Monday, November 17, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Quaker Street: end of the road?
Quaker Street was my first blog, started at the back end of August 2005. I wrote on it, off and on, for three years. It details the highs and lows of parts of my life over that period, in particular focusing on my Quaker life and experience.
For now, I'm working predominantly on other projects, including the day job, in which I work to help others publish writing and other work related to their Quaker experience.
Thanks for stopping by.
Peace and light,
Jez
8/10/8.
For now, I'm working predominantly on other projects, including the day job, in which I work to help others publish writing and other work related to their Quaker experience.
Thanks for stopping by.
Peace and light,
Jez
8/10/8.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
East Africa Yearly Meeting North 2007 epistle
Our Friends in East Africa Yearly Meeting – North (Quakers) have different views about homosexuality to many Quakers in Britain Yearly Meeting
For many months, while the Anglican Church tackles these issues, the Quakers have been giving them quiet consideration.
One of the main points of contention for British Friends, was whether or not to publish the EAYM-N(Q) epistle. In the end they chose not to do so. It was a difficult decision and questions about the suitability for publication by Quakers in a Quaker book remains difficult not least because very few people have seen the epistle.
In this situation we need to take a long-term approach in mind with how we respond to our differences, even where they are hurtful and seem fundamental. If we are open with love when we approach someone saying, 'we think you are wrong', we need to be open with love to hear what they have to say back. We need to create avenues of support for Friends within their Yearly Meeting who suffer from epistles such as this, just as their epistle can be a support for Friends in our Meeting who are homophobic.
Anyway, the epistle:
To friends everywhere,
We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This message comes from East Africa Yearly Meeting of friends North (Quakers) Conference held from 22nd to 26th August 2007 at Friends secondary school Sipala 5 km north of Webuye town, Western Kenya whose inhabitants are mixed farmers in a hot and wet climate.
Our 20th Annual conference attended by 585 registered delegates drawn from all parts of the Yearly Meeting sparked off at 3:55 pm nourished by the Clerk John Walukhu through dedicated Christian expectations in his opening remarks.
Being a meeting for worship for Business, our these, derived from Exodus 14:15, “Tell the Israelites to go ahead . . .” explored by Area Superintendent Pastor Japheth Pepela stimulated spiritual harvest among delegates. Along with the stated motivation were other teachings through topics like, Discipleship, teamwork, Church growth, Civic education on public funds, alternatives to Violence and Rural Service Programme – all led by integrated local facilitators.
Business as one of the components was covere through approval of Financial report and administrative formalities. Various dignitaries from many parts of Kenya joined us at this conference. Other friends from all over the World came to us through epistles meant to be of high morals to emulate. Thanks a lot to Meetings that adhere to morals of great value before God.
This yearly Meeting got absolutely disgusted with some FUM member yearly Meetings; (Canada, Baltimore, New England, North Pacific and New York) if not some monthly Meetings within the yearly Meetings, that write to us pages and pages of Epistles containing no spiritual information to pass on to our members BUT ONLY their immoral sexual mannerisms of Gay and Lesbianism.
One example is, an epistle from Canada Yearly Meeting that quotes a Friend from Uganda yearly Meeting to have read Romans 1:8-32 during FUM General Board Meeting held in Feb. 2007 as having offended them. Why should they be offended?
That is what the Bible says. That behaviour is unnatural; unheard of even in wild life and blasfamous [sic].
“I will build my church . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew 16:18
In the 19th century we respected and honoured whites (Europeans / Americans) for opening up the word of God and hence light to Africa. The same whites in the 21st century are now deviating us from the very word of God into darkness toward hell.
The second last paragraph in the same epistle from Canada Yearly Meeting announces a decision to only send funds to FUM for 2008 on designated and special projects rather than the general fund. Are they bargaining for Evil?
Even with this affluential influence they want to impose on God fearing people, as indicated in the proceeding paragraph, let them be guided that further dialogue about Biblical interpretation is NOT warranted on EVIL matters as such.
I earnestly ask God fearing yearly meetings to repeatedly preach the Gospel to our lost friends.
God bless and lead us the divine way.
Yours at struggle,
James I. Mugalaval
General Secretary
E.A.Y.M.F. North Y.M
For many months, while the Anglican Church tackles these issues, the Quakers have been giving them quiet consideration.
One of the main points of contention for British Friends, was whether or not to publish the EAYM-N(Q) epistle. In the end they chose not to do so. It was a difficult decision and questions about the suitability for publication by Quakers in a Quaker book remains difficult not least because very few people have seen the epistle.
In this situation we need to take a long-term approach in mind with how we respond to our differences, even where they are hurtful and seem fundamental. If we are open with love when we approach someone saying, 'we think you are wrong', we need to be open with love to hear what they have to say back. We need to create avenues of support for Friends within their Yearly Meeting who suffer from epistles such as this, just as their epistle can be a support for Friends in our Meeting who are homophobic.
Anyway, the epistle:
To friends everywhere,
We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This message comes from East Africa Yearly Meeting of friends North (Quakers) Conference held from 22nd to 26th August 2007 at Friends secondary school Sipala 5 km north of Webuye town, Western Kenya whose inhabitants are mixed farmers in a hot and wet climate.
Our 20th Annual conference attended by 585 registered delegates drawn from all parts of the Yearly Meeting sparked off at 3:55 pm nourished by the Clerk John Walukhu through dedicated Christian expectations in his opening remarks.
Being a meeting for worship for Business, our these, derived from Exodus 14:15, “Tell the Israelites to go ahead . . .” explored by Area Superintendent Pastor Japheth Pepela stimulated spiritual harvest among delegates. Along with the stated motivation were other teachings through topics like, Discipleship, teamwork, Church growth, Civic education on public funds, alternatives to Violence and Rural Service Programme – all led by integrated local facilitators.
Business as one of the components was covere through approval of Financial report and administrative formalities. Various dignitaries from many parts of Kenya joined us at this conference. Other friends from all over the World came to us through epistles meant to be of high morals to emulate. Thanks a lot to Meetings that adhere to morals of great value before God.
This yearly Meeting got absolutely disgusted with some FUM member yearly Meetings; (Canada, Baltimore, New England, North Pacific and New York) if not some monthly Meetings within the yearly Meetings, that write to us pages and pages of Epistles containing no spiritual information to pass on to our members BUT ONLY their immoral sexual mannerisms of Gay and Lesbianism.
