ideas centred on identity,

family and home, which are all important themes in today’s world.’

The keynote speaker was writer Sanjida O’Connell. She discussed ‘The Nature of Identity’, exploring multi-culturalism, and encouraging the young people in the audience to find a sense of who they are.

BBC Radio 4’s stand-up poet Matt Harvey performed a selection of his work, including some humorous offerings around the subject of sustainability. His performance included a piece on Quakers that had been commissioned by Sidcot, entitled ‘Something of God in Everyone’.

Launch of peace festival at Sidcot

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Ellis Brooks, peace education and engagement coordinator, working on a strategy with pupils.

Friends attend WCC event in NorwayFIvE QUAKERS were present in different capacities at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting in Trondheim, Norway from 22-28 June. The Friends were able to meet with a local Quaker for Sunday worship.

The WCC continues to work on issues of justice and peace. This year the WCC is particularly concerned

with the Middle East and is also considering the topic of religion and violence.

The result of the UK referendum on Europe, a Friend reported, caused ‘much sadness and discussion’ at the gathering in Trondheim. A message was drafted to send to British member churches accompanying them in prayer in these times of change.

News


‘Have conditions in “the Jungle” improved since you were there in January?’ asked my son, to which I replied: ‘Just as one gets

used to the sight of snails in an English garden, so one quickly becomes acquainted with rats. Everywhere.’

An area that was once tents and shacks is now a field of pale yellow cabbage flowers, and tents are now crammed around the new site of container-like buildings provided by the French authorities. There is an area for caravans, but as more people arrive each day it is difficult to see how the prohibition to not use the fields will be maintained. A line of thriving shops runs up the main street, with cardamom tea and delicious food as well as basic groceries, for those who can buy.

My remit this time was to locate volunteers who were making efforts to help unaccompanied children link up with relatives here in the UK, and I soon made contacts whose work I could contribute to. However, I was quickly enrolled to help where there is immense need – teaching English to young men, some of them unaccompanied minors. An effective programme has been set up with trained volunteer TEFL ESOL [Teaching English as a Foreign Language and English for Speakers of Other Languages] teachers from England and France in the ‘Jungle Books’ – an area of shacks for a library and two schoolrooms. These remained after some fires were set in March. I was quickly enrolled on the basis of my experience in teaching and in mental health with young people.

Each day an effective programme is run by long-term volunteers, French and English, from 11am until after 6pm. I took on the stragglers who wanted less formal lessons. These included some who were illiterate in their own language to those who were almost fluent.

Thoughtful donors have provided a series of books designed for early learners in addition to many classics, and I enjoyed introducing Michael Morpurgo and Lewis Carroll to the near fluent. In these groups the young men shyly opened up about their own stories, and my mental health qualifications came into use. One young man suffers with body dysmorphia, another with recurrent nightmares, and several young

men seemed, to me, close to serious depressions. These reactions are to be expected in such abnormal

conditions, and talking about them took away some of the terror – ‘normalising’ them – but continuing support would be preferable to such sporadic input. Another social worker I spoke to told me that he had not been able to source any reliable long-term support from the medical services onsite.

A group of otherwise robust teens showed me the physical scars from attempting to enter England. Falling off lorries or trains is anticipated, albeit something of a hindrance to escape plans. One showed me evidence of a broken leg and elbow; another, a gashed face.

Each night they walk four miles to the ferry port and attempt to hide. My attempts at arranging a lesson for ‘next day’ met with conspiratorial grins – ‘maybe in England’. News quickly spread when one of the youngsters had made it, while others would turn up for a lesson the next day with eyes still watering from being randomly tear-gassed when trying to leave the camp after dark. During one session, a young Iranian asked me why ‘you people come into jungle?’ I replied in the words I had heard from so many volunteers from all over the world: ‘Because we are ashamed of our own government’s response at your situation.’

He looked at me searchingly and said: ‘Thank you, this means a lot.’ Some volunteers have been there for almost six months and burnout is evident. The treadmill nature of their heroic efforts are scattered all around this wasteland, in the form of discarded clothing, thrown away when too dirty to wear because clothes washing and drying through winter was nearly impossible. One young woman volunteer cried at the plight of people as she ferried goods, and me, in her van to and from the warehouse: ‘We are perpetuating a really bad situation. Unless governments get their act together, this camp will go on and on.’

Away from ‘the Jungle’, on meadowland beside the Eurotunnel, tiny amethyst-coloured orchids bloom and thrushes call melodiously. Hope springs eternal.

Anne is a member of Friends House Meeting.

Witness

Return to Calais

Anne M Jones reports on a recent visit to ‘the Jungle’

8

Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend


Jo Cox’s legacyI was at a very low ebb, praying daily ‘lead me from anxiety to serenity’ to no avail. This unusual state of mind, for me, was due to the deterioration in health of two of my closest friends; the refugee crisis; and the looming cloud of ‘the Referendum’, each of which filled me with sadness and foreboding. I was about to give up Tai Chi as I couldn’t remember ‘the form’, although I value it!

