Let us give prayer and due regard to our Friends who, no longer in Meeting, will always be with us in the Eternal.
We have our memories and their regard for the Spirit. Jessie now Eileen, but is this a time for remorse? They are gone yes but they will live until the last memory goes of that of David, Nickie, Alan and Irene. and other Friends.
For Eileen and Jessie
Our beloved Friends
Peter
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Give them shelter
This is from a recent article by Harrient Grant and Rachel Stevens in this week's New Statesman. You can read the full article here, or watch their documentary on More4 News at 8pm on Friday 17 October:
"In every major city, Christians of all denominations - Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and Quakers - are going to great lengths to support asylum-seekers threatened with deportation.
When asylum-seekers come to the end of the application process and have exhausted all appeals, their benefits are stopped, they lose their accommodation and they are told to accept a free flight home or face being forcibly removed. But thousands stay, afraid or unwilling to return to their home countries.
Faced with overwhelming numbers of destitute asylum-seekers in their parishes, churches have responded by creating an informal support network that stretches across Britain.
The role of the church as a force for social justice is not one that gets much attention these days and it is often perceived as out of touch with issues that concern modern Britain. But, under the radar of the public eye, churches and Christian groups are becoming increasingly involved in subversive activities over asylum, one of the most controversial issues in politics.
Some church groups have bought up houses in which refused asylum-seekers may live rent-free after they have been evicted. For example, in Manchester, the Boaz Trust, a Christian charity for asylum-seekers, has eight houses, some donated by church members, which are specifically used as long-term accommodation for those the Home Office has refused leave to stay in Britain.
In other towns, disused presbyteries and vicarages are housing those the government says have no right to be here. Some churches are simply opening up at night, letting people sleep on the floor of their church hall.
In Sheffield, hundreds of destitute asylum-seekers go once a week to the Methodist Victoria Hall in the centre of town, where volunteers swap their supermarket vouchers for cash, and hand out bus tickets and bags of food to get the asylum-seekers through the week. Similar drop-ins are being established in churches in every major city in the country.
Notre Dame de France Church in London's Leicester Square is a vital source of support for many Africans who have been refused asylum but still do not want to return to trouble spots in countries such as Congo or Ethiopia. Only yards from the hordes of tourists and ticket touts, the church offers a comforting chat with a priest and a meal. Many who go there are homeless, sleeping rough or on friends' floors.
Drop-in centres and "safe" houses add up to a subversive network, helping families to stay in Britain against the wishes of the government. The church networks are raising considerable sums for this work, often via the collection plate, passed from pew to pew during services. In Liverpool, the Catholic diocese currently gives the local asylum group Asylum Link every penny it receives from collections during Lent - some £25,000 a year.
Around the country hundreds of thousands of pounds are being raised to support people the government says have no right to refugee status. Giving alms and shelter to the needy is a central tenet of almost all organised religions, but questions are being raised as to whether the churches should be taking such a strong line over what is essentially a political issue."
"In every major city, Christians of all denominations - Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and Quakers - are going to great lengths to support asylum-seekers threatened with deportation.
When asylum-seekers come to the end of the application process and have exhausted all appeals, their benefits are stopped, they lose their accommodation and they are told to accept a free flight home or face being forcibly removed. But thousands stay, afraid or unwilling to return to their home countries.
Faced with overwhelming numbers of destitute asylum-seekers in their parishes, churches have responded by creating an informal support network that stretches across Britain.
The role of the church as a force for social justice is not one that gets much attention these days and it is often perceived as out of touch with issues that concern modern Britain. But, under the radar of the public eye, churches and Christian groups are becoming increasingly involved in subversive activities over asylum, one of the most controversial issues in politics.
Some church groups have bought up houses in which refused asylum-seekers may live rent-free after they have been evicted. For example, in Manchester, the Boaz Trust, a Christian charity for asylum-seekers, has eight houses, some donated by church members, which are specifically used as long-term accommodation for those the Home Office has refused leave to stay in Britain.
In other towns, disused presbyteries and vicarages are housing those the government says have no right to be here. Some churches are simply opening up at night, letting people sleep on the floor of their church hall.
In Sheffield, hundreds of destitute asylum-seekers go once a week to the Methodist Victoria Hall in the centre of town, where volunteers swap their supermarket vouchers for cash, and hand out bus tickets and bags of food to get the asylum-seekers through the week. Similar drop-ins are being established in churches in every major city in the country.
Notre Dame de France Church in London's Leicester Square is a vital source of support for many Africans who have been refused asylum but still do not want to return to trouble spots in countries such as Congo or Ethiopia. Only yards from the hordes of tourists and ticket touts, the church offers a comforting chat with a priest and a meal. Many who go there are homeless, sleeping rough or on friends' floors.
Drop-in centres and "safe" houses add up to a subversive network, helping families to stay in Britain against the wishes of the government. The church networks are raising considerable sums for this work, often via the collection plate, passed from pew to pew during services. In Liverpool, the Catholic diocese currently gives the local asylum group Asylum Link every penny it receives from collections during Lent - some £25,000 a year.