One example is, an epistle from Canada Yearly Meeting that quotes a Friend from Uganda yearly Meeting to have read Romans 1:8-32 during FUM General Board Meeting held in Feb. 2007 as having offended them. Why should they be offended?
That is what the Bible says. That behaviour is unnatural; unheard of even in wild life and blasfamous [sic].
“I will build my church . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew 16:18
In the 19th century we respected and honoured whites (Europeans / Americans) for opening up the word of God and hence light to Africa. The same whites in the 21st century are now deviating us from the very word of God into darkness toward hell.
The second last paragraph in the same epistle from Canada Yearly Meeting announces a decision to only send funds to FUM for 2008 on designated and special projects rather than the general fund. Are they bargaining for Evil?
Even with this affluential influence they want to impose on God fearing people, as indicated in the proceeding paragraph, let them be guided that further dialogue about Biblical interpretation is NOT warranted on EVIL matters as such.
I earnestly ask God fearing yearly meetings to repeatedly preach the Gospel to our lost friends.
God bless and lead us the divine way.
Yours at struggle,
James I. Mugalaval
General Secretary
E.A.Y.M.F. North Y.M
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
This Yearly Meeting got absolutely disgusted...
Eventually they made it onto the internet, with Chuck Fager posting the East Africa Yearly Meeting (North) epistles on his blog:
These are the epistles that made a committee within Britain Yearly Meeting decide that not all epistles received should be printed in BYM's own documents. There was a danger, many felt, that publishing them could open Friends up to prosecution under discrimination law.
These are the epistles that made a committee within Britain Yearly Meeting decide that not all epistles received should be printed in BYM's own documents. There was a danger, many felt, that publishing them could open Friends up to prosecution under discrimination law.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
the edge of brockley
This is the border of Brockley and rest of the world. I have no idea what happens on the other side of the bridge, except to say that it probably isn't as cool as what happens in Brockley.
Centre of the world, it is.
Centre of the world, it is.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Ideas are wonderful things
'Ideas are wonderful things'. So says Clarion Events on their 'launching a new idea' web page. On that page, Kent R Allen, the managing director of Clarion Events encourages people to get in touch with their ideas.
Here's my idea: don't host arms fairs.
Clarion Events have bought DSEi (Defence Systems and Equipment International), an arms fair, that Reed Elsevier sold after coming under moral pressure to disassociate themselves from the bloodthirsty event.
The next DSEi event is on 8-11 September 2009. It is one of the world's biggest arms fairs and is a "tri-service defence exhibition", which means that it is an opportunity for companies to sell land, sea and air military equipment.
Clarion Events have also bought ITEC and LAAD (Latin America Aero and Defence, next taking place on 14-17 April 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) from Reed Elsevier, two other arms fairs that are at the forefront of the marketing of weapons and other products that exacerbate poverty and destruction around the world.
‘dumb, black stumps of shattered trees which still stick up where there used to be villages. Flayed by splinters of bursting shells, they stand like corpses upright. Not a blade of grass anywhere. Just miles of flat, empty, broken and tumbled stone.’
If Clarion Events really believed in its environment policy, it would not have bought the arms fairs.
Campaign Against Arms Trade are encouraging people to contact Simon Kimble, the chief executive of Clarion Events, to express their displeasure with the company's new purchase.
If you want Clarion Events' help to launch your idea, you can contact Kent R Allen, the managing director. On the launch page, they say: 'We like new ideas!' It may be about time that they take on board a new idea about how disgusting their new arms fairs are.
Here's my idea: don't host arms fairs.
Clarion Events have bought DSEi (Defence Systems and Equipment International), an arms fair, that Reed Elsevier sold after coming under moral pressure to disassociate themselves from the bloodthirsty event.
The next DSEi event is on 8-11 September 2009. It is one of the world's biggest arms fairs and is a "tri-service defence exhibition", which means that it is an opportunity for companies to sell land, sea and air military equipment.
Clarion Events have also bought ITEC and LAAD (Latin America Aero and Defence, next taking place on 14-17 April 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) from Reed Elsevier, two other arms fairs that are at the forefront of the marketing of weapons and other products that exacerbate poverty and destruction around the world.
Commenting on the purchases by Clarion Events, Simon Kimble, the chief executive of Clarion Events, said: 'The events we have acquired in the defence and security sector are a valuable and profitable addition to our portfolio and fit perfectly with our strategy for international expansion'.
Among the reasons given for the purchase on the Clarion Events website are that defence and security is one of the largest industry sectors in the world and that 'the sector is also diversifying and adapting to meet the changing needs of the world. Security can be threatened by humanitarian disasters resulting in mass displacement of people or food and water shortages, terrorism or pandemic which can cause devastation in a similar manner to military engagement.'
In a nutshell then, we need to organise fairs to sell weapons because people have already bought and sold weapons and we need some more. Because of the risk of humanitarian disasters, we need to buy and sell more weapons.
Except that it isn't. We're not going to move towards a more peaceful world if we continue to encourage other states to buy lots of weapons and we continue to encourage companies in our countries to make them. Sure, there is a market and a need for the infrastructure and logistics to deal with humanitarian disasters, but using that as a secondary argument for weaponry is not the way forward.
Clarion Events have an environment policy, which states: ' Clarion is committed to integrating environmental best practice into all its business activities. We accept our environmental responsibilities and recognise our obligation to reduce the impact of business activities on the environment. We will achieve this through a policy of continual improvement in environmental performance.'
The link between war and the devestation of the environment has long been recognised. Take this 1918 description from a German military officer, quoted on the Peace Pledge Union web page, 'War and the Environment':‘dumb, black stumps of shattered trees which still stick up where there used to be villages. Flayed by splinters of bursting shells, they stand like corpses upright. Not a blade of grass anywhere. Just miles of flat, empty, broken and tumbled stone.’
If Clarion Events really believed in its environment policy, it would not have bought the arms fairs.
Campaign Against Arms Trade are encouraging people to contact Simon Kimble, the chief executive of Clarion Events, to express their displeasure with the company's new purchase.