Then, suddenly, I witnessed something on television, which lifted me above all these negative issues. It was the emergence of a life that I had never heard of, which was prompted by her untimely death. For me it was ‘a Martin Luther King’ moment, a realisation (although I knew it) that there are people like Jo Cox who want to make the world a better place and they can be MPs!

These ‘hidden jewels’ are loved and respected locally, nationally and internationally and through their lives we can transcend tribalism, nationalism and consumerism – in fact, all the ‘isms’.

So, through genuine compassion for all, especially the weak and vulnerable, within our pain-filled world we can achieve harmony through just one wonderful, positive life. I thank you, Jo. May your legacy of courage live on in each of us.

Marie MillerBexhill-on-Sea Meeting, East Sussex

EU referendumAt a time when motivation for the global common good is so needed, I am ashamed that my country has fostered a reverse process of personal and nationalistic self-interest.

Howard GraceNewbury Meeting, Berkshire

Friends looking for practical steps to take in response to last week’s Brexit vote might consider the following:– opening the Meeting house as a space for anyone

affected by Brexit to come and sit, or have a chat and a cup of tea. The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) did this the day after the referendum for workers in Brussels.

– making a cake and taking it round to neighbours from other countries (European or not) to let them know they are still wanted and welcome in the UK.Oliver Robertson 10 Cannon Street, Reading RG1 7PH

I am reminded, while pondering gloomily the future of my country, that a majority of my fellow citizens are cock-a-hoop with jubilation. Yet, I have an inveterate preference for construction over destruction and, in spite of the law of entropy that states ‘in the long run the forces of disintegration will win out against those of cohesion’, think it not beyond the human heart and

ingenuity to make a better fist at progress to a more just and peaceable world.

One has to admit there is more energy in knocking things down than building things up (let alone main-taining or improving things). The image comes to me of an optimistic father on the beach who builds an impressive sandcastle only for his child, who then promptly kicks it back into its constituent grains of silica.

Yes, there is a greater energy in the processes of destruction. While some Brexiters rejoice exuberantly, I suspect that those of us who voted ‘Remain’, if things had gone our way, would have been happy to make do with a quiet, if heartfelt, sigh of relief.

Let me face it: the Brexiters just had that more energy going for them. There’s a lesson in this for me and, perhaps, others.

John AndersonTaunton Meeting, Somerset

The referendum has revealed great division in Britain. The highest social classes have been for ‘Remain’ and the lowest for ‘Leave’. It is interesting, but not unexpected, that the Quaker voice was very strongly for ‘Remain’. Indeed, there was considerable pressure in Meetings across the country to do the right thing – vote ‘Remain’ – with Friends in some Meetings actively discouraged from voicing a different view. The implication was that anyone voting to leave was against immigration. In fact, most leave voters could see the benefits of immigration but wanted it to be controlled and provision made for the numbers coming in. The Brexit win has highlighted the great divide in our society. Now, more than ever, we need good leadership and unity from our political leaders. Let us pray for that.

As Friends, however we voted, now is the time to listen to and side with those who are marginalised in our society, who find it hard to get work, andwith those heavily dependent on the welfare state, housing, healthcare and education. Food for thought.

Ruth HustlerExmouth Meeting, Devon

Being a QuakerI was surprised to discover that although Quaker history is full of individuals living their faith in action by undertaking various acts of philanthropy and all-round general good in the world, it has been stained – as any group is – by the misdeeds of some.

During the 1920s, some American Quakers were members of the Ku Klux Klan. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many Quakers still owned slaves – even though they were one of the first groups to publicly denounce slavery.

This is why I ask: how well do we manage to actually live out the beliefs and testimonies in our own lives?


The Friend welcomes your views.

Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words).

Please include your full postal address, even when sending emails, and specify whether you wish for your postal or email address or Meeting name to be used with your name.

Letters are published at the editor’s discretion and may be edited.

In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty,

in all things charity.

[email protected]

Being a Quaker isn’t just a matter of attending Meeting for Worship every week; it’s a whole way of life. I may call myself a pacifist, yet I am still violent in both thought and word. For me, personally, being a Quaker means undergoing rigorous self-scrutiny – I continually ask myself whether I am actually living out what I believe.

This is why, for us to progress in this wonderful journey of life, we must continually examine ourselves and the way we lead our lives. We must not allow ourselves to be like the priests in the story of the Good Samaritan, who go around preaching about goodness, only to never act upon it. We must follow the leadings of the Spirit and attend to what love requires of us.

Catherine WarrCarlton Hill Meeting, Leeds

‘That of God in everyone’I am grateful to John Lampen for his thoughtful and intelligent observation (24 June). ‘That of good in everyone’ is clearly not what early Friends had in mind by the words ‘that of God…’ Nor is it what most of us probably envision when we use the phrase.

