WEST SOMERSET

AREA MEETING

NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY 2010

 

SOUTH SOMERSET PEACE GROUP

On Tuesday 23rd March South Somerset Peace Group

are holding a public meeting when Bruce Upton from Beaminster will speak about the two years he has just spent in Rwanda for VSO,

with particular emphasis on what it means to live in a post-genocidal country fifteen years on.

The meeting will be held in the Minster Rooms, Ilminster at 7.30 pm. 
All welcome - entry £2 including tea/coffee.
 

Peace Vigil Saturday 20 March Blake Hall South Petherton 11-12

 

CHRISTMAS IN CAMBODIA

Our Friend Kirstie Waldie has been in Cambodia since November making a film in conjunction with a local group, Epic Arts, (see last newsletter). The film is a documentary of a young woman’s journey through physical disability to a useful life. It is a story of great significance to Cambodian society. Physical disability there is regarded with suspicion and fear and the idea that a person is still a person, whether disabled or not, is possibly a novel one. Films are a powerful means of changing attitudes, as they are a very popular medium for entertainment. Think “soap operas” in our culture.

Peter Lansdown, one of Kirstie’s assistants has been keeping us informed of progress in e-mails. In December he wrote about building a documentary. A story has to be identified, the characters considered and the response of the audience. Kirstie and her crew meet the “cast” with the help of Chuun, their interpreter. Chuun is pregnant and married to a local farmer. She is a charming person with “large, smiling almond eyes” and an infectious giggle. The “heroine” of the film is Chakryia, whose family has helped her to acquire an education, her father carrying her up and down stairs in her school in Sihanoukville so that she can take her exams (you can see the thrust of the film’s message). Some 50 minutes of Chakryia’s story have been filmed and must now be edited down to 29 minutes. Not only the shots must be edited but the script must be transcribed from Khmer into English so that the editors know exactly what has been said and later signing for deaf people must be added. Peter’s job is transcribing helped by the estimable Chuun, who, Peter says is the third heroine of the film after Chakryia and Kirstie.

It sounds an exhausting and painstaking process. It is not all hard work however. Over Christmas they had the chance to go to Angkor Wat, one of the wonders of the world, a huge temple concourse built without mortar in great dressed stones with the most astonishing bas-reliefs decorating every available surface. It is in effect a giant book of religious and historical stories told in sculpture. And for New Year’s Eve with Chuun and other Cambodian friends went to a restaurant: “Kirstie has very set ideas on how to behave on New Year’s Eve and our two young guests hadn’t even heard of Robbie Burns!  However, Kirstie was on particularly good form.  During the ensuing four hours she would invest our young friends with a love of the bard, a grasp of the words of Auld Lang Syne and the meaning, and the ritual that goes with it”.

Now the film is in post-production. By the time you read this, Kirstie will know the verdict of the most important people, rural Cambodians.

Kathy Gollin

BEING A QUAKER CLERK

 Woodbrooke January 15th -17th 2010

When I was nominated as Area Meeting co-clerk to begin in January 2010, I thought I should attend a course to learn how the role might best be approached. It helped having some experience as Local Meeting clerk, though I soon had the feeling that I should have taken myself on such a course years ago!

Other participants mostly had no clerking experience, though some did. A handful of us were involved at AM level and were invited in a couple of small group sessions to form a separate group where we could focus on AM issues. In the main, however, the issues, techniques and procedures covered were common to all clerking roles. Considerable emphasis was put on the spiritual underpinning of all we do in meetings for Worship for Business whether as clerks or as other members of the meeting. There was a good balance of information and anecdote and practical exercise.

The programme, briefly, was as follows:-

One workshop involved a “boundaries” game, focussed on the Meeting for Worship for Business, which in my group was found to be so thought-provoking as to take us part way into lunchtime (even though Woodbrooke’s wonderful food was waiting!)