If you want Clarion Events' help to launch your idea, you can contact Kent R Allen, the managing director. On the launch page, they say: 'We like new ideas!' It may be about time that they take on board a new idea about how disgusting their new arms fairs are.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
late fruits
Our vegbox company, UK5, hasn't delivered this week. Which is odd, because usually they deliver on a Monday or a Tuesday. According to their website, they deliver in our area on a Monday or a Wednesday so I waited for the delivery today. Alas, it didn't come.
This is the second time UK5 have failed to deliver. The week after the first time, delivery resumed with a note from the company stating that the delivery person had 'smacked straight into some scaffolding poles' in a dark alley way while trying to complete a delivery.
I'm not hopeful with this company any more. They claim to have over 15,000 customers, according to their website. But on their website you can't specify your delivery yet for this week and they're not taking calls - at least their mail box is full and they're not answering the phone.
Hopefully the vegbox will arrive soon and they might start answering emails and all will be alright with the world again.
This is the second time UK5 have failed to deliver. The week after the first time, delivery resumed with a note from the company stating that the delivery person had 'smacked straight into some scaffolding poles' in a dark alley way while trying to complete a delivery.
I'm not hopeful with this company any more. They claim to have over 15,000 customers, according to their website. But on their website you can't specify your delivery yet for this week and they're not taking calls - at least their mail box is full and they're not answering the phone.
Hopefully the vegbox will arrive soon and they might start answering emails and all will be alright with the world again.
laying waste
For the past couple of days I've been observing scaffolders putting up scaffolding in my street.
Their skills, as well as putting up scaffolding, include dropping litter in the street and scaring people.
One of the scaffolders has a little trick: as someone walks beneath him, he yells 'oh fuck' and bangs a couple of times on a piece of scaffolding. The person underneath obviously fears for their safety and when they look up and see this scaffolder, they might give him a piece of their mind. The scaffolder's reaction is along the lines of telling the passerby to 'fuck off'.
On the litter front, there is a public bin about ten yards from where they are working, so I'm presuming that when they throw rubbish into the street, they're actually aiming at the bin.
They look like they're great scaffolders, but not so strong on on the friendly community work.
Their skills, as well as putting up scaffolding, include dropping litter in the street and scaring people.
One of the scaffolders has a little trick: as someone walks beneath him, he yells 'oh fuck' and bangs a couple of times on a piece of scaffolding. The person underneath obviously fears for their safety and when they look up and see this scaffolder, they might give him a piece of their mind. The scaffolder's reaction is along the lines of telling the passerby to 'fuck off'.
On the litter front, there is a public bin about ten yards from where they are working, so I'm presuming that when they throw rubbish into the street, they're actually aiming at the bin.
They look like they're great scaffolders, but not so strong on on the friendly community work.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Let your life speak
Green businesswoman Betsy Blake has a simple message for us: Let your life speak.
See her being interviewed on this US news piece (get beyond the MaccyD ad that comes first...)
See her being interviewed on this US news piece (get beyond the MaccyD ad that comes first...)
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Abdul Samad Rohani
Abdul Samad Rohani, a BBC journalist in Afghanistan has been found dead, a couple of days after he was abducted.
I do not face hardships in working for my journal, but I pray for the safety of those who do work in difficult situations. And I feel sad on hearing of the death of Abdul Samad Rohani.
I do not face hardships in working for my journal, but I pray for the safety of those who do work in difficult situations. And I feel sad on hearing of the death of Abdul Samad Rohani.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
market leader
Northern Uganda, peace process and the International Criminal Court appears in the Friend, 28 March 2008.
Northern Uganda, the peace process and the International Criminal Court appears in Friends Journal, May 2008.
The difference? A single 'the' in the title... same author, same content... One journal leads, the other follows. :o)
Northern Uganda, the peace process and the International Criminal Court appears in Friends Journal, May 2008.
The difference? A single 'the' in the title... same author, same content... One journal leads, the other follows. :o)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
and the good evening news is...
Got an email tonight:
'Can everyone please note the following changes to the programme - Tonight's "Brockley Max Film Night" has been cancelled, also unfortunately so has the "Short Play" event at the Jam Circus due to performer issues.
It's not all bad however - There is still the "Channelling Self Expression through Yoga" workshop'
Phew!
'Can everyone please note the following changes to the programme - Tonight's "Brockley Max Film Night" has been cancelled, also unfortunately so has the "Short Play" event at the Jam Circus due to performer issues.
It's not all bad however - There is still the "Channelling Self Expression through Yoga" workshop'
Phew!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Will you come and follow me?
So we had Meeting for Worship, our first since Britain Yearly Meeting. I read out the epistle, which is here:
Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting
held at Friends House, London, 23-26 May 2008
To all Friends everywhere:
Greetings, dear Friends, from Britain Yearly Meeting, where up to 800 Quakers, diverse in many ways, gathered at Friends House London. Of these over a hundred children and young people enriched our community. Friends House came alive as a place of meeting and greeting, renewing existing friendships and making new ones. As we opened our hearts one to another in the truth of God, we experienced the personal warmth of friendship and passed around infectious smiles that the children gave us. It was good to laugh, to sing, and to join in stretching exercises, yet there have also been times of struggle.
A major theme running through the weekend was that of deepening our spiritual life and discernment as the basis of our action in the world. We have our individual understandings of the source of our Inward Light, but acceptance of our diversity is at the heart of our unity as Quakers. Our spiritual practice enables us to share an experience of the numinous whatever language we may use. Our calling is to foster the divine in all we meet, to say ‘yes’ in a world that frequently says ‘no’.
Our community has considered what it can mean to be ‘the seeds of change’. We recognise a transforming spiritual power in our worship, whether it acts like dynamite or like the force that enables the seed to push slowly, patiently, sometimes overcoming enormous resistance, towards light and growth. When we plant seeds, we know they need nourishment and protection. But seeds also need to break open before they can grow.
This year we are beginning to reap the benefits of recent changes in our structures. Our trustee body has expressed increasing confidence in its role, while members of Meeting for Sufferings are conscious of a growing sense of community. We have faced up to some ambivalence towards the concept of power, so often associated with domination, but have been led to a Quaker vision of power as the energy the spirit gives us to bring about transformation. We affirm our trustees in their exercise of the responsibility which we have freely given them, knowing they are using this power with integrity, clarity and accountability. There is no ‘them’ and ‘us.’