The difficulty which many Quakers have, as do millions of others of many faiths, with the word ‘God’, is that it is a word which when capitalised has so very many definitions that we may hesitate to employ it. This is nothing new. In the eighteenth century time of the Enlightenment, it became common to use locutions such as ‘Divine Providence’ and ‘Our Creator’ as a way of not committing to a concept of a large white-bearded figure on a throne in a mysterious place in the sky (as depicted in religious paintings) who knows all and can take purposeful miraculous action to change things. That’s why, when asked by a visiting evangelical or a Friend in friendly discussion whether I ‘believe in God’, I either just say ‘yes’ to keep matters simple, or I say ‘well, that depends what you mean by the word’ and take it from there.

Like many others, I flounder when looking for words to clarify what that word means to me. I am surer in discerning what it does not mean. John Lampen has shone a wise light for us in our search for truth.

Henning SievertsIpswich & Diss Area Meeting

PopulationI have the same concern as Anne Adams (24 June); visiting our granddaughters is definitely a priority for us. However, they are also a motivation! I wonder what sort of world we are leaving Claire, Kate and Anya. The steps that we have taken are: to minimise our travel; to drive a vehicle that gets seventy-two miles to the gallon of gasoline (perhaps someone could translate that into kilometres per litre of petrol!) – with the aid of a battery that is recharged by photovoltaics;

and by eating little meat. The latter, approaching vegetarianism, is as important for the environment as is travel, but is seldom discussed. As a physician I also know how important it is to eat more veggies and fruit.

Richard GrossmanColorado Monthly Meeting, USA

In response to Anne Adams letter, there are a lot of things you can do about it. No one would want one’s grandchildren to be done away with, and conversation is difficult, but how about talking about population as a general principal, without pointing fingers, or saying that you have just come across this website (qcop.org.uk) and asking what people think of it. How about supporting a national campaigning body, like Population Matters (www.populationmatters.org), or supporting Marie Stopes International, who in 2015 provided contraception for twenty-one million people, prevented 6.3 million unplanned pregnancies and four million unsafe abortions and saved 18,100 women’s lives.

Roger PlentyNailsworth Meeting, Gloucestershire

Lost in translationI was moved by John Anderson’s ‘Thought for the Week’ (17 June), showing his quandary about ministry which brought him ‘inexorable… grief ’ (Quaker faith & practice 21.38). Especially moving were his words ‘with those who are inwardly weeping’.

I resonate with that. I have just come through emergency surgery to remove half my bowel for malignant cancer. It is not easy for my friends to use the right words. Words of a hymn come into my mind: ‘I will weep when you are weeping.’

Jill Allum Beccles Meeting, Suffolk


Suzanne (Jill) Bennett is fifty-seven and a member of Sidmouth Meeting. She took off to travel through South America on her own earlier this year with the

intention of making her way slowly down the continent – travelling, exploring the culture and offering her services as a nurse wherever she felt it appropriate.

In January she attended the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) gathering in Pisac, Peru. After the event, she had just arrived in Otavalo, Ecuador, to start voluntary work in a clinic there when the catastrophic earthquakes occurred nearby.

When she heard that volunteer emergency teams were gathering in the square she joined the first response team that travelled to the devastated region.

Suzanne has been in regular contact with Friends at Sidmouth. In one correspondence she describes her experience of seeing the effects of the earthquake at first hand:

The team I went with are called ‘Topos’ Azteca, a search and rescue organisation initiated in Mexico – totally based on volunteers, with groups worldwide – that responds to disasters worldwide. It is difficult and dangerous work – digging under rubble, looking for life or bodies, paramedics and nurses on hand to give treatment if people are found alive, care for the team

doing the search and give medical help to people from the area as often hospitals… are not functioning. I was with medics, not involved in digging, thankfully.

We left on Sunday 17 April, travelled overnight to Pedernarles, one of the centres of devastation on the coast, staying two days, then on to Portoviejo for four days as [there were] less rescue teams there and the whole of the centre is devastated and will need rebuilding. It’s a catastrophe for the country as a recent recession means they have no money and difficult to see how they will be able to rebuild.

There’s much pride here in their country and [a] will to help all those in need. People are camped along the streets and throng at collection points for water, food, help. Topos folk are held in high regard. We were cheered as we travelled on a bus with a medical unit. Shouts of ‘Viva Ecuador’ often passed to and fro, and at every place we met with people. I found this very moving: the pride, the passion, the heartache.

The devastation

By the scale of devastation, I suspect many more are dead than the 550-odd stated thus far. Our team found no live people, [but] a dead baby, and initiated a search for many more dead suspected under layers

Faith in action

A helping hand

Suzanne (Jill) Bennett writes about the earthquake in Ecuador

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of concrete. Silence to hear cries for help, smelling to detect odour of dead bodies, dogs, all used to aid search. Conditions for all of us obviously rough, little running water, electricity, facilities, heat, dust, mosquitos, two aftershocks while we were there of 6.1… aargh… but, many had died and lost their homes.

