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1 Meeting for Sufferings was held at Woodbrooke from Friday evening 4
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2 December through Sunday lunchtime 6 December. The main focus was on
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3 "Our Area Meetings today", but before reporting on that, here's a
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4 brief summary of other points of possible interest:
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5
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6 * Concerns were expressed about TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and
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7 Investment Partnership), and the question of what BYM could do to
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8 mobilise opposition was raised. The response was that it was
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9 unlikely that this would receive much effort from the centre, too
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10 much else going on.
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11
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12 * As part of BYM Trustees' report the BYM Treasurer reminded us that
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13 "More action requires more money", while noting there had been good
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14 legacy income, as well as the best-ever income from the Hospitality
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15 company (which manages Friends House and, as of this year,
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16 Swarthmore Hall).
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17
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18 * The "Vibrancy" project will receive 675,000GBP pilot fuding over
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19 the next 3.5 years, with 3 or 4 regional officers being appointed,
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20 managed from Woodbrooke
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21
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22 * Following on from BYM 2015's focus on equality, we heard from the
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23 Housing Threshing event which happened at Woodbrook in September
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24 that our Friend Alastair Cameron was helping to take the lead in
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25 work towards establishing an ethical landlords' association.
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26
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27 * BYM 2015 had referred one proposed change to our Books of
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28 Discipline, paragraphs 3.27 (revised) and 3.28 (new), which give
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29 guidelines for Friends speaking publicly, back to Sufferings. We
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30 reviewed and threshed a redraft of these, and now ask Friends to
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31 please consider them carefully in advance of Yearly Meeting
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32 Gathering 2016 where they will be presented for approval.
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33
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34 About half our time together was spent reflecting on the status and
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35 state of our Area Meetings. Perhaps not surprisingly, many other AMs
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36 are reacting to "challenges and opportunities" similar to those which
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37 lead to the creation of SE Scotland AM's STIR group. We had several
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38 discussion sessions in a 'Home' group consisting of all the
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39 representatives from AMs in Scotland and Wales, followed by a plenary
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40 session.
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41
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42 There will be a more extensive summary of the results coming from the
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43 centre in due course. In the meantime, here are a few high- (and
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44 low-) points:
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45
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46 * There is a sense of weariness/sadness around the issue of AM (the
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47 event);
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48
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49 * "The business method is not working quite right"
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50
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51 * We are suffering from many weighty Friends having been "creamed
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52 off" into AM Trustees
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53
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54 * Many AMs have launched some form of review process
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55
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56 * We need to re-understand AM's relationships (up, down, sideways)
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57
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58 * A number of people mentioned the "Northumbria model", about which
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59 material will be made available [and I will forward it to Sesame]
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60
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61 * There's value in trying harder to make the 'business' aspects of
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62 AM (the event) as focussed and efficient as possible
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63
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64 * Gatherings for Fellowship, centred on food, hospitality,
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65 socialising, have been very successful, and need not, indeed
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66 perhaps should not, happen on the same day as AM for business
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67
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68 * More effort needs to go into "job descriptions" that make the jobs
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69 feel possible
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70
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71 * We should ask ourselves, if AM (the event) didn't exist, [why]
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72 would we have to invent it?
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