All our Meetings have been able to take part in creating a Long Term Framework to prioritise the Yearly Meeting’s work. New ways of working from the grassroots are exciting and we welcome the shift to networks of local groups supported by the centre. In order to be an effective prophetic community we all need one another. Perfection is not required of us; but that we walk cheerfully in the right direction, seeking to live sustainably on our earth.
We leave, seeking to practise the discernment that allows the Inward Light to transform us. May we live in God’s will as if it were our own. We send you this epistle with our love and hold you in our prayers as we trust you are holding us in yours.
Signed in and on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting
Martin Ward, Clerk
there was another ministry which finished with the song, read as a poem, which is photographed at the top of this post.
We also upheld two people in the interim ministry.
Later we held a sharing session in which some of us shared our impressions of Yearly Meeting and fed ideas into how we make a better community.
We do not need bold statements about what Quakers are doing or should do, but we need to continue with action.
One Friend asked, how do we uphold people acting under concern, especially if it is not direct Quaker work? How do we know who is doing that?
A smaller group of us continued our discussion in a cafe afterwards. We discussed the trouble with the word God, not the concept or our understanding, but hostility with language. Is all that Quakers really have unity on silence? We thought not and were encouraged to go between the lines.
It was a truly uplifting series of worship and fellowship, which left me not tired, but encouraged.
Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting
held at Friends House, London, 23-26 May 2008
To all Friends everywhere:
Greetings, dear Friends, from Britain Yearly Meeting, where up to 800 Quakers, diverse in many ways, gathered at Friends House London. Of these over a hundred children and young people enriched our community. Friends House came alive as a place of meeting and greeting, renewing existing friendships and making new ones. As we opened our hearts one to another in the truth of God, we experienced the personal warmth of friendship and passed around infectious smiles that the children gave us. It was good to laugh, to sing, and to join in stretching exercises, yet there have also been times of struggle.
A major theme running through the weekend was that of deepening our spiritual life and discernment as the basis of our action in the world. We have our individual understandings of the source of our Inward Light, but acceptance of our diversity is at the heart of our unity as Quakers. Our spiritual practice enables us to share an experience of the numinous whatever language we may use. Our calling is to foster the divine in all we meet, to say ‘yes’ in a world that frequently says ‘no’.
Our community has considered what it can mean to be ‘the seeds of change’. We recognise a transforming spiritual power in our worship, whether it acts like dynamite or like the force that enables the seed to push slowly, patiently, sometimes overcoming enormous resistance, towards light and growth. When we plant seeds, we know they need nourishment and protection. But seeds also need to break open before they can grow.
This year we are beginning to reap the benefits of recent changes in our structures. Our trustee body has expressed increasing confidence in its role, while members of Meeting for Sufferings are conscious of a growing sense of community. We have faced up to some ambivalence towards the concept of power, so often associated with domination, but have been led to a Quaker vision of power as the energy the spirit gives us to bring about transformation. We affirm our trustees in their exercise of the responsibility which we have freely given them, knowing they are using this power with integrity, clarity and accountability. There is no ‘them’ and ‘us.’
All our Meetings have been able to take part in creating a Long Term Framework to prioritise the Yearly Meeting’s work. New ways of working from the grassroots are exciting and we welcome the shift to networks of local groups supported by the centre. In order to be an effective prophetic community we all need one another. Perfection is not required of us; but that we walk cheerfully in the right direction, seeking to live sustainably on our earth.
We leave, seeking to practise the discernment that allows the Inward Light to transform us. May we live in God’s will as if it were our own. We send you this epistle with our love and hold you in our prayers as we trust you are holding us in yours.
Signed in and on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting
Martin Ward, Clerk
there was another ministry which finished with the song, read as a poem, which is photographed at the top of this post.
We also upheld two people in the interim ministry.
Later we held a sharing session in which some of us shared our impressions of Yearly Meeting and fed ideas into how we make a better community.
We do not need bold statements about what Quakers are doing or should do, but we need to continue with action.
One Friend asked, how do we uphold people acting under concern, especially if it is not direct Quaker work? How do we know who is doing that?
A smaller group of us continued our discussion in a cafe afterwards. We discussed the trouble with the word God, not the concept or our understanding, but hostility with language. Is all that Quakers really have unity on silence? We thought not and were encouraged to go between the lines.
It was a truly uplifting series of worship and fellowship, which left me not tired, but encouraged.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Highlights from Britain Yearly Meeting
Britain Yearly Meeting is the name of the affiliated Local and Area Quaker Meetings from around Britain.
It is also the name of the annual gathering of Quakers in Britain.
My highlights for this year have been:
1. Meeting so many amazing and wonderful people who are doing such varied and important work. Whether they be doing big things or small things, family things, policy work, practical action, journalism, singing, making music or anything else, they are my inspiration. That is each and every one of you who came to Yearly Meeting. We make it our Yearly Meeting together, even though its hard sometimes and I'm knackered now and have to go back into the office tomorrow and get the Friend ready for publication.
2. Worshipping with a small group in a large room. On Monday lunchtime I worshipped in a circle of about 8 people for half an hour. We were centred together, concentrating on the Light in a room that could hold about 1,000 people. In the background noise was the chatter of hundreds of Friends. Later, the singing group's song shone through.
3. The Long-term Framework in a single sentence. The Long-term Framework is an entity that has been subject to thousands of hours of effort by Quakers all around Britain and has come up with some priorities for how the centrally managed work of Friends in Britain can support Friends in their Local Meetings. In a pub on Sunday night one Friend came up with a single sentence for the L-tF: "Those responsible for the centrally-managed work could turn to Friends and say 'we will support you in your Local Meetings'". Bob's your uncle and we would have avoided all the pain.
4. Making the acquaintance of someone called Wildwood. I'm a Smith, so meeting someone (or more than one) who has the name Wildwood made my day.
5. Light Meal. The Light Meal was eaten by an attender before the Meeting for Worship at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park. So not at BYM, but still very much during.
6. Twitter. www.twitter.com/quakers I tailed off a little by Monday, but I enjoyed twittering, meeting fox_c and finding another new way to make the BYM experience special.
7. The eastern gallery. Upstairs in the east block is still where it is at. The benches are hard, not all of them have much leg room, but all the people are friendly and the worship in session is good.
