Category: Quakers in London
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Paddles Ahoy! A Report from London Link Group’s White Water Adventures
Our Friend Rebecca Fricker shares a report of London Link Group’s recent trip to Lea Valley White Water Centre, where teamwork and overcoming fear was the order of the day.
We are advised to Live Adventurously and that is what 13 Quaker affiliated teenagers, supported by 5 adult volunteers, did on a hot sunny day in the Lea Valley.
After successfully passing a challenging swimming test, involving jumping into a fast flowing body of water to prove we could swim to safety, we were divided into 2 crafts to experience Whitewater Rafting – down the course built for the 2012 London Olympics.
We learnt the importance of following instructions in order to prevent capsizing/falling out of a raft, how to work together as a team to move forward (and backwards), and how to overcome understandable fears and move out of our comfort zones.
We then hit the water again for Wipeout – cheerfully racing each other on an inflatable obstacle course, occasionally falling (or pushing someone else) in! While less scary, there was still a lot of laughter and screaming. Once we’d tired ourselves out we enjoyed bobbing blissfully in the lake under the hot sun.
For a full write up with pictures you can go to our website where you can also sign up to receive information about future events: https://londonlinkgroup.org.uk/
Rebecca Fricker
Clerk, London Link Group
London Link Group is a volunteer-run Quaker group that organises events to bring Young Quakers aged 11-18 together. It aims to: help young Quakers to develop their friendships; explore Quaker values; empower young Quakers; put into practice our Quaker ideals to create an egalitarian, safe, inclusive, caring and positive atmosphere at every event. Find out more on their website.
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British Quaker, American Friend: Reflections on BYM from across the Atlantic
Terran Chapis: British Quaker; American Friend, shares an extract of their report to Hartford Monthly Meeting in Connecticut, United States regarding Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), which took place over four days in May.
A recurring theme in conversations between Friends [at BYM] was our different understandings of God. Friends identified themselves as atheist or theist Quakers, and asked each other about their individual unique beliefs. One Friend from North Scotland said goodbye to me in the wee hours of Saturday morning by passionately declaring that I should minister the next day because: “I am excited to hear the Lord speak through you.” When he left the room I thought about it for a moment and said: “He doesn’t believe in God.”
At Meeting for Worship at Friends House the Sunday before Yearly Meeting, a Friend ministered that when she described a conference about God to a fellow Quaker, where a group of Friends organised all their thoughts about how they understand God as a concept, he asked her: “Well does God understand you as a concept? Does God believe in you?”
The following evening, on the walk home from a British Sign Language event, a Friend asked me “why are you crying?”
And I told them: “I promise these are happy tears. I’ve just been thinking about how you said tonight that you don’t believe in God because you don’t believe that help will ever come. Because people like you are my proof of God. You are the help that came. You, my Friend, are my evidence for God.”
I thought about the ministry that I had heard at Friends House the previous morning, and told them: “Maybe asking the right question is more important than having the right answer. Maybe the question isn’t whether or not we believe in God, but whether or not people see God in you.”
And through a combination of American Sign Language, British Sign Language, lip reading, telepathy, and hugs, we cried and discussed this as we made the trek home through the dark and the rain of North London.
It felt like a prank from the universe when my first Deaf friend after studying ASL uses British Sign Language. But I’m slowly relearning to sign with a different grammar structure and with lip patterns. When learning to sign BSL with fellow signing Friends in London, I learned that 1.) the request for a sign language interpreter at Britain Yearly Meeting this year was denied, and 2.) there aren’t widely used official signs for the word “Quaker” or Quaker concepts. To fill in the gaps, we signed “Quaker” by shaking the BSL fingerspelling sign for Q, or sometimes, inspired by the name and profile picture of a Quaker groupchat, we use the BSL sign for geese… meaning “Quacker.”
When I recounted the events of BYM to a lowercase f-friend, he said that once again, the strangest coincidences seem to happen to me. Years ago, before I ever stepped foot into a Quaker meeting, developing a disability inspired me to spend some forced sick time studying ASL. Little did I know what I was really preparing for.
