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29 June 2018 £1.90

Building partnership

and trust

2 the Friend, 29 June 2018

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CONTENTS VOL 176 NO 26

3 Thought for the Week: An open mind Peter Hancock

4-5 News6-7 Quaker understandings of truth Dorothy Buglass

8-9 Letters10-11 Building partnership and trust Ruth Tod

12-13 Letters of a conscientious objector Kate Macdonald

14-15 From the archive: Sons and mothers Janet Scott

16 q-eye: a look at the Quaker world17 Friends & Meetings

Peace

We entreat all who profess themselves members of our Society

to be faithful to that ancient testimony, borne by us ever since we were a people, against bearing

arms and fighting, that by a conduct agreeable to our profession we

may demonstrate ourselves to be real followers of the Messiah, the

peaceable Saviour, of the increase of whose government and peace there

shall be no end.

Issued by Yearly Meeting in London 1744, during the

War of the Austrian Succession

Quaker faith & practice 24.05

A Course in Miracles

In the article ‘Speaking in Meeting’ published last week Helen Schucman should have been described as the ‘scribe’ of A Course in Miracles and not the author.

Helen Schucman says that it had been dictated word for word via ‘inner dictation’, which came from Jesus of

Nazareth. The original article is at: freyrlepage.com/a-submission-i-couldnt-not-write/

3the Friend, 29 June 2018

Thought for the Week

An open mind

I was conscripted in 1954, in my teens, long before I knew anything of conscientious objection or pacifism. I was posted to the Royal Engineers to train as a field engineer in skills connected with weapons and explosives use, bridge-building, mine

clearance and so on. On a number of occasions I said I was not prepared to kill anyone on behalf of the monarch, and that I would like to be transferred to the Medical Corps. Engineer NCOs and officers seemed unfazed by this and my training continued.

After my training I was posted to a survey engineer regiment in Egypt, where I was, to my amazement, made my unit’s medical orderly/paramedic – a job I also did in Cyprus, where the EOKA insurgency had recently started up. There was no antagonism from the local population; indeed, on a few occasions I treated Cypriot villagers for various medical problems whilst my superiors turned a blind eye.

I travelled about 4,000 miles on various ambulance journeys across the island. I was armed, but we were never confronted by any insurgents, though other British army vehicles were frequently attacked. If we had been, could I have maintained my pacifist stance by just shooting over the heads of the rebels? Who knows? I was, after all, legally responsible for protecting the ambulance driver and patients.

A hero of mine is Albert Schweitzer, who made a huge philosophical advance in moving ethics beyond solely human concerns to a position of protection for all animal and plant life, with his famous tenet ‘Reverence for Life’. Yet he never became a vegetarian. He knew that as a doctor he had to kill bugs.

A proverb says that the ethical man plucks no leaf from a tree! And if he finds a worm on a dry path he picks it up on a twig and places it on moist earth.

One of the nicest men I’ve ever met was major-general Griff Caldwell. He was a Royal Engineer member of the SOE and SAS in world war two and was twice awarded the Military Cross. One day I found myself sitting by him on a knoll on Herm Island. I told him of my time as a sapper in the Royal Engineers, my conscientious objection and my transfer to medical duties, as well as my scepticism about royalty. He was entirely sympathetic, courteous and respected my viewpoint. I am concerned that some Friends today, who are passionate about a cause (and I commend their commitment), may not, like Griff Caldwell, have a similar approach to other viewpoints. We can disagree with respect and courtesy.

The tolerance I experienced in the army and the intolerance of some Quakers seem, to me, to be in sharp contrast. How do we disentangle the original Quaker religious message from the modern political and commerical ones?

Few matters, after all, are wholly cut and dried.

Peter Hancockfrom Guernsey Meeting


News

FRIENDS HOuSE in London hosted a conference last week to explore new and current approaches to national security. ‘Rethinking Security’ on 15 June brought together a wide range of academics and activists determined to put human rights at the centre of the security debate.

The aim, according to Britain Yearly Meeting, was ‘to explore the impact of current approaches to national security on agendas for peace, justice and environmental sustainability’. The conference also sought to ‘consider what a different approach could look like, and how to bring about change’.

Keynote speakers included Paul Rogers, of the university of Bradford, and Shaista Aziz, a writer, comedian and broadcaster, who spoke about racism in the uK. She urged people not to be apologetic for speaking out for human rights.

Mary Kaldor, of the London School of Economics, raised the challenges of rethinking security in practice.

She cited the work of Andrew Feinstein, the writer and campaigner, and said: ‘The arms trade is increasingly a source of political finance. African dictators buy weapons not because they need them but because corruption

allows them to build private political budgets.’

Patrick Corrigan, director of Amnesty International Northern Ireland, said at the event: ‘We have a conflict resolution model in Northern Ireland, which can be used in other contexts. But the uK government seems to set that model aside when its strategic interests are involved in places like the Middle East.’

There were several workshops. One, on peace education, was led by Rhianna Louise of Forces Watch and Ellis Brooks of Quaker Peace & Social Witness. (See the article on pages 10-11.)

New approaches to national security

FOuR HuNDRED PEOPLE gathered at Friends House, London, last week for a high-profile arts event after a lively and successful Refugee Week.

‘These Walls Must Fall’ on 23 June brought together poets and musicians including Poetic Pilgrimage, a British Muslim hip-hop duo; JJ Bola, a writer and poet; the Nawi Collective, a black women’s vocal collective; and Selina Nwulu, a poet laureate for London.

The evening concluded a colourful week of vigils and activities held throughout the uK. Leeds Friends took part in a ‘Walk of Solidarity’, organised by Garforth Refugee Support Group, on 22 June.

Robert Keeble, from Leeds Meeting, told the Friend: ‘The purpose of the walk was to experience the challenges many asylum seekers have faced – their often long and arduous journey to safety.’

FIvE QuAKERS joined a vigil at a Church of England conference centre last week to protest against a military conference sponsored by arms companies

The protest, organised by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, was to demonstrate against the Royal united Services Institute (Rusi) Land Warfare Conference held on 19 and 20 June at Church House, London.

The centre, which is next to Westminster Abbey, is home to the administrative headquarters of the Church of England. The conference was sponsored by arms companies Lockheed Martin, Airbus and L-3 Communications.

Sue Hampton, from Berkhampstead Meeting, told the

Friend: ‘It’s beyond inappropriate. Jesus was the pince of peace, not the prince of war. War is always a failure of peace-keeping, so the Church should never embrace it.’

She added: ‘There were lots of people in uniform and one soldier put his head around to say: “We’re the ones who prevent war, not you”. Someone from Church House came out and said the conference’s aim was to prevent war, which isn’t what the Facebook page said. I said: “It’s sponsored by arms dealers.” He said: “It’s sponsored by a lot of people.”’

According to the Rusi website, the conference this year ‘considered how land forces can achieve competitive advantage from 2025 and beyond’.

The sessions explored questions such as ‘what doctrine, capabilities and structures will be needed to out-manoeuvre adversaries?’

The Church has defended the booking in the past, saying that the Church House Conference Centre is a separate body from the Church of England.

