Friends House Hospitality, the company that runs the catering and events side of business for British Quakers at Friends House in London, has announced that they are starting a new scheme to train ex-offenders in catering skills, which will also give successful participants a qualification that can help them when looking for a job. The…
Norwegian Quakers are gathering today for their annual yearly meeting and are celebrating a continuing presence of Quakers in Norway for 200 years since 1814. The Norwegians’ Society of Friends began in 1814 when released Norwegian prisoners from prison ships in England returned home and began silent meetings for worship in Stavanger and Oslo (which…
Quakers in Britain have re-stated their opposition to nuclear weapons ahead of the publication of Trident Commission report that examined whether the UK should retain its nuclear deterrent. The Trident Commission was set up by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) and funders include the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Ploughshares Fund. The…
This week sees the launch of a new short film made by young people questioning the promotion of military activities in their schools. The film, “Engage: the military and young people†is set to launched on Thursday 26/06/2014 with the first showing taking place at Friends House in London. Commissioned by campaigning organisation ForcesWatch and made…
The organisers of the annual meeting of Quakers in Britain, Yearly Meeting Gathering, have announced that this year’s event in Bath in 08/2014 is so full that people not booked to attend must not come. Over 1,900 people are booked to attend the event, meaning that the number of Quakers gathered together in Britain will…
Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on a historically Quaker-owned company to end its sexist signs promoting boys and girls shoes. C&J Clark International Ltd, known as Clarks, has faced widespread criticism from shoppers who object to the slogans in its stores that say “Because boys test their shoes to destruction, so do…
Former broadcaster and current editor of The Friend Ian Kirk-Smith shared insights from his career in the media on Friday night at a public lecture at The King’s Hospital School in Dublin, as Quakers gathered for Ireland Yearly Meeting. Ian Kirk-Smith drew on his diverse experiences across anthropological fieldwork, writing, radio production and film directing…
Quaker support for young Zimbabweans is set to continue, it has been announced, despite the forthcoming closure of the The Hlekweni Friends Rural Service Centre in Zimbabwe later this year. Friends of Hlekweni, the British charity that supports the activities around Hlekweni near Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwean, has made the announcement that their support for…
A group of Quakers held a meeting for worship in the atrium of the British Museum today as part of a protest against the museum’s connections with multinational oil company BP and to highlight concerns about climate change. As well as bearing placards calling on the museum to end its relationship with BP, some of…
Quakers in Britain have adopted a statement on “government cuts: welfare benefitsâ€, which is to be used as a “starting point for meetings as a basis for action and speaking out†as well as for reflection, according to the decision-making body Meeting of Sufferings, which met on the first Saturday of the month in 04/2014.…