It was grim, but we were thankful to be alive. For safety reasons no one was allowed to go out of the areas we worked in or slept in alone in case of a quake. We camped in an area of rough ground, and on a small area of grass in a large (severely damaged) military/police base in Portoviejo, all very basic but manageable. It’s surprising how quickly you adapt to a different level of comfort. So, for me, at first it was a huge challenge. I was unsure I could cope. I was acutely aware, as we travelled, [that] the risk to my life had shot up. I was travelling to a very dangerous situation with a team of thirty-plus Ecuadorians I didn’t know, in a group that ran on quasi-military lines, which was completely unfamiliar. I was speaking a language I was struggling to grasp, unable totally to understand the leader, who talked very rapidly, giving important information and instructions I needed to know about in the critical setting we were in, and bunking up in a few tents in a very grotty site.

A time of connection

However, the team were an absolute delight and joy to come to know and work with. They seemed delighted and intrigued to have me with them and took me into their group. I think the very fact I’d turned up and wanted to help touched them (and many others) deeply, and was a psychological boost. They are a wonderful and friendly bunch, who held me beautifully through every moment when I needed help. They watched out for me – often ‘Suzanne vamos’ (‘let’s go’) was the cue to action.

In many ways it was a wonderful time of connection, friendship [and] much laughter, all of which I enjoyed immensely and was just what I needed. I was entranced by the care and flow of friendship and affection throughout the group, the level at which everyone looked out for each other, the continual upbeat banter, fun, and camaraderie, and coming to know the people of Ecuador more deeply. A rare privilege. Much of the time I didn’t know when, where or why we were going as we clambered into pick ups and buses. I discovered others sometimes didn’t know either. One said: ‘I just go with the water’ – a nice phrase.

What helped immensely was to just be in the moment completely and not think about the next. Sometimes I needed to just breathe for a moment and be aware all was OK – a good exercise on trust. It was great not to have to make decisions for a while, route find, negotiate

bus stations and find accommodation. Food turned up magically in the middle of the day, brought in by locals to support rescue teams.

Once the team, mostly men, knew I was OK and staying (some don’t) after a few days, like the true Ecuadorian males I’d heard about, they virtually queued up to flirt with me and suggest I might like them as boyfriends. It was all done in good fun, not heavy and often was a great laugh. Good for my ego, too, even if much to do with attraction of England and entering country, and lure of relatively well off Europeans. As Ecuadorians are flocking to leave the country in recession, Americans are moving here as [it is] cheaper to live.

Speeches

One of the things I learned about Ecuador[ians] is [that] they love giving speeches. Before we left Otavalo there were hours of dignitaries giving speeches. At every meeting with local officials there’d be speeches, counter speeches, on and on. I couldn’t believe it. I thought: ‘Hey, people are dying and we spend hours standing around doing formalities???’

They love the formalities and often include some prayers in the gatherings, and, of course, the chants of ‘viva Ecuador’. Sometimes it felt we spent more time on this than on the work.

On the way home we stopped at the Mitad del Mundo where [the] equator is, and the longer established Mexican group lined up to one side of the equator line and the Otavalo group on the other. There then proceeded a bizarre initiation ritual for all the Otavalo group, a more newly formed group, carried out by the Mexican group. By this time I had been invited to join ‘Topos’ and was very happy to do so. I felt strongly that I’d been called to this work with this group.

The Mexicans lined up in front of the Otavalo line [of team members], passed some words with them and then slapped them three times across the face, sometimes very hard, sometimes less hard. All Mexicans would slap each of the Otavalan team members as they moved down the line. This, apparently, is meant as a gesture of recognition that in the work you face hardship and so can easily withstand a mere slap, and [is] also related to lessening of ego. So, now, one way or other I am proud to say I am a member of Topos, the only one from England as yet, and could be called on to help in disaster areas worldwide.

I’m loving being here and feeling part of this community.

Suzanne (Jill) is a member of Sidmouth Meeting. She is in South America on a minute from Devon Area Meeting.


After three years of considering ‘What it means to be a Quaker today’, Britain Yearly Meeting has now just had the second of three sessions

focused on ‘Living out our faith in the world’. How far are we getting in these long discernments?

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect to get anywhere in our successive Yearly Meetings; perhaps it is enough for us to gather, see one another’s faces and remind ourselves again who we are. It’s an expensive way of proceeding, though, and meanwhile the world continues to burn. Moreover, our numbers continue to decline (members and attenders down to a total of 23,067 at the end of 2015, down 794 on 2014). Can we save the world before there are too few of us to try?

At this year’s Yearly Meeting (YM) there was less time than last year to concentrate on the theme of living out our faith in the world, but in among all the other business there was consideration of ‘how we use our gifts, how we recognise, test and support concerns, and how we work with others’.

These three questions were set up in Documents in advance in the introductions to the agenda items: 8 (gifts), 24 (concerns) and 26 (movement building). Though there were signposts earlier in the Meeting, the main minutes from these discussions were agreed in the Monday morning session, in the form of a long minute 34, covering gifts and concerns, and a brief minute 35, introducing movement building as a theme for next YM (the gathering at Warwick in 2017).