Protest vigil at Church of England conference centre

Successful Refugee Week concludes with ‘These Walls Must Fall’

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[email protected] by Rebecca Hardy

the Friend, 29 June 2018

The JournAl of the Friends historical Society has been digitised after a two-year process that involved transferring hundreds of pages of text from printed issues.

The publication, which launched in 1904, has made all issues from 1903 to 2013 freely available online.

Gil Skidmore, editor of The Journal, told the Friend a wide variety of articles are available, including all annual presidential

addresses. She said: ‘Because the journal is fully searchable it will be of particular interest to family and local historians, as well as to readers interested in a broad range of topics, not just Quaker historians.’

Material available includes studies of individual Quakers, local history, transcriptions of manuscripts (such as letters and minutes), book reviews and articles on subjects including slavery, the

peace testimony and bibliography. The Friends Historical Society

has recently adopted the strapline ‘Quaker history for today’.

Gil Skidmore said: ‘This is because we believe that lessons can always be learned for the present from the past and that it is important for Quakers today to understand the many changes which the Religious Society of Friends has gone through.’

Historical Society’s journal goes digital

QuAKER CONCERN for Animals (QCA) took part in a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, last week to put a stop to the transportation of animals.

The ‘Stop Live Transport’ protest on 14 June was part of the annual International Awareness Day, organised by the group Compassion in World Farming (CiWF).

Judith Wilkings, from QCA, told the Friend: ‘Every year millions of animals are transported around the world on long journeys, as far as Turkey and the Middle East, in cramped containers with very little animal welfare. This year, in particular, there is an opportunity to stop this cruel trade if Brexit goes ahead.’

Judith Wilkings said that QCA protested ‘as Quaker witness to the divinity in all creatures and the equality of all creatures’.

She added: ‘Recent legislation in the uK requires a CCTv in every slaughterhouse so we can see how animals are being killed. However, once they leave the uK we don’t know where they are going. They could go to countries where there are no animal welfare rules whatsoever.’

Speakers at the event included: Emma Slawinski, Compassion’s director of campaigns; Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park; professor Jo Cambridge, vets Against Live Exports; Nick Palmer, Compassion’s head of policy; and Theresa villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, who has had a private member’s bill to end animal transportation.

Judith Wilkings said: ‘It was heartening to hear there’s so much support in parliament.’

Friends act on animal rights

A GROuP of Bath Friends have created a course to explore End of Life Matters (ELM).

Hazel Mitchell, from Bath Meeting, told the Friend: ‘There was a feeling among the group that people didn’t have a chance to talk about their concerns about death and dying.

‘We cover the intellectual aspects and consider our feelings about death and funerals, particularly regarding the section in Advices &

queries about not placing an undue burden on others.’

Topics for the six sessions from 24 April to 18 July include practical and legal issues, such as ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ and ‘Planning Your Own Funeral’.

Bath Friends are also discussing hospice and hospital care, dying at home, bereavement and pastoral care for terminally ill people. The group uses the Church of England pack Grave Talk.

Bath Quakers run End of Life course A BOOK called The Conscientous objector’s Wife was launched at the Quaker Centre Bookshop at Friends House this week. The book is a collection of letters between English pacifists Frank and Lucy Sunderland.

The book launch on 27 June included a brief talk about Frank and Lucy by some of their grandchildren, followed by a Q&A with the editor Kate MacDonald.(See the article on pages 12-13.)

New book launched

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Quaker understandingsof truth

Pontius Pilate said ‘What is truth?’ – leaving these words to echo down the ages. Around sixty people mulled over this question at the Quaker

universalist Group’s (QuG) annual conference, which was held on 13-15 April at Woodbrooke, and it proved a timely topic when terms such as ‘post-truth’ are prevalent.

On Friday evening we considered ‘Thoughts on Spiritual and Scientific Truth’ by Alan York. He was unfortunately absent through illness and his contribution was read by Hazel Nelson. He maintained that the language of science based on evidence did not necessarily differ significantly from the language of religion based on experience. He introduced the concept of ‘qualia’: raw experiences, which are subjective, based on the senses. For example, we never know whether the colour we see as red is really the same as that colour seen by others. He introduced the notion of ‘spiritual qualia’ – for example, the experiences of the mystics. These are subjective and ineffable, but are nevertheless the basis of religion.

Does truth matter?

Tony Philpott made the assertion that we need to establish facts to make decisions about the good life. But a fog separates us from the truth and he outlined four crucial elements causing this separation. First, culture and background. Second, psychology, the many biases reflected in our choice of belief. Third, the view that the world is religiously ambiguous – and that objective facts do not prove one religion true or another false. Finally, the media, which can recast reality. There is no easy way through the fog. The process of seeking truth

and having an open mind are more important than the end product.

Truth in a Quaker context

Joycelin Dawes, on Saturday, gave an insightful talk on ‘Truth’ as perceived by early Quakers and how this concept has been interpreted in more recent times. Truth encompasses honesty, integrity and clarity – virtues for which Quakers became known. However, there is no one definition and the speaker suggested we should test what she said against our own understanding. Early Quakers spoke of truth (as a verb) arising from their inner experience.

They mostly had a literalist perception of God, but Joycelin Dawes suggested that today it was more appropriate to consider God as a word to describe the ‘process of becoming’. We need to accept diversity. Our view has to be wide enough to include the truth of others as well as our own. Quaker universalists, like Friends in all ages, have recognised an Inward Light, a loving energy in the deepest places, available to everyone. Truth matters because it is a necessary part of trust. Without trust we cannot relate satisfactorily to others, in business or personal relationships. An inquiry into the fruits of truth asks the questions: Is it life affirming? Is it nourishing? Can I experience it? And does it lead to an inherent intention to good?

Truth in religion

‘Truth in religion – universalism, a truth suppressed within the Christian tradition’ was another topic that was addressed. We were most grateful to Hugh Rock,

Truth

Dorothy Buglass writes about the recent QuG conference


a delegate at the conference, for offering us this talk as a replacement for our advertised speaker, who was prevented from coming. In theology Christian universalism maintains that a loving God would not condemn the majority of humankind to hell and damnation. Salvation is universally available.

This view contradicts much traditional teaching of the Church and the Calvinistic view of ‘the elect’. Early Quakers rejected blind acceptance of doctrine and emphasised that good actions were the essence of true religion. The view that deeds supersede doctrine cuts across belief systems and recruits all into the ‘invisible church’. In sociological terms the different churches are communities of people who support each other. A church is what it does.

‘Are religious beliefs true?’ is a mistaken and unanswerable question. Religions are different ways of organising communities. In the discussion that followed it was noted that modern Quaker universalists are little influenced by the Christian universalists’ concern with salvation. Rather, they seem to draw their inspiration from the concept of the Inner Light as perceived by Friends and from exposure to Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

Truth in the media

Sunday brought us a lively account from Stephen Cox on ‘Truth in the media’. We perceive a crisis of truth in our society. The idea of a single objective truth is questioned and we talk glibly of post-truth. However, we have been here before. In ancient Egypt Rameses II made false claims about his victories, and the printing press was suppressed by governments in its early days.

The example of early Quakers is relevant. They used the most up-to-date methods of their time. They were notorious controversialists, great pamphlet writers and were persecuted for it. Later they were notable for their opposition to the slave trade and were able to organise effective campaigns. They believed in objective truth and they felt their interpretation to be right.

