The Friend 'I see no betrayal of the old good in striving for the new good.' David Firth
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the Friend
12 March 2021 | £2.00
‘I see no
betrayal of
the old good
in striving for
the new good.’
David Firth
Re-launch of British Friends of QCEA
British Friends of Quaker Council for We have three keynote speakers on the
European Affairs is re-launching its work of following topics:
publicising and fundraising to support the
activities of QCEA at this crucial time for Jeremy Lester, Clerk of QCEA -
all the nations of Europe, including the UK. QCEA priorities post Covid
This event will engage British Friends in
understanding the continuing importance Jude Kirton-Darling, Deputy General
of QCEA in bringing Quaker concerns to Secretary of industriAll Europe -
the fore and enabling quiet diplomacy Relationship Building and Partnership in a
between European governments through post Brexit Europe
which understanding can be shared and Craig Comstock, Member of QCEA
trust built between leaders and policy Executive Committee - QCEA funding
makers away from the spotlight of
European institutions. To register for the British Friends of QCEA
re-launch event please complete the regis-
Saturday 20 March tration form here:
10:30 – 12:00am GMT https://forms.gle/u9QgE4GS9DFNBaFN7
by Zoom video-conferencing or email a.jameson2@outlook.com.
Breathtaking
Inside the NHS in a time of pandemic
Rachel Clarke
“This book is about faith. Not faith in God, but faith in
medicine, and faith in one’s fellow professionals.”
Nick Wilde, the Friend
Hardback, Little Brown, Jan. 2021. £16.99 + £1.50 postage,
post free with any other book.
Black and British
David Olusoga
“Several Friends recommended books for learning, notably Black
and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga.”
the Friend
Paperback, Pan Macmillan, Aug. 2017. £12.99 post free.
To order send a cheque payable to The Friend to The Friend,
54a Main St, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Or email your name
and address to ads@thefriend.org and pay by bank transfer
(bank details supplied on ordering).
the Friend
INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843
12 March 2021 | Volume 179, No 11
www.thefriend.org
News 4
YMG, Woodbrooke and more Rebecca Hardy
Letters 6
Still life 8
A foundational element David L Saunders
Thought for the week 9
Watching this space Pat Carney-Ceccarelli
Meeting the challenge 10
Thinking about the future Mary Aiston
Something to give 12
Remembering David Firth Harry Albright & David Firth
Review 14
The Life That Never Ends Patsy Freeman
Review 15
The Glorious Journey Frank Regan
Review 16
Breathtaking Nick Wilde
Q Eye 17
The lighter side of Quaker life Elinor Smallman
Friends & Meetings 18
‘In a meeting rightly held a new way may be discovered which none present had alone perceived
and which transcends the differences of the opinions expressed. This is an experience of creative
insight, leading to a sense of the meeting which a clerk is often led in a remarkable way to record.
Those who have shared this experience will not doubt its reality and the certainty it brings of
the immediate rightness of the way for the meeting to take.’
From Quaker faith & practice 3.06
News
‘I have volunteered
to help the new Penn
Club committee at St
news@thefriend.org Katharine’s and hope to
attend future member
events just as a way of
keeping in touch.’
Julia Hargreaves
Staff say goodbye as final day. We all got made The club was due to
The Penn Club finds redundant this morning.’ celebrate its centenary last
new home ‘We had the idea of year. It was opened by the
The entire staff team at continuing as a virtual Friends Ambulance Unit
the Quaker-founded guest club but I am not sure in 1920.
how that would have The citation for the
house The Penn Club
worked in practice. At Quaker wins award for award reads: ‘The idea
was made redundant last
least now the club has a that not only scientific
week, only days after the scientific modelling
physical location,’ he said. results from geoscientific
club revealed that it had A Quaker from Settle
According to a models should be
found a new home. Meeting has won an
press release from published, but also
The historic award for her contribution
The Penn Club, The that the development
Bloomsbury club towards science.
Royal Foundation of St and source code of
announced last month Julia Hargreaves was
Katharine dates back to those models should be
that, due to the awarded the 2021 Union
the twelfth century and reviewed, very much
devastating effect of the Service Award of the
shares a lot of values with stems from Hargreaves.
pandemic on its finances, European Geosciences
the Club. ‘It provides a Before GMD there was
it would be forced to close Union (EGU) for her
safe, comfortable place to no space for geoscientific
its doors at Bedford Place scientific modeling. The
stay, set in lovely gardens models to receive the
by the end of March. No Yorkshire Friend edited the
and with good transport necessary level of peer-
agreement could be found EGU journal Geoscientific
links to central London.’ review scrutiny that
with the landlords. Model Development
The Penn Club board delivers open, transparent
Fergal Crossan, former (GMD) from 2008-19.
is recommending that science, and model
general manager, told Julia Hargreaves told the
members move to developers received little
the Friend that he was Friend that ‘a big driving
house membership at St to no credit for their
delighted that The force’ for her work was the
Katharine’s. A Penn Social work. Now, such a place
Royal Foundation of St ‘necessity to make climate
Committee will be formed, exists with GMD, and the
Katharine had ‘extended science more open’. She
to continue organising geosciences have hugely
the hand of friendship’ said: ‘It is easy to be too
members’ events and benefited from this
by providing a new home far ahead of your time
provide a link between the endeavour.’
for the club. He added: and get ignored, and
‘Sadly the news does old and new. It is planned even ridiculed. However,
not change the position to install a special long if you can take small BYM announces
for any of the staff here. table in the dining room steps always towards the Yearly Meeting dates
St Katharine’s are fully for shared conversations. goal, and take enough Britain Yearly Meeting
staffed. Like here, most of Membership benefits of people with you at each (BYM) has announced
their staff are furloughed St Katharine’s include step, then years later the dates for the 2021
at the moment. They have discount on room you can look back and Yearly Meeting Gathering
promised to keep in touch rates, food, room hire, see a revolution has, (YMG) which will be held
if anything opens up so I and opportunities to in fact, occurred. The online due to the Covid-
can pass the information participate in courses and surrounding structures 19 pandemic.