Living out our faith

The preparation in Documents in advance and the subsequent structuring of discussion in YM itself rest on two key assumptions about how we can live out our faith in the world:

(a) that we need to recognise our own and other people’s Spirit-given gifts and to encourage one another to develop and exercise these gifts; and

(b) that we live out our faith, and use our gifts, in the world, according to how we are led by God, expressing our leading as a concern, for testing and support by our Meetings.

(a) and (b) do not seem particularly closely linked, in the sense that one must recognise or develop gifts before taking up a concern, or rely on gifts for following a concern through.

They do have in common, however, that they both come from God, and one might imagine that God could supply someone with the gifts needed to follow a particular leading, or direct a leading towards someone with the requisite gifts.

Working with others, or movement building, does not seem to require any further divine foundation, but involves more practical considerations of how to cooperate and find common cause with others.

Quaker life

Road blocks

Ian Beeson writes about road blocks to concerted action in the world: the limiting language of concerns and gifts

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Gifts and concerns

Trying to build a way of living out our faith in the world on a conceptual foundation of gifts and concerns seems limited and retrogressive, in these three ways:

• The reliance on God for both gifts and concerns cannot much appeal to the universalists and nontheists among us, let alone to people outside Quakers we might want to work with. Some people will be uncomfortable with claiming they have had a leading from God or have a gift from God, or with agreeing that someone else has. The language and practice of raising a concern will seem awkward to some and may fall into disuse.

• The slow failure of the circulatory system among Friends in Britain, whereby business is drawn upwards and downwards through the levels of the structure, will produce a gradual withering away of concerns in the life of the Society. Area Meetings are poorly attended and Meeting for Sufferings is reduced in size and confidence; both have their authority sapped by trustees and managers. Concerns occasionally still appear, but Meetings are more likely to pass them on than try to deal with them.

• The insistence (most clearly seen in the quotes included in the section on concern in Quaker faith & practice, by Roger Wilson (13.07, 1949) and William Charles Braithwaite (13.10, 1909)) that a concern must be seen as a gift or leading from God (and cannot merely be a strong desire) and that new truth only emerges with individuals (not with communities) simultaneously knocks out or downgrades any role for reason, analysis or argument, and discounts the possibility of codiscovery or collaborative enlightenment.

Embracing new methods

The combined effect of these three limitations is to make it relatively easy for Quakers to frame their actions in the world as personal callings or inspirations, and offer a mechanism for building a local support base. They make it less easy, however, for us to work together, across time and distance, using reason and argument as well as inspiration, to develop, implement and adjust a plan for concerted action in the world. This must be why we are having so much trouble currently trying to articulate our next ‘framework for action’ or to express, as Friends did during world war one, the ‘foundations of a true social order’.

Can we embrace new methods of investigation, discussion and cooperation that will give us some chance of intervening effectively in a complex and fast changing world, without sacrificing the essential core of our Quakerism? I believe so.

George Fox and the early Quakers saw that, though the world is beyond our full understanding, we are always able to tap into and draw from a more profound and more universal level of being. They developed from this insight our practice of ‘waiting in the Light’.

When we are waiting in the Light, beyond ego and with focused attention, we are still present to one another and could, in this state, do more to commune and act with one another. We could from there build new phases into our fundamental method of worship (and business) that would enable us to formulate and start to implement joint action. No peculiar language or practices are required, apart from a readiness to move when the Light pushes.

Ian is a member of Redland Meeting.

‘Concern’ is a word which has tended to become debased by excessively common usage among Friends, so that too often it is used to cover merely a strong desire. The true ‘concern’ [emerges as] a gift from God, a leading of his spirit which may not be denied. Its sanction is not that on investigation it proves to be the intelligent thing to do – though it usually is; it is that the individual… knows, as a matter of inward experience, that there is

something that the Lord would have done, however obscure the way, however uncertain the means to human observation. Often proposals for action are made which have every appearance of good sense, but as the

meeting waits before God it becomes clear that the proposition falls short of ‘concern’.

Roger Wilson, 1949Quaker faith & practice 13.07


One of the ways that contemporary Quaker practice has become impoverished is by the loss of a shared spiritual language. Instead of

a common vocabulary for sharing our experiences and understanding, we have a multitude of individual languages that often rely on borrowing from a wide range of other traditions.

We have come to assume that the only way we can communicate at all is by trying to ‘translate’ each other’s words into some other terms that are meaningful for us. This may work when our experiences are similar enough that we are ‘just using different words to talk about the same thing’. But it doesn’t help us to hear and to take seriously Friends whose experience is significantly different to our own. By translating their words into our own preferred language, we sidestep the reality of difference, instead of allowing ourselves to be challenged and enriched by it.