Turning to our present problems, the speaker noted that Post-Enlightenment thought encouraged individualism and suspicion of experts. We are in a period of rapid social and economic change that includes huge changes to our methods of communication. The decline of local newspapers makes it more difficult to verify facts close to home. False tweets, according to one academic study, are re-tweeted more frequently than true ones. What can we do? We have to recognise that free speech has its limits. We need stronger parliamentary laws and

more control of lobbying organisations. We need to make multinationals comply with uK laws. Personal boycotts are not enough – we need to press for essential government control. We need to ask: How does the truth prosper among Friends? We should pose questions in a less controversial manner and hold people to high journalistic standards. There is no easy solution, but we need a ‘Campaign for Real News’.

Use of the media

Friends engaged, also, on a survey in the media and the religious journey. On the first evening Tony Philpott asked participants to complete a short questionnaire about the sources of information they used and past and present religious influences in their lives. Fifty-seven responses were received. Twenty-nine respondents read a paper every day. Among those who cited newspapers, thirty-four read the paper version, nine the online version and seven used both. Fifty-four per cent read the Guardian or the observer. Sixteen respondents did not use social media at all; of those who did, Facebook was the most popular. Most respondents obtained at least some of their information from Tv and radio and many expressed some scepticism about what they heard.

Turning to the questions on religion, Tony Philpott reported that eighty-four per cent of the respondents came from a Christian background, mainly Anglican; only three came from a Quaker family. Current influences were immensely varied. unsurprisingly, Quakerism and Christianity were prominent, but important also were Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, and many other religions, together with humanism, agnosticism and nontheism.

What led to this change of direction? Tony Philpott postulated that it arose from a combination of two related facts: personal development and changes in society. We take what we need from different sources on the grounds that there is no one true religion. Worldviews may be judged by their fruits – for example, do they reduce suffering and do they promote wellbeing?

As usual, the QuG conference was lively and thought–provoking and led to interesting conversations in base groups and at table. This report only skims the surface. The talks will be published in full in pamphlets later this year.

Dorothy is from South east Scotland Area Meeting

Further information: http://qug.org.uk


All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the FriendLettersEquality and inclusionThis year’s Yearly Meeting epistle urges us to see one another whole and make eyeball-to-eyeball contact as the way to build true community. At Area Meeting, following a reading of this, there was an invitation to turn to a neighbour and look them straight in the eyes.

The image and the exercise are meant to include everyone equally. It doesn’t feel that inclusive if, like me, you have been registered blind all your life. It’s not comfortable if ‘eyeball’ reminds you of recent visits to ophthalmology clinics and desperate surgery to save the last of your dwindling vision. It was clear I didn’t belong. It hurt, and I left the room.

There must be countless ways to talk about recognising someone’s full humanity. The Hindu greeting namaste means, I understand: ‘The divine in me salutes the divine in you.’ What’s wrong with that? Why are so many Friends drawn to eyesight images, even though these exclude and cause pain to their visually-impaired comrades?

Surely, Friends aim to be fully one community. We all belong equally. Don’t we want to make that clear in everything we say and do? We would never dream of using racist, sexist or ageist language. So, why speak in our most public statements as if disabled people don’t belong?

I hope the revision of Quaker faith & practice will include some Friends with disabilities to help ensure it makes us all fully welcome.

Friend, whoever and however you are, the divinity in me salutes the divinity in you.

Joy CroftNorfolk and Waveney Area Meeting

Charitable and cost-efficient We in the uK are lucky we live in a country that provides the minimum wage, sickness pay, pensions and the NHS. For millions of people living in the world’s poorest countries their only hope of survival if they are ill and when they get old are their children.

Looking back at the recent history of the united Kingdom, my mother was one of nine siblings – not unusual for the early twentieth century. The advent of smaller families in the uK can be directly linked to the increase in wages, healthcare and human rights.

Parents living in developing nations will limit their families when they get similar benefits. Charities like Christian Aid are working with local organisations in Africa, Asia and South America to enable this to come about. When families feel confident that enough of their children will survive to adulthood they will be open to adopting the concept of family planning.

Large charities handle tens of millions of pounds of our donations. I would be very wary of donating if they did not have professional staff. Raymond Hudson

(1 June) should spend a few more minutes on the internet to see just how cost-efficient charities are compared to large commercial companies.

Russell RichardsClevedon Meeting, North Somerset

Violence against womenThe piece by Joel C Wallenberg (1 June) and the response from Margaret Roy and others in West Scotland (15 June) were excellent. In Gloucestershire, since discovering there is only one refuge left in our county after cuts had closed others, we too have been exercised about violence against women

On 14 June we hosted a public meeting at which speakers from Stroud Women’s Refuge explained their work. A lively evening included one case study, from some years ago, of a young woman called ‘Gemma’ by way of illustration.

Two days later a woman who had attended the meeting described her experience of the refuge.

‘The story they told about Gemma – that was me. I was only seventeen. He was a charmer – until the abuse started. After I left the first time he came and found me. I believed all his rubbish and went back. The final straw later was when he hit my second daughter… I had nowhere to go with my children. He was spitting at me all the way to the police station. The refuge saved my life.’

Refuges provide a place of safety for abused women and a chance for them to recover the strength to make a new life while their children learn what it’s like to be free of fear. That’s the good news. Let’s broadcast it.

Lynn and Dave Morris of Journeymen Theatre were at our meeting. They are working on a new piece about domestic violence against women, which will tour next year.

Jane Mace and John GealeGloucestershire Area Meeting

Importance and indulgenceBoth Joel C Wallenberg (1 June) and Simon Risley (8 June) speak to my condition.

I have been saying for some time, and to some Quaker men at my Meeting: ‘When are men going to start working for the equality of women? Why is it the women are having to do a large percentage of the work?’ I hope Joel’s excellent article is taken forward as a concern both at local and central level.

With reference to Simon’s article, I only spent Friday and Saturday at Britain Yearly Meeting this year and felt that by Saturday afternoon a minute could have been agreed for the revision of our Book of Discipline. There appeared to be unity.

I felt the whole weekend was very ‘self-indulgent’ and we could have used our time more productively


on subjects of equal importance. I certainly would have considered attending on the Sunday and Monday.

Thank you to both Joel and Simon for voicing these issues.

Jo Fisher St Neots Meeting, Cambridgeshire

MembershipWhither membership? (Or, perhaps, ‘Wither membership?’)

Quaker faith & practice 6.15 on the attendance of non-members at Yearly Meeting states: ‘Permission… may be given at the discretion of the clerk… Such permission… should be supported by one or more elders [my italics] to whom the applicant is well known…’

But according to Friends House with regard to Yearly Meeting 2018: ‘You don’t have to be a member… If you are not a member please ask someone you know from your meeting [my italics] to email the Yearly Meeting clerk.’

‘Someone you know’ needn’t even be a member, let alone an elder.

Are we abandoning membership?Mike BrayshawWorthing Meeting, West Sussex

SustainabilityI am sorry that sustainability was not on the Yearly Meeting agenda this year, and that the Britain Yearly Meeting Sustainability Group does not consider that the Canterbury Commitment is being put into practice as well as was hoped.