on to the Penn Club team. retreats. are important too. The The event will be
Technically today is my Fergal Crossan said: EGU is determined spread over three weeks
in its “bottom-up” instead of one. Main
attitude, always ready business and worship will
WORDS to experiment with new happen Friday to Sunday,
approaches. Despite all 30 July to 1 August, and
Friday 6 to Sunday 8
‘The carbon footprint
that, I had been feeling
unappreciated, and it August. There will be
has restored my faith sessions for children
will be lower.’ in human nature to
see my contribution so
and young people from
Monday to Friday, 2 to
Britain Yearly Meeting on the online clearly perceived by my 6 August. During the
2021 Yearly Meeting Gathering. colleagues.’ three weeks beginning
4 the Friend 12 March 2021
in mid-July there will be this really developed in NUMBERS
opportunities to get used 2020. We have seen a lot
18,000+
to online platforms, and more people coming on
meet together in online courses for the first time,
community spaces, from including people who
reading and craft groups, found Quakers during
to singing. the pandemic and our
‘This year, Covid-19 online worship. Feedback Total attendance for Woodbrooke’s online worship in 2020.
presents a challenge and suggests much greater
an opportunity. With diversity in general, assistant head, Outreach is hosted on the Quaker
less travel and fewer particularly age.’ and Co-curricular, and Meetings Network, which
documents, the carbon Woobrooke also ran I offer my heartfelt was launched in October
footprint will be lower. And a series specifically for congratulations to 2019 following the 2017
some may join online who Friends in New Zealand her and all colleagues Yearly Meeting Gathering
would not be physically and a second for all involved in this area. We in Warwick. Keith
able to attend in person’, Friends across the Asia are hugely proud of what Walton, co-founder of the
BYM said in a statement. and West Pacific Friends has been achieved.’ initiative and member of
Clare Scott Booth, clerk World Committee for The award also Wandsworth Meeting, said
for YMG, said: ‘In this Consultation (FWCC) recognises other outreach that a group of volunteers
very challenging time, Section, as part of work the school does from all over the UK looked
how are we to live our Woodbrooke Where with local education at many existing websites
testimonies to equality You Are. The statement settings. These include a to gather ideas. Edwina
and truth? Join us at says that Woodbrooke partnership with Foundry Hughes from the steering
Yearly Meeting Gathering continues to face ‘huge College Pupil Referral group said: ‘Experiment
2021 as Quakers seek financial challenges’. Unit in Wokingham, with Light is a Quaker
to determine what love in which school practice which is based on
requires of us.’ Leighton Park School members have delivered early Friends’ discoveries.
recognised for weekly drumming and It was devised in 1966 by
Big increase in outreach work parkour sessions to KS2 Quaker and theologian Rex
attenders, says The Quaker school students excluded from Ambler following his study
Woodbrooke Leighton Park has been mainstream education of early Friends’ writings.
The numbers of awarded the 2020 Award and provided work He wanted to discover what
people signing up for for Outstanding Local experience placements it was that made them so
Woodbrooke courses Community Involvement. for KS4 students sure, so centred, so willing
increased by over a third The prize from the interested in grounds and to suffer privations to
in 2020, the Quaker Independent Schools’ maintenance pathways. keep alive their faith. He
centre has reported.Total Association is in ‘During lockdown, LP discovered a process by
attendance for its online recognition of the school’s staff visited Foundry with which the Light may be
worship in 2020 was also outreach work, particularly weekly donations of Lego, accessed.’
more than 18,000. during the pandemic. books, garden equipment, The meditations app
‘We have been really Last Easter, the refreshments and paint has been designed and
encouraged by the school founded a hub for vulnerable students developed by a Friend
engagement from Friends’, partnership producing attending school during from Godalming Meeting,
it said. ‘Many new Friends, free PPE for frontline the pandemic.’ Alain Foussat. ‘After
Friends from across the key workers from almost seven years of trying to
world, and the Quaker- 500 organisations across ‘Experiment with get this project going,
curious are experiencing Berkshire. The ‘Safer Light’ launches website we contacted Alain and
Woodbrooke for the first Vision’ initiative brought The steering group of the a few months later our
time.’ together eighteen partner Quaker ‘Experiment with app was released on
Jon Martin, schools, three commercial Light’ has launched a new Apple App Store and the
communications manager organisations and one website and app. Google Play Store,’ said
from Woodbrooke, told university to create and The free app can Edwina Hughes. ‘We are
the Friend that course dispatch over 39,000 be downloaded onto delighted with the result:
participation increased by face shields. £28,000 phones, and enables a beautiful, simple-to-use
thirty-seven per cent, with was raised through the users to discover what and practical app (it works
attenders coming from GoFundMe crowd- Experiment with Light without internet access).
twenty-nine countries. funding site is, where it comes from, You can download it by
‘Woodbrooke has always Head Matthew Judd and how to join a group, typing in “Experiment
been an internationally- said: ‘The area has been as well as accessing the with Light” into either
minded institution, but led by Natasha Coccia, meditations. The website store.’
the Friend 12 March 2021 5
the Friend Letters participating. There have been
many inspiring fundraising
173 Euston Road stories, not least from the school’s
London, NW1 2BJ Quaker trustees, generously
020 7663 1010 providing a $10,000 ‘BHS Gives’
www.thefriend.org matching gift, several UK Quaker
The Friend welcomes your views,
schools responding to the call for
Subscriptions to letters@thefriend.org. Please
help as well as fundraising by the
UK £95 per year by all payment keep letters short. We particularly
current BHS Student Council,
types including annual direct welcome contributions from
whose president Franchesco
debit; monthly payment by children, written or illustrated.
Jarjoura was voted in on the back
direct debit £8; online only £74 Please include your full postal of his commitment to financial
per year. Contact Penny Dunn: address, even when sending aid. Perhaps one of the most
020 7663 1178 emails, along with your Meeting enchanting stories has come
subs@thefriend.org name or other Quaker affiliation. from the UK and from a British
Friend, Sarah Barrett, whose
In essentials unity,
Advertising great-grandfather was among the
in non-essentials liberty,
Contact George Penaluna: earliest pupils at BHS. Sarah was
in all things charity.
01535 630230 able to raise over £2,000 through
ads@thefriend.org her cycling fundraising efforts in
A beacon of light the UK, travelling by bike many
Editorial Last year David Gray, principal of hundreds of miles across the east
Articles, images, correspondence Brummana High School (BHS) in of England.
should be emailed to Beirut, and Sami Cortas, clerk of Due to the continuing multiple
editorial@thefriend.org Brummana Meeting, appealed to crises in the country, there is little
or sent to the address above. Friends for support for families at doubt the school is going to need
the school affected by the terrible more generous support in the
Editor explosion in the summer, and the coming months and years.