Inspired by conversations at Britain Yearly Meeting 2026, I am currently researching the history, experiences, and signs used by Deaf and signing Friends in Britain and the United States (including hearing, nonverbal Friends), and working on research proposals for research master’s/fellowships to conduct a formal study. If anyone is interested in connecting with me about this topic, or connecting with Deaf/signing Friends, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at teranriley@gmail.com!”
– Teran Chapis
London Young Adult Quaker Meeting, Young Friends in Britain
Inspired to attend Yearly Meeting? Yearly meeting now takes place over multiple sessions, with the most recent having taken place in Manchester last month. The last session for 2026 scheduled for 21 November in London. You can register to attend here: https://www.quaker.org.uk/ym/bookings. We hope to see you there!
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Faith Groups at Trans+ Pride
The Good Law Project reports that there were 150,000 people marching today, the 25th July 2026 at London Trans+ pride.
Amonst those were a group of around 50 Quakers from across our Yearly Meeting, joined by others from Stoke Newington Synagogue and Nortcote Church. We met together as faith groups to show that God’s love is expansive, inclusive, incredible, unconditional, eternal and unprejudiced. Quakers carried a banner reminding ourselves and others of Minute 31: “Belonging is more than fitting in.”
Staying together as one big group was impossible because of the sheer magnitiude of the event with people spilling out into side streets and trying to join the march. Yet, many of us made new friendships as we marched together for equality.
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Yearly Meeting Report
Some Westminster Friends have shared a report about their experience of yearly meeting in July.
This was the first example of a session of our Yearly Meeting outside the usual pattern: a shorter, single-day Meeting for Worship for Business for all Friends in Britain Yearly Meeting. I watched Friends giving service to our meeting, and BYM staff taking deep, calming breaths to steady their nerves about what must have felt like a real experiment. Coming from a world where agendas are set much further in advance, this was a fast turnaround for our Clerks, our arrangements committee, and our agenda planning committee.
But that fast turnaround was also this Yearly Meeting’s real advantage. Our agenda could focus on items that needed urgent attention, and we were able to discern in the knowledge that we wouldn’t “miss the boat” and have to wait a whole year if a proposal needed further work. Kayla will fill you in on the details.
While the minutes are available – and we’d urge anyone interested to read them – we’ll offer a brief overview of the substantive items brought before us.
Testing and Seasoning Minutes
The new Yearly Meeting structure allows the Agenda Planning Committee (APC) to receive minutes from Quaker bodies with a clerk. Members of the APC performed a skit, memorable for its satirical deftness, skating a thin line between parody and reality, portraying the importance of testing and seasoning minutes before they’re sent to the APC. Before sending a minute, ask yourself: Why is this a Quaker concern? Are there other people – Quaker or not – already doing this work who could be joined? What are the implications of my minute?
Membership Beyond Geography
We also discerned a proposal from a working group of the Quaker Life Central Committee to enable non-geographically rooted meetings to give and hold membership. This could mean a new, parallel structure of “home meetings” and “anchor meetings,” alongside local and area meetings. Such meetings would allow those who feel connected to a non-geographical Quaker community – such as Quaker Rainbow or Young Friends in Britain – to come into membership attached to that group, opening a pathway that many view as an important step on their spiritual journey.
We heard moving ministry about Friends’ experience of Quaker worship that transcended the traditional bounds of geography, sustaining spiritual community in distinctly modern ways. At the same time, the meeting heard concerns about what this change would mean and what it would look like in practice. Unity was not reached to proceed with the proposal, even in principle – but our new Yearly Meeting structure allowed us to minute a request for more detail on the areas of concern, to be brought back to a future meeting, so that momentum could be maintained.
Quaker Reparations Work
We also heard an introduction to Quaker reparations work, which included powerful and moving ministry from the clerks of this group. They spoke of their own journey with the reparations process, situating reparations work and research as an issue central to Quaker identity – past, present, and future. The working group is holding a conference on 23 October, and all are encouraged to attend. We expect to return to the matter in November.