In my Local Meetings and Area Meetings we have considered issues of sustainability with respect to our buildings. As an example, some changes we wished to make to our Local Meeting house, such as installing double glazing and solar panels, proved impracticable due to the position of the building and the constraints of the local council’s building rules. However, we have done our best with what we have.

We have also considered the right use of our financial resources and our use of plastics. In addition, as individuals we have made changes in our lives aimed at lowering our carbon and other footprints.

I expect that the same is true in other parts of Britain Yearly Meeting.

Jane HeydeckerSevenoaks and Tonbridge Meetings, Kent

Kneeling ministryI was a child in Croydon Meeting in the 1920s and 1930s. I well remember that when a Friend prayed vocally it would be on their knees and everyone else would stand.

I recall one elderly Friend who voiced rather

rambling prayers (as if God needed to be informed of what was happening in the world He had created) and everyone would rise to their feet.

I also wonder when this practice faded, or whether elders gave it consideration as a (no longer?) necessary part of the ‘right holding’ of Meeting for Worship.

Mary Rowlands Kirbymoorside Meeting, Yorkshire

Word and worshipI am sure nobody would dispute that ‘the richness and depth of our collective and individual understanding and experience’ (8 June) must be conveyed in some form, and not necessarily by the same wording in all passages, in our revised Quaker faith & practice.

However, the word ‘worship’ and the expression ‘Meeting for Worship’ seem to have crept into our Quaker language comparatively recently – probably since our Meetings were labelled by others as ‘Places of Worship’ in the Places of Worship Registration Act of 1855 (Quaker faith & practice 14.24). They do not figure much in the older pages of Church Government in the present volume.

Elaine MilesChilterns Area Meeting

Letting out roomsThe article by Trish Carn about letting out rooms in our Meeting houses (15 June) was thought-provoking.

Friends have a tradition of standing up to intimidation.

On balance, the speaker concerned appears to have had a strong case for being heard – on our premises, too.

David Harries42 St Patrick’s Drive, Bridgend CF31 1RP

[email protected]

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.


Building partnership and trust

On 15 June I attended an open conference in Friends House, London, on Time for Change: new Approaches to national Security. It was

organised by Rethinking Security, a network of organisations, academics and activists who share a concern about the current direction of national and global security. The conference was hosted by Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) and billed as an invitation to take part in a conversation and come up with new ideas. The publicity for the event reminded us that security matters to us all, and that everyone has a stake in helping to build it at home and abroad.

We need a whole new outlook that builds bridges not walls. Seven excellent presentations and eleven workshops gave us insights into different fields that included: human rights, climate change, disarmament, the Prevent strategy and feminist foreign policy. At the end we were exhorted to come together in solidarity, for it is through connection and trust that we build true security.

On the train coming to London I reflected that each person has their own understanding of security and that this depends on their life experience from childhood onwards. Some of us look for safety in an ordered society and/or a welfare state that provides a safety net. Others look first to the network of family and friends that they trust. Some people rate defence and protection as the highest purpose of government, whereas others focus first on social justice for all. If we are to have a useful conversation about security, I think these kinds of questions need to be considered. Everyone needs to feel secure. How each person understands security

depends on what they have learnt from life. To engage together on this issue we need to start by recognising these facts and respect our differences.

In the uK many of us have a fear of the future. We were reminded that after the second world war the national narrative was ‘we will look after your security, so you can have the freedoms you fought for’. That idea has now been reversed and we are ‘seeing our freedoms sacrificed in order to preserve our security’.

We heard how our government’s Prevent strategy is eroding the confidence of Muslim students to speak out in universities, so there is a danger that some of them will become radicalised out of frustration and disappointment, as much as from anger. In this and other ways, government policies are in danger of creating more insecurity rather than less. Yet many people continue to support these policies, simply because the more fearful we are, the more our instinct is to look for protection.

In the morning we explored why and how this is happening. For me the overall message from all our speakers was that our national security policy is not here to make us safe, but to maintain the power of corporate interest. We acknowledged that the wealth of the North was built on the resources of the South and that this drain is still eroding societies and resources, through unfair trade and finance practices. Migration is the visible tip of the iceberg; we fear it and fail to deal with the environmental and social causes that lie beneath. In order to manage the crises that lie ahead, we urgently need to cooperate and support one another.

Peace

Ruth Tod offers some reflections on a recent conference


It is time to name the underlying control paradigm that shapes what is being done ‘on our behalf ’, to open our eyes, and to reclaim democracy at all levels.

In the afternoon we explored opportunities and challenges. As we hear more and more about climate change, water shortage, migration, inequality, so-called ‘terrorist activities’ and wars it is clear we cannot go on burying our heads in the sand. In the workshop I attended we heard that the essence of Rethinking Security is grounded in wellbeing and human rights; everyone has the right to freedom from want, violence and other threats.

Building common security will take time and patience; it must be a shared responsibility with democracy at its heart. One of the best things we can do, therefore, is to support civil society organisations wherever we can. In Syria conflict first flared up because of famine. Had western governments looked at the situation through this alternative perspective they could have offered aid and support for local groups. War might well have been averted. There still is a strong civil society that western governments could work with; instead, they continue to feed the conflict and exacerbate it.

Rethinking Security invites us to build a consensus around a new narrative of cooperation, a narrative to share with global and national decision-makers, as well as people on the ground. QPSW is a member of the network and supports its multi-layered, multi-faceted approach by working in different ways on a range of issues, including peace education and

campaigning, economics and sustainability, migration and restorative justice. Abroad, QPSW puts partnership with civil society organisations and faith groups at the heart of its work, going where invited, offering support and expertise on a basis of mutual respect.

The work in Israel/Palestine supports Palestinians by accompanying and living alongside them in their daily lives. In East Africa, Kenyan Friends asked us to help them develop a programme of nonviolence training, which is now being taken up in other African countries. From my experience, one of our strengths as Quakers is that we are good listeners. We are recognised for our ability to bring people together to find common ground. We do not jump in and judge, but instead seek first to understand.

Locally, as well globally, we can use our gifts and resources to build trusting partnerships and to help people find their voices. We can offer safe spaces for people to contemplate the possibility of change and take small steps in new directions. Through simple actions like these, we can demonstrate that building partnership and trust is, indeed, the best way to create security.

ruth is from Mid Thames Area Meeting.

rethinking Security, formerly known as the Ammerdown Group, is an initiative of religious and secular organisations, academics and activists who seek to promote new approaches to security.

Further information: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk

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On 4 November 1916 Frank Sunderland – a pacifist from Letchworth in Hertfordshire, north of London – was formally arrested

for refusing to take up military service under the Military Service Act 1916. He was court-martialled as an absentee, classed as an ‘absolutist’ conscientious objector and on 15 November sentenced to six months’ hard labour at Wormwood Scrubs. He was given two extensions to his sentence and was released shortly after 14 April 1919.

Frank’s wife Lucy remained living in Letchworth with their three children: Dora was aged nine, Chrissie was seven and Morris was five. Lucy took over Frank’s job of collecting insurance premiums and earned extra money by sewing and tailoring. The Letchworth Quaker community supported them stoutly, in contrast to the attitudes of their families in London, who thought Frank’s stance was unpatriotic.