Joseph Jones wider economic problems this As the principal David
Journalist country is facing. Gray consistently reminds the
Rebecca Hardy We are really grateful that many community: ‘We live in hope,
Friends did respond, along with however, and shall not give up.
Production and office manager other donors in Lebanon and
Elinor Smallman Lebanon is in a state of collapse:
throughout the world, to support our job as educators is to provide
Sub-editor the school families directly a beacon of light and rebuild.’
George Osgerby affected by the devastating 4 Thank you very much for so
Arts correspondent August Beirut port explosion, generously supporting Brummana
Rowena Loverance who tragically lost either their High School families during such
Environment correspondent homes or their businesses. desperate times.
Laurie Michaelis Thanks to you and the other Will Haire
Clerk of trustees many donors those families can Convenor, Fundraising Committee,
Lis Birch now be assured that their children Quaker International Educational
can continue their quality Trust
ISSN: 0016-1268 education at BHS.
Since the beginning of August Environmentally friendly
The Friend Publications Limited 2020, over $130,000 for the Beirut The 12 February edition of the
is a registered charity, fund as well as the bursary and Friend has just reached me, and I
number 211649 capital funds has been raised have read the report about those
from 175 donors across the world objecting to HS2. As someone
through our three donations who for a period worked for the
Printed by platforms in Lebanon, the UK and
Warners rail industry, and is still involved
the US. with TravelWatch NorthWest, I
Midlands Plc, This campaign has been a truly
The Maltings, suppose I am biased.
remarkable community activity A big part of the problem with
Manor Lane, with students, staff, parents, old
Bourne, HS2 is its name: many people
scholars, trustees, governors think the project is about getting
Lincolnshire and friends of the school all
PE10 9PH from London to points north
6 the Friend 12 March 2021
more quickly – we can get there differently based on some personal that late date. Irenaeus was a most-
quickly enough already they say. characteristic, as opposed to their respected authority whose teacher,
But the greatest benefit of the expertise or experience. That Polycarp, was a disciple of the
project is creating more capacity characteristic might be skin colour author, John Mark. John certainly
on the railways, particularly for or religious faith. claimed to be have been loved
freight trains, and, moreover, ones It might equally be physical personally by Jesus in life.
with electric locomotives hauling ability, sexual orientation, status, I would not claim that John
them. Is it not a good thing to wealth, age, regional language (and Mark was better informed on all
get diesel-engined heavy goods plenty more). Part of our biological of Jesus’ life, only the last three
vehicles (HGVs) replaced by programming is to react against years in Jerusalem. John’s Greek is
electric trains? anything different. Therefore it is not ‘sophisticated’; it is plain, good
Living in Carlisle I often see the difficult to train ourselves not to classical Greek.
daily ‘Tesco train’ come through. discriminate. He certainly does not present
This one train takes forty HGVs We may believe that we are all Jesus as the incarnation of the
off the M6. Once the first part of born equal, children of God, but Greek logos. Rather he recognised
HS2 is completed there will be until we see every person just as a that the reverence of the Ephesians
many more opportunities for such person, we have not mastered our for the doctrine of their great
rail movements. instinct to discriminate. Putting forebear, Heraclitus, who called
Do the objectors to HS2 really our belief into practice is not easy. the origin of all things in the world
disapprove of the transfer of freight So our prayers and support ho logos, bore resemblance to the
from road to rail, and from diesel should go to all at Friends House Jewish reverence for Yahweh (not
power to electricity? involved in this breakdown of Jesus) as Creator. Great preachers
Ian K Watson relationships. May they heal what begin by finding common ground
Cumberland Area Meeting can be healed and learn from the with their congregation.
experience. John had lived long enough in
Friends House accused Geoff Pilliner Ephesus to recognise the need to
I was saddened to read of the Alton Meeting, Hampshire do so.
breakdown of relationships and Elaine Miles
accusations of discrimination by Question of racism Jordans Meeting, Buckinghamshire
race and religion at Friends House I think we are starting to have
(26 February). too much of ‘a sinner that I am’ Sheep and goats
But I was also concerned over attitude on the question of racism. Whenever the ‘overseer, episkopos,
how to react to this report. Should Hoonie Feltham (22 January) bishop, crook, shepherd, pastor’
I be pleased at the openness that wrote: ‘A question struck me “Am sequence comes up, I’m reminded
led to the publishing of this news, I a racist?” The inescapable answer of my upbringing on a sheep farm
angry that we are ‘washing our was “Yes”.’ in County Durham.
dirty linen in public’, or curious So what is the definition of a The main function of a
about the motivation behind racist that we Quakers mostly shepherd’s crook is to catch the leg
publishing this news item? One accept? The Cambridge dictionary or neck of a sheep that’s running
thing is clear: the Society of says ‘someone who believes that away from you.
Friends is potentially no better their race makes them better, more Of course, good shepherds do
than anyone else in dealing with intelligent, more moral, etcetera care greatly for their flocks, but we
discrimination. than people of other races and should bear in mind that the point
We should not make judgements who does or says unfair or harmful of a flock of sheep is wool, and
based on the report. We were not things as a result’. milk, and leather, and meat.
involved. We can ask whether the According to that, Hoonie is not Terry Pratchett considered the
line managers would have treated a racist. shepherding metaphor for religion
a white person the same as the Eric Walker in his novel Small Gods. What if,
person of colour. Ipswich Meeting, Suffolk he asks, the central metaphor was
Equally, we can ask whether the instead goat herding? Sheep, he
claimant would have responded John’s gospel suggests, are stupid and must be
in the same way to a line manager The fourth gospel was written near driven (that’s something of a slur
of colour as she responded to a the end of the first century, but its on sheep), but goats are intelligent
white line manager. If the answer author had been just a youth at the and must be led.
to both questions is no, then no time of the crucifixion, which he Keith Braithwaite
discrimination is evident. alone of the disciples witnessed, Marple Meeting, Greater
Discrimination is treating people and he lived, as Irenaeus tells us, to Manchester
the Friend 12 March 2021 7
I
Still life: David
’m always disappointed when I hear the
emphasis in descriptions of our worship put on
‘silence’; I am always encouraged when I hear the
L Saunders on a emphasis put on ‘stillness’. The one is essentially
negative: the absence of words. The other is
foundational element positive: it is about presence and being. Silence is
the easy bit, it’s about what isn’t there. Stillness is
the hard bit, it’s about what is there. Silence is an
acoustic condition; stillness is about our state of
‘Silence is an acoustic
being. The former is the means but the latter is the end.
