Quakers in London's Online Community

Tag: role-holder

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
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
Getting to Know: Kayla

Greetings London Friends,

I am writing to introduce myself to you all.

My name is Kayla and I have been appointed to be the admin assistant supporting the work in establishing Quakers in London (QiL) through 2026. This is a part-time freelance role and I will be assisting on an as-needed basis.

This will include supporting the work of the London Quaker Property Trust (LQPT), the London Development Group (LDG) and QiL Committees to assist to ensure everything proceeds as smoothly as possible, and relieve some of the administrative burden on Friends who have taken on key roles in this process.

I am available via admin@quakersinlondon.org and can provide assistance answering questions or finding information you may need!

A bit more about me!

Local Meeting: Westminster local meeting (although I am originally from Canberra Northside Meeting in Canberra, Australia).

What do you see as the value of your role?: Often, administration is a significant burden on Friends’ service, and can take up time which may be more fruitfully employed elsewhere, enriching the spiritual life of the meeting and bringing our community together. My hope is that this role will allow me to lighten the load on role holders during this period of transition.

What about your role are you looking forward to?: I am looking forward to getting to know Friends across London to help ease the transition to QiL.

What’s your favourite Advice and Query? So hard to choose! However, a phrase I often return to is “attend to what love requires of you.” I think that this is an important direction toward deep reflection as to how we spend our finite time here at all stages of our lives. Asking simply what love requires of us – love of our community, our world, all life on earth, and also of ourselves can be an important grounding principle where so many different considerations contend to claim our days.

Your Friend,

Kayla

If you’d like to hear introductions from other role holders please let us know which roles you’d like to hear from in the comments!

27 April, 2026

Tag: role-holder

Getting to Know: George

Getting to know: Mary

Getting to Know: Bernadette, lDG Co-Clerk

Getting to Know: Kate, Co-Clerk

Getting to Know: Sam

Getting to Know: Kayla