Frank and Lucy wrote to each other as often as the law permitted, and their letters are rare surviving evidence of working-class wartime experience. As well as testifying to their love and loyalty to each other, the letters show how their shared beliefs upheld the couple through two and a half years of separation, thinking through how a better future in a more equal society could be achieved for all:

I try not to mind very much, but it seems so cruel to take a man away from his wife and children when they need him so much. either to soldier and death, or to prison and the knowledge of right, both are bad for the wife, only the latter is going to leave the world a little better than we found it and so makes it worthwhile to stick to our Idealism.

After Lucy’s death in 1961 the wartime letters went first to Morris and then to Dora. They were hard to read, closely written, and were on poor quality paper. Dora’s daughter Julia Prescott, her son-in-law Tom Heydeman and her granddaughter Lucy Heydeman typed and collated the letters over several years with the intention of eventual publication.

I became friends with Tom and Elizabeth Heydeman through our Quaker connections, and stayed with them when I was working at the university of Reading. As I had published some research on first world war history, they asked me if I would like to read Frank and Lucy’s letters. Naturally, I was delighted to do so: to work on unstudied letters from a historically significant period is a rare opportunity.

I saw immediately that they would make a fascinating book, and wrote to several publishers with a proposal. Their revision requirements did not give Frank and

Books

Letters of aconscientious objector

Kate Macdonald writes about a fascinating correspondence


Lucy’s letters the prominence they deserved, as a continuous, cumulative narrative. The power of the letters is in the richness of their social and historical detail, and the texture of ordinary life that is so often missing from histories of the war.

By 2017 I had returned to my earlier, pre-academic profession of publishing, and had set up Handheld Press. Bringing Frank and Lucy’s letters out as a book was high on my list of projects, and I was warmly encouraged by the family.

The complete collection of letters ran to about 200,000 words, which had to be reduced by half to make a manageable book. I edited them by focusing on Lucy’s story. She had an income to earn, a house to run, three children to feed and clothe and keep happy and healthy, and an imprisoned husband to encourage, on top of increasing wartime pressures.

hope you can have the few goodies I have sent. Try and take the eggs in milk or even in tea if such a thing is allowed. My morning tea nearly chokes me because you are not sharing it (tho’ sometimes you have refused it). I hope you will write to me every day as long as you can. I feel your spirit always with me. It helps me throughout the loneliness of the night. I haven’t time to feel lonely during the day.

While Lucy was no doubt thankful that she and the children weren’t under bombardment, and that Frank’s life was not immediately at risk, the grind of her never-ending workload began to wear her down.

I got home at 8.30 dead beat. The children had been having a lovely time and were still playing happily in the garden. I got them to bed as soon as I could and after a little rest and a cup of coffee went myself. now I have a busy day with bookings up. o dear I feel a little tired of it, no peace.

Reading and editing the letters in chronological order revealed the gradual deterioration of the family’s health, for example. This was an alarming unfolding narrative, knowing that the ‘Spanish flu’ pandemic of 1918-20, only months away, would kill those whose immune systems had been weakened by war.

Chrissie is not better I am sorry to say. She has 3 places on her forehead now; her hand and leg is better. I am bathing her with hot water and boracic powder, but I shall take her to the Doctor this evening or the morning. Morris has his cough again. I am sure now it is caused through the enlarged tonsils. I

expect they will have to be done soon. I shall try and get my teeth seen to too.

But Lucy wasn’t wholly on her own: she had a strong network of women friends and neighbours, many of whom were Quakers, who gave her the support she needed. Lucy was also well able to stand up for herself – her routing of her neighbours over the mystery of the stinking shared sewer conveys the strength of her personality.

The smell was so awful again in the evening I went up to Mr Palmer yesterday morning and we called on Donelly the Sanitary Inspector. I was not going to let a thing like that go on while [the neighbours] quibbled about the cost.

Lucy’s letters are full of her expanding interests: attending Adult School lectures, arguing with people who objected to Frank’s position, and commenting on the politics of the day, which she followed closely.

The women’s labour Party are now holding meetings once a week at Common View, with the idea of the coming election to do with the changing of rural to urban, and local matters [that] should be of interest to women, if parliamentary [ones] do not. I heard of such a lot who did not vote at the election because they did not understand and did not know their husband’s views and would not go against them. I believe even the majority of men do not understand politics.

I needed to research nearly 200 footnotes. As well as the cooperative movement, the garden cities movement, and the No Conscription Fellowship (NCF) I learned a great deal about the Home Office scheme for alternative service for COs, the Esperanto movement, the Temperance movement, a host of Independent Labour Party (ILP) politicians, the wartime cabinet members who disagreed with Lloyd George, the Women’s Freedom League, Theosophy, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), vegetarian cooking in wartime, the labour leader, the Alpha union, Letchworth’s welcoming attitude to wartime refugees, the general election of 1918 and the by-elections in 1919, and the remarkable numbers of men and women in political partnerships.

Lucy even read the Friend. Her story is a unique survival of how Quaker values were lived in wartime.

Kate is a member of Mid-Thames Area Meeting.

The Conscientious Objector’s Wife, edited by Kate Macdonad, is published by handheld Press at £19.99.


On the 7 June 1918 the Friend contained notices of the deaths of Norman Gripper and Hugo Jackson, members of the Friends Ambulance

unit (FAu) working in the Section 14 ambulance convoy. More details emerged over the following weeks. On 14 June the Friend published a report from the FAu, which contained the following:

A telegram and a pencilled note on the back of an envelope contain all the news I have received so far of the loss of two members of the Convoy, norman edward Gripper, who came out to the unit in January, 1916, and worked at two of the stations of the Aide Civile Belge, prior to his joining the Convoy in June, 1916, and hugo harrison Jackson, who came out in December, 1914, and worked at the Sacré-Cœur and other of the unit’s hospitals until he became a member of the Convoy in December, 1915. They were killed on the 27th, and buried on the 28th. The car which norman Gripper was apparently driving at the time, had to be abandoned.

every member, not only of the Convoy, but of the whole unit, joins me in a feeling of profound regret at the loss of two eager and devoted comrades, and in tendering an expression of the deepest sympathy to the stricken parents.

A fortnight later on 28 June the Friend was able to give more details. The Convoy had been ordered to stand by ready for an imminent German attack. At midnight orders came to carry off the sick, but meanwhile the attack had started and calls came for the cars to go to the neighbouring town. The report continued:

To get up from the central post the cars had to pass through the town, and it was there that norman

Gripper and hugo Jackson met their death. Their car was in convoy with two others and a shell exploded close to them, killing Gripper instantaneously while Jackson lingered on for a short time, dying… without regaining consciousness. They were buried with military honours in the hospital grounds, an english Presbyterian Chaplain officiating. Four hours later the hospital was in German hands. The car was abandoned as it was severely damaged.

The report continued:

From that time up to June 1st the Convoy was almost continuously on the move through villages which were being shelled, bombed and swept by machine-gun fire, along roads terribly congested with refugees, and transport of all kinds, and where often it was only possible to move a few yards at a time.