Our contemporary culture is so noisy that silence can be
a blessing in itself, but spiritually it only gets us part way.
condition; stillness is True stillness takes us beyond silence, below words, to our
deepest centre. Early Friends knew this. Of the fourteen
about our state of being.’ references to stillness in Quaker faith & practice, several are
from our early days. ‘Be still and cool in thy own mind…
Stand still and cease from thine own working’, said George
Fox; ‘Sit down in pure stillness’, Alexander Parker; William
Penn wrote of the ‘Still, small voice that speaks to us in this
day’; James Naylor cautioned us to ‘stand still and act not’.
So stillness was a central, foundational element in Quaker
worship and experience. Jesus models the balance between
full-on action and engagement with times of retreat. We too
need to make space in our lives to recharge our batteries.
We can learn to do this, to create space to hear that ‘Still
small voice’. Small acts of kindness and compassion reveal
the eternal is here present among us. Those ‘thin’ places,
where the ‘now’ and the ‘beyond’ meet are not just on
mountain tops but can be all around us if we cultivate the
eye to discern them.
Over the centuries, contemplatives and mystics have
known, and sought to attain, a state of stillness. Do we still
know and experience this? And how do we move from
silence to stillness? Perhaps the clue is in that time-worn
phrase ‘The practice of the presence of God’. Many of our
achievements in life come about through hard work and
practice. Athletic prowess involves the discipline of regular
exercise. Musical and artistic excellence is built on hours
of repetitive practice. The same applies to the things of the
spirit. So perhaps what we need is the spiritual equivalent
of the athlete’s workout routine. Making a regular space in
our lives to put our busy minds on hold, giving priority to
being. This may seem a self-indulgent luxury when there
is so much to do – so many needs to be met; so many
injustices to be confronted. Our Protestant heritage leans
more towards ‘doing’ than ‘being; perhaps the Catholic
heritage makes more room for the latter. The one is
outward, and a necessary part of our social witness, but the
other is inward and provides the engine power for action.
Photo by serge vorobets on Unsplash
Many Friends find inspiration in the teachings of Richard
Rohr and the institution he founded, the Centre for Action
and Contemplation. Action and contemplation are not
alternatives but complementary – it’s not a case of either/or,
it’s both/and. During a retreat a priest once summarised for
me the Jesuit pattern of prayer: ‘I’m here, you’re here, thank
you, sorry, help.’ So prayer starts with ‘being’, with a sense
of presence. So let us ‘mind’ the stillness, seek the place of
being, the place of encounter, the place of power. n
David is from Norfolk & Waveney Area Meeting.
8 the Friend 12 March 2021
O
Thought for the week:
ur spirituality and our mental
health are equally rooted
in our personal experience.
Pat Carney-Ceccarelli During times of personal and
collective upheaval, can we
watches this space make space for each other
in our Quaker practice?
Space that might transcend
ordinary conversations into
‘Today we are graced
truly compassionate ones? Space for humbly sharing
experiences like grief, shame, anger, pettiness and
irritation, as well as the supreme grace of compassion
with new tools to and gratitude? This matters so much when feelings of
unworthiness upend us, or when great losses shake our
access in each other foundations. Struggling for meaning can leave us barren
and dry.
the potential for shared
Perhaps like George Fox we feel that only Jesus can
speak to our condition, and we can find comfort in our
direct access to Spirit. But others may be in need, and can
healing and growth.’ find connections in sharing, if we reach out. Or perhaps
we affirm that we can have direct access to a transforming
experience of Divine revelation. As Quakers living today
we might experience a dynamic faith and practice that is
moving and transformative. Our ways of accessing each
other have evolved since those days in the seventeenth
century when authoritarian
‘We are learning systems were challenged
by those seeking authentic
about trauma, spiritual experience. Today
and finding we are graced with new tools
to access in each other the
ways to healing potential for shared healing
and wholeness.’ and growth. The ‘I and Thou’
of relational willingness to
share and patiently stand with each other can increase the
spaces for spiritual growth as we move on.
We have tools from psychology and psychotherapy, plus
the mindfulness techniques so embraced in Buddhism,
as well as ways of finding our embodiment of wholeness
in movement: dance, yoga, qigong and other body work.
We have increasing sharing of sacred practices and
knowledge of indigenous cultures that we might draw
upon. Quakers are no longer excluded from creative
expressions like painting, drawing, photography, poetry,
and the performing arts. These are all an unfolding of the
creative life force.
We grow in awareness through our work on white
privilege, recognising the arrogances of the white middle
class, through the challenging work of Quaker Peace
& Social Witness. We understand more about our
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
contributions to the environment, and seek together better
ways to safeguard it. We are learning about trauma, and
finding ways together towards healing and wholeness.
The Covid-19 pandemic and volatile political and
economic eruptions have forced us into time for reflection
and urged us towards solutions. Perhaps time is ripe for
us to embrace more fully the opening of our tender hearts
and share what love requires of us. n
Pat is a member of Jesus Lane Meeting, Cambridge.
the Friend 12 March 2021 9
Meeting the challenge: All Friends
in an Area Meeting need to think
about its future, says Mary Aiston
‘I hope we will not just leave these
issues to our trustees – we should
all be taking an interest.’
I
s your Area Meeting (AM) a vibrant and other charity. The exception from registration was due
thriving spiritual community? What will to run out on 31 March 2021, but this deadline has been
your AM look like in five years’ time? Ten extended to 31 March 2031. This extension is intended
years’, twenty? What proportion of your AM’s to give excepted charities time to prepare for registration
energy, money and capacity is spent running and to allow the Charity Commission time to register all
the AM itself? Is it easy to find Friends to excepted organisations in a coordinated way.
serve as trustees? It would be understandable if trustees of excepted
If you were already thinking about these AMs breathed a sigh of relief at this point, and
questions then read on. If you were not, now prioritised other work. But I hope they won’t do that,
would be a good time to start. Why not begin by asking or at least not just yet. Instead, I hope all Friends in
to see your AM’s most recent trustees’ annual report and excepted Area Meetings will take the opportunity for
accounts, or speak to one of your AM trustees? prayerful consideration of how they operate, because if
Our trustees do an important job, ensuring: that our Friends want to make any changes to their structures it
resources are properly stewarded; that risks are identified is easier to do that before the AM has to register.
and managed; that we understand our financial position; It is important to remember that, while thinking
and that we plan for the future. We are lucky to have so about how AMs work raises lots of practical issues,
many Friends willing to take on this role. As a member for Friends this is always a spiritual exercise requiring
of Quaker Stewardship Committee, which reports to prayer and discernment.
