Monthly notice from Quakers in Britain

Books of the Month May 2018 from the Quaker Centre Bookshop. LINK to PDF

Woodbrooke Upcoming Courses May 2018 LINK to PDF

Quaker Week 2018

29 September – 7 October 2018

This year’s theme is ‘Room for more’. As Quakers we offer a table rich with good things, but recognise it could be more inclusive. There is room for more at the table – how can we let people know that there’s a space for them? A recipe book full of ideas on how to explore this year’s theme will be posted direct to local meetings around the time of Yearly Meeting.
You can now book your speaker for Quaker Week. We can offer speakers on a wide range of subjects. It is worth thinking carefully about the topic, and whether it will encourage people from other parts of your community to attend.
speakers@quaker.org.uk

 

William Gunn’s Charity
The Charity exists to assist individual Members of the Religious Society of Friends who are in personal financial need by making grants of money to them or by paying for services and / or items needed by them. 

Refugee Week
These Walls Must Fall – An event for Refugee Week
6–9pm, 23 June, The light, Friends House, London
An evening of spoken word, music and resistance!
We live in a society where border controls are expanding at an alarming rate. Whether it’s in hospitals, schools, or on our streets, it is increasingly a dangerous time for people from migrant and refugee communities – or those perceived as being so.
As part of Refugee Week 2018 (18–24 June), we will be celebrating people’s resistance to these injustices – and creating a space that strengthens our collective capacity to overcome fear and mistrust. Instead, we hope to transform our communities to become beacons of welcome and hospitality.
For more information about this event, visit our Facebook page Tickets £5, concessions £3
For details and booking: www.quaker.org.uk/events/thesewallsmustfall
Tatiana Garavito, tatianag@quaker.org.uk, 020 7663 1096
 
Note from M: I will kee an eye open for more local events for Refugee Week

Peace

Lobby the UK government to take part in the UN’s upcoming conference on nuclear disarmament
From May 14–16, the UN General Assembly will hold a United Nations high-level international conference on nuclear disarmament. The UK government has not yet decided whether or not it will attend. The UK has a responsibility to seize all opportunities to engage with the vast majority of member states on the agenda of nuclear disarmament. We are encouraging Friends to use our latest resource available at www.quaker.org.uk/nuclear-disarmament to lobby their MP or MSP about UK participation in the conference.
Please send Sahdya Darr an email at sahdyad@quaker.org.uk if you write to your MP or MSP.

A guide to taking action to urge the UK government to seek political and diplomatic solutions to the situation in Syria

We have been receiving emails and calls from Friends asking what they can do in response to the launch of airstrikes in Syria. We are encouraging Friends to use our ‘A guide to taking action to urge the UK government to seek political and diplomatic solutions to the situation in Syria.’ The guide contains several actions Friends can take and is available at www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/peace.
Please send Sahdya Darr an email at sahdyad@quaker.org.uk if you write to your MP or MSP.

Note from M: We are bombing or similar approimately every other day in Iraq and Syria if you would like to see the information the Ministry of Defence log it all here: LINK going back to 2014

 

 

 

Newsletters from organisations we have supported

Animal Free Research UK website link

Mission: “Our mission is to play a leading role in funding high-calibre, animal replacement research, to communicate this research and to advance and develop widespread support for this endeavour.”

Vision: “Our vision is a world where all animal experiments are no longer required and have been replaced by non-animal methods which are human-relevant.”

Values: “Our values are that excellence in biomedical research can, and should be, pursued without animal experiments because they are ethically unjustified and scientifically unsatisfactory.”

Link to their newsletter

Amnesty International link to their website

Medicins sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders website link







link to MSF Dispatches newsletter


Prison Phoenix Trust website link

The Prison Phoenix Trust encourages prisoners in their spiritual lives through a daily practice of yoga and meditation, working with silence and the breath.

Link to Prison Phoenix Trust newsletters


We have just finished a collection for Medicins sans Frontierers during the last twelve months. Prison Phoenix Trust is on our list for this year

A LINK to more information on the next 4 charities we will support

Friends of Hlekweni

Friends of Hlekweni is the UK-based charity whose purpose is to support education and peace-building work  in Zimbabwe, principally in the areas around Bulawayo and, more widely, in Matabeleland. Friends of Hlekweni also aims to help (in small ways) those suffering from hardship, especially young people.

 

Friends of Hlekweni was originally set up to support the work of the Quaker-run Friends Rural Training Centre at Hlekweni, near Bulawayo which, from 1967-2014, provided post-school training in vital occupational skills such as agriculture, building, early years education, and sewing, underpinned by Quaker values of equality, sustainability and peace. Through the generosity of many people, hundreds of trainees were helped.