On the Saturday evening, we had a minute-writing exercise which brought forward all manner of issues, although it was quite fun too as we were given the verbatim text of contributions to a spoof Meeting for business.The participants had such names as Ivan Idea, Pesy Mist, Opty Mist, Senta Narian etc.

We also came away with a list of the ideas of all of us on the topic “Spiritual Practices helpful to clerks”. Worship shared with the elders and overseers course members was deep.

Once again the Woodbrooke experience was special.

I thank Area Meeting Friends for supporting me in attending this course which I hope will help me in my period of service as AM co-clerk.

At Area Meeting in January it was decided that I would, together with others, prepare a day for those connected with the Area Meeting on the Quaker business method, together with clerkship issues and minute- writing practice. It is hoped that a good number of members and attenders will feel they want to join in, as we learn together. It could be seen as a day for those who wish to play a fuller part in Meetings for Worship for Business and also for those who may at some point think of taking on a clerkship role. Watch this space!

 

Anne Jackson

GREENBELT FESTIVAL – 'STANDING IN THE LONG NOW'

Cheltenham Racecourse 28th-31st August 09

Greenbelt is an annual Christian festival of arts, justice and faith. It has grown from a music event to a broad festival attended by nearly 30,000. It is a Christian showcase for performing arts, visual arts and alternative worship, also a venue for teaching and discussion. There is now a strong emphasis on peace with justice, and for the next two years Greenbelt will concentrate on true peace in Palestine/Israel.

This was the second time that Ben and I have attended Greenbelt to help in the 'Peace Zone' at the stall for Friends of Sabeel UK (FoSUK). Sabeel is an ecumenical liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians, based in Jerusalem. FoSUK support the non-violent work of Sabeel for the establishment of a just peace and reconciliation for all the people of Palestine/Israel. FoSUK aims, through its ecumenical networks, to raise awareness of this work. You may remember that Ben and I and Eddy Knasel visited Sabeel in Jerusalem last November

People of all shapes, sizes and ages were there, including some who looked like scruffy travellers. A variety of gender preferences were fully accepted. The religious spectrum ranged from Quakers to the evangelical. Everyone was amazingly kind and helpful so there was a wonderful atmosphere.

We attended talks by well known and knowledgeable peace makers: Jeff Halper, a Jewish Israeli from Jerusalem and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Sami Awad, a Palestinian Christian from Beit Zahour and director of the Holy Land Trust, Husam Zumlot, a Palestinian Muslim from Gaza, and visiting professor at Harvard, also Elizabeth Jardon, a Palestinian Christian from Beit Hanina.

As Stevie Krayer says we need to remember that the Israeli government also deserves our compassion. But we learnt that, when trying to understand their viewpoint, it is helpful to lay aside one's previous conceptions and to really listen to what is being said. Because many Israelis are so imbedded in their fear and their need for security, they are unable themselves to listen to 'the other side'. For instance, Israeli children are taught that the Holocaust is not yet over, as all Palestinians are continuing to apply it to the new land of Israel. This is a very powerful teaching, even though it is untrue as most Palestinians and many Israelis are working for a just peace. Because of their fear, we learnt that the best way to get the Israeli government to change is probably through pressure from the West. We need to campaign to get our government and the US to do this. We can also exert pressure through participating in the Boycotting, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, and encouraging others to do likewise. We were told that the infamous wall would only be taken down by the Israelis themselves when they see there's nothing to fear. Both sides need to forget the past and to decide together how both peoples can live in equal peace with justice, ideally in one state. The Israeli government pays lip service to a 2 state solution, but only on their terms where they would have control.

All of our speakers practised total non violence, including verbal non violence – which is not easy to do when provoked, especially as body language can let one down.

Finally we learnt two really scary items. We already knew about the phosphorous bombs that the Israeli Defence Force had used indiscriminately and illegally in Gaza – these generate so much heat that they can burn through glass. But we didn't know that Israeli scientists are specialising in nanotechnology for military purposes, they are also trying to develop 'bionic hornet like spies.' Not only could these collect information as unseen spies, but they could also kill targeted individuals through delivering poisons.. This is public knowledge and can be googled through entering 'Nanotechnology, Military, Hornets.' Unfortunately, I find other countries are also trying to develop similar weapons.