Bereavement

So many of the costs of war were borne by mothers, in grief, in anxiety and in care for those left behind. On 14 June a letter appeared in the Friend signed simply ‘A Mother’. It shows how one woman responded to the sorrow of the loss of her son:

Dear Friend – As one who has borne the same crushing blow, the sudden loss of a beloved son, my heart goes out to all others similarly afflicted. I know how this earthly life seems a blank for evermore. life without the dear loved one seems an impossibility. our every thought and interest were bound up with his. But as the first shattering shock subsides, our faith steadies itself and we flee to the only refuge for bereaved souls – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for ever. only in Him is any comfort

Sons and mothers

From the archive

Janet Scott writes about the sorrow of bereavement and how Friends found comfort


to be found. But oh, how tenderly he deals with us, taking us under the shadow of his wings, and showing us how in that safe resting place we are near our beloved one who is also living there. So we come to realise something of the joy that our dear boy is experiencing in the presence of his lord, and to give thanks constantly that he is promoted to the high joyous service of heaven, and that the pain and agony are ours alone.

Is not this sorrow a call to us to live a life of closer communion with God, not just now and then but always?… As we do this and rest our torn hearts upon his strength, we shall… see this life in its true proportion. Such a little bit of eternity…

So I have longed that the lord’s comfort may be the portion of every bereaved heart. This does not mean that the sorrow will be lessened, but that we shall be upheld in the arms of everlasting love, and there in that safe resting place shall learn from him all that he would teach us by it.

A missionary mother’s experience of war

The bi-monthly supplement on the missionary service of the Society in June carried reports of work in China, where there was conflict between warring bands. Dorothy H Rodwell had travelled the three day journey from her home to a city where there was medical care for the birth of her child. On 21 June she wrote in the Friend:

henry was born about 12.30 a.m., and by 8 o’clock a battle was raging for the possession of the city. The city was held by northerners, and the Southerners were advancing… We could hear the sound of guns; then came an explosion as a shrapnel shell burst in a field only fifty yards from the house. Before long we were in the midst of a rattle of rifle fire, which continued incessantly all day.

The hospital and house were in the line of fire: bullets constantly hit the roofs, a number struck the house, some coming in through the windows. My room was on the sheltered side of the house, but one bullet came in through the window of another room, a partition wall, and the back of a wardrobe… we found it lying in the drawer among baby’s dresses. It was not a pleasant experience to lie there and listen to the whiz of passing bullets and the clatter as they hit the house or tiles, and you can well imagine how thankful we were when at dusk the Southerners took the city, and the bugles sounded to cease firing. Fortunately I had been able to sleep for two hours in

the morning, and the night following the battle was quiet, so neither little henry nor I seemed much the worse for the excitement.

Dorothy Rodwell went on to describe how her husband arrived a week later just in time for another battle when the Northerners regained the city. She added:

It is a great help to us to know that so many of our friends are remembering us in prayer.

Motherhood

Olaf Baker of the Emergency Committee for Helping Aliens was asked to trace a lapsed case, Mrs P. In the 5 July issue of the Friend he wrote of his search. He did not locate Mrs P, but found her friend Mrs S, a Romanian married to an Egyptian serving in the British army, who told him her friend’s story:

After the internment of her husband, owing to his German birth, and the consequent breaking up of their home, the shock to Mrs P’s nerves was so great that she went utterly to pieces. They had been a devoted couple, and at last the separation together with the loss of their home, so preyed on her mind that she several times attempted to take her life, the last time by poison… the terrified neighbours sent for the police, and she was finally taken off to the asylum.

In the meantime there was a little girl of ten, the only child, to be provided for. This Mrs S herself undertook to do, and for two years had supplied the place of a mother to the child, treating her exactly as one of her own children… the little girl was extremely depressed… [and] they found great difficulty in keeping her from brooding.

Olaf Baker commented on the curious position of a Romanian married to an Egyptian, mothering a child born of an English mother and a German father in spite of the fact that she had difficulty in providing for her own family. It was still another of those apparently endless complications induced by the war!

And finally…

On 29 June 1918, Mary Alice Coster, cook-housekeeper, wife of Jack Coster, private soldier, gave birth to a daughter, Laura, in due time mother of Janet Scott, who has compiled the reports in the ‘From the archive’ series.

Janet is a member of Cambridgeshire Area Meeting.


[email protected] look at the Quaker world

THE PLIGHT of elders, overseers, clerks and trustees who have recently taken up their new responsibilities (and may be finding them less than straightforward) prompted Jamie Wrench, from Southern Marches Area Meeting, to send a cautionary tale to eye. He writes: ‘I had this ditty on my wall at work, and found it comforting:

“They said the job could not be done –

With a smile he went right to it;

He tackled that Job that Couldn’t Be Done –

And couldn’t do it!”’

A plea, eye discerns, for caution and restraint in ambition.

A cautionary tale

BLOSSOMING BLOOMS have inspired Rosie Adamson-Clark, of Bolton Meeting. She told eye about the burgeoning roses in her walled garden: ‘After four years of aphids, black spot, rust and mites on the roses and me spending hours chopping heads and leaves off, finally they look bloomin’ good! Nature is so uplifting, when the sky is grey, and the mood is low, and the world seems a place lacking in grace, justice and beauty… it is there right in front of us, the colours, the shapes and the smells of the garden flowers are energising! Love is all around us… as the pop song said!’ Rosie also shared a few lines of verse the flourishing flowers moved her to pen:

‘Here are some roses to lighten the dayRed lush flowers like velvetand the scent of many perfumesdrifting across the lawnas the bees and dragonflies dart this way and that. God’s hand has created a wonderful vista.’

The beauty of nature

THE STORY OF A QuAKER physician’s extraordinary journey to the Russian royal court has been highlighted in hertfordshire life.

Sarah Bell, of St Albans Meeting, told eye the tale of Thomas Dimsdale: ‘In 1768, 250 years ago, a Quaker doctor received a request from Catherine the Great to bring his cure for smallpox to Russia. He gained his reputation not from inventing the techniques but improving on them. Also, he was shrewd and published his findings, thus his name got known for this medical advance.

‘Catherine’s own insight into the disease, due to her husband being disfigured by it plus deaths in the royal court circle, no doubt spurred her on to seek him out when news of this doctor’s work reached her, via her London ambassador. He must have really sensed the great value in this bit of information, by choosing to bring it to her attention.

‘[It was] A case of shrewd thinking on his behalf, as well as Catherine’s, who was after dynastic protection, as France had lost heirs to their throne in living

memory. In 1694, Mary II of England also died from it. ‘Dimsdale needed two visits from court envoys plus

a £1,000 payment [over £100,000 in today’s currency] before he travelled with his son, a medical student, to St Petersburg. The cost might seem vast, but a month’s travel across Europe would have been expensive and the possibility of not returning from such a mission may well explain the significant sum.

‘He was pricing his services at between twelve to fifteen times the average wage for a physician of his era but as he was offering a premium service for several months (he did not return until the following year) at some personal risk to his own and his son’s wellbeing – who are we to criticise?

‘Furthermore, his reputation was on the line and perhaps worse was possible as tsar Ivan III had executed two German doctors whose royal patients had died. Fortuitously, things went well [and] Dimsdale shared his knowledge with Russian doctors, thus helping to facilitate the better understanding… as well as treatment of this killer disease.’

A great challenge and epic journey

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Changes of address

the Friend, 29 June 2018 17

Friends&MeetingsDiaryDeaths

Memorial meetings

Friedel BARTON A MemorialMeeting to celebrate Friedel’s lifewill be held at 2.30pm Friday29 June at Brighton Friends MeetingHouse, Ship Street. All welcome.Claire: 07852 562509.

