Quakers in London's Online Community

Category: Community

Be Part of Creating Quakers in London!
Nominations Committee are looking for Friends to fill essential roles which will shape the future of Quakers in London

The Committee would particularly like to hear from more friends who haven’t yet become involved, especially younger friends.

Each of us has valuable skills, and a unique perspective which could enrich the Quakers in London community and help make it a more vibrant, creative, and inclusive Area Meeting. Ask if you feel called to serve, or if you know a Friend who may be well placed to do so.

Nominations Committee are currently looking to fill the following roles:
- Treasurer
- Interfaith Interchurch Representatives
- Children and Young Peoples Representatives
- Outreach Committee
- Finance Committee
- Property Committee
- Employment Committee
If you would like to offer service yourself fill in an Offer of Service form!

You can make suggestions for Friends to be considered for the different roles using the QiL Nominations Suggestions Box.

The latest information, including terms of reference, is available on the Quakers in London Website: https://quakersinlondon.org/am-nominations/.
23 June, 2026
Getting to Know: George

Name: George Barrow

Role: currently assistant clerk of London Quaker Property Trust and nominated as a trustee of QiL on its creation as a charity

Local Meeting: Having worshipped at Hampstead for about 15 years, I’ve recently moved my membership to Stoke Newington, which is considerably closer to home. Originally I was a member of a meeting in Birmingham, where I grew up.

What parts of your service are you looking forward to? Before retirement I was very successful in keeping below the radar in Quaker terms but I’ve enjoyed the last four years as an LQPT trustee – particularly working on the development of the Better Homes strategy. The creation of QiL seems like a logical extension of this work. I believe it is something that will present us with possibilities and opportunities, with the dividend of releasing and redirecting our energy as Quakers into more rewarding work and witness.

What is something you would like people to know about you or your role? I know that LQPT has from time to time been viewed with a bit of suspicion but I’ve found that the trustee group has brought together some really committed, caring people who want to support meetings (with or without Meeting Houses) and see them flourish, while shouldering the real responsibilities that running a charity brings

What’s your favourite quote from QF&P?The extract from QF&P I most commonly use is Isaac Pennington’s “helping one another up with a gentle hand”. The message is not just about helping, it’s how “one another” recognises that any of us might be the helper or the helped, depending on where and when, and what we have to offer.

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) “trustees in waiting” 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.

22 June, 2026
Getting to know: Mary

Name: Mary Stiasny

Role: I am a relatively new member of the London Development Group, having been asked to join it fairly recently. I have also just been appointed to be a Trustee of the new QiL.

Local Meeting: I am a Member of South East London Area Meeting; I attend Forest Hill Meeting – and have done so for a very long time!

What parts of your service are you looking forward to? I see this as the service I can give to London Quakers, having had so much given to me as a lifelong Quaker. My Quakerism is at the centre of my being. I hope we can together build a vibrant Quaker community across London which is outward looking and appeals to non-Quakers – not just to ourselves! It is time for us to grow as a community and as a religious group.

What are you getting up to outside of Quakers? Outside the Society I am retired from working in universities, yet still very involved with higher education in various ways, and I like to spend lots of time with my husband, children and grandchildren.

What’s your favourite quote from QF&P? My favourite piece from QF&P is Advice 17, and I especially love that last sentence; ‘think it possible that you may be mistaken’, because it reminds us that we need to be open to the meanings others bring; that we are not ourselves infallible.

“Do you respect that of God in everyone though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or be difficult to discern? Each of us has a particular experience of God and each must find the way to be true to it. When words are strange or disturbing to you, try to sense where they come from and what has nourished the lives of others. Listen patiently and seek the truth which other people’s opinions may contain for you. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that are unfair or untrue. Think it possible that you may be mistaken.”

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) “trustees in waiting” 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.

22 June, 2026
Regional coordinators needed for peace gathering
Can you help?

September 19^th 2026 – London

Plans are underway for a National Quaker peace gathering in London on Saturday 19 September 2026. This date has been chosen for its proximity to the United Nations International Day of Peace. The event will take the form of a Silent Walking Vigil. Key details are available at: https://quakervigilforpeace.org/. The website includes core information about the vigil and an opportunity to express interest and sign-up for updates.

Might you be interested in getting involved as a local organiser?
- Local organisers would tell everyone about the Vigil.
- Explore having a local Vigil for Friends who can’t travel to the event
- Be a point of contact with the organisers
If this would interest you, please contact Josh at joshs@quaker.org.uk
15 June, 2026
University Meetings as a Gateway to the Wider Quaker Community

Agnes Sales reflects on her experience of the University of Bristol Quaker Meeting

Following the event on the 21^st July about outreach to universities, Agnes Sales, a Friend involved in the Quaker work at Bristol University has shared the following reflections.