The second scary item is that the reason why Europe – including the U.K. and the U.S.A. are reluctant to condemn Israel for ignoring human rights and U.N. resolutions, is probably because many have contracts with Israel to train military and police forces in the latest security measures ( and also because of the strong Israeli lobby within parliament).

Other than these, it was really encouraging to know that more and more Israelis and the world population generally are becoming aware of the real truth about the Holy Land. I wish this also applied more to our media.

It was also good to hear that some churches have twinned with Palestinian villages. We were asked if more could do likewise. It would be wonderful if our AM would consider this? I've been to several villages recently; the people are very hospitable, many residents speak English and have a British sense of humour, so we shared lots of jokes. [Bristol AM has since agreed instead to help to break the siege by having email contact with the Baptist church in Gaza, as part of the new 'Bristol Gaza Link].   

 

 Candia Barman

ONE YEAR LATER

On 27th December 2008, Israel launched a wave of air strikes, bombing targets across Gaza. Seven days later, Israeli tanks and forces started a ground invasion.  By the time hostilities officially came to an end 22 days later, 1,393 Palestinians, 347 of them children, and thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, had been killed and Gaza’s civilian infrastructure had been devastated.

One year later, little of the extensive damage caused to homes, civilian infrastructure, public services, farms and businesses has been repaired. This is not for a lack of determination by the people of Gaza or of resources committed to do the job. Indeed, over US$4 billion was pledged in March 2009 by the international community to assist reconstruction in Gaza and to support the Palestinian economy.  But little of this committed money has been spent.  Goods and equipment earmarked for rebuilding languish in storage outside Gaza.  And much of Gaza still lies in ruins.

This is not an accident; it is a matter of policy. The Israeli government’s blockade, imposed in 2007, not only forbids most Gazans from leaving or exporting anything to the outside world, but also only permits the import of a narrowly-restricted number of basic humanitarian goods – which does not include desperately-needed reconstruction materials.  So the civilian population, and the United Nations and the aid agencies that aim to help them, are prohibited from importing materials like cement or glass for reconstruction in all but a handful of cases.  Indeed, since the ending of hostilities, only 41 truckloads of construction materials for all purposes have been permitted into Gaza. Thousands of truckloads are required just to rebuild all the houses destroyed. And thousands more are desperately needed to put right damage to all the schools, hospitals and other buildings, to the electricity supply and the water and sanitation network, caused not only by the recent war but also by previous military action or serious dilapidation due to a lack of repair materials due to the blockade.

Even before the offensive a year ago, conditions in Gaza were dire.  The blockade had led to the closure of 98% of industrial businesses and had damaged the agricultural industry as well.  I recall interviewing a woman from Gaza in early December last year:  she vividly described life in a community on the verge of collapse - electricity for only a few hours a day, water for only 2 or 3 hours every other day, shortage of medicines, no fruit, no bakeries – “there is not even bread for the children.”  Almost unbelievably, things are many times worse now.

A few days ago, 16 international organisations including Amnesty International, Christian Aid and Oxfam jointly published a report: Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses.  You can read it by going to

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18552

and following the link at the bottom of the page.

Viva Palestina is a UK registered charity that was formed earlier this year to provide humanitarian relief for the people of Gaza.  It organised two convoys, in February and March this year, which entered Gaza via Egypt (through the Rafah crossing) and successfully delivered hundreds of tonnes of desperately needed aid. 

A third convoy left the UK on 6th December, travelling across Europe, through Turkey, Syria to Jordan.  By the time it reached the Rafah crossing, it numbered 210 vehicles and carries more than 400 people from 17 countries.  The plan was that the convoy would enter Gaza today – the first anniversary of the start of the Gaza War.  But it is still in Aqaba – because the Egyptian authorities are refusing it admission.  If you would like to know more then go to the website  http://www.vivapalestina.org/ 

You will notice that, just for once, I haven’t asked you to do anything.  But, if you follow the links above, you will find plenty of suggestions for action.

