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Northern Friends Peace Board members will soon be gathering at Friargate Meeting House in York on Saturday 26th November for their final meeting of the year. In the morning, Edinburgh Friend Janet Fenton will be speaking about the proposed nuclear weapons ban treaty, that was put in motion by the UN recently. Janet has been in New York working on this this autumn. Michael Elstub, of Settle Meeting, will be talking about the work of Veterans for Peace.

Darlington Meeting House was the venue for Northern Friends Peace Board’s conference on ‘Changing the Narrative for Peace – Critical role of the media’ on 24th September. Organised by the Board’s ‘Sustainable Security’ project group, the event was attended by around 40 participants, speakers and committee members. Local Quakers supported throughout the day with a warm welcome and hospitality.

Statement from Northern Friends Peace Board, meeting on 18th June at Central Edinburgh Meeting House

After the referendum, regardless of the outcome, there will be many people in the UK and elsewhere feeling hurt, angry and disappointed. The role of the media and many politicians in framing the debate has too often been very negative; passionate assertions have been presented as credible predictions, untruths have been used as if they were fact (in spite of frequent challenges), and fears and prejudices have been stoked up in support of competing agendas.

‘How can we be both prophets and reconcilers?’, Tim Wallis asked. Facilitating the first of these new workshops he has devised, he led participants at Swarthmoor Hall through a series of exercises, involving general discussion, fact-finding, role-play and sharing hopes and fears.