The absence of a shared language can also be an obstacle when we want to produce collective statements, such as minutes or outreach materials. If we try to include only words that no one will object to, we are left with an increasingly restricted vocabulary that is ever more dominated by the bureaucratic language of the wider culture.

There is an alternative. We could choose to cultivate a contemporary Quaker language that is rich enough to express the full diversity of our varied experiences. There is an extraordinarily creative spiritual vocabulary to draw upon in the writings of Quakers throughout our history. A contemporary language would also be continually open to whatever images, words and symbols arise from our current experience of Quaker practices.

A shared Quaker language would include multiple images and metaphors that reflect the multifaceted nature of spiritual reality. Quaker practices open us to the possibility of encounter with a reality that may be experienced as personal and impersonal, masculine, feminine, immanent, transcendent or otherwise.

So, words and symbols such as ‘God’, ‘the Guide’ or ‘Inward Christ’ might be recognised as valid ways of expressing the personal nature of some of our experiences – such as a sense of loving presence and guidance. At the same time, and without contradiction, such a language would also include impersonal images such as ‘Light’, ‘Energy’ or ‘Oneness’, which can point to experiences of illumination, empowerment and interrelationship.

A shared language would involve accepting all of these images as valid, but none of them as sufficient in themselves. It would be rich enough to enable everyone to express the depth and variety of our personal experiences. At the same time its diversity would point towards the inexpressible nature of spiritual reality, which is always beyond our capacity to fully name, identify or control. By acknowledging the validity of numerous ways of encountering spiritual reality, it would also create space for change and growth in our religious understanding, so we might be less inclined to rely on narrow theologically-defined identities.

Instead of defending our own concepts and images, and trying to exclude those used by other Friends, we might recognise a wide range of experiences, images and symbols as equally important for expressing the full range of Quaker experience.

Many of us also draw insight and inspiration from other religious traditions, and would continue to make use of other spiritual languages as well. But a sufficiently rich Quaker language would not depend on importing concepts from other traditions. It would be broad and subtle enough to communicate the breadth and depth of Quaker experience with each other and with the wider world – including the varied insights and commitments that arise from our shared Quaker practices and their practical expression in our lives.

Craig is a member of Sheffield & Balby Area Meeting.

Quaker renewal

A shared language

Craig Barnett continues his series on Quaker renewal


AUSTRALIANS are known for their love of travelling – and age is no barrier when it comes to Quakers.

Last month Australian Friend Dorothy Benyei made a nostalgic visit to the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham as part of her ninetieth birthday celebrations.

It was Dorothy’s third visit to Woodbrooke. The Melbourne Friend visited in 1991 and in 1994, when she spent three months there as a Woodbrooke student. On her latest visit, Dorothy spent time with Betty Hagglund, project development officer for the centre for postgraduate Quaker studies at Woodbrooke. They found and studied documents from 1994, which featured photos and articles that Dorothy had worked on during her stay.

[email protected] a look at the Quaker world

A vISIT to Gloucester Meeting left one Friend reflecting on historical connections. Antony Barlow, of Sutton Meeting, joined Friends in worship prior to talking about his recent book, He is our cousin, cousin.

He told Eye: ‘As I sat in Meeting… I realised that, with my presence on that day, members of my family had been worshipping in that very building for nearly 200 years.’

Antony also discovered the gravestones of a number of his ancestors at the Meeting, including Jane Bowly,

‘the wife of one of Gloucester’s most eminent citizens, Samuel Bowly, whose lifelong campaign against slavery was widely acknowledged, as was his staunch pacifism… His daughter Martha married Frederick Goodall Cash… [her] youngest daughter Mabel, my grandmother, was born in the city and worshipped there as a young lady and later with her husband John Henry Barlow, the future clerk of Yearly Meeting.

‘I felt humbled and honoured to be part of such a long tradition.’

A long tradition

THE GuARDIAn’S Lyn Gardner referenced Quakerism in her review of the Brighton staging of Neil Bartlett’s play Stella, which has since moved to Hoxton Hall in London.

Stella is about real-life nineteenth century cross-dresser Ernest Boulton, who reinvented himself as Stella. ‘A bright butterfly who lit up the West End’, Stella lived with a Tory MP until she was brought down by scandal.

Sixty-five-year-old Ernest and twenty-one-year-old Stella are the main characters of the play. The show, ‘like so much of [Neil] Bartlett’s work, succeeds in being as plain as a Quaker funeral and yet disconcertingly voluptuous…’

LINDA MURRAY HALE, from Southern Marches Area Meeting, did a double-take when she came across this sign outside The vaults pub in Bishops Castle.

Alas, the Paul Parker starring in this ‘rootsy Americana, Folk and Blues’ five-piece band is not the recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, though the group makes up for this lack with not one but two ukulele players.

Plain and voluptuous

Musical outreach?

‘AT THE STILL POINT of the turning world… there the dance is.’

These words from T S Eliot’s ‘Burnt Norton’ have long put Alan Russell, of East Cheshire Area Meeting, in mind of a Quaker Meeting. He told Eye: ‘Thus I felt it quite appropriate when my wife Kathleen, who sometimes overlooks her typos, recently sent round to Friends a document headed “Minuets”.’