CLEVEDON QUAKER MEETING150TH ANNIVERSARYOpen Day Celebration Saturday14 July, 10am - 4pm. Quaker ServiceExhibition, items of local Quakerhistory, refreshments, warm wel-come! Friends Meeting House, 15Albert Road, Clevedon BS21 7RP.Enquiries: Tom Leimdorfer 01934834663; [email protected]

QUAKER ASYLUM ANDREFUGEE NETWORK (QARN)AGM 11am–4pm Saturday 14 Julyat Bedford Friends Meeting House.All interested Friends and Attendersare welcome. Please bring your ownlunch. Contact Sheila Mosley, tel:07751 888391. www.qarn.org.uk

Margaret HIRST (née Fowler,formerly Overend) 17 June. Widowof Ralph. Mother of Debbie, Gilesand Jonty. Grandmother and great-grandmother. Sister of James. Memberof Ilkley Meeting, formerly ofKeighley and Rawdon. Ackworth andThe Mount old scholar. Aged 85.Funeral and burial 11am Wednesday4 July, Brocklands Woodland BurialGround, Rathmell. Recollectionsand refreshments afterwards at TheSwan, Addingham. Donations toScholarships for Street Kids. Enquiriesto Debbie: [email protected]

Margaret MOSS 15 June.Member of Hitchin Meeting.Aged 93. Funeral at 2pm Tuesday10 July at North Herts MemorialPark, Holwell, Hitchin SG5 3RT.For information please contact:[email protected]

Philip THORNLEY 19 June.Husband of Alma, father of David,Karen, Colin and Rachel. Memberof Hereford Meeting. Aged 85.Memorial Meeting 12 noon Monday2 July at Hereford Friends MeetingHouse. Enquiries to:[email protected]

Ruth & William ROWLEY havemoved from Hunters Court, Streetlyto: Footherley Hall, Footherley Lane,Shenstone, Nr Lichfield, StaffsWS14 0HG. Tel. 01543 529715.Email unchanged.

AN EVENING OF ZEN PRACTICEAND OPEN DISCUSSION withFr. Robert Kennedy SJ. 6.30-9.30pm,Monday 16 July. The MeditatioCentre, London EC1R 1XX.Information/bookings: 020 72782070 or email [email protected]

To place a notice on this page [email protected] or tel. 01535 630230

29 Jun 25/6/18 17:04 Page 7


HOLIDAY ADVERTISERSNow is the time to renew your ads!

Classified advertisementswhere to stay

GUESTHOUSES, HOTELS, B&BSClassified adsFrom 1 July 2018: standard linage60p a word, semi-display 90p aword. Rates incl. vat. Min. 12words. Series discounts: 10% on 5insertions, 15% on 10 or more.Cheques payable to The Friend.T. 01535 630230E. [email protected]

COTTAGES & SELF-CATERING

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events

JORDANS QUAKER MEETING HOUSE25 JUNE TO 30 JULY

Penn300:William Penn’s Legacy 300 years on

To celebrate Penn’s life and legacywe have an exhibition and

various events on at Jordans.Please join us!

See www.jordansquakercentre.orgfor details or contact us for a

full programme: 01494 876594.

LONDON SW2. Bed-sitting room andbathroom. Use of kitchen and garden.Top of Victorian terraced house in quietgarden square. Excellent public transport.£730pcm. 020 8674 [email protected]

AUGUST 20-24Experiencing the Cotswolds

Gill PeastonSEPTEMBER 3-5Prophets or mystics:Founding stories of Quakerism

Ian MacleanSEPTEMBER 26-28Finding out about Quakers,a weekend for enquirers

Quaker Quest teamOCTOBER 26-28Finding out about Quakers,a Membership Weekend

Quaker Quest teamNOVEMBER 19-21The peace and hope to end war

Philip AustinNOVEMBER 23-25“The truest end of Life….”Barney Rosedale and Sue Douglas

All events are £195 (deposit £95)except Experiencing theCotswolds £480 (deposit £240).

Bursaries of up to 50% may beavailable (one per person per year)except for Experiencing theCotswolds. We also offer the optionto have a few days relaxation atCharney Manor on a Bed andBreakfast or fully-catered basis.

Please contact us for furtherdetails. Retreat Administrator:

Nicola CooperCharney Manor, CharneyBassett, Wantage, OX12 OEJ.Tel: 01235 868 206E: [email protected]: www.charneymanor.com

Registered charity, no. 237267

V HARNEY` ANOR

Programme 2018

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARKLovely old house, sleeps upto 8. Beautifulwalks and RSPB reserve on doorstep.From £700 p/w, £350 p/lw Details:www.rathmhor.scot or 0131 447 1627.

EAST DEVON THATCHED COTTAGE.Beautiful, 16thc. Grade II Listed, 4-bed-rooms. Peaceful village in AONB. nearJurassic Coast/Dorset border. From £550p/w, £250 long w/e Details:[email protected] or01608 643967.

HEDD WEN. First floor s/c apartment,double-bedroom, private garden. Quietvillage retreat near Abergavenny easywalk, hills, canal. Details: 07855 200132,www.smallpilgrimplaces.org

MID-WALES, DOLOBRAN Meeting Housecottage. Simple, rural, secret, heavenlyretreat. Sleeps 3. Donations. Tel. 01938500746. [email protected]

THE TROSSACHS, CALLANDER. Delightful2-bedroom ground floor apartment.Amenities nearby and wonderful scenery.01454 238417 [email protected]

PERSONAL RETREATS, FRANCE. Makespace to reflect and be still. Beautiful oldfarmhouse in rural Auvergne offerssupportive, nurturing environment forindividual retreats. Simple daily rhythm:meditation; silence; contemplative/artisticactivities. Walking. Organic vegetarianfood. www.retreathouseauvergne.com

RETREATS

A WARM WELCOME AWAITSat Ffos Ddu holiday cottages, Llandeilo,Carmarthenshire. Each cottage sleeps 2.Set in 28 acres of woodland, meadowsand lake. Close to many tourist attractions.Pets by [email protected]

WEST CORNWALL CARAVAN, sleeps 4,on small farm, panoramic sea and ruralviews, comfortable, private, dogswelcome. [email protected] 762491.

CLARIDGE HOUSE RETREAT CENTREEn-suite B&B, Lingfield, Surrey. 10 milesGatwick Airport. Wonderful vegetarian food.Single £65, double £80. 01342 832150.

THE DELL HOUSE, MALVERN. RelaxingB&B for individuals, couples and groups(up to twenty). Vegetarian options. Perfectfor walking, historic houses, gardens.www.thedellhouse.co.uk / 01684 564448.

CLAVERHAM, NORTH SOMERSETCottage adjoining historic Meeting Housein rural area close to coast. Ideal for shortbreaks or family holidays. Sleeps up toseven. Website: www.claverhamtrust.org.ukEnquiries: Tom Leimdorfer, telephone01934 834663. [email protected]

SCOTTISH ISLES (HARRIS), WIND, RAIN,rainbows, sunsets, seals, otters, walks,eagles, golden beaches, orchids, Heaven!Shorefront contemporary bungalow.Sleeps 2. All comforts, horizon views.www.milbothy.co.uk, 01859 530400.