Yearly Meeting and provides support and advice to It can be difficult to know where to start but these
trustees, I have met some fantastic Friends who give may be useful prompts:
their time in these roles, but I hope we will not just leave
these issues to our trustees – we should all be taking an • Is your AM a vibrant and thriving spiritual
interest. community?
What follows is primarily of interest to Friends in • What will your AM look like in five years’ time, in
England and Wales because the rules are different in ten years, in twenty years?
Scotland. Nineteen AMs have been excepted from
having to register with the Charity Commission. That • What proportion of your AM’s energy, money and
is because the government has extended the deadline capacity is spent on running the AM itself?
for excepted charities to register, and we have a choice • Is it easy to find Friends willing to serve as trustees
about how we use that breathing space. for your AM?
In England and Wales, an Area Meeting is an excepted
charity if its income is £100,000 or less. It must comply Once you have considered those questions you
with charity law but does not need to register with the may be ready to focus on how your AM is organised;
Charity Commission or submit annual returns there. Its • Are there other options for organising your AM
trustees have the same responsibilities as trustees of any that would make it easier to run?
10 the Friend 12 March 2021Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
• Are there other options that would make it easier to thinking about it. Briefly, the benefits include limiting
find Friends to serve as trustees? the legal liability on individual trustees, which might
make it easier to find Friends willing to serve as trustees.
If you are not sure what options might be available to The drawbacks are the work involved in becoming
you, the good news is that other Friends are already incorporated, which is likely to require legal advice and
thinking about these issues and identifying different changes to bank accounts. AMs that have converted to
ways forward. CIOs have found that it has made little difference to
Meetings have much more permission to do things their ongoing administration or governance.
differently than people sometimes think. For example, Of course, not all excepted AMs will decide they
the centrally-run Simpler Meetings Project aims to find want to change their structures. But if you do then it
ways to reduce the burden on key role holders and its is easier to do that before registering with the Charity
webpage (www.quaker.org. Commission, so now is a good time to be thinking
about this.
‘The good news uk/simplermeetings) is a great And if your excepted AM decides not to make any
place to look for ideas.
is that other Friends in Wales are changes then I would still recommend that you keep a
focus on the work needed to register with the Charity
Friends are exploring the scope for a
Commission.
single trustee body and
already thinking single charity for Meeting of Most of what is needed is good practice for all
about these Friends in Wales. charities – in particular, agreeing a schedule of the
Friends in London property your AM owns, and documenting your
issues.’ recognise that their structure relationship with any linked charities. Your successors
of nine charities involves a will be very grateful you kept this work moving!
lot of work. It means that, out of around 1,300 London If this all sounds rather daunting then the good news
Friends, they have to find sixty-seven trustees and forty- is that there is help available. The Quakers in Britain
seven treasurers. website has lots of information (including more on
One option is a single charity with one set of trustees CIOs). Go to www.quaker.org.uk/trustees. The model
for the whole of London while keeping the seven Area documents referred to are available from Neil Jarvis at
Meetings. But that is not the only option, others are qsc@quaker.org.uk.
being considered too. In other parts of the country You can also get help from your Quaker Stewardship
neighbouring AMs are exploring different ways to Committee Link Friend. Clerks to AM trustees should
collaborate, or merging altogether. know who this is, and Neil Jarvis can help put you in
Another big question to think about is whether touch. Members of Quaker Stewardship Committee
your AM wants to become a Charitable Incorporated look forward to hearing from you. n
Organisation or CIO (SCIOs in Scotland). Some AMs
have already gone down this route and others are Mary is from Quaker Stewardship Committee.
the Friend 12 March 2021 11David Firth, former editor of the
Friend, died last month. Harry
Albright, one of his successors,
remembers some of David’s fine
commentaries
‘You do not need to be an expert, or a
bishop, or a journalist, to write in the
Friend, but its readers do expect you to
speak directly of what you have seen.’
‘A
I was very sad to learn of the death of David Firth, n interesting suggestion came
one of my predecessors at the Friend. from a reader a few weeks
David was always very supportive of me as a young ago, that we might regularly
editor. He lived not far from Friends House and publish short pieces of more or
would often visit. He was always very kind, and he less verbatim ministry which
was aware of how the job had changed since his time, had been heard in a Friends
as Britain Yearly Meeting became more diverse in Meeting and found particularly
matters of theology (or lack thereof!). He appreciated valuable. It was a pity, he felt,
the challenge for his successors in trying to balance that such things should not be
the various views in a (forlorn) attempt to please more widely shared.
everyone! I must confess that my frivolous mind conjured up the
He would often greet me by saying something like: heading ‘Gems of Ministry’, somewhat in the Reader’s
‘Amongst the many excellent items in the Friend Digest style, perhaps with a decorative border. But in my
recently…å’ and go on to highlight something that reply I agreed that many fine utterances can be heard in
he felt was particularly good. Sometimes (I blush to Meeting; and indeed we do occasionally receive short
say) it was one of my commentaries. I took this as the pieces which the writers say arose from ministry, and
highest praise, because in fact it was David who was which it seems right to print.
the master of the commentary in the Friend. In his Many Friends might share my hesitations over
sixteen years of service, he honed the editor’s encouraging a flow of such pieces, however. It is partly
commentary into a fine art, and a collection of some a matter of keeping in proportion the whole idea of
of his best, Familiar Friend, was published in book spoken ministry. Even if it is inspiring and speaks to our
form in 1982. condition it is only a part of what Quaker Meetings are
Here is some of his work, containing many principles about. We do not go to meeting ‘to hear the ministry’
to which the Friend still tries to adhere. The issues are in the way that (I hope) many chapelgoers go in
familiar even now. The last two extracts are from his anticipation of a good sermon. Much of the ministry in
final commentaries as editor. They reveal an openness Meeting cannot be heard at all.