8. The clerk slowing the ministry. I know that time is short and God moves many people to minister, but the value in the message is stronger for me when there is space between ministries. I appreciated and upheld the clerk as he put space between ministry. It is a tough job clerking six hundred people.
9. Glamour at Yearly Meeting. No, really. I'm not sure that I was glamorous when I wore my suit today, but some Friends had a crack at it on Sunday and it was fun.
10. The Swarthmore Lecture. I didn't listen to the lecture itself, but the book is a legacy that we can use as an inspiration to make better use of our individual and collective spiritual and religious resources.
It is also the name of the annual gathering of Quakers in Britain.
My highlights for this year have been:
1. Meeting so many amazing and wonderful people who are doing such varied and important work. Whether they be doing big things or small things, family things, policy work, practical action, journalism, singing, making music or anything else, they are my inspiration. That is each and every one of you who came to Yearly Meeting. We make it our Yearly Meeting together, even though its hard sometimes and I'm knackered now and have to go back into the office tomorrow and get the Friend ready for publication.
2. Worshipping with a small group in a large room. On Monday lunchtime I worshipped in a circle of about 8 people for half an hour. We were centred together, concentrating on the Light in a room that could hold about 1,000 people. In the background noise was the chatter of hundreds of Friends. Later, the singing group's song shone through.
3. The Long-term Framework in a single sentence. The Long-term Framework is an entity that has been subject to thousands of hours of effort by Quakers all around Britain and has come up with some priorities for how the centrally managed work of Friends in Britain can support Friends in their Local Meetings. In a pub on Sunday night one Friend came up with a single sentence for the L-tF: "Those responsible for the centrally-managed work could turn to Friends and say 'we will support you in your Local Meetings'". Bob's your uncle and we would have avoided all the pain.
4. Making the acquaintance of someone called Wildwood. I'm a Smith, so meeting someone (or more than one) who has the name Wildwood made my day.
5. Light Meal. The Light Meal was eaten by an attender before the Meeting for Worship at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park. So not at BYM, but still very much during.
6. Twitter. www.twitter.com/quakers I tailed off a little by Monday, but I enjoyed twittering, meeting fox_c and finding another new way to make the BYM experience special.
7. The eastern gallery. Upstairs in the east block is still where it is at. The benches are hard, not all of them have much leg room, but all the people are friendly and the worship in session is good.
8. The clerk slowing the ministry. I know that time is short and God moves many people to minister, but the value in the message is stronger for me when there is space between ministries. I appreciated and upheld the clerk as he put space between ministry. It is a tough job clerking six hundred people.
9. Glamour at Yearly Meeting. No, really. I'm not sure that I was glamorous when I wore my suit today, but some Friends had a crack at it on Sunday and it was fun.
10. The Swarthmore Lecture. I didn't listen to the lecture itself, but the book is a legacy that we can use as an inspiration to make better use of our individual and collective spiritual and religious resources.
the legacy
The Transitional Group of 18-25 year olds had asked to give a minute in the last session of Yearly Meeting and their request was granted.
As I recall, they said that they wanted to know what Quaker are going to be remembered for in the early twenty-first century, with the inference being that without a call to arms (or whatever the Quaker equivalent is) we wouldn't be remembered for anything.
I addressed this in my previous post about the Swarthmore lecture by Christine Davis, Minding the Future, so I won't go into much detail here. Except that, if the 19-25 year olds can't be bothered to go and find out what all the amazing things are that Quakers around Britain are doing today, then that probably reflects worse on them than it does on everyone else who is younger or older than them.
I wonder, what will the Transitional Group Quakers be remembered for?
And, for that matter, why are we creating a lasting legacy to be remembered? Is our community where we are today or where we were at some undefined time in the past?
As I recall, they said that they wanted to know what Quaker are going to be remembered for in the early twenty-first century, with the inference being that without a call to arms (or whatever the Quaker equivalent is) we wouldn't be remembered for anything.
I addressed this in my previous post about the Swarthmore lecture by Christine Davis, Minding the Future, so I won't go into much detail here. Except that, if the 19-25 year olds can't be bothered to go and find out what all the amazing things are that Quakers around Britain are doing today, then that probably reflects worse on them than it does on everyone else who is younger or older than them.
I wonder, what will the Transitional Group Quakers be remembered for?
And, for that matter, why are we creating a lasting legacy to be remembered? Is our community where we are today or where we were at some undefined time in the past?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
the end
I keep logging onto the BBC sport website, looking to see if there is any news about Colchester United. They're still registered on the site in the Championship section, but now that the play-offs are over its only a matter of time until I have to log onto the League One section and then the adventure really will be over.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Minding the future
The latest in a long line of a standing fixture in the British Quaker tradition, Minding the Future, the 2008 Swarthmore Lecture, by Christine A M Davis, is about how we manage our resources, or, stewardship.
Minding the Future is an opportunity for Friends to review individually and collectively their history, tradition and spiritual inheritance. It is also an opportunity and a spur for us to continue our work, renew our faith and share our spiritual gifts.
Christine A M Davis is a Scottish Quaker, based in Dunblane and by all accounts she is a career committee member. This is not a caricature, for she freely admits that her dedication to committees has meant that she has not had the experiences that you come across in adventure books. But her life-long work in committees is not as a jobsworth and a bureaucrat, but someone who sees value in joining together with small groups of people to get things done and create worth from our resources.
With this in mind and some sharing of her background through her formative years and early Quaker life (she became a member of the Quakers aged 20, some forty or so years ago) she gets to her task.
One of the beautiful elements of Christine's book is her interspersing of Scottish poetry at useful points in the book. In the lecture they were read by another person, with one Friend telling me that this method of delivery broke up the lecture and helped her to concentrate. (Incidentally two young Friends told me that they fell asleep during the lecture, while an older Friend told me that this was the first lecture in ten years that she hadn't fallen asleep in. All three found great value in the lecture.)
The first poem, Direadh, by Hugh MacDiarmid, lists the names of many wildflowers/heathers. One Friend told me that with his knowledge of plant life the reading of these names immediately had him hooked on the lecture.
Christine uses six excerpts from work by William Soutar, beginning in her introduction with Aince upon a day:
Aince upon a day my mither said to me:
Dinna cleip and dinna rype
And dinna tell a lee.