If you would be interested in joining with other friends across London in talking about university work in the city, please email Josh (joshs@quaker.org.uk) to be connected.

The meeting at the University of Bristol has been an integral part of my Quaker faith and weekly routine. Before joining, I was already a regular at the Multifaith Chaplaincy and had attended Central meeting a couple of times that year. One day in October, I saw a couple of people sitting in silent worship in the quiet room, decided to join them.

Initially, there were only three of us, but I invited my friends and we steadily grew – I think our biggest meeting had 17 people! Some people came and went and a few of us turned up consistently every Wednesday lunchtime. We started doing ‘Quaked potatoes’ and a few of us started attending Redland meeting and joining the Becoming Friends course. The University meeting has provided a gateway to the wider Quaker community, enabled me to make new friends of all ages and have a consistent way of engaging with my faith when I cannot come on a Sunday morning.

I have always appreciated the more casual nature of our meetings, where we have afterword, food and conversation and where some people move around and minister in ways that they don’t feel comfortable to do elsewhere. We have developed a real community that feels strong and fulfilling.

The chaplains of other faiths in the Multifaith Chaplaincy have also provided great company and support, whether that be pastoral support or simply making tea. I’m sure that a Quaker chaplain would be appreciated not only by the students who regularly attend the Quaker meeting but also other students who who may have questions about Quakerism or need pastoral support.

11 June, 2026
Reflections on Yearly Meeting: Bunhill Fields

A member of Bunhill Fields Meeting attended Yearly Meeting and kindly provided this report. Are you still reflecting on Yearly Meeting? We’d love to hear your thoughts quill@quakersinlondon.org.

Yearly Meeting session in May 2026 had main sessions on ‘What unites us as a Spirit-led community?’ and a following one ‘As a Spirit-led community, how can we handle conflict well?’.

There was a lot of ministry both in Friends House and online. The main aspects I picked up were the need for us to be open minded, kind (without condescension), accept everyone’s views, listen attentively, recognise that there are language difficulties with other Quakers and other faiths, know that the Spirit moves through us (but isn’t us), recognise that we can feel battered and vulnerable, and that the fruits of the Spirit are action. We need to find opportunities to describe our feelings on God (which could involve singing). A wonderful analogy was given that when we look up through the tree canopy God is the light flowing through the leaves – we and the leaves are finite, but God is infinite light and indescribable.

What I took away from these sessions is that language for all of us is so important, but slippery and difficult, and doesn’t always communicate well. By chance in the Bookshop I found Jane Pearn’s 2017 booklet on The Language of Leadings, a reflection on faith, action and concern. It is the result of an Eva Koch scholarship looking into the important Quaker idea of Concern. This is a wonderful introduction to slippery language and investigates Quaker thinking on the two main Yearly Meeting sessions. I have bought three copies for Bunhill Library which I hope newcomers will find helpful.

Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, serves as the most senior staff member for the Britain Yearly Meeting, managing staff and supporting meetings. He acts as the senior staff member, often representing the Quaker community on public and social issues. He gave a comprehensive report on the many recent challenges Quakers have faced on the right to protest. Most recently on 21 April 2026 Quakers warned a parliamentary committee that sweeping restrictions on protest are putting British democracy at risk and preventing people from acting on their faith. Several Friends have been charged and imprisoned, with a peaceful Just Stop Oil protester still in prison. This is ironic in the year that we have laid down Meeting for Sufferings (because now we need to tackle this work at Yearly Meeting level). But the hundreds of years old record of Quaker sufferings will continue to be recorded.

3 June, 2026
Goodbye London Quakers – Hello – What?

Submitted by Fred Ashmore – Clerk to London Quakers

At the Close of the JLAM meeting of 13th June, London Quakers (LQ) will hold its final AGM after 15 years of serving The Quakers of London and lay itself down. The London Quakers Steering Group hope that Quakers in London will take over everything that London Quakers has been doing. Of course, the recruitment of Josh Selfe as our local Development Worker has been a huge vitaliser for all of us in London and the Being Quaker courses he has created are a great resource, long needed. QiL has decided
to appoint two Friends to look after interfaith and interchurch work, which is another aspect of the LQ work that will otherwise be missed.