and generosity of spirit that was a gift to the reader Then there is our conviction that a true piece of
and a model for those of us who tried to step meekly ministry is something given – given indeed by God. It
into his footsteps. is given to a particular group of people on a particular
David was a kind, gentle man and an excellent occasion. Such ministry is sui generis, and it might not
journalist. I was proud to call him a colleague and be right to take it and use the words in another context.
a friend, with both a small and capital F. I will miss My final hesitation will be understood by other editors
him. of religious journals, as we have all at times received
contributions – usually verse – which the writers tell
Harry was editor of the Friend 1997–2004. us was dictated to them by a Voice. The Voice has also
12 the Friend 12 March 2021Image courtesy of Hugh Dennis
told the writer to send it to our particular journal and ‘You do not need to be an expert, or a bishop, or a
for that reason he or she expects us to publish it in journalist, to write in the Friend, but its readers do
the next issue. Such divine arm-twisting is just not expect you to speak directly of what you have seen,
fair, and at the risk of committing a considerable sin, done, found, felt. And therefore believe. Most valued
we treat such offerings according to normal editorial of all, after we have looked abroad and at our national
criteria. affairs, are those personal revelations of religious
In spite of all these hesitations, I am sure that doubts, discoveries, hesitations and leaps forward.
many of our most valuable articles – especially those “Return home to within,” said Francis Howgill, “sweep
of a ‘devotional’ nature – do have their origin in your houses all, the groat is there, the little leaven is
the thoughts of a Friend there, the grain of mustard-seed you will see, which
‘I see no sitting in Meeting. We the Kingdom of God is like.” Amid all our willing
cherish the story of the coverage of Quaker business and busyness it will likely
betrayal of the Quaker who over Sunday be some simple, sincerely shared “opening”, in letter or
old good in lunch remarked, ‘I was just article or poem, that pierces our dullness with a shaft
thinking in Meeting…’ only of Truth.’
striving for the to be admonished by an
new good.’ elder, ‘Friend, thee should
not have been thinking in ‘I write these last words with a full heart. Working
Meeting!’ Though the story has a point, thought is not for the Friend has been for me a spiritual enrichment.
simply to be banished like this from our weekly hour This enrichment has come partly from a modest
together. Surely God speaks to us there in thoughts, broadening of my religious understanding; but mainly
which are not always for sharing on the spot. Seeds are it is what I have learned from those who make up the
sown, which may after a lot more thinking come to present body of Quakers. I never felt hesitant in giving
fruit in the written word. space to the most diverse views, if I could sense that
Those articles are a wonder to me. We never get these Friends were writing from the heart.
many of that kind, but one always seems to float in at In my second Commentary, feeling a need to
the right moment, unbidden. In fact one cannot ask introduce myself, I wrote: “I am equally at home with
even the most practised Friend to sit down and ‘write the speakers of God-language (of which I myself speak
us a “devotional”’ – their finest thoughts tend to turn a remote dialect) and with those who must use other
to ashes and they resort to ‘conned and gathered stuff ’. terms. I see no betrayal of the old good in striving
Better to wait. Time after time someone or other feels for the new good. And I expect Friends to love one
a strong impulse to share their thoughts with us all, another.” After sixteen years, I still feel that way; above
often very personal searchings, and often from an all the last bit’. n
individual who has never written for us before and
may never contribute again. Bless them for doing so.’ David was editor of the Friend 1974–1990.
the Friend 12 March 2021 13T
his is a delightful anthology of
The Life That Never Ends: An Friends’ experiences. For ease of
anthology of Quaker spiritual/ reading, it is arranged under different
headings: ‘As Death Approaches’,
psychic experience, by Quaker ‘After Death Communications’, ‘Near
Death Experiences’, ‘Animals and
Fellowship for Afterlife Studies Afterlife’, and there are also some
miscellaneous experiences.
In ‘As Death Approaches’, Doreen
Review by Patsy
Varley tells us about her husband Joe, who was coming
towards the end of his life. Adopting a state of mindfulness,
Doreen began tuning into him, and found she could tell
Freeman whether or not Joe needed her. She sensed a glowing
presence around his feet. This glow continued until his
entire body was a ‘Being of Light’. He died very peacefully.
There are also a number of interesting after-death
communications. Sylvia Izzard tells us about the occasion
after the death of her husband Jim, when a friend of his
visited. As they were talking about Jim, all the lights fused.
Problems with the lighting continued. One evening in
desperation, Sylvia and a friend lit a candle and spoke
to Jim, asking him not to worry and to please solve the
lighting problems. From then on there were no issues.
John Philps recounts an occasion after his wife died.
He was driving to Kent when he felt himself lifting up,
surrounded and embraced by love. He knew it was his wife.
At the end of the lane was a crossroads – the exact place he
and his wife had visited on their last day out. He describes
it as ‘mind-blowing’; it showed him that love is never lost.
In the section on near-death experiences, Rosalind Smith
gives an interesting account of a lady who, whenever she
hears an ambulance, sends up a mental prayer, or thought,
for the person involved. It goes something like: ‘If this
person is not going to recover, then please let their passing
be pain-free, gentle and peaceful – and if they are going to
recover then let their recovery be full and complete, and
may they have no debilitating after effects.’ One day she was
passing a road accident and she sent up her usual prayer.
Sometime later, at a gathering, a stranger came up to her
and said that she had been looking for her. ‘I almost died
in a road accident, but what saved me was you being there,
and receiving the thoughts you sent up for me.’
Four months after she died, my daughter Jasmine began
communicating with me telepathically. She made her
presence felt in any number of different ways; one occasion
was when a heavy brass lamp that hangs from the ceiling,
began to swing backwards and forwards. My grandson,
Harry, was staying at the time. They were both very close.
I’m sure she did this to show him that Auntie Jasmine’s
presence was with us. The signs she sent enabled me to
return to life with renewed enthusiasm.
My own sense after reading this anthology is that it will
serve to open hearts and minds – enough to at least remain
open to the great mystery that surrounds death; and the
possibilities of there being a Spirit form after the body dies.
May this anthology also instil new confidence in those
wanting to share their own insights, but who may have felt
reluctant because of their fears of ridicule or rejection. n
Patsy is the author of In Search of You: Letters to a daughter.