Christine shares with us many reflections from her committee work. Most notably is her ecumenical work in Dunblane, particularly in the immediate aftermath and longer-term after the Dunblane massacre when youth worker Thomas Hamilton killed 16 school children and a teacher in a school in the town in 1996 (Thomas then committed suicide). Christine relates that she realised the import of the event to the outside world when Kate Adie of the BBC turned up. Christine associated Kate with reporting from world crises, now she realised how people from outside this town of 8,000 people were viewing them.
Christine had worked with Thomas and was part of a group that at the time were working to have further checks made about him. She shares that she found it hard to reconcile the fact that they had not prevented the massacre, tempered with realising that they could not have known or predicted what he would do. The questions have clearly lingered with Christine and informed her thinking.
Incidentally, as I write about Christine it is easy for me to use her first name. With the murderer, Thomas, it seems strange using his first name and not just his last name, Hamilton. Does that humanise him rightly or wrongly? I don't know, it just feels odd.
A few Friends have told me that they had fully expected this lecture to be at least in part about buildings. They had presumed that Christine would encourage us to look after our Meeting houses. She didn't and those Friends said that they were relieved.
Instead, Christine concentrates very much on the spiritual and religious elements of our heritage. For example, she draws our attention to the testimonies of peace, simplicity and equality. She relates examples of people working in isolation for one, then suggests that as we pursue human justice we must surely be working with others. Peace is one testimony that Quakers are famous for working on and with, she cautions Friends in favour of an integrated approach.
More so, however, she encourages us to approach our work and challenges with tenderness. She draws parallels with John Woolman in this example and others.
At the same time as encouraging us to be like Woolman, she counsels against us resting on our laurels. As she researched, prepared and wrote this lecture Christine must have been influenced by the 200th anniversary celebrations of Britain abolishing its slave trade. During 2007 Quakers were able to gain a reasonable amount of publicity for themselves and their work on the back of this celebration and Christine is urging us to go beyond this. Now, she says, we must ask ourselves what we will be remembered for in the future.
As an aside, it is worth noting that Quakers continue to be at the forefront of the fight against slavery in Britain. Two Quakers are senior in Anti-Slavery International and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in our country, two organisations working in different ways to combat slavery and labour issues.
I think that Quakers are doing much now that they might be remembered for in the future, so there should not be too much cause for concern. Of course, the call to each individual to think about their own lives is important, but we should not use this as an occasion to forget some great work.
Circles UK has just been launched as an independent charity after several years hard work by Quakers. As they state on their homepage, Circles UK is an 'innovative and successful community response to reducing sex offending, working in close partnership with criminal justice agencies'.
I have previously worked at the Quakers United Nations Office in Geneva and have witnessed firsthand some intricate and effective high-level work on human rights and refugee issues.
Elsewhere, Living Witness is working with individuals and local groups to develop new ways of living in response to climate change concerns.
These are just three examples of Quakers in action today. Perhaps you will have your own examples of Light shining brightly.
During her lecture, Christine urges us not to get bogged down in tussles over words. She raises the concern that some Friends are so worried about offending people that they end up not communicating well at all. She hopes that we can get beyond this situation and listen to each other with open hearts and open minds.
There is a whole chapter in the book on money and wealth and how we deal with it. Christine urges Meetings (and by Meetings, she means the individuals in the Meeting) to think carefully about this resource, how they use it within the Meeting and how they are open to help each other when personal problems arise.
Related to wealth in a way, but not directly concerned, Christine points out that there are many more one Quaker in the family situations today than there were in previous centuries. The explicit implication is that those of us who are in this situation can give less time to the Quaker Meeting and have other concerns and major interests to balance. For example, my partner is not Quaker, so, if there is a choice between a Quaker activity and a non-Quaker activity I may well choose the latter because I might otherwise be excluding my partner and the time we get to spend together is limited.
My partner, too, is a steward of limited resources. As I write L is away at a Woodcraft Folk camp. She is co-leader of a local group, providing activities and opportunities for learning and development for local kids. Her camp is an opportunity for city kids to get out into the countryside for an action-packed weekend where they can develop their own small communities. This is a choice that L has made, to put some of her time, energy and effort into this organisation.
So with me in the Quakers and her in the Woodies, these are some of the life choices that we make together as a couple. Our own little community of two, but also we are parts of other communities and together we weave together the rich threads of our lives.
At the end of her lecture Christine draws on a basic psychotherapy exercise, asking Friends:
'what is the little thing that you can do? Are you doing it? Is your stewardship faithful?
Are you living adventurously? Are you minding the future?'
She signs off with Benediction by William Soutar, which begins:
'When words are done we speak with silences'.
And in the final verse finishes:
'Nothing is ours; Yet silences begin to open doors by which life enters in.'
Although it isn't listed in their list of available Swarthmore lectures yet, Minding the Future is available, by the way, from the Britain Yearly Meeting bookshop, priced £6.
Minding the Future is an opportunity for Friends to review individually and collectively their history, tradition and spiritual inheritance. It is also an opportunity and a spur for us to continue our work, renew our faith and share our spiritual gifts.
Christine A M Davis is a Scottish Quaker, based in Dunblane and by all accounts she is a career committee member. This is not a caricature, for she freely admits that her dedication to committees has meant that she has not had the experiences that you come across in adventure books. But her life-long work in committees is not as a jobsworth and a bureaucrat, but someone who sees value in joining together with small groups of people to get things done and create worth from our resources.
With this in mind and some sharing of her background through her formative years and early Quaker life (she became a member of the Quakers aged 20, some forty or so years ago) she gets to her task.
One of the beautiful elements of Christine's book is her interspersing of Scottish poetry at useful points in the book. In the lecture they were read by another person, with one Friend telling me that this method of delivery broke up the lecture and helped her to concentrate. (Incidentally two young Friends told me that they fell asleep during the lecture, while an older Friend told me that this was the first lecture in ten years that she hadn't fallen asleep in. All three found great value in the lecture.)
The first poem, Direadh, by Hugh MacDiarmid, lists the names of many wildflowers/heathers. One Friend told me that with his knowledge of plant life the reading of these names immediately had him hooked on the lecture.
Christine uses six excerpts from work by William Soutar, beginning in her introduction with Aince upon a day:
Aince upon a day my mither said to me:
Dinna cleip and dinna rype
And dinna tell a lee.