Thank you to everybody who has read these postings during the past year.  Thank you to all those who have responded in any way.  But the need is still there:  please do whatever you can  

And, if you don’t do anything else, please pray that during 2010 progress will be made towards the ultimate goal of a world in which there is peace and justice for all people everywhere

Liz Burroughs

 

PEOPLE’S PERCEPTIONS OF THE QUAKERS


1. A survey of 1,000 people.

DVL Smith Ltd, an independent market research agency run by Dr David Smith, a former Chairman of the Market Research Society, has undertaken a survey of 1,000 individuals living in England, Scotland and Wales to assess their perceptions of the Quakers. This size of sample provides a robust platform upon which to assess individual’s awareness, and understanding, of the Quakers. The survey was conducted in June 2009.

2. Awareness of the Quakers.

77% of the people interviewed, when read a list of different religious groups, claimed to be ‘aware’ of the Quakers. A further 3%, after a ‘prompt’, said they had ‘some awareness’. Thus in total we find 80% of respondents claiming awareness of the Quakers.

3. Perceptions of the Quakers.

Those aware of the Quakers were asked to recall what comes to mind when they heard the name the ‘Quakers’. This shows that there is considerable confusion amongst people about the role and beliefs of the Quakers. Thus we find 59% of those aware of the Quakers mentioning (at least one) inaccuracy when asked to describe the Quakers. For instance, some people perceive the Quakers as being ‘strict and puritanical’ and/or as being ‘old fashioned’ and ‘avoiding modern technology’.

4. Attitudes towards the Quakers.

Respondents were asked to say whether they agreed or disagreed with number of different statements about the Quakers. This line of enquiry highlighted that three quarters of respondents realise that the Quakers are still an active, not dormant, movement. In addition, six in ten were aware that the Quakers are pacifist / peacemakers. However, outside these two dimensions, there was a considerable mix of views about what the Quakers represent. For instance, five in ten respondents thought that the Quakers are ‘very strict’ in their religious outlook, and a further three in ten were not sure whether the Quakers were strict or not. In addition, there was a spread of views, coupled with considerable uncertainty, over whether the Quakers were radical / evangelical in their approach, or more liberal. For example, around one third of respondents agreed with the statement that the Quakers were ‘evangelical’, while one third disagreed with this idea, and one third did not know one way or the other. Similarly there were widely differing views, and uncertainty, over whether the Quakers were a closed organisation, or whether they were open and involved with social action. For example, 23% agreed with the statement that the Quakers were a ‘closed group’, while 39% disagreed, 38% did not know.

5. Relevance of the Quakers to people’s lives.

Respondents were read the following statement about the Quakers:
‘Now I would like to tell you something about the Quakers. They are a liberal religious group with no set creed. They believe that everyone can have a direct experience of God and this leads them to take action for change in the world. Respondents were then asked whether the Quakers have considerable relevance to their life, some possible relevance, or no relevance to their lives whatsoever. This showed that 2% of the sample claimed that the Quakers had considerable relevance to their lives, with a further 19% saying the Quakers had some relevance. Among those who had religious beliefs, the proportion who claimed that the Quakers had some relevance to their lives; rises to 29%.

6. Developing appropriate communications about the Quakers.

We have reported that eight in ten people are ‘aware’ of the Quakers. But comparatively few have a fully ‘informed’ view of the Quaker philosophy and beliefs. A key issue is that so many people carry in their heads a wide range of inaccurate, and arguably unhelpful, images of the Quakers, including, for some, the perception that they are a ‘puritanical sect’.
It is to be expected that the proportion of the population who are totally clear on what the Quakers represent will be comparatively modest. But a worrying feature of the survey findings is that there is such a wide mix of views and uncertainty over tI key tenets of the Quaker philosophy and belief structure. Of particular concern is the confusion that seems to exist over whether the Quakers are:

 Strict and fundamentalist or liberal / ‘non orthodox’ 

 Closed and inward or open and also involved in social action

Thus the core communications challenge for the Quakers centres on addressing the uncertainty and confusion that exists about whether the Quakers is an open, liberal movement or a more fundamentalist, strict, even ‘weird cult’

7. Discussion.

One communications approach for the Quakers is to continue with its traditional ‘passive’ style of communications, based on the critical underlying assumption that people will ‘find’ their way to the Quakers. The counter view is that the negative messages and confusing ‘noise’ circulating around what the Quakers stands for is blocking people’s path to finding the Quakers and that therefore more overt communications about the Quaker message should now be considered.

David Smith

david.smith@dvlsmith.com

 

REPORT ON MEETING FOR SUFFERINGS:

December 5th 2009 and Jan 15th – 17th 2010

We met on the day of the Wave climate change march in London. Indeed, I spent a fair part of my lunch hour waving placards on Euston Road. In recognition of these issues QPSW have created a new post centred around the interaction of sustainability and peace, part funded by the Joseph Rowntree trust, and with the hope that meetings will provide the remainder of the funding. It is this hope that introduces what I felt to be the most important agenda item of the day.

Using our Resources Well – a priority item on the Framework for Action – a report that we all had a part in devising. We heard three reports:

1. From QCCC. (Quaker Communications Central Committee)

Robert Gibson spoke of:

Our responsibilities: Quaker Faith and Practice

‘...to our own meeting. All Friends and regular attenders should help, in accordance with their means...’ 14.03

‘Our area meetings... need our financial support so that they may carry out their functions…’ 14.04

‘…funds are required for the wider organisation of Friends and the work we undertake centrally.’ 14.05

 

The problem we all face

Effects of the economic downturn

Contributions decreasing

Some Friends and attenders are not being given the opportunity to contribute

Some are not being asked to consider raising their contribution

There is competition from other good causes

Meetings are under pressure

Contribution income in decline

Implications

We continue to benefit from the generosity and farsightedness of our forebears

Difficult choices will need to be made

Work will suffer, things we want to do will be left undone

What does this say about how much we really value our faith?

 

Fundraising strategy

Sets out to reverse the trend

Staff working with meetings to help encourage Friends to give for local, national and international Quaker work

Staff working to increase income from all sources

Staff working to support meetings that are struggling financially

 

There was a request by the committee to be allowed to help Area Meetings by using the central database to send out the annual appeal (schedule) Only in discussion with the individual area meetings in question as a pilot for 2010. This was approved.

 

2. From Trustees

Jonathon Fox Assistant Clerk gave a comprehensive review of how Trustees have been addressing the framework priority of Using our Resources Well. I will cover two particularly pertinent items.

 

Seeking to make Friends House a Beacon of Quaker Values. An active spiritual home for Quakers, accessible and welcoming an exemplar of best practice in sustainability. A lively and affordable meeting place for Quakers and the wider community alike. Much of the work of greening the building is costly but is already being gradually implemented in the maintenance plan. The dilemma is that marked improvement to income generation can only be achieved with significant capital investment.

 

Trustees want to develop A Ministry of Giving, predicated on the core notion that membership of the Society implies acceptance of individual and shared responsibility. Discernment of where our dwindling resources should be spent is vital; consequently both central and local Quaker witness may need to be re evaluated.

 

3. From QSC (Quaker Stewardship Committee)

The committee has produced a list of queries to focus our minds on Using our Resources Well. In our home groups we were asked to suggest the six most relevant out of a tabled 15.

A revised list will be coming to all AMs for consideration.

 

OTHER ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

 

Journalists at Yearly Meeting

We agreed with some reservations to recommend to YM that most sessions should be open to journalists. The concern over misrepresentation was balanced by the publics perception of us as a ‘secretive sect’ (Ref Friend 4/12/09)

 

Asylum Seekers

Consideration was given to the detention of Asylum seekers particularly children. There was a powerful sense that we should speak out and a public statement is being prepared. Those who would like to pursue this concern can join the Quaker Asylum and Refugee network, or support the Outcry campaign run by the Children’s Society.