Around the country hundreds of thousands of pounds are being raised to support people the government says have no right to refugee status. Giving alms and shelter to the needy is a central tenet of almost all organised religions, but questions are being raised as to whether the churches should be taking such a strong line over what is essentially a political issue."
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Joy Zarembka's book
Hi All,
Having just spent a very enjoyable weekend with Joy and Dave Zarembka, who came to visit us at Sheffield Quaker Meeting, thought you might like a chance to check out this short film of Joy talking about her book 'The Pigment of Your Imagination- mixed race in a global society' She's leaving copies of the book for us to sell and it will be in the library at Sheffield Quaker Meeting. Do take time to check out this link, it's really worth it!
Cheers
Chrissie
Friday, 10 October 2008
Jessie
Thank you for the life of our Friend
I have just found this which may be of interest
Nov 2005
Jessie Baston
1926 - 1932
message via Roger Graham
Hi John,I have had a letter from Jessie Baston, an ex pupil and a donor to the Samuel Clegg Scholarship Fund, who is a retired teacher living in Sheffield. She told me that she was at School from 1926 to 1932. In this letter received this morning ( in reply to mine a few days previously ) she told me that she cannot come on Saturday adding that she is " too old to drive far these days ". She is 90.She and Prof. Alan Roper ( 1935-42 ) paid a nostalgic visit to the School in September 1994. Alan was a retired professor of genetics at Sheffield University and in his retirement he serves as a Quaker Chaplain. Shortly after their visit Jessie sent a sum of money to be added to the Samuel Clegg Scholarship Fund. I wrote to her thanking her for the donation and we have kept in touch ever since.Jessie had been one of the very first recipients of a Samuel Clegg award shortly after leaving school. She told me in a letter in 1994 that the grant to her " was an enormous help to me ". Both her parents died during her time at Nottingham University. She obtained a first in French and then embarked on a teaching career mostly at Woodhouse Grammar School in Sheffield. She became Head of Modern Languages, then Senior Mistress and finally Assistant Headteacher.She told me in a letter in 2002 that " Those days at LECS were really the happiest days of my life and I shall always be grateful for what they gave me. I didn't miss even one half-day of the six years that I was there."In the latest letter she also writes : " It's very sad that the school is leaving that lovely building. What memories come flooding back ! I wonder if any of my contempories will be with you - Peter Musson, Tagger Taylor, Philip Wright, Harry & Ernest Plackett, Joan Comery ? I shall look forward with great interest to reading/hearing all about it. " Other contempories of hers mentioned by her in previous letters were Gordon Hobday, Joan Knott and Enid Rowbotham.There is nothing confidential or similar in the 5 paras above & so please feel free to publish all or part as you think fit.Best wishesRoger.
In Friendship
Peter
I have just found this which may be of interest
Nov 2005
Jessie Baston
1926 - 1932
message via Roger Graham
Hi John,I have had a letter from Jessie Baston, an ex pupil and a donor to the Samuel Clegg Scholarship Fund, who is a retired teacher living in Sheffield. She told me that she was at School from 1926 to 1932. In this letter received this morning ( in reply to mine a few days previously ) she told me that she cannot come on Saturday adding that she is " too old to drive far these days ". She is 90.She and Prof. Alan Roper ( 1935-42 ) paid a nostalgic visit to the School in September 1994. Alan was a retired professor of genetics at Sheffield University and in his retirement he serves as a Quaker Chaplain. Shortly after their visit Jessie sent a sum of money to be added to the Samuel Clegg Scholarship Fund. I wrote to her thanking her for the donation and we have kept in touch ever since.Jessie had been one of the very first recipients of a Samuel Clegg award shortly after leaving school. She told me in a letter in 1994 that the grant to her " was an enormous help to me ". Both her parents died during her time at Nottingham University. She obtained a first in French and then embarked on a teaching career mostly at Woodhouse Grammar School in Sheffield. She became Head of Modern Languages, then Senior Mistress and finally Assistant Headteacher.She told me in a letter in 2002 that " Those days at LECS were really the happiest days of my life and I shall always be grateful for what they gave me. I didn't miss even one half-day of the six years that I was there."In the latest letter she also writes : " It's very sad that the school is leaving that lovely building. What memories come flooding back ! I wonder if any of my contempories will be with you - Peter Musson, Tagger Taylor, Philip Wright, Harry & Ernest Plackett, Joan Comery ? I shall look forward with great interest to reading/hearing all about it. " Other contempories of hers mentioned by her in previous letters were Gordon Hobday, Joan Knott and Enid Rowbotham.There is nothing confidential or similar in the 5 paras above & so please feel free to publish all or part as you think fit.Best wishesRoger.
In Friendship
Peter
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Quaker Quest
We are holding another series of Quaker Quest evenings at the moment, every Monday, 7pm at the Quaker Meeting House until 6th October. They are designed as a way for people to find out more about the Quaker Way, with three speakers on a different topic each week, some discussion in small groups, finishing with half an hour of Quaker Worship.
I just came across a couple of blog posts (here and here) on Ray's wonderful blog 'Dharmakara's Prayer', describing his experience of the Quaker Quest evenings he came to earlier this year, when he first started attending Meeting in Sheffield.
