the Friend

INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843

CONTENTS – VOL 168 NO 38 3 Changes at Friends House 4 Quaker staff earn a living wage 5 The rise of the drone 6 Show us our darkness: bring us to new life Mike Golby 7 Changing the way we live to sustain the world we live in Kevin Redpath 8-9 Letters 10-11 Quaker Youth Pilgrimage 2010 12-13 Senior Conference 2010 14-15 Margaret of Swarthmoor 16 Eye 17 Friends & Meetings

2

Cover image: David Mangels (German Yearly Meeting) and Michael Rowntree-Jones (Britain YM) take in the view west towards Vancouver Island and the Pacific from the summit of Mount Erie in Washington State during the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage 2010. Photo: Simon Colbeck.

Images on this page: Top: Simon Colbeck (Britain YM) and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingham (Ireland YM) at the entrance to George Fox University, Oregon. Photo: Sylvia Wilkinson. Middle: Muriel, the pilgrims’ main host at Quaker Cove, Washington State, organising pilgrims for service tasks around the Quaker Cove camp grounds. Bottom: Micah Bales (Ohio YM) leading Bible study while travelling on the school bus (1980 vintage) borrowed from Reedwood Friends Church, Oregon. Photos: Simon Colbeck.

The Friend Subscriptions UK £74 per year by all payment types including annual direct debit; monthly payment by direct debit £6.50; online only £48 per year.

For details of other rates, contact Penny Dunn on 020 7663 1178 or subs@thefriend.org

Advertising Advertisement manager:

George Penaluna

Tel/fax: 01535 630230

ads@thefriend.org www.thefriend.org/advertise.asp

Editorial

Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith

Articles, images correspondence should be emailed to editorial@thefriend.org or sent to the address below.

the Friend 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJTel: 020 7663 1010 Fax: 020 7663 1182 www.thefriend.org Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith editorial@thefriend.org • Production editor: Jez Smith jez@thefriend.org • Sub-editor: Trish Carn trishc@thefriend.org • News reporter: Symon Hill news@thefriend.org • Arts editor: Rowena Loverance arts@thefriend.org • Environment editor: Laurie Michaelis green@thefriend.org • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn subs@thefriend.org Tel: 020 7663 1178 • Advertisement manager: George Penaluna, Ad department, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Tel: 01535 630230 ads@thefriend.org • Clerk of the trustees: A David Olver • ISSN: 0016-1268 The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Headley Bros Ltd, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH

the Friend, 17 September 2010 Changes at Friends House

News

The newly refurbished Large Meeting House at Friends House, London. Photo: Britain Yearly Meeting.

THE HISTORIC LARGE MEETING HOUSE at Friends House in London has been transformed by a new make-over.

The overall effect has been to brighten the space with a newly carpeted floor, the long-standing cream seats replaced with a new covering of green and repainted walls. ‘The peachy-pink’, said Paul Grey, head of Friends House Hospitality, ‘is out and the walls are now painted in off white and cream.’

Paul told the Friend that the plan was based on ‘stewardship and using our resources well’. He is confident that the refurbishment and the creation of a more attractive space will lead to a significant increase on the £399,000 raised in Gift Aid by lettings in 2009.

He believes that the majority of customers will come from the voluntary sector; but Birkbeck College has already made a series of evening bookings and another university is considering the space for hosting graduation ceremonies. There will be an open evening for potential customers on 4 October. The refurbishment of the restaurant in the Friends House basement is now also complete.

The changes are among many made during the tenure of the outgoing recording clerk, Gillian Ashmore, which have helped to make Friends House a more outward-looking organisation. They include the Quaker Centre, bookshop redesign, new worship space and the refurbished cafe area.

These changes come at a time of disruption and uncertainty at Friends House. The departure of James Davidson, head of human resources, and Gillian Palmer, general secretary of Quaker Finance and Property, was followed by the resignation of Gillian Ashmore, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting . Michael Hutchinson, acting recording clerk, explained that ‘inevitably a period of unease causes some difficulty with work; but people are performing very well and, as far as I am aware, we are now moving out of that situation’. He insisted that long term plans were not affected. Vincent Poupard has just been appointed as the interim general secretary for finance and property. Human resources are now in the hands of temporary consultants, overseen by Helen Drewery, general secretary of Quaker Peace & Social Witness.

So why are these arrangements temporary? Michael Hutchinson said: ‘We do not want to make any major change that will tie the hands of a new recording clerk’. He explained that it had not yet been decided how the responsibilities over finance and property, and human resources would be allocated in long term.

The position of recording clerk is one requiring a wide range of diverse skills, including that of ‘managing and driving change’ (see letter page 8).

Symon Hill the Friend, 17 September 2010

3