 

Same Sex Marriage

Amendments have been put down for the House of Lords debate on the Equality Bill

Any change to the common law definition of marriage will take many years to enact.

 Minutes covering all the business of the day are available on line, or I can supply printed copies. We left the meeting looking forward to our residential meeting in January, a brief summary of which is appended to this report.

 

THREE DAY RESIDENTIAL MfS AT HIGH LEIGH

(Jan 15th – 17th 2010)

Obviously there is not sufficient space for a full report on this event. Essentially the main aim was to facilitate the evolution of MfS into a gathered worshiping group – getting to know each other on many different levels – and to that end it was successful.

Two new projects were launched:

Becoming Friends: Living and Learning with Quakers is an innovative learning project from Woodbrooke and Quaker Life which aims to nurture and support those who are new to Friends. It will help newcomers develop an understanding of Quakerism, while exploring their own journey, through engagement with flexible learning materials, on-line discussion groups and support from a network of ‘companions’ in local meetings.
Training courses for ‘companions’ are being run at Woodbrooke and Swarthmoor.

 Quaker Voices is a new publication from Quaker Life, starting in January 2010. Replacing Quaker Monthly, it is a substantial bi-monthly magazine, for the spiritual nurture of both individuals and meetings, bringing together new articles, poems and graphics.

 A busy three days that addressed for me the dynamic balance that I am seeking, with an inner mystical journey and an outward practical engagement.

 

Martin Wall

ANNUAL REPORT OF TRUSTEES TO WSAM FOR 2009

The past year has been one in which Trustees have tried to develop the responsibilities laid on them. We evaluated our strengths and needs at a special extended meeting in January with the help of John Welton, our “link Friend” on Quaker Stewardship Committee. We emerged with a list of matters, such as health and safety, fire precautions, insurance and other legal matters, to which we needed to give attention and are working on them. We know that our first objective, however, is “strengthening the life and witness” of our Quakers meetings and we will be looking at what is our role in this in a special session shortly.

Our meetings have been well filled, mainly with matters to do with finance, property and meeting the requirements of QSC and the Charity Commission. We made our annual report and accounts in the recommended format for the first time. This included consolidating the accounts for 2008 of each LM, for which good co-operation was given by LM Treasurers. Although a lot of detail is only summarised, the figures help us all see how our resources are generated and used. The report and accounts were accepted by AM in September.

Trustees have tried to support the Treasurer wherever they can. They have used working groups to take on matters such as budgeting and have asked AM to appoint an Assistant Treasurer. With the drop in interest rates this year the Treasurer has needed to find a suitable deposit account for some of our reserves. In the coming year we want to look at what should be our policy on reserves and legacies and bring proposals to AM. We shall also be asking LMs what is their reserves policy.

There have been no major works required on our buildings this year, though plenty of ongoing maintenance. Professional quinquennial surveys were done for Taunton and Wellington Meeting Houses (the others having been done last year) and revealed various matters needing attention, fortunately none too serious. The frequent comment of the surveyor, however, is that we have old buildings which will always need work done to them.

The outcome of a working group that followed up the financial sustainability exercise of the previous year by exploring with LMs how they raised and used money, and how they viewed the future of their meeting (and meeting house if they had one), was fully reported in the AM Newsletter. Trustees’ conclusion was that there is no pressure at this moment to sell any of our meeting houses but that there is scope for making more use of them, both for the contacts so made into the wider community and for the income. Ensuring that our buildings are well presented and equipped for others to use is important if this is to happen.

Burial grounds and gardens are also being looked at currently by Trustees and the LMs concerned. Spiceland Friends gave extensive thought to the expansion of their burial ground, enabling a policy report for AM to be completed – a process that began several years ago. At Bridgwater the garden area needs a new wall and other improvements, and at Taunton Trustees have encouraged Friends to develop an overall plan for the garden, seeing it as making a prominent witness in the town.