Friends of Hlekweni has supported Samathonga Primary School for many years, particularly through a feeding scheme (now including breakfast as well as lunch), books and equipment.

A link to different ways you can give

and How to Knit a Teddy LINK

If you would like to donate one or more knitted teddies based on the pattern you will find by following the link below the photograph, please send them on to us and we will make sure they get to children who have very few toys of their own. Here are a few of the children at Mgadla Primary School who have just received a teddy knitted by our supporters and a pencil case.

 

 

 

Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain 2018

This year Yearly Meeting will be considering whether it is time to revise Quaker faith& practice, the book of discipline for Britain Yearly Meeting. Everyone, whether coming in person or upholding Yearly Meeting at home or in local Quaker communities is asked to help the discernment of Yearly Meeting by doing the preparation set out in Preparation for Yearly Meeting [Link] 

 

Yearly Meeting is for everyone – members and attenders, people able to come and those upholding Yearly Meeting in their local Quaker communities. It follows that preparation of hearts and minds is also for everyone. You can prepare as an individual or with your local or area meeting.

 

The link at the end of the first paragraph takes you to links of all documents. Here is the Link to Preparing for Yearly Meeting – there are hard copies available!

 

Link to: Register for yearly Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo © Mike Pinches 2014

Monthly Notices from Quakers in Britain April 18

Books of the Month April 2018 from the Quaker Centre Bookshop. Link to PDF

Woodbrooke Upcoming Courses April 2018 Link to PDF

Among Friends Issue 141, Spring 2018 The magazine of the Europe and Middle East Section of Friends World Committee for Consultation. This issue introduces new Assistant Secretary, Michael Eccles. It also includes reports from the Sanctuary Everywhere conference that took place in Brussels in December, and the Conference of European Churches’ workshop on gene editing. With news from Woodbrooke, Quaker Voluntary Action, book reviews and much more. LINK to PDF

CIRcular Issue 36, Yearly Meeting 2018 CIRcular is produced annually by the Quaker Committee for Christian & Interfaith Relations (QCCIR) and is a digest of activities undertaken both by the Committee and Friends in interfaith and interchurch work across the yearly meeting. Link to PDF

The Young Quaker, Issue 17: February 2018 – Rest Issue The Young Friends General Meeting magazine for young Friends published three times a year to coincide with  YFGM weekends. View online at www.theyoungquaker.org.uk or order extra copies by emailing theyoungquaker@gmail.com

Governance

General Data Protection Regulation: more information

The General Data Protection regulation comes into force on 25 May. You can change how your information is shared at any time, contact the Clerk or SWAM membership Clerk

Children and young people

Volunteers available to support local, area and regional work with young Quakers

If you are short of a volunteer or two for your event or activity with young people, then help is at hand. Over 30 Friends have offered to be part of a database of volunteers who are willing to offer their

service on local and area event teams. All will have been referenced and DBS checked. If you require help in this way please contact Lucy Sam, Children and Young People’s Officer, detailing the help you need. Requests will be forwarded to those who are on the database asking who is available to support your event or activity.

Lucy Sam, lucys@quaker.org.uk, 0207 663 1160

Resources for meetings

Logos to download

Quaker logos for meetings and groups are now available to download. The amended designs replace the ‘bespoke’ logos created for each meeting. Logos and guidance on their use are at www.quaker.org.uk/logo

 

Climate, the environment & economic justice

 

No Faith In Fracking

Fiday 27 April, Preston New Road Fracking site, Nr Blackpool PR4 3PF

Quakers from the North West are working alongside a range of faith communities to create a week of peaceful protest against Fracking and shared witness to the sacredness of all of life. Join Quakers and others on Friday 27th for a day of faith based peaceful witness against the Fracking industry and to call for climate justice. Follow Facebook page ‘no faith in fracking’ for updates. For further information contact: Maya on mayaw@quaker.org.uk or 020 7663 1056 or look at this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/603770453295358/

 

Quaker Week

 

Speakers for Quaker Week 2018

29 September – 7 October 2018

The theme for Quaker Week 2018 is ‘Room for more’. Sharing food and spiritual nourishment is central to this year’s campaign. As Quakers we offer a table rich with good things, but recognise that it could be more inclusive. There is room for more at the table, and we value everyone who might sit at it. How can we let people know that there’s a space for them? You can now book your speaker for Quaker Week. We can offer speakers on a wide range of subjects. It is worth thinking carefully about the topic, and whether it will encourage people from other parts of your community to attend speakers@quaker.org.uk