A slow, stately dance

Photo: Linda Murray Hale.

Friend retraces steps at Woodbrooke

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Organising an event?Put a Diary notice in the Friend!

Friends&MeetingsChanges to meeting

Notices

Diary

Births

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Memorial meetings

the Friend, 1July 201616

BUNHILL FIELDS MEETINGHOUSE is closed to outside users1-11 July for refurbishment. Meetingfor Worship will still be held at 11amon Sunday 3 and 10 July, but in adifferent space with limited facilities.

QUAKER FAMILY HISTORYSOCIETY London Meeting andAGM in The Endsleigh Suite,Friends House, 173-177 EustonRoad, London NW1 2BJ, at 11amSaturday 9 July. Details on theQFHS website www.qfhs.co.uk oremail [email protected]

Eric RIGBY A memorial meeting togive thanks for the grace of God inEric’s life will be held at BeverleyFMH, Quaker Lane, Woodlands,Beverley, HU17 8BY, 2.30pm Saturday9 July. Enquiries: 01482 886131 [email protected]

Robert Eliot HUNTER 22 June,a son for Chris and Den, brother forGeorgia and granddaughter forColin and Angela Hunter. Currentaddress Thurlibeer, Stratton, Bude,Cornwall EX23 9NP.

CHRISTIAN QUAKER MEETINGMeets every Sunday at BunhillFields FMH (near Old Street under-ground) at 4pm for untimedworship and fellowship. For ourinternational Skype meeting visitwww.quakersineurope.orgEnquiries Simon 020 8469 2901.

QUAKER ARTS NETWORK SPRING 2017 EXHIBITIONExhibition proposals invited for acorridor exhibition at FriendsHouse in Spring 2017. Closing datefor submissions 2 December 2016.For terms of reference seewww.quakerarts.net or [email protected]

Jean Margaret SMITH (néeScholefield) 22 June, peacefully inYork Hospital. Wife of the late Mick,mother of Anne and Mike, grand-mother of William, Craig, Ben andLily. Member of New EarswickMeeting, formerly of Macclesfield,Keynsham and Scholes Meetings.Aged 84. Cremation followed byMeeting for Worship 2pm Monday11 July at Scholes Meeting House.Enquiries: [email protected]

David HICKSON 22 June. Funeralto be held at Skipton Crematorium2.10pm Friday 8 July followed byMemorial Meeting at Ilkley QuakerMeeting House LS29 9QJ at 4pm.Enquiries: 01943 830788.

For how to place a notice [email protected] / 01535 630230.

1 Jul 28/6/16 14:48 Page 6

the Friend, 1 July 2016 17

Friends Historical Society Gathering11am - 4pm Saturday 9 JulySaffron Walden Meeting HouseMetford Robson - A Quaker meeting in the 1950s

Sylvia Stevens - Diaries of John Ransome,a mid-18th Century Quaker

Plus a Quaker walk round Saffron Walden.All are welcome, whether members of FHS or not.Enquiries to: [email protected]

THEILHARD DE CHARDIN:LIVING IN THE DIVINE MILIEUSaturday 9 July 10.30am – 4.30pm.With Prof Ursula King. Faith andScience. Details and booking:The Meditatio Centre, Myddelton Sq,London EC1R [email protected]/020 7278 2070.

SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR A Study course, Charney Manor,9 - 12 October 2016. Led by JohnLampen with Jane Lapotaire.Including a performance at theRoyal Shakespeare Theatre. Forfurther information or to book,please contact Anne HickmottTel: 01235868206 or email:[email protected]

BritainYearlyMeetingHead of Member EngagementSalary: £45,983 per annum. Contract: Permanent.Hours: Full time - 35 Hours per weekLocation: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1

Are you supportive, persuasive and approachable? Do you careabout the details whilst still seeing the bigger picture? Are you agreat communicator and an even better listener? Can you talkabout money without embarrassment?

Britain Yearly Meeting seeks a talented and committed individual tobecome Head of Member Engagement. You will make sure thatrole-holders running Quaker meetings are well-supported, that ourcommunications with members are effective, find ways to engageQuakers with the work done nationally in their name, and leadBYM’s fundraising efforts.

You’ll join our Communication & Services Department to lead ateam of 8-10 colleagues, who work on behalf of BYM Trusteesand Quaker Life Central Committee to deliver services andcommunicate effectively to Quaker meetings, and to raise incomefrom contributions, legacies and grants.

You’ll need a good feel for what makes the Quaker community tick,bold ideas for how to excite and involve them, excellent interpersonalskills, and line-management experience. If you’ve done somefundraising too, we’d like to hear about it.

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Ethical money guideGet the new July/August 2016issue of Ethical Consumer maga-zine, with a comprehensive guideto the most ethically soundcurrent and savings account, ISAand mortgage providers.