14 the Friend 12 March 2021I
The Glorious
did not have the good fortune to see the film
on which this book is based. Its principal
characters are Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, then
Journey, by Liam pope, and Jorge Bergoglio, the current pope
(then cardinal). It starred Anthony Hopkins as
Kelly Ratzinger and Jonathan Pryce as Bergoglio.
The plot is simply a visit to Ratzinger by
Bergoglio to discuss the latter’s retirement. The
visit is fictitious. It gives the writer the possibility
Review by Frank
of blending artistic license, fact, fiction and imagination on
the basis of actual events and concrete personalities.
The film is a rare piece of work. It is not often that
Regan theological discussion and spiritual experience find a place
in popular entertainment. The conversations are far from
arcane theological discourse – the themes are at the heart of
being human: forgiveness, mercy, loneliness, suffering.
The film is pro-Bergoglio, but we are not viewing
a verbal joust between good pope and bad pope. The
opinions expressed are not outlandishly conservative
or progressive. There is no theological sparring. It is a
dialogue between two leaders from two different worlds,
two different pastoral experiences, two different points of
departure, being of the same generation and faith tradition.
The book is very practical, a manual for discussion
alongside the film. Each chapter starts with a viewing of
a short segment, followed by a quotation; then comes an
exploration of the theme, ending with a prayer.
The first chapter is entitled ‘The Journey’. This is a
favourite of mine, perhaps because I am near the end of
mine and am in need of a few pointers. Our author refers
to Jeremiah who heard God say to him, ‘Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you’. God and I go back a long
time. There is a bit of Abraham too: ‘Leave your country,
your kindred and your father’s house for a country I shall
show you’. On my journey I acted from time to time like
the prodigal son, but God was prodigal of mercy and
compassion. Bergoglio says ‘We have to keep journeying…
Don’t spend your life sitting on a couch’. There is more than
one way to journey nowadays, via memory and prayer. And
the couch will serve as wheelless chariot.
Another favourite chapter is the one on loneliness. We
are millions of people here in the UK who live on our
own. We spend our days teetering between the sadness of
loneliness and the joy of solitude. Are we alone or are we
lonely? Life is cruel in taking away those we love. It leaves
us wondering how it will be, waiting each day for the final
consummation.
Loneliness is the inability to experience the presence of
God. In his memoirs, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that there is
a God-shaped hole in the heart of each one of us. Blaise
Pascal said that within each one of us is a space only God
can fill. Psalm 42 connects to our downcast soul and invites
us within to plumb to where ‘Deep speaks unto deep’.
Other chapters talk about love, change, mercy and
listening. This is not a book for our Vaticanologists. There
is no curial gossip or prelates’ backstabbing. Two human
beings meet in a mode of ‘I and Thou’. It is good to listen
and then to ruminate and meditate. n
Frank is from Newton Abbot Meeting.
the Friend 12 March 2021 15T
Breathtaking: Inside
his book is about faith. Not faith in
God, but faith in medicine, and faith
in one’s fellow professionals.
the NHS in a time of ‘You have to promise me
something… you’ll make sure you
pandemic, by Rachel Clark won’t catch it. You, the nurses, all of
you here.’ This is from one of two
sons watching their father die. It is
a poignant start to this story of the
Review by Nick Wilde
coronavirus by Rachel Clarke, who writes in the night
when she can’t sleep. She chronicles the development of
the pandemic from its start in China, where the alarm
was raised and suppressed, to its rapid spread across the
world, fuelled by international travel and connectivity.
Her husband is an airline pilot, and the link is not lost;
indeed Rachel succumbs to the virus and is very ill.
Those who have read Dear Life will know that Rachel
believes in a good death. One patient, Steve, was able to
watch one last Chelsea match on television, with his son,
on New Year’s Day. Then there’s the man assiduous about
handwashing and mask-wearing, unwittingly shaking
hands with an old friend who reveals after the visit that
he hasn’t felt well. Within days Ken is in intensive care.
As the virus progresses across Europe to the UK the
government response is ‘breathtakingly’ too little and too
late. The NHS responds to the changing circumstances
despite the austerity-imposed reductions in beds and staff.
The inability to accompany relatives on what may be
their last journey is tragic. There are many sitting in their
cars watching the hospital they cannot enter. For the very
best of reasons the very worst is happening. To read about
the medical procedures brings it all home. When Rachel
gets home she does not greet the children but rushes
up stairs to ‘scrub every speck of infection away’. Her
daughter is upset. “‘Work-life balance” doesn’t come close
to capturing the forcefulness with which medicine clashes
with parenthood.’
When the first doctor dies we learn about the
staggering number of deaths among the medical
profession, and the equally-staggering lack of proper PPE.
A daughter sits at the kitchen table writing a diary of
her father’s treatment so he can read it when he comes
home – as she has to believe he will. It is an act of faith.
He, a man of deep faith, has the church community
supporting his family.
Rachel notices the spontaneous willingness to help of
so many people who give their time to helping others;
the innate ability with which a young student nurse
communicates with the daughter of a patient critical
on a ventilator. A few weeks later Rachel is sitting with
father and daughter in the garden. A marvellous outcome
compared with what nearly was.
Her honesty is in contrast to the politicians who
bamboozle us with pseudoscientific statistics and what
has been called ‘number theatre’.
A lot of this makes grim reading but the quality of the
writing carries you along. Rachel Clarke is an excellent
writer and communicator. n
Nick is from Hampshire and Islands Area Meeting.
16 the Friend 12 March 2021Q Eye
stitching strength, love mainly textile, panels.
and hope and says: “We The panels were
eye@thefriend.org
are the makers of our ‘influenced by the beauty
own future.” of nature, the horrors of
‘Creating through the Holocaust, the need
hope allows us to for clean air, protection
work on ourselves as of pollinators…
we work for a better [and] will be joined
A pop of pep Craftivism in world. We reflected together while we
An episode of BBC1’s constrained times on what most touched ourselves wait to
Bargain Hunt, which A recent all-age Meeting
our hearts in terms of gather in person to
aired on 19 February, for Worship inspired
positive changes we explore our ideas
saw a former student of Friends in Winchester
would like to see in the further and consider
a Quaker school snap to flex their creative
muscles. world and how how we might become
up a bottle of pop with
Clarissa Palmer, those ideas could be crafty activists’.