The formal registration of all our land and property has been completed, with much help from staff in Friends House. The one ongoing issue is the drove road at Spiceland, the ownership of which is unclear though not controversial. Bringing it back into use is hoped for.

Trustees were glad to help set up a Green Advisory Group for the AM and hope this is proving useful for stimulus and information to the AM and LMs. Reports are given regularly.

Several Friends who have given helpful service as Trustees had to retire during the year but we are glad that others have come forward to replace them. Five members went to an informative Woodbrooke training day in Bristol in December.

We hope that we bring to AM matters of overall policy in relation to our responsibilities whenever needed but relieve it of many of the details of carrying out that policy. We trust that Friends will let us know if the balance does not seem right.

Chris Lawson, Clerk

Barry Allen, Assistant Clerk

 

BOOK REVIEWS

Prosperity without growth - Economics for a Finite Planet

 by Tim Jackson (Earthscan £12.99)


"Questioning growth is deemed to be the act of lunatics, idealists and revolutionaries. But question it we must," says Jackson in his new book, "Economics without growth is possible, and imperative."

In London last September, the idea of ‘A Zero Growth Economy’ found favour at the Friends House conference. Professor Jackson adds yet more intellectual weight. He asserts that financial and ecological sustainability are intimately linked. Our institutions, he argues, need to shift the balance away from materialistic individualism towards ‘goals of family, friendship and community’.

Jeremy Leggett was in turn an academic, oil industry executive and then Friends of the Earth advisor. In his review for The Guardian he wrote, "For what it's worth, as a creature of capitalism – a venture-capital-backed energy industry boss, a private equity investor, and an Institute of Directors director of the month – I am convinced that capitalism as we know it is torpedoing our prosperity, killing our economies and threatening our children with an unlovable world. Tim Jackson has written the best book yet making this case, and showing the generalities of the escape route. The specifics, post-Copenhagen, are all down to us."

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/23/properity-without-growth-tim-jackson

 

Sustainable Energy – without the hot air”

by David J.C. MacKay (UIT £19.99)

If you are comfortable with arithmetic and you care about the energy debate, you will find this book compelling. It is easy to read and simple to skim or use for reference. Lots of clear diagrams help to make the science understandable and the issues graspable.

As well as buying a copy, I have downloaded the free electronic version and often use my computer to search for an answer that is beyond my own knowledge.

MacKay is a Professor of Physics at Cambridge University but he uses understandable measures — like the kilowatt hour (kWh), the unit that appears on our electricity meters and which costs around 14 pence at present. A hot bath, he tells us, uses 5 kWh of energy. Cambridge to London (60 miles) and back by car uses 130 kWh. Then he translates national production and consumption into kilowatt hours per person per day.

“The public discussion of energy options tends to be intensely emotional, polarised, mistrustful, and destructive. Every option is strongly opposed: the public seem to be anti-wind, anti-coal, anti-waste-to-energy, anti-tidal-barrage, anti-fuel-duty, and anti-nuclear. We can't be anti-everything!” Mackay told the House of Lords last year. “We need an energy plan that adds up. Even if we imagine strong efficiency measures and smart technology-switches that halved our energy consumption [from 125 kWh per day per person to 60 kWh per day per person], we should not kid ourselves about the challenge of supplying 60 kWh per day without fossil fuels. Among the low-carbon energy supply options, the three with the biggest potential are wind power, nuclear power, and concentrating solar power in other peoples' deserts. And here is the scale that is required if (for simplicity) we wanted to get one third from each of these sources: we would have to build wind farms with an area equal to the area of Wales; we would have to build 50 Sizewells of nuclear power; and we would need solar power stations in deserts covering an area twice the size of Greater London.”