Please send me .......... copies ofthe Ethical Consumer EthicalMoney issue at £4.25 each (plus£1.25 postage on single copies).Cheque enclosed payable toThe Friend Publications for £.........

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YORKSHIRE DALES/1652 COUNTRY.Settle Meeting B&B in Friends' homes.£20pp to improve wardens' accommoda-tion. Contact Alison Tyas 01729 822677.

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miscellaneous

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HOUSE/GARDEN/CAT SITTER wanted forcottage in rural setting. Leeds 11 miles,York 17 miles. 2 weeks at end of August.Regular busses within 1 woodland mile.0113 281 3376. [email protected]

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BRITISH/SWISS FAMILY with children,no pets, non-smokers, seek modest,unfurnished 3/4 bed house with gardento rent for 6 - 12 months, anywhere inHertfordshire. Please call 01823 413924,email: [email protected]

NEAR KINGSTON UPON THAMES,Quaker has 3-bedroomed semi to let inshared garden, from September. Loweredrent in exchange for neighbourlycompanionship and help with garden.Please email: [email protected]

NORWICH HOUSE SHARE WANTEDfrom end of August, for newly qualifiedmale teacher from Quaker family. Pleaseemail: [email protected]

SOUTHERN FRANCE Centre QuakerCongénies. Walk, cycle, lovely valley. Sharecamaraderie/worship with Friends. Relaxin our pleasant garden. S/C Kitchen.www.centre-quaker-congenies.org or call+33 466 71 46 41, +33 466 35 27 16.

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DO YOU FEEL ABLE TO SHARE YOURspiritual/psychic experiences and questionswith Friends in your Meeting? If not,Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studiescould be for you. Contact Angela Howard(clerk), Webb’s Cottage, Woolpits Road,Saling, Braintree, Essex, CM7 5DZ. [email protected] or www.quakerfellowshipforafterlifestudies.co.ukFree magazine “Reaching Out”.

SOUTH EAST LONDON. Room withbathroom to let in Friendly family house.Peaceful green outlook, 20 minutes fromVictoria, 30 minutes from Charing Cross.£475 per month including [email protected]

ACCOUNTING SERVICESCharity Accounts prepared.

Independent Examinations carried out.Bookkeeping Services.

ContactDavid Stephens FCCA

on 07843 766685.Email: [email protected]

QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES,Partnerships, commitments, notices andother calligraphy. Liz Barrow 01223 369776.

WRITING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY?Books typeset for your family’s pleasure.Photos and other graphics can be included.Contact Trish on 01223 [email protected] printed material also prepared.

BritainYearlyMeetingChildren & Young People InternshipSalary: £20,926 per annum. Hours: Full time - 35 hours per weekContract: 12 months fixed term from September 2016.Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic candidate who is insympathy with the values of Quakers and who wishes to developtheir skills through an internship. This post supports the Childrenand Young People’s Team in Quaker Life.

This new role offers the chance to work within a supportive Quakerteam and to provide support to the Children and Young People’s(CYP) Team in relation to preparation and delivery of CYPprogrammes at Yearly Meeting Gathering; to work alongside theteam to support the administration and promotion of their widerwork; and to develop the post-holder’s potential by providingexperience of youth work in a Quaker setting, project co-ordination,event organisation, planning and facilitation.

The internship programme is intended as a learning opportunity andthere is an expectation the post holder will undertake additionaltraining or development, as well as having the chance to make areal and worthwhile contribution.

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Closing date Sunday 17 July 2016. Interviews Monday 25 July.

For further information about CYP, go tohttp://www.quaker.org.uk/children-and-young-people and fordetails on how to apply, go to www.quaker.org.uk/jobs

BYM is committed to Equality in all its employment practices.Registered Charity No. 1127633.

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• Do you have sympathy with Quaker values and think that you’llbe able to work with Quaker structures, committees anddecision-making practices?

• Can you manage projects in an effective, organised andtransparent way?

Closing date: Monday 11 July 2016 - 9am.Interviews: Wednesday 20 July 2016.

For further information and details on how to apply, pleasevisit: www.quaker.org.uk/jobs

BYM is committed to equality in all its employment practices.

Registered Charity No. 1127633.

SixWeeksMeetingHonorary TreasurerWould you like to help us lookafter the 34 Meeting Housesacross London? It’s an interestingand stimulating challenge.

We have an annual budget ofover £1m and an investmentportfolio of around £0.5m. Weare becoming a limited companyand registered charity.

As Treasurer you would, withsupport from staff and financecommittee, provide the Trusteeswith financial guidance andsupport in accordance withbest practice and currentstatutory requirements.

This could be an excitingopportunity for a financiallyqualified younger Friend to gainexperience as a Trustee, or fora recently retired Friend tocontribute their experience.Those in work are alsowelcome.

Ideally you would live within theLondon area. Our office isbased, and meetings are held,in Friends House.

To learn more please contactthe Clerk, Beth Allen, by31 July 2016, email:[email protected]

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