More Than the Decisions
Aside from the decisions we make, Yearly Meeting is an incredible social event and with this report, we hope to inspire each of you to come to Yearly Meeting in November. Taking it out of London and into a new city meant I was able to meet new people, and it created an opportunity to spend time with London Friends away from the distractions of daily life. It’s a time to live the full range of the Quaker experience: our worship, our corporate discernment, and finding the spirit of God in the everyday, as we grab lunch together, share accommodation, and immerse ourselves in a world where everybody is called Friend.
The following is a personal reflection that one Friend shared about their experience of the weekend:
“At the Meeting for Worship at Manchester Mount Street Meeting on Sunday morning, I was awash with gratitude and love for the kindness of my Friends across our yearly meeting. In an unfamiliar city, I was elated to see a number of faces who have all at some moment have taught me a fuller definition of care and kindness in their actions towards me and others. The most similar feeling I have had to this was in my second ever Meeting for Worship when my whole body was electrified, paralysed and purified by gratitude in a time when quiet and peace were the very things I needed most. Feeling this a second time I recognised it as the living Holy Spirit moving between all of us in the room. This time I cried as I looked at each face and remembered the lesson they had taught me. At this moment a Friend who’s name I don’t know rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.“ -
Becoming Quakers in London: What do individual Friends need to do?
London Development Group’s Legal Sub Group sets out what will be asked of Members and Attenders as we transition to Quakers in London – explaining the process and answering some FAQs.
At the end of 2026, the seven current Area Meetings in London will merge with each other and with London Quakers Property Trust, to form Quakers in London (QIL). After that, the 33 Local Meetings will continue to operate in much the same way as now, guided by Chapter 4 of Quaker Faith and Practice, so the Members and Attenders who worship at each of those meetings will continue to worship as they do now.
For Members, there are just a few things that each individual will need to do as their membership moves from their current area meeting to Quakers in London Area Meeting (QiL). For Attenders, there is even less to do.
Membership
We hope that all Friends in membership of one of the seven area meetings in London (KWAM, LWAM, NETAM, NLAM, NWLAM, SELAM, SLAM) will become a Member of the new area meeting – QiL.
Each Member will have to formally consent to be a member of QiL. There will be a simple form to complete on line, with a backup paper version for those who need it. The QiL Membership Clerk and Friends serving on the London Development Group will be at JLAMs and other meetings to help and there will be a volunteer in most LMs to assist too. For anyone who doesn’t use a computer and isn’t able to get to MfW, we will arrange for someone to visit at home.
Attenders don’t have to do anything: they will continue as Attenders at their LM as they are now.
QiL will be both an AM, which is a key part of Quaker right ordering, and a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee which can legally own property, hold bank accounts and so on. QiL will take over London Quakers Property Trust’s registration which is much easier than setting up a new charity.
Those in membership of a current AM will become a Member of the Charitable Company as well as a Member of the new AM in Quaker governance terms (once they have completed the form). Members agree to work according to the Articles of Association which are the charity’s governing document: LQPT’s Articles of Association are being amended and you can find a draft version and note of explanation here. Members will have the right to attend one or more meetings each year where the accounts of the Charity are presented and other formal processes take place: these will probably be held as part of a wider QiL Area Meeting in session. Members of the Charitable Company will also – theoretically – be liable for any debts if the Charitable Company closes, but this is limited by guarantee to be ‘up to one pound’ so it’s not something to worry about.
In future, those who come into membership will automatically become members of QiL area meeting both as a Quaker entity and as a Charitable Company. The form filling is needed only as Friends transfer from the old AMs to QiL.
Data Protection
Each current AM holds and processes certain personal data on its members as a ‘legitimate interest’ for its core purposes. QiL will need a record of the name and basic details of all members in just the same way – by filling in the form members will ensure that the data held is accurate.
The form will ask if the member wants to receive Quill (a newsletter) and other notices: these will not be sent automatically – the Member must agree to receive them.
At this stage, we are not going to set up a shared directory of members, but QiL may decide to do that at a later stage. Each person would have to give specific permission for their personal details to be included in the directory.
It is different for Attenders who must give explicit consent for any of their data to be held by the current AM or QiL. The form has space for that and we hope Attenders will choose to share their basic details.