At present the Arrangements Committee are looking after the website and issuing The Quill which replaces (rather better) the monthly LQ mailings that shared news, announcements and events. We don’t yet have settled arrangements for handling
the miscellaneous queries that come in through the website and facebook and email of the Clerk of London Quakers (We‘ve had rather surprising requests, and suggestions believe me). In future staff will help with that but they will need to know who to go to for decisions.

The most important thing that LQ Steering Group hopes as it lays itself down is that there will be a group to help create, organise and support community events for Quakers in London. You can’t dump this on Josh Selfe. It’s got to be us, Friends. There have been regular events for the past decade. Supporting older Friends,
Housing Inequality, gender diversity, Refugee matters, Death and Dying, Assisted Dying. Someone made these happen. Who will do that for the next decade? We hope to pull together a thriving community of Quakers in London. We hope to cater
for varied interests and groups. But none of it just happens.

Over to you QiL!

Fred Ashmore

3 June, 2026
Getting to Know: Bernadette, lDG Co-Clerk

This post is part of a short series on getting to know some of our newly appointed Friends to QiL committees.

Name: Bernadette

Role: Co-Clerk to London Development Group

Local Meeting: Brentford and Isleworth

What parts of your service are you looking forward to?: Worship and discernment with other LDG members (and the wider London Quaker community) on how best to bring forward this simplification project for London friends.

What do you wish more Friends understood about your role?: How many elements there are in the merger work and the delicate balance between getting on with it… and taking the necessary time to get it right.

What’s your favourite quote from QF&P?: “For a Quaker, religion is not an external activity, concerning a special ‘holy’ part of the self. It is an openness to the world in the here and now with the whole of the self. If this is not simply a pious commonplace, it must take into account the whole of our humanity: our attitudes to other human beings in our most intimate as well as social and political relationships. It must also take account of our life in the world around us, the way we live, the way we treat animals and the environment. In short, to put it in traditional language, there is no part of ourselves and of our relationships where God is not present.” – Harvey Gillman, 1988 (21.20)

Anything else to say?: My thanks for the upholding and the loving support.

14 May, 2026
Getting to Know: Kate, Co-Clerk

This post is part of a short series on getting to know some of our newly appointed Friends to QiL committees.

Name: Kate

Role: Area Meeting Co-Clerk

Local Meeting: Wanstead

What parts of your service are you looking forward to?: I just have a general “sense of adventure into the unknown”

What do you wish more Friends understood about your role?: I wish only to be a servant of the meeting, but I know that this sometimes requires me also to lead.

What’s your favourite quote from QF&P?: Today it’s “Be still and cool in thine own mind …”

Anything else to say?: I’ll be doing my best, with the help of coclerks and the spirit of worship.

14 May, 2026
Getting to Know: Sam

This post is part of a short series on getting to know some of our newly appointed Friends to QiL committees. The first post is from Sam – co-clerk to Arrangements Committee.

Name: Sam

Role: Co-Clerk to QiL Arrangements Committee

Local Meeting: Westminster local meeting

What parts of your service are you looking forward to?: I really care about making our Area Meetings feel, light, cheerful and fun. I hope they’re times we can come together and enjoy each other’s comapny as we tackle discernment together. For a long time, I’ve heard about lots of Friends feeling tired and fed up with the process of transitioning into a single London Area Meeting. I so so SO hope that we can soon become unburdened by many of the administrative tasks and that we can start to hear from Local Meetings about areas of real Quaker concern.

What do you wish more Friends understood about your role?: I’m here to offer my service to you, the Friends who have appointed me through a process of spiritual discernment into this role. Sometimes Friends will approach me ready for a bit of a fight. To mis-quote my testimony to peace, I’m a lover not a fighter… And I really want What’s best for our Quaker communities too.

What’s your favourite quote from QF&P?: “Creativity is the gift that we were given on the eighth day of creation. In naming and re-making the world we are co-workers with God, and whether we are making a garden or a meal, a painting or a piece of furniture or a computer program, we are sharing in an ongoing act of creation through which the world is constantly re-made.” – Jo Farrow, 1994. This is just a small excert but the whole section (21.38) is great! The mention of the eighth day of creation has left my mind in a tangle a thousand times and has occupied my mind in a lot of Meetings for Worship.

Anything else to say?: Please come and say hi if you see me at JLAM (or anywhere else!). One thing I love about Quakers in London is that it’s been a great source of new f(F)riendships.

29 April, 2026

Category: Community

Can you help?

Agnes Sales reflects on her experience of the University of Bristol Quaker Meeting