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author Henry S Thompson <ht@inf.ed.ac.uk>
date Tue, 14 Jan 2025 15:02:12 +0000
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1 July:
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2 ----------
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3 One fact mentioned almost in passing that was a surprise to me, at
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4 least: Britain Yearly Meeting has 179 paid employees at last count
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5
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6 In an otherwise business-as-usual report from BYM Trustees, the
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7 process of strategic planning I reported on from the April meeting has
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8 continued, and its goal has been distilled to a remarkable one-liner:
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9
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10 "a vision of a simple church supported by a simple charity to
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11 reinvigorate Quakerism"
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12
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13 *Revising our Book of Discipline*
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14
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15 Meeting for Sufferings has asked Central Nominations Committee to
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16 bring forward names to serve on a Book of Discipline Revision Committee
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17
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18 It's too late to put your name forward for consideration to serve on
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19 on this, but you _can_ submit material for consideration, via
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20
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21 https://forms.quaker.org.uk/qfp-idea/
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22 -------------
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23 Minute 17 records our agreement that Area Meeting trustees be
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24 encouraged to report on sustainability actions in their annual report.
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25
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26 Guidelines for this have been prepared by Quaker Stewardship Committee
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27 and members of BYM Sustainability Group have indicated they would be
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28 happy to supply help and support on request.
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29 ------------
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30 ============October==========
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31 Trustees: Simplifying and removing some restrictions on the process of launching
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32 and managing legacy-funded projects.
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33
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34 Three strategic priorities, to bridge the planning gap between _Our
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35 Faith in the Future_ and the Operational Plan: "thriving Quaker
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36 communities, a sustainable peaceful world and simple structure and
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37 practice"
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38 -------------
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39 We (BYM) now have a Inclusion and Diversity Co-ordinator, her name is
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40 Edwina Peart.
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41
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42 Responses to the request for input from Area Meetings:
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43 * Doing well on age (but see immediately below), gender and sexual orientation
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44 * Not so well on race, class and <18 ages
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45
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46 What questions are good to ask a newcomer after meeting?
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47 * Don't ask questions, say a little about yourself, and then leave some space...
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48 * Asking questions often unintentionally reveals mistaken assumptions
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49 which can lead to awkward silences...
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50
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51 *BYM investments and occupied Palestine*
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52
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53 We do not currently have any investments in any companies known to be
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54 "profiting from the occupation of Palestine".
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55
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56 Trustees have asked MfS to advise on whether we should explicitly make
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57 divestment a policy.
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58
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59 There is an excellent review of the background to this in the papers.
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60
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61 Recognising the difficulties in identifying such companies...
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62
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63 MfS advised Trustees to go ahead and "exclude from its investments
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64 companies profiting from the occupation of Palestine, and to amend the
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65 BYM Investment Policy accordingly."
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66 ------------
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67 MfS have agreed an experiment to appoint 4 YAFs to MfS for the
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68 remainder of this triennium. Interested YAFs should contact the
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69 ============November============
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70 Residential
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71 -----------
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72 QCCIR have been busy, with a very extensive research effort on "The
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73 Changing Face of Faith" [1]. The first part of this was discussed at
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74 a conference in March, there will be another in March 2019 to which
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75 AMs are invited to send representatives: "Area Meetings are encouraged
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76 to send representatives to share local experience and learn for
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77 experience in other parts of the yearly Meeting.":
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78 -----------
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79 *Quaker Peace and Social Witness*
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80
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81 Promoting a new film, _War School_, "this film from Pow Productions
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82 takes a closer look at militarisation in Britain":
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83
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84 https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/peace/challenging-militarism-1#heading-1
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85 ------------
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86 *Quaker World Relations Committee:
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87
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88 Promoting a new film, _Quakers and Climate Change around the World_:
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89
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90 http://fwcc.world/sustainability-resources
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91 -----------
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92 *Trustee's strategic priorities*
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93
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94 "A simple church supported by a simple charity"
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95
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96 Brilliant presentation by Ingrid Greenhow, Clerk to Trustees for just
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97 a bit longer, and Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, on new strategic
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98 priorities, BYM Trustees: see the diagram
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99 -----------
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100 * Recommendations from the Review of the Committee on Clerks*
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101 [A bit of a procedural mess, ask me if you are interested in the
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102 minutiae of BYM procedures]
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103
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104 "Nominations is the holiest thing we do" [Elsie Dick]
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105
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106 *Sustainabilty Group, again*
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107 We laid down the Sustainability Group, but Liz Birch did not go
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108 quietly, in the best possible way.
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109
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110 She raised again the elephant in the room: what does it actually mean
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111 in concrete practical terms for YM to adopt a concern? Substitute
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112 'AM' for 'YM' and you have something we've known we need to address, if
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113 not how...
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114
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115 "Are [we] ready to be held accountable on how [we] are working towards
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116 sustainability?"
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117 --------
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118 *Diversity*
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119
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120 We have a new Inclusion and Diversity Coordinator at Friends House,
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121 Edwina Peart. She quite sensibly suggested that we need to know where
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122 we actually _are_ before we can decide what we need to _do_. She's
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123 produced a survey:
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124
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125 http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/quakersurvey
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126
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127 which I would encourage everyone to fill in, it's quite short.
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128
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129 People might also be interested in Quaker Life Central Committee's new
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130 statement on gender diversity, which was introduced to us by Jocelyn
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131 Bell Burnell:
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132
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133 http://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/qlcc-gender-diversity-statement-for-discussion-2018-11
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134
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135 ============
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136 "goatwalking" jim corbett