Members or Attenders may give additional permission for specific data to be used for local address lists or newsletters or similar as they do currently.
In due course, QiL will develop a privacy policy, and until then we will use the draft LQPT privacy policy.
Financial contributions and Gift Aid
Contributions from individual Members and Attenders pay for activities in each LM, QiL meetings and events for adults and children, Friends to go on courses, and the salaries of a small staff team. They also contribute to the maintenance costs of meeting houses/hiring places for premises-free LMs to worship, and support the work of Quakers in Britain internationally as well as in England, Scotland and Wales.
Many Friends contribute through regular standing orders, with gift aid wherever possible.
We hope that Friends will give some money directly to Quakers in Britain in future rather than via their LM or QiL. That can be set up any time on the Quakers in Britain website.
And we hope too that Friends will contribute to QiL to help cover the costs of everything that we do in London.
For LMs that have opted for central finance management, individuals will need to cancel their old standing order and set up a new one for the new bank account. Details will be sent about this later in the year.
Taxpayers who want QiL to claim back tax on donations, should fill in a new gift aid form. This is necessary whether the LM is managing its finances itself or managing them centrally through QiL because only QiL can claim back the gift aid.
This can be done at any time.
Q & A
Q: How do I get hold of one of these forms?
A: The electronic forms will be sent out to all Members on 12 September. At the JLAM meeting that day, a member of the London Development Group will explain how to fill in the forms and answer questions. The QiL Membership Clerk and some members of the London Development Group will be available that day to help individuals complete the form. During the autumn, reminders will be sent and help will be available.
Q: I find it very confusing. What should I do?
A: Don’t worry. We will explain it at JLAM and there will be someone in each LM who can help.
Q: Surely there’s an easier way to merge than this?
A: The London Development Group looked at the options and found that using LQPT’s legal structure is by far the simplest and least expensive way of merging. JLAM agreed to this in October 2025. Minute JLAM 2025/19 which you can find in the full minutes of that meeting here records its intention to use the LQPT legal framework. The summary of legal advice explains the reasons more fully and can be found here.
Q: Wouldn’t it be better to register as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)?
A: In some ways the newer model of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) would be an easier fit, but it would have been a much slower and more expensive process to create a new charity and transfer ownership of all property than to take over and adapt the old LQPT registration. With a CIO, many of the same requirements would apply: it would be mandatory to get Friends’ permission to join, to keep a register of members etc. Many AMs are registered as CIOs and some as Charitable Companies.
Q: Why does QiL have to register at all?
A: Religious charities used to be ‘exempt’ from registration, but the Charities Act 2011 is phasing out that option and a charity as large as QiL must be registered. (In fact the larger existing London AMs are currently registered). QiL must be registered as a charity to be able to hold a bank account, own property etc.
Q: Can I be a member of QiL without being a member of the charitable company?
A: No – that won’t be possible. All those in membership will be members of the charitable company. At this moment of transfer, members of the old AMs need to complete forms and consent to being part of QiL, but it will happen automatically as new Friends come into membership in future.
Q: Are there any risks for me as an individual by becoming a member of a Charitable Company?
A: Members of QiL will – theoretically – be liable for any debts if the charitable company closes, but this is limited by guarantee to be ‘up to one pound’ so it’s not something to worry about.
Q: What will happen to my personal data?
A: A membership organisation legally has a ‘legitimate interest’ in holding the personal data of its members and contacting them on matters linked to their membership. We are collecting data via the online form so that we know it is accurate and up to date. The historic membership records held by Area Meetings will form part of their archives, which will be transferred to Quakers in London.
It is a requirement that all Area Meetings keep a register of members (QF&P 11.37), and this will apply to QiL. There is also a statutory requirement for any company – including a Charitable Company – to maintain a register of members.
Q: How do I get onto the mailing list for the Quill newsletter and to receive notices of what’s going on?
A: There’s a link on the Quakers in London website where Members or Attenders can sign up now to start receiving the newsletter. The form on membership will have a section where those who want to can sign up to receive Quill. This needs separate agreement – it’s not an automatic part of the ‘legitimate interest’ of membership.
Q: How can I get hold of the contact details for Members of Quakers in London?