I'm speaking on 'Quakers and Equality' on 29th September. Any ideas welcome...
I just came across a couple of blog posts (here and here) on Ray's wonderful blog 'Dharmakara's Prayer', describing his experience of the Quaker Quest evenings he came to earlier this year, when he first started attending Meeting in Sheffield.
I'm speaking on 'Quakers and Equality' on 29th September. Any ideas welcome...
The Lambs Do Skip and Play
I've been reading a book of extracts from George Fox's letters recently. This is my favourite so far:Sing and rejoice, ye children of the Day, and of the Light; for the Lord is at work in this thick night of darkness that may be felt. And the Truth doth flourish as the rose, and the lilies do grow among the thorns, and the plants a-top of the hills, and upon them the lambs do skip and play. And never heed the tempests nor the storms, floods nor rains, for the Seed Christ is over all, and doth reign.This was written in 1663, during a period of intense persecution of Quakers, when many were in prison for their faith. Fox was assuring his readers in the fragile early Quaker communities that despite the apparent power of their persecutors, their movement was the work of God.
It also speaks to me across the centuries though, in the present 'thick night of darkness', when growing climate chaos theatens us with despair. Can we discover a hope that will sustain us through the tempests and storms?
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Transition Sheffield
A few months ago I went to Robert's screening of the film 'What a Way to Go' at the Meeting House. The film deals with the linked crises of climate change, peak oil, overpopulation and mass extinction. It spoke powerfully to me, making me face up to my own feelings of despair, anger and fear at our wholesale destruction of the living world.
Afterwards, I ordered a copy of Joanna Macy's book 'Coming Back to Life', which contains a set of group 'spiritual exercises' that aim to work through our collective suffering at the fate of the world, in order to engage in its healing.
Macy's work is based on the Buddhist-inspired insight that facing and acknowledging our own suffering at the fate of the world can be a path to rediscovering our connectedness with other living beings and ecosystems. By allowing ourselves to feel and speak our grief, fear, anger and despair, we can discover that we are not separate, isolated individuals. We suffer with the world because we are a part of it. By allowing ourselves to feel this suffering, we are also open to fully feel our love for creation and our desire and commitment to work together to preserve it.
Macy writes of the present time as a period of opportunity, when the overwhelming threat of environmental crisis may act as a catalyst for what she calls 'The Great Turning', away from the Industrial Growth Society based on limitless economic growth, and towards a 'Life Sustaining Society.
A life sustaining society requires a new economy, a new culture with different values, stories, spiritualities and power relations. It is not just a matter of individual lifestyle changes, or changed government policies. We need to create a form of human society that can enable us to live together, without destroying the systems we rely on for our existence.
Shortly after reading and slowly digesting this book, I came across a reference to the Transition Towns movement. This is a movement of towns and communities that are exploring how we can respond to climate change and peak oil by relocalising our economies, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, rebuilding local community and sharing skills and resources. The aim is to build communities which are more resilient, less energy and carbon intensive, and which are also healthier and happier, offering the seeds of 'a better life beyond oil'.
Now there are the beginnings of a Transition initiative in Sheffield, which is starting off with a series of film and discussion evenings in Meersbrook, Nether Edge and Burngreave.
If you'd like to receive updates about future events in Sheffield, you can register for email updates at: www.transitionsheffield.org.uk
Tuesday 16th September - St Peter's Community Centre, Nether Edge, 7pm
Six Degrees Could Change the World
A National Geographic documentary based on the highly acclaimed book by Mark Lynas. Using stunning special effects the film looks at how each 1 degree of temperature rise would affect the life on earth up to six degrees.
Wednesday 1st October - Meersbrook Park Pavilion, 7pm
What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire
An intense and passionate film. After examining the problems the film looks at how we got to the state we're in - tracing humanity's past, cultural myths, psychology and more.
Monday 6th October - St Peter's Community Centre, Nether Edge, 7pm
End of Suburbia
High fuel and food bills, recession and unemployment are just the beginning of a crisis known as peak oil: the beginning of the decline in global oil supplies. The implications of this crisis mean a profound shift in the way we live.
Tuesday 14th October - Burngreave Vestry Hall, 7pm
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis, the massive reduction of fossil fuels, is an example of options and hope.
Weds 29th October - Burngreave Vestry Hall, 7pm
A night of film shorts: Carbon Weevil, The Story of Stuff, I Am Only a Child.
We kick off with an amusing animation about the carbon cycle and climate change, then delve into an enthralling and provocative animation of consumer culture, and round off with a compelling call to action from the Environmental Children's Organisation at the 1992 Earth Summit.
Monday 3rd November - Meersbrook Park Pavilion, 7pm
Designing Pathways from Oil Dependency to Local Resilience
Rob Hopkins, founder of the transition town movement, tells his inspirational story at the Positive Energy Conference in the Findhorn Ecovillage.
Monday 10th November - St Peter's Community Centre, Nether Edge, 7pm
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
Monday 17th November - Burngreave Vestry Hall, 7pm
Designing Pathways from Oil Dependency to Local Resilience
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