Summaries, downloads etc at www.withouthotair.com

 

"...this year's must-read book..." The Guardian

Joe Burlington

Ilminster Local Meeting/Green Advisory Group

Chairman, South Somerset Climate Action

SOMERSET CHURCHES TOGETHER


On the 28th January I attended, on behalf of Area Meeting, the winter forum of Somerset Churches Together. After the AGM we listened to a presentation by Revd Canon Paul Avis, General Secretary of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity, on ‘The Ecumenical Movement after 100 Years - The Shape of Unity.’ Also present were Howard Wright and Ruth Jackson-Gash, both of Long Sutton Meeting, representing Mid Somerset Area Meeting.

Prior to the commencement of the business the Chairman, The Revd Nigel Coles, gave a reading from Hebrews. It included the phrase ‘Certain of what we do not see.’ I liked that. A step some (Friends) are not able to make.

The business of the AGM was mainly routine. The Ecumenical Officer, Robin Dixon, gave his report. He suggested that there were four elements that kept Ecumenism alive
- Prayer, Pilgrimage, Celebration and Service. I tried to relate that to our Quaker experience. Prayer - yes, for some of us. Pilgrimage - well, hopefully we are all on that. Celebration - hmm, I suppose we do, silently. Service - yes, definitely. In the context of Celebration he mentioned the gifts one Church gives or receives from other Churches. Hopefully we are still open to that Regarding Pilgrimage it occurred to me that we in Britain Yearly Meeting need to remember that we are on a shared Pilgrimage, and a Christian one at that.

In his presentation Canon Paul Avis began by tracing the history of Ecumenism in this country, the beginning of which he dated to the conference at Edinburgh in 1910, which had stemmed from events in India and the move there to greater Christian unity. Having traced events down the century, including reference to the second Vatican Council of 1964, he brought us to the present day with comment on the present ongoing attempts to bring the burgeoning number of black and evangelical independent churches into the ecumenical fold.

As a Quaker I found (find) it difficult to fully comprehend the agonising that is still going on by the Christian churches on the matter of unity. I was more inclined to respond to a thought that was mentioned that Christian unity is ‘A matter of the spirit and the heart.’ Amen to that. In fact, that is not a bad basis for inter-faith unity as well.

One point made by Canon Avis that spoke strongly to me was his comment concerning the tendency of some to define themselves in negative terms - by what they are not, by what they don’t believe; rather than what they are, what they do actually believe. Is this one weakness of ourselves and our local Meetings? - “ We do not believe in creeds; we do not make judgemental statements, we do not impose our beliefs on others ...“ There are, according to successive polls, around seventy per cent of the population who do believe there is something beyond the material dimension, yet who cannot find a religious group that meets their need. Should we not, as caring people who value so highly our Quaker heritage, be trying to find a way to meet that need? To do so we need to offer something positive in terms of belief.

“Have you anything to declare? Is a vital challenge to which every one of us is personally called to respond and is also a challenge that every Meeting should consider of primary importance. It should lead us to define, with such clarity as we can reach, precisely what it is that Friends of this generation have to say that is not, as we believe, being said effectively by others.”


(Quaker Faith and Practice 28.07.)


If we have nothing to say, perhaps we should arrange a merger with the British Humanist Society!

John Gamlin.

 

APPEAL IN C MAJOR
 

I will be Concise. Please concentrate, Quakers,
comrades, colleagues and countrymen; it’s your cash
I claim for today’s collection.
‘Crikey, are you crazy?’ I hear you comment. ‘Have you
heard of the credit crunch?’
Of course, but consider the cuppas, the coffee, cookies
and cakes.
Count up the cost of cleaning, care of carpets and
curtains.
Replacement of cracked cups and all crockery.
Creative equipment for children’s classes.
I could compile a compendium of categories calling for
your crumbs of kindness.
Colossal columns of calculations compiled by our
capable financial consultants confirming the competence
of our committees who call on you for your coinage.
This is no crazy con-man claptrap, but a
commendation for your contribution to a valid cause.
I close with a clarion call for your cooperation.

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Gillian Coe

By permission of The Friend

 

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