A: You will have to ask a person to give you their details. At least initially, there won’t be a shared list with contact details. Longer term, QiL might decide to create a Directory of Members and this would require explicit permission from each person whose details were included.
Official role email addresses for QiL clerks and various committees are available via the ‘connect’ page on the Quill here so that you can contact those role holders easily.
Q: Can I see the governing documents for QiL?
A: The draft revised Articles of Association (which are the governing document for a charitable company) are available here with a covering note explaining them. Friends are invited to send any comments on them to the London Development Group. Formal approval must come from LQPT’s Member Representatives (one from each AM) at a meeting in October 2026.
Q: What happens if I don’t complete the form?
A: We hope everyone will complete the form. Anyone who chooses not to, will not become a member of QiL. But they can, of course, continue to worship as an Attender. We will offer help to make sure that all those in membership of a current AM are able to complete the form.
Q: Will Attenders be members of the Charitable Company?
A: No. The Members are those in membership (not Attenders).
Q: How can I find out more?
A: The draft Articles of Association and some background information are available on the Quill: https://friends.quakersinlondon.org/2026/08/12/quakers-in-london-articles-of-association/.
The full legal advice and a summary which was taken to JLAM in October 2025 is available with JLAM papers here.
Minute JLAM 2025/19 which agreed to use LQPT’s registration as a Charitable Company can be found in the full minutes of the meeting of 4 October 2025 here.
The London Development Group Legal Subgroup hopes to organise a zoom meeting ahead of the September JLAM, and there will be a presentation at JLAM.
Or email the LDG on the address below:
Still have questions about this process? If you have further questions about what the transition will mean for you, please feel free to send them to admin@quakersinlondon.org.
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Quakers in London Draft Articles of Association
London Development Group’s Legal Subgroup shares the draft Articles of Association for Quakers in London, with opening notes putting the Articles in context: giving their legal background and highlighting the main changes which have been made.
Legal background
Every charity has a governing document of some kind that sets out the legal rules that govern how the charity operates. The draft governing document for Quakers in London (QiL) is based on the Articles of Association of London Quakers Property Trust (LQPT). That is because Friends agreed in October 2025 that QiL should use LQPT’s legal framework rather than setting up a new charity (which would have cost considerably more in legal fees and taken much more time).
LQPT is a charitable company and so its governing document is in the form of ‘Articles of Association’. There are a few other area meetings in Britain Yearly Meeting that use this legal form too. The Articles act as the constitution under both charity and company law.
If you would like to know more about why and how this structure was chosen, a summary of the legal advice taken to JLAM in October 2025 is available here.
You can also view Minute JLAM 2025/19, which agreed to use LQPT’s registration as a charitable company. This can be found in the full minutes of the meeting of 4 October 2025 here.
The process for revising the Articles of Association
The London Development Group has tried to make the minimum necessary changes in order to create a document that will work for QiL. Most significantly the Charitable objects (article 4) are good enough to allow QiL to function so have not been amended though Friends may choose to make changes at some time in the future. Certain types of changes to governing documents require Charity Commission permission and it can take a long time to get it. The London Development Group has not suggested any changes that require permission. They expect that QiL trustees will review the Articles again and may consider making further changes in the future.
The draft Articles of Association have been reviewed by Solicitors because some clauses need a particular wording to ensure they are legally compliant.
All Quakers in London are invited to be part of the process of agreeing the new document and so it is being shared widely. We need Articles that are good enough to serve. All feedback is welcome (directly to the LQPT Clerk on lqptclerks@quakersinlondon.org or via your AM’s trustees).
Formal agreement of the revised Articles of Association is for the Representatives of each of the LQPT Members. The Members under the old Articles are the seven AMs (KWAM, LWAM, NETAM, NLAM, NWLAM, SELAM, SLAM) and the representive of each is usually the Clerk of Trustees. The members have already commented on an earlier draft of the Articles and will be asked to agree a resolution to change the Articles of Association at their next meeting on 13th October 2026. Send any questions or comments to LQPTclerks@quakersinLondon.org or to your current AM Clerk of Trustees.