Christine shares with us many reflections from her committee work. Most notably is her ecumenical work in Dunblane, particularly in the immediate aftermath and longer-term after the Dunblane massacre when youth worker Thomas Hamilton killed 16 school children and a teacher in a school in the town in 1996 (Thomas then committed suicide). Christine relates that she realised the import of the event to the outside world when Kate Adie of the BBC turned up. Christine associated Kate with reporting from world crises, now she realised how people from outside this town of 8,000 people were viewing them.
Christine had worked with Thomas and was part of a group that at the time were working to have further checks made about him. She shares that she found it hard to reconcile the fact that they had not prevented the massacre, tempered with realising that they could not have known or predicted what he would do. The questions have clearly lingered with Christine and informed her thinking.
Incidentally, as I write about Christine it is easy for me to use her first name. With the murderer, Thomas, it seems strange using his first name and not just his last name, Hamilton. Does that humanise him rightly or wrongly? I don't know, it just feels odd.
A few Friends have told me that they had fully expected this lecture to be at least in part about buildings. They had presumed that Christine would encourage us to look after our Meeting houses. She didn't and those Friends said that they were relieved.
Instead, Christine concentrates very much on the spiritual and religious elements of our heritage. For example, she draws our attention to the testimonies of peace, simplicity and equality. She relates examples of people working in isolation for one, then suggests that as we pursue human justice we must surely be working with others. Peace is one testimony that Quakers are famous for working on and with, she cautions Friends in favour of an integrated approach.
More so, however, she encourages us to approach our work and challenges with tenderness. She draws parallels with John Woolman in this example and others.
At the same time as encouraging us to be like Woolman, she counsels against us resting on our laurels. As she researched, prepared and wrote this lecture Christine must have been influenced by the 200th anniversary celebrations of Britain abolishing its slave trade. During 2007 Quakers were able to gain a reasonable amount of publicity for themselves and their work on the back of this celebration and Christine is urging us to go beyond this. Now, she says, we must ask ourselves what we will be remembered for in the future.
As an aside, it is worth noting that Quakers continue to be at the forefront of the fight against slavery in Britain. Two Quakers are senior in Anti-Slavery International and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in our country, two organisations working in different ways to combat slavery and labour issues.
I think that Quakers are doing much now that they might be remembered for in the future, so there should not be too much cause for concern. Of course, the call to each individual to think about their own lives is important, but we should not use this as an occasion to forget some great work.
Circles UK has just been launched as an independent charity after several years hard work by Quakers. As they state on their homepage, Circles UK is an 'innovative and successful community response to reducing sex offending, working in close partnership with criminal justice agencies'.
I have previously worked at the Quakers United Nations Office in Geneva and have witnessed firsthand some intricate and effective high-level work on human rights and refugee issues.
Elsewhere, Living Witness is working with individuals and local groups to develop new ways of living in response to climate change concerns.
These are just three examples of Quakers in action today. Perhaps you will have your own examples of Light shining brightly.
During her lecture, Christine urges us not to get bogged down in tussles over words. She raises the concern that some Friends are so worried about offending people that they end up not communicating well at all. She hopes that we can get beyond this situation and listen to each other with open hearts and open minds.
There is a whole chapter in the book on money and wealth and how we deal with it. Christine urges Meetings (and by Meetings, she means the individuals in the Meeting) to think carefully about this resource, how they use it within the Meeting and how they are open to help each other when personal problems arise.
Related to wealth in a way, but not directly concerned, Christine points out that there are many more one Quaker in the family situations today than there were in previous centuries. The explicit implication is that those of us who are in this situation can give less time to the Quaker Meeting and have other concerns and major interests to balance. For example, my partner is not Quaker, so, if there is a choice between a Quaker activity and a non-Quaker activity I may well choose the latter because I might otherwise be excluding my partner and the time we get to spend together is limited.
My partner, too, is a steward of limited resources. As I write L is away at a Woodcraft Folk camp. She is co-leader of a local group, providing activities and opportunities for learning and development for local kids. Her camp is an opportunity for city kids to get out into the countryside for an action-packed weekend where they can develop their own small communities. This is a choice that L has made, to put some of her time, energy and effort into this organisation.
So with me in the Quakers and her in the Woodies, these are some of the life choices that we make together as a couple. Our own little community of two, but also we are parts of other communities and together we weave together the rich threads of our lives.
At the end of her lecture Christine draws on a basic psychotherapy exercise, asking Friends:
'what is the little thing that you can do? Are you doing it? Is your stewardship faithful?
Are you living adventurously? Are you minding the future?'
She signs off with Benediction by William Soutar, which begins:
'When words are done we speak with silences'.
And in the final verse finishes:
'Nothing is ours; Yet silences begin to open doors by which life enters in.'
Although it isn't listed in their list of available Swarthmore lectures yet, Minding the Future is available, by the way, from the Britain Yearly Meeting bookshop, priced £6.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Charlie Ide
19 January 2007 I went to see Brentford v Leyton Orient. The game finished 2-2. One of the few players who shone through a not-great game was Charlie Ide.
I've just seen that he has transferred from Brentford to Grays. Without wishing to knock Grays, the last time I saw them they were thumped 5-1 at home to York City and, well, it looks like this player's career must be on the slide.
I've just seen that he has transferred from Brentford to Grays. Without wishing to knock Grays, the last time I saw them they were thumped 5-1 at home to York City and, well, it looks like this player's career must be on the slide.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Britain Yearly Meeting 2008
You can follow the Friend journal at Britain Yearly Meeting, 23-26 May 2008 on twitter.
www.twitter.com/quakers
or follow on the Friend website www.thefriend.org
Also my photographs are on my flickr site.
I'm tagging photographs and blog posts with last year's tag: quaker.britainym
If you do the same, we should at some point be able to collate our efforts.
www.twitter.com/quakers
or follow on the Friend website www.thefriend.org
Also my photographs are on my flickr site.
I'm tagging photographs and blog posts with last year's tag: quaker.britainym
If you do the same, we should at some point be able to collate our efforts.
Monday, May 19, 2008
reach out!
On Saturday I went to Nunhead cemetery open day. The main body was good but I felt like I was out on a limb some of the time.
