by Jez Smith Gerald Hewitson, a Quaker based in Wales, is set to deliver the 2013 Swarthmore Lecture, A Journey to the Heart of the Quaker Experience. The lecture will be given during Britain Yearly Meeting at Friends House on 25/05/2013. Although the lecture will be delivered then, the Swarthmore Lecture is in the care…
Quakers were among protestors who faced arrest after blocking a street by the White House yesterday, the home of the US president Barack Obama. The Earth Quaker Action Team were at the protest to send a message to Barack Obama not to support the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and to request him to address…
by Philip Austin Set up after a peace conference of Quakers in the North in 01/1913, the Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) has undertaken a variety of work with and for Northern Friends, supported by funding and representatives from throughout the North of Britain. When, a couple of years ago, NFPB members began to think…
by Gil Skidmore What really appeals to me about the process of becoming a Quaker – convincement – is that it is usually a gradual process rather than the once-for-all ‘lightbulb moment’ of conversion. Descriptions of the way in which early Friends came to Quakerism identify several stages. First of all the individual is ‘reached’…
Quaker commitment to sustainable food has been recognised this month as Britain Yearly Meeting’s Friends House restaurant won the title of best London restaurant in the annual Sustainable Restaurant Association awards. The restaurant already holds a three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. It serves a daily (Monday to Saturday) menu and salad bar based…
by Jez Smith An American has failed in his attempt to sue his Quaker meeting after he decided that the meeting was involved in the break up of his marriage. Warren Pegram, of Snow Camp in North Carolina, had issued proceedings in November 2012 to remedy the difficult financial situation he claimed to face after…
The American lobbying arm of the Quakers, the Friends Committee for National Legislation has been revealed as one of 500 organisations and people on the pro-weapons National Rifle Association’s so-called “enemy list“. According to the FCNL website “Friends seek peaceful and nonviolent solutions to personal and societal problems at all levels. The seeds of war…
by Jez Smith Quakers in Britain took another step closer yesterday towards being two-thirds of the way to reaching marriage equality as MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Quakers in Britain welcomed the MPs vote in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which will change the law in…
“For many years I have thought of working overseas alongside the people of another country – sharing their outlook, beliefs and difficulties and giving in return love and what little knowledge I possess. These thoughts and aspirations became sharper when I began to face the prospect of working as a doctor in the army. My…
The 1949 Swarthmore Lecture by Roger Cowan Wilson, reviewed by Jennifer Barraclough The joy of the Swarthmore Lectures is their continuing ability to illuminate, console and inform. Although Roger Cowan Wilson wrote about authority, leadership and concern in the context of Quaker relief work during and immediately after the Second World War, there is much…