A quick guide to the changes in the articles
The thee main changes are:
Name of charity: the charity will no longer be LQPT but Quakers in London. It will have the same company and charity number as before so that it is clear that QiL is a successor charity.
Membership: the structure of LQPT was that the seven London Area Meetings were the members of the charitable company. For QiL, individual members of the Religious Society of Friends will be the members of the charitable company. From 1 January 2027 all the current members of the AMs who give their consent will be the charitable company members. From then on, all new people admitted into membership by QiL in session will also be charitable company members.
Types of meeting: in company law, a “General Meeting” is a meeting of members that complies with all legal formalities including sending written notices to individuals. Certain types of legally binding resolution can only be passed by a General Meeting, properly held, so the Articles need to cover the formalities. Most of our regular meetings of Quakers in London in session will not be General Meetings held in accordance with company law because we do not need them to be. We have tried to make this clear in the Articles so that we can continue to hold business meetings in the normal way without unnecessary bureaucracy.
Other changes:
Many of the changes are needed because QiL will operate as an area meeting of Britain Yearly Meeting and so will meet and work in a different way from LQPT.
And most of the other changes are not ‘real’ changes as they are to move points previously covered in a document called a Memorandum of Association into the main Articles of Association. At the time that LQPT was registered, some important information was contained in the Memorandum, but it is no longer possible to amend this type of document and so the information now needs to be included in the Articles.
Changes that haven’t been made though it looks odd:
The winding up clause (article 54) refers to Meeting for Sufferings, which has been laid down, and to the current London Area Meetings (which will be laid down). Ideally, we would amend this clause to remove that reference. However, this would require Charity Commission permission. Although it looks a bit untidy, the current wording is functional because if the first option cannot be used then the second and third options are still available.
There are also some definitions that have been left in the Articles even though they may not be needed, because they are linked to clauses that cannot be changed without permission.
View and download a PDF of the draft Articles of Association below:
You can also download a copy of the draft Articles of Asociation with covering notes here:
Do you have Questions about the Articles of Association? If you have further questions about the draft Articles or the covering note, please feel free to send them to admin@quakersinlondon.org.
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Getting to know: Paul
Name: Paul Keenleyside
Role: Co-Clerk of Joint London Area Meeting
Local Meeting: I’ve been attending Quaker Meeting at Streatham & Brixton in South London since 2005.
Can you tell us a bit about your Quaker journey? Like many, the journey to being a Friend was indirect and at times bumpy, but I was drawn consistently by the Quaker sense of each of our lives being a Testimony and the meaning that this then gives to each of our interactions with others and the world around us. This sense of meaning finding has been an important part of my wider life working in special schools and now helping support school leaders.
What excites you about the QiL project? I feel that there is a huge potential in Quakers in London; developing connectivity and sense of purpose for us across this wonderful city and providing a new way to ‘talk’ to other city-wide organisations (both faith-based and non faith-based). I also know that this journey is likely to be indirect and bumpy, but that may be the point!
To get to know our community better, we are publishing a series of posts introducing Quakers in London including (but by no means limited to) staff members and role holders! If there is someone you would like to learn more about, or you would be interested in introducing yourself, please email us at quill@quakersinlondon.org.
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Getting to Know: Daniel Clarke Flynn
We’re delighted to share the first of our “Getting to Know,” series from a Friend who is not a QiL roleholder. This series was designed to help us feel closer – and that includes our whole London community.
Name: Daniel Clarke Flynn
Roles: co-editor of the Westminster Meeting monthly e-magazine The Parrot, committee member of the Quaker Universalist Group, associate tutor leading international Life Reflections workshops in Europe and Britain in person and online for Woodbrooke Learning and other Quaker groups, facilitator of the Thursday evening international Woodbrooke Worship/EMES Meeting for Worship, and member of the Britain Yearly Meeting Pastoral Care team. Since coming into membership abroad in March 2015, I have written over fifty articles and book reviews that have been published in The Friend, Friends Quarterly, Among Friends, The Universalist, and Western Friend. I am a former trustee, Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs and former convenor, Yearly Meeting Nominations Group 2025-2026.
