Yearly Meeting Gathering –
impressions/report/journey through the week
I arrived at the wrong side of the campus
and had to walk up to Alcuin which was to be my home base for the week. It was
the busiest time to arrive and I had to queue to register and collect my keys.
It was lovely to see a familiar face – Evelyn Parker was my neighbour, and we
soon appreciated we were just two of sixteen sharing a kitchen. By the end of
the week we were just about on first name terms and adept at working round each
other.
More than anything, I guess I have been
struck by the many connections I have made and how I feel associated with the
Society of Friends far more deeply.
There has been a wealth of connection, many at a deep level, some for no more than 15 minutes. It is surprising how
profound you can get in fifteen minutes with Friends!
On that first day I did feel rather anxious
and very much the new-comer but not for much more than 12 hours. The first gathering
of all 16,000 of us in the Great Hall for the Welcome Session was impressive.
The time of hubbub in the Great Hall, descending into complete silence in a few
seconds, never failed to amaze me.
Apparently, this is the first time Yearly
Meeting and Gathering have been combined and it gives you a host of choices,
which creates issues. For many sessions numbers were limited and this was
organised on a first come, first served basis with a number being held back for
those visiting for a day. Though I was disappointed sometimes, I always found
another stimulating and rewarding session, and once or twice, it was just ‘time
out’.
Sunday Worship was impressive, followed by
the opening session of Yearly Meeting. Another Sunday session which I elected
to attend was a session organised by QAAD (Quaker Approach to Alcohol and other
Drugs). I chose this merely because the film to be shown was made by a Sibford student, and as I once taught there, I thought I
would see what students there were achieving in Media Studies. Money was
provided by QAAD for the making of the film which was very good and very
professional. I thought it would be suitable (well, excellent) for showing in any secondary school because, being
produced by young people, it was not at all patronising. After showing the film
there was a discussion about the work of QAAD who recommended their
publication, “To Use or Not to Use”. Later I felt moved to attend a session organised
by Young Friends on the Quaker Business Method. A light-hearted approach
presented an idea to ‘thresh’ – the dismantling of the present Minster in
Evelyn and I met our Home Group late
afternoon. This gathering was designed to ground folk each day and although we
lost one or two and gained one or two as the week went by it was a good idea. Although we had a
group leader, he was barely needed, and each day we effortlessly connected with
each other, mulling over our experiences, particularly the main agenda of the
week as it progressed in Yearly Meeting.
Sunday evening I attended the Salter
Lecture by epidemiologist, Professor Richard Wilkinson. Now, many of us know
instinctively that an unequal society is an ‘unhealthy’ society, in the widest
sense of that adjective. The work of this academic, produced over half a
lifetime with his associate, Kate Pickering has proved this to be true. In the
book “Spirit Level” (what a wonderful title) he shows the far-reaching results
in graphs. When he saw how clear the results were world-wide, he started a
similar study of the different
On Monday morning I attended a long session
of Yearly Meeting – lots of business and reports but finishing with an
introduction to the Committed Relationships issue which was to preoccupy us for
the rest of the week and to provide a subject for ‘Thought for the Day’, gain
mention on the weather forecast on Radio 4 and produce an editorial in the
Guardian at the end of the week. There was a strong contingent from the Gay and
Lesbian Fellowship present but the subject was introduced in a hugely
sympathetic and balanced way by a Quaker dad with 4 grown or growing up
children. Only at the end of his talk, much about tolerant and loving
parenting, did he tell us that two of his off-spring are straight, and two
apparently gay. He finished by saying that he hoped