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+++ b/Sufferings/2015-12/am_report.txt	Tue Dec 29 07:57:46 2015 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+Meeting for Sufferings was held at Woodbrooke from Friday evening 4
+December through Sunday lunchtime 6 December.  The main focus was on
+"Our Area Meetings today", but before reporting on that, here's a
+brief summary of other points of possible interest:
+
+ * Concerns were expressed about TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and
+   Investment Partnership), and the question of what BYM could do to
+   mobilise opposition was raised.  The response was that it was
+   unlikely that this would receive much effort from the centre, too
+   much else going on.
+
+ * As part of BYM Trustees' report the BYM Treasurer reminded us that
+   "More action requires more money", while noting there had been good
+   legacy income, as well as the best-ever income from the Hospitality
+   company (which manages Friends House and, as of this year,
+   Swarthmore Hall).
+
+ * The "Vibrancy" project will receive 675,000GBP pilot fuding over
+   the next 3.5 years, with 3 or 4 regional officers being appointed,
+   managed from Woodbrooke
+
+ * Following on from BYM 2015's focus on equality, we heard from the
+   Housing Threshing event which happened at Woodbrook in September
+   that our Friend Alastair Cameron was helping to take the lead in
+   work towards establishing an ethical landlords' association.
+
+ * BYM 2015 had referred one proposed change to our Books of
+   Discipline, paragraphs 3.27 (revised) and 3.28 (new), which give
+   guidelines for Friends speaking publicly, back to Sufferings.  We
+   reviewed and threshed a redraft of these, and now ask Friends to
+   please consider them carefully in advance of Yearly Meeting
+   Gathering 2016 where they will be presented for approval.
+
+About half our time together was spent reflecting on the status and
+state of our Area Meetings.  Perhaps not surprisingly, many other AMs
+are reacting to "challenges and opportunities" similar to those which
+lead to the creation of SE Scotland AM's STIR group.  We had several
+discussion sessions in a 'Home' group consisting of all the
+representatives from AMs in Scotland and Wales, followed by a plenary
+session.
+
+There will be a more extensive summary of the results coming from the
+centre in due course.  In the meantime, here are a few high- (and
+low-) points:
+
+  * There is a sense of weariness/sadness around the issue of AM (the
+    event);
+
+  * "The business method is not working quite right"
+
+  * We are suffering from many weighty Friends having been "creamed
+    off" into AM Trustees
+
+  * Many AMs have launched some form of review process
+
+  * We need to re-understand AM's relationships (up, down, sideways)
+
+  * A number of people mentioned the "Northumbria model", about which
+    material will be made available [and I will forward it to Sesame]
+
+  * There's value in trying harder to make the 'business' aspects of
+    AM (the event) as focussed and efficient as possible
+
+  * Gatherings for Fellowship, centred on food, hospitality,
+    socialising, have been very successful, and need not, indeed
+    perhaps should not, happen on the same day as AM for business
+
+  * More effort needs to go into "job descriptions" that make the jobs
+    feel possible
+
+  * We should ask ourselves, if AM (the event) didn't exist, [why]
+    would we have to invent it?