Local Meeting: Westminster
Aside from Quakers, how do you like to spend your time? Learning more about who I am, why I am here, and what my calling is this day.
What parts of your service are you looking forward to? Being fully present and of service to others with my life experience, and learning from theirs as they might wish to share it.
What would you like people to know about you? I am the grandson of four 19th Century immigrants to the United States, two from Ireland and two from Germany, a 1939 native of San Francisco, California, citizen of Ireland, and resident of Belgium since January 2001. I earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. in 1975, pursued a career in international corporate Human Resources before taking early retirement in 1997 to serve as a Cambridge Certified English language trainer for adults for two decades in the U.S. and Europe. I continue to do volunteer service for MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières – Doctors Without Borders) and two other international associations seeking to make our world better for all based on spiritual/moral principles/values. I do translations into English from French, German, Italian, and Spanish. My wife and I mentor and support the African Great Lakes Region Consortium of eleven African started and run local charities in Burundi and South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://www.copgla.org/
What is your favorite quote from QF&P? §1.01 “Our diversity invites us both to speak what we know to be true in our lives and to learn from others. Friends are encouraged to listen to each other in humility and understanding, trusting in the Spirit that goes beyond our human effort and comprehension.” Britain Yearly Meeting Quaker Faith & Practice, 5th Edition
Book recommendations:
English: Dr. Pim van Lommel (1943 – ____) https://pimvanlommel.nl/en/
Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience © 2007
French: Oscar Lalo (1965 – ____), Dictionnaire amoureux de la méditation. © Éditions Plon, © Éditions Récamier, des départements de Place des Éditeurs, 2026. ISBN: 978-2-259-30654-6 https://www.oscarlalo.com/plon
German: Willigis Jäger (1925 – 2020) Jenseits von Gott © 2012 Wege der Mystik, Holzkirchen. ISBN: 978-3-9810310-6-5 https://benediktushof.shop/de/jenseits-gott
Italian: Vito Mancuso (1962 – ____), La via della Bellezza © 2018 Garazanti S.r.l., Milano. ISBN: 978-88-11-67571-6 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42407175-la-via-della-bellezza
Spanish: Consuelo Martin (1940 – 2023), Vivir en Espíritu y en Verdad © 2017 https://www.edicionesobelisco.com/10282-martin-consuelo
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Friends House Childrens Meeting: an update and upcoming vacancy
This article is a contribution from our Friend Lucy Dodgson, who is the current Children and Young People’s worker at Friends House Meeting.
Friends House Children’s Meeting is an opportunity for young Quakers to gather, create, and engage with topics in the spirit of the Quaker Testimonies. Held in the Elizabeth Fry Suite of the lovely Friends House building, we welcome all participants aged 0-18 every (yes, every) Sunday of the month!
As some Friends may know, our Children’s Meeting had to go on a brief hiatus this past Winter, but I am happy to report that we are back up and running and we are thriving! Since February we have welcomed many young people through our doors, both London-based, and visiting Friends.
We have had easter egg hunts, written stories, made friendship bracelets, painted, coloured and generally got very messy, all in the spirit of loving exploration. Suggestions from participants on themes and activities are key; we are building a meaningful community here, where everyone has a say.
Childrens Meeting Art – Pink Butterfly 
Childrens Meeting – Art Supplies 
Childrens Meeting Art – Palm Trees Some upcoming topics for the next couple of months include “Take the adults for a walk”, “A puppet show” and making things with clay. We warmly welcome any who would like to join us, and you can contact cypworkerfh@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list, to be kept up to date on what activities are happening when.
While I am delighted to tell everyone about our wonderful Children’s Meeting, it is with a heavy heart that I also announce that I will be leaving London later this year and so there will soon be a vacancy for the (paid) role of Children and Young People’s worker at Friends House. The Meeting would very much like to hear from anyone interested in taking up the role. The job description is attached below, and in the meantime please do reach out to the Clerks at FHMClerk@outlook.com or me at cypworkerfh@gmail.com to enquire about the nature of the role or express interest. The rate is £20 per hour.
The deadline for applications to this role is 23 August 2026 (although this may be extended as needed)