There were lots of stalls, with many fascinating groups and organisations. I rejoined the Friends of the Cemetery and joined the Friends of the Livesey Museum of Childhood. The woman from the Livesey Friends was really enthusiastic and knew her stuff. And what she didn't know offhand, she knew where the information was.
The guy from the humanists was really nice too. I didn't say that I was a Quaker, I just let him tell me some things about the humanists. He told me about some funerals that they had conducted in this cemetery too.
The women from the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society, the Southwark Heritage Association, the badger group (East Surrey?) and Practical Action didn't win me over.
When I asked the Archaeology woman why we should preserve these old buildings, she retorted 'why not?' She didn't persuade me with that argument.
The Heritage woman seemed more keen on putting me down for not knowing much about Southwark, than in helping me learn. She told me I should go to the Clink museum, but only because I would be scared, she said.
The woman from Practical Action asked if I knew what PA was. Yes, I said, I saw the stall last year. She fell silent then, so I can only presume that PA have done nothing in the past year. I can't actually remember what they do, but I saw the stall last year.
I asked the people on the badger stall what was bad about snares (they had a petition against them). The woman there asked me to tell her what was good about them. I didn't know, but at that stage I also didn't know what was bad about them either. She remarked to her colleague that I was probably a teacher.
No, I'm a journalist. Which is why I ran into trouble with the Southwark Community wardens. I took photographs of most of the stalls, predominantly for the Friends of the cemetery. Before I took each pic, I asked the stallholder if it was okay. All said yes. Except the wardens. When I asked to take a photograph, one warden asked if I am a journalist. I said yes, but a relgious one. He told me that I was not allowed to take a photograph in case I used it for political purposes. Orders from above, he said. Not God, but above the wardens.
There were three of them, standing behind a table. The table had nothing on it, except for a plastic bag, which apparently contained their wares, but they didn't put them out because it was raining.
One of the wardens said that I could take their photograph only if they were doing something which showed interaction with the public, like talking to them, but no pics were allowed of them standing behind the table doing nothing. By this time all three had moved from behind the table.
Liz Taylor, the cemetery warden came by at this point, at which I suggested that I could now take a photograph. Two wardens stepped back and I got a wonderful photograph of a Southwark Community warden talking to Liz.
All of this made me reallise that when we Quakers do our own outreach, we really have to be prepared, not just to do 'something', but to engage with anyone, answer any questions and be in tiptop condition.
I certainly won't be joining the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society any time soon, nor will I be singing the praises of the Southwark Community wardens (though I'm sure that they must be doing a great job, right?).
But the man from the Friends of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries was very friendly and had some great photographs of insects which he was happy to explain, so I'll be looking out for him again. And I bought a book about Herne Hill because the man from that stall was really enthusiastic and showed me several of the books about Herne Hill without prompting and had a cheery wave for me when I passed his stall later.
There were lots of stalls, with many fascinating groups and organisations. I rejoined the Friends of the Cemetery and joined the Friends of the Livesey Museum of Childhood. The woman from the Livesey Friends was really enthusiastic and knew her stuff. And what she didn't know offhand, she knew where the information was.
The guy from the humanists was really nice too. I didn't say that I was a Quaker, I just let him tell me some things about the humanists. He told me about some funerals that they had conducted in this cemetery too.
The women from the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society, the Southwark Heritage Association, the badger group (East Surrey?) and Practical Action didn't win me over.
When I asked the Archaeology woman why we should preserve these old buildings, she retorted 'why not?' She didn't persuade me with that argument.
The Heritage woman seemed more keen on putting me down for not knowing much about Southwark, than in helping me learn. She told me I should go to the Clink museum, but only because I would be scared, she said.
The woman from Practical Action asked if I knew what PA was. Yes, I said, I saw the stall last year. She fell silent then, so I can only presume that PA have done nothing in the past year. I can't actually remember what they do, but I saw the stall last year.
I asked the people on the badger stall what was bad about snares (they had a petition against them). The woman there asked me to tell her what was good about them. I didn't know, but at that stage I also didn't know what was bad about them either. She remarked to her colleague that I was probably a teacher.
No, I'm a journalist. Which is why I ran into trouble with the Southwark Community wardens. I took photographs of most of the stalls, predominantly for the Friends of the cemetery. Before I took each pic, I asked the stallholder if it was okay. All said yes. Except the wardens. When I asked to take a photograph, one warden asked if I am a journalist. I said yes, but a relgious one. He told me that I was not allowed to take a photograph in case I used it for political purposes. Orders from above, he said. Not God, but above the wardens.
There were three of them, standing behind a table. The table had nothing on it, except for a plastic bag, which apparently contained their wares, but they didn't put them out because it was raining.
One of the wardens said that I could take their photograph only if they were doing something which showed interaction with the public, like talking to them, but no pics were allowed of them standing behind the table doing nothing. By this time all three had moved from behind the table.
Liz Taylor, the cemetery warden came by at this point, at which I suggested that I could now take a photograph. Two wardens stepped back and I got a wonderful photograph of a Southwark Community warden talking to Liz.
All of this made me reallise that when we Quakers do our own outreach, we really have to be prepared, not just to do 'something', but to engage with anyone, answer any questions and be in tiptop condition.
I certainly won't be joining the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society any time soon, nor will I be singing the praises of the Southwark Community wardens (though I'm sure that they must be doing a great job, right?).
But the man from the Friends of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries was very friendly and had some great photographs of insects which he was happy to explain, so I'll be looking out for him again. And I bought a book about Herne Hill because the man from that stall was really enthusiastic and showed me several of the books about Herne Hill without prompting and had a cheery wave for me when I passed his stall later.
Friday, May 16, 2008
chocolate muffins
Note to self: eating chocolate muffins at one's desk is never a good idea, no matter how simple you think it will be before you attempt to eat it.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Conscientious objector day
To mark the international day for conscientious objectors to military service, a number of flowers were laid a stone in Tavistock Square, London. Each flower had a tag attached with the name of a conscientious objector and the country in which they objected.
Seventy people were present, including representatives from Quaker Peace & Social Witness, Amnesty International, conscience the peace tax campaign, Peace Pledge Union and CND.
Seventy people were present, including representatives from Quaker Peace & Social Witness, Amnesty International, conscience the peace tax campaign, Peace Pledge Union and CND.
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