Philip Austin As well as our formal members’ meetings that happen four times a year (mostly as hybrid events), Northern Friends Peace Board is arranging a number of additional opportunities for our members and other interested Friends to meeting together for reflection, discussion, connection and learning. Online meetings At our most recent online session, for instance, Friends … Read more
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are distressing, causing horrifying levels of death, and devastation to ordinary people now and into the future. Northern Friends Peace Board has, during the past two years, sought to promote understanding of the nature of the conflicts and also of possible routes to peace. The very nature of war … Read more
In 2024, there is a growing chorus of political voices from across the world, our own government being no exception, calling for an increase in spending on weapons. More than that, some parts of the armed forces establishment are encouraging a readiness for war in society more generally. This comes as international relations are under … Read more
At our meeting in Sheffield at the start of March, NFPB members heard from Cassie Woodard, who manages the Middle East programme for Quakers in Britain, with particular responsibility for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel. Cassie described the challenges that programme continues to face, as well as the advocacy work that Quakers … Read more
NFPB members met in Bolton and online on 2 December. The NFPB office had moved to the Meeting House in Bolton a year previously and so this was a chance for Friends to see its current location and set up. Friends expressed appreciation for the arrangement that has been made possible by Bolton Quakers. The … Read more
Through the Network of Christian Peace Organisations in the UK, NFPB has endorsed an open letter to the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverley, asking him and the UK government to work for: – urgent de-escalation of the conflict – meaningful dialogue, recognising the long-standing unresolved issues arising from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and … Read more
For our second members’ meeting of the year, Friends gathered in Darlington and online on 24 June, with roughly equal numbers in the physical and virtual spaces respectively. The date of our meeting coincided with the government-sponsored ‘Armed Forces Day’ and Friends had the opportunity to reflect on this in the opening part of the … Read more
NFPB member Phoebe Spence writes… Friday 21st April 2023 was the first day of the four day action taking place outside Parliament organised by XR with many other groups including Quakers joining in. It was the first big test of their new approach to action being more inclusive, accessible, no arrests etc. Several hundred Quakers … Read more
Last September the memorial Meeting for Worship took place at Harrogate Meeting House for former NFPB member Anni Rainbow. Anni had, with her friend Lindis Percy, been particularly involved in the campaign to draw attention to and campaign against the US base at Menwith Hill. As well as weekly vigils, now organised by the Menwith … Read more
‘No one said it was easy’, wrote Mary Lou Leavitt in the NFPB booklet published in the late 1980s. Peace is not easy, but on the other hand, to see wars being waged and money spent on weapons for no good reason is distressing and frustrating, plain and simple. As we approached the anniversary of … Read more