SHREWSBURY MEETING HOUSE. Simpleaccommodation for one or twoFriends/Attenders. No set charge butappropriate donations requested. Bookingclerk: [email protected] or tel.01743 860793.

29 Jun 25/6/18 17:04 Page 8

the Friend, 29 June 2018 19

miscellaneous

QUAKER MARRIAGE CERTIFICATESand other bespoke calligraphy. Liz Barrow01223 369776, [email protected]

SPECIAL INTERESTHOLIDAYS & COURSESFlowers of the QuakerTapestry led by Letta Jones.Friday 10 – Sunday 12 August(£220 pp)

Mysticism in the QuakerTradition led by Jan Arriens &Christina Bentley.Friday 17 – Sunday 19 August(£200 pp)

Encountering the Divine inNature led by Terry Winterton &Margaret Calvert.Monday 17 – Friday 21 Sept.(£390 pp)

What has Wordsworth to offerus today? Led by BarbaraWindle. Monday 1 – Friday 5October (£390 pp)

Spiritual Well-being in LaterLife led by Rhonda Rhiachi.Monday 15 – Friday 19 October(£410 pp)

Flower Arranging – Autumninto Christmas led by JanFaulkner. Monday 22 – Friday26 October (£420 pp)

All courses start with Dinner at7pm unless otherwise stated.

Extend your visit and stay withus the Sunday before or after

the course: B&B £45pp. Dinner,B&B £65pp.

Come for a holiday or bring yourMeeting on a weekend gathering!

We welcome your enquiries.

Glenthorne Quaker Centre,Easedale Road, Grasmere,

Cumbria LA22 9QHT: 015394 35389

E: [email protected]: www.glenthorne.orgRegistered charity no. 232575

GLENTHORNEAFFORDABLE WEBSITES for yourMeeting, charity, business or family. Easyto manage, professional images, goodmarketing practices. 07811 880595.www.shineyourlightmarketing.co.uk

FRIENDS FELLOWSHIP OF HEALINGFollowing in the footsteps of George Fox,the FFH seeks to restore the Quakertradition of healing. 01425 626112 / 07512890768. www.quaker-healing.org.uk

THE PRIORY ROOMS

Meeting and conference facilitiesin central Birmingham.

Comfortable, flexible accommodationwith a full range of support facilitiesand optional hospitality packages.

See www.theprioryrooms.co.ukTel. 0121 236 2317

[email protected]

QUAKER FELLOWSHIP FORAFTERLIFE STUDIES CONFERENCE

21 – 23 September

Working in partnership with Woodbrooke

quakerfellowshipforafterlifestudies.co.uk

Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham B29 6LJ

[email protected] 472 5171

A weekend of presentations anddiscussion exploring the overlap between

spirituality and science, and betweentheory and experience.

What is the true nature of a human being?We will explore spiritual/psychic

experiences and focus on the urgent needfor recognition that we are much morethan physical beings living a finite life.

There will be opportunities to learn fromthe experiences of other Friends and to

share our own.

All welcome.

Speakers: Linda Hoy,Michael John Lovett, Don Mason,

Catherine Reidy, Tim Walter.

BRADFORD V. THE BOMB 60 years ofCND. 7.30pm, Weds. 4 July. WaterstonesBradford. The Business Plan for Peace,Scilla Elworthy. 4.15pm, Sat. 7 July.Details: www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk

You never know what might happenwhen you advertise in the Friend!

29 Jun 25/6/18 17:04 Page 9

EDITORIAL173 Euston RoadLondon NW1 2BJT 020 7663 1010E [email protected]

vol 17

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Cononley, KeighleyBD20 8LL

T 01535 630 230E [email protected] the Friend

Events and coursesat Swarthmoor Hall

Art Inspired by the ArmsTrade Exhibition5 July - 27 AugustMonday–Friday 10.30am–4.30pmexcept last Thursday each month,Saturday, Sunday and lastThursdays 1.30–4.30pm.Exhibition and gardens free.

Collateral Damage ProjectOpening event 2pmThursday 5 JulyJoin the Collateral Damage projectby making a textile white poppyto commemorate all victims of war.Use your own design or followguidelines and instructions at:www.ppu.org.uk/collateral-damage.We are hosting a poppy makingworkshop at 2pm, Thursday 5 July.

Completed poppies can join theinstallation at Swarthmoor Hall orsent to the mass installation inLondon in November.

In Fox’s Footsteps:1652 Quaker pilgrimageMon 20 August - Fri 25 AugustLed in German by GordonMatthews. £500 ensuite.

Quaker Voluntary ActionWorking RetreatMon 10 - Fri 14 SeptemberFacilitators: Linda Southwick andSimon Watkins. £180.

Early ChristianityFri 14 – Sun 16 SeptemberTutor: Timothy Peat Ashworth.£245 ensuite.

Information and booking:[email protected] call 01229 583204.

© Jill Gibbon

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Call for applicationsFriends Historical Society (FHS) is delighted to announce therelaunch of its small grants scheme, under a new name and a newdecision-making committee.

FHS Hodgett Grants are offered to help individual historians orgroups, whether academic or non-academic, with their expenses inresearching Quaker history, or in attending and delivering a paper ata conference or similar event. Grants may also be used for publicationcosts. The awards will be up to £500 each, and up to a maximum offour grants may be awarded in the 2018 call for applications.

The Grants may cover, depending on the nature of the project: costof travel to archives, accommodation and subsistence, copyingcharges, publication costs, and conference fees. The Grants may beused to supplement funding from other sources.

Applications are welcome from all researchers of Quaker history,there is no requirement to be a member of FHS, or a member orattender of the Religious Society of Friends.

How to ApplyApplications should be sent electronically, under the heading ‘FHSHodgett Grants 2018’, to: [email protected] (anyqueries should be sent to the same address).

If preferred, the application materials may be posted to:Friends Historical Society Hodgett Grants, c/o Friends HouseLibrary, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ.

Applications must consist of:

• Your contact details.

• Outline of the proposed project or conference paper (two sides ofA4 maximum). The outline should include an overview of the projector activity, the aims and objectives of the project/activity, a briefdescription of why you are seeking the grant, and what it offers tothe study of Quaker history.

• A detailed breakdown of costs, and the amount requested from FHS.

• A brief statement about yourself (or your group) and your (or thegroup’s) interest in Quaker history (up to one side of A4).

• Supporting statements from two referees. These may be sentseparately, but both must arrive by the deadline.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 24 August 2018.Successful applicants will be notified by the end of October 2018.

A condition of accepting an award is that a 500-word summary of theresearch or publication supported by the award be submitted forinclusion in the FHS Newsletter. Successful applicants may alterna-tively submit an article for inclusion in the Journal of the FriendsHistorical Society. In addition, successful applicants must cite theFriends Historical Society as a source of funding support in any andall outputs that arise from the award (e.g. book, article, presentation).

Friends Historical SocietyHodgett Grants 2018

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Documents

29 June 2018 £1.90 the Friend€“The-Friend.pdf · testimony, borne by us ever since we were a people, against bearing arms and fighting, that by a conduct agreeable to our profession