Friendly associations at
Oswestry Showground. from Winchester transformed into clear Clarissa reflected:
Bargain Hunt sees Meeting’s Children messages using craft ‘During these difficult
pairs of contestants and Young People’s forms.’ times making something
challenged to buy three Committee, told Eye Friends were inspired: by hand, generated by
objects in an hour and about the session, held some drew, some positive thoughts, was
then make a profit by via Zoom. looked through their uplifting. Craftivism
selling them at auction. ‘Inspired by Craftivism recycling for materials, is a form of activism that
Ten minutes into the and the Loving Earth one created a creature seems particularly suited
show, with only twenty Project we considered from an abandoned to these constrained
minutes of shopping the words of Betsy Greer, glove found during a times when gathering en
time left, a bottle of “godmother” to activist lockdown walk, while masse to seek to effect
‘Quaker Pep’ was spied crafters, who sees in others fashioned small, change is not possible.’
by one team’s expert. The
label shows a miner in
a flat cap quenching his
thirst with a refreshing,
non-intoxicating, swig.
Auctioned by Charles
Hansen in Staffordshire,
the pep pocketed the
team a £4 profit.
The quirky Quaker
find was produced by
Howell Davies & Co,
based in Abercynon in
Wales, in the 1920s, and
reflects efforts by the
Temperance Movement
to urge people to turn
away from alcohol.
How flavourful this
particular pop was is
anyone’s guess, as the
label is less than specific:
Photo: Pendella Buchanan.
‘An imperial beverage
blending nature’s aids
to health.’ However,
Friends can be reassured
that it proudly boasts
‘a well-known analyst’s
report’ determined the
drink to be ‘a perfectly
wholesome beverage’.
the Friend 12 March 2021 17For details of placing a notice email
Friends&Meetings ads@thefriend.org or call George
Penaluna on 01535 630230.
Deaths One of the In 1989 the advertisement pages
were already done on a desktop
Bill (James William Croan)
CHADKIRK 25 February. Husband
of Deirdre Morris, father of Matthew
“quiet heroes” computer with an early version of
Pagemaker, but the editorial pages
George Penaluna shares some were still typeset by the printer,
and Ralph. Member of Seaford
Meeting and formerly of QISP and personal reflections on working Headley Brothers in Ashford.
QPAC. Aged 70. Celebration of Bill’s with David Firth, and his early As editor, David would travel to
life when allowed. Enquiries: days at the Friend. Ashford by train every Tuesday
deirdremorris88@gmail.com morning to layout the galley proofs
Many Friends will have their own and proofread the final artwork.
Kathleen HAINES 25 February, memories of David; previous Headley’s provided a small ‘cubby-
peacefully. Member of Abingdon contributors, former trustees, other hole’ office for the Friend, a tiny
Meeting, formerly Colchester. colleagues and obviously members oasis of calm in the busy printworks.
of Friends House Meeting. I can’t
Mary SHEPPARD 2 March, peace- After David’s final sign-off, the
imagine anyone not liking and
fully. Widow of Kenneth, mother Friend went to print on Tuesday
of Richard, Melanie and Dianne. respecting him.
night to be mailed to subscribers
Member of Beverley Meeting and I remember David fondly from
my early days at the Friend. My and distributed to wholesalers on
attendee at Scarborough, previously Wednesday morning.
of Bridlington, Bradford and Halifax. job interview in 1989 was held in
Aged 98. Donations: Quaker Peace & his room, but with David more Another routine was David’s
Social Witness. host than interviewer. In Drayton monthly trip to the hairdresser,
House, the offices had been likened I believe at Horne Brothers
Memorial meetings to a ‘private detective’s office in a menswear on Regent Street. David
1930s B-movie’. The telephone dials seemed to like a regulated life, or
Joyce Isabel CROSFIELD widow still carried the number EUSton maybe he just accepted the yoke;
of Edward Chorley. A memorial his daily lunch at The Penn Club,
7549, a format superseded in 1958!
meeting will be held by Zoom on
David exuded an air of calm the weekly routine of the Friend,
Saturday March 20 at 6pm GMT.
Unless you already have, please competence and had a quiet, the monthly round of Meeting for
contact johnecrosfield@gmail.com sensitive spirituality. He had come Sufferings (and his barber), and
if you wish to attend. to the Friend in 1974 after working the annual event of Yearly Meeting.
with George Gorman in the He was a gentle man with a wide
Diary Outreach section of Quaker Home range of knowledge and a sense
Service. The previous editor was of whimsy. I was surprised by the
ABOUT TIME TO BE QUIET wanting to retire and the trustees colourful clothes he was wearing at
North West Regional Gathering, of the Friend ‘arm-twisted’ David
Saturday 27 March, 9.30-12.45. his retirement tea party at Friends
(if Quakers ever do such a thing) House, his office attire having been
Speakers and Workshops including
into taking the helm. Before QHS almost always a uniform beige.
for parents of children, and on social
media. Details: andrew.backhouse@ he had been a copywriter at an Obviously he didn’t just get his
phonecoop.coop or 01625 537087. advertising agency, where he met hair cut on his trips to Horne Bros!
his wife Jill.
In retirement he was looking
BUILDING PEACE FROM THE My first eight months at the
forward to indulging his passion
GROUND UP Saturday 13 March Friend were David’s last, but I
online conference. Fellowship of for languages by studying Russian.
benefitted greatly from his
Reconciliation and Church and Peace. experience and wisdom. He had Our paths didn’t cross much
Talks and workshops: responding perfected the art of declining after he retired, but whenever we
to hate, tackling racism, creating unsuitable manuscripts, still typed bumped into each other at Friends
prayers for peace and more. Register House it was always a delight. He
double-spaced in those days, by
now: http://bit.ly/3pnSfDB and Jill always placed a Christmas
returning them to the author with
SIDCOT SCHOOL QUAKER a headed postcard on which he’d greeting in the Friend, which gave
GENERAL MEETING Wednesday write simply, “Not one for the us the chance to share notes and
afternoon 24 March. This will be Friend I’m afraid. Love David”. greetings. Despite our short
an electronic meeting from 1pm to This is a tactic I’ve adopted overlap, my eight months working
4.30pm. For details of how to join whenever I’ve had to decline an with David set the tone for all my
the meeting please contact the clerks advertisement, luckily this is a very time at the Friend ever since.
at ssqgm2021@fastmail.fm rare event. God bless David, and his wife Jill.
18 the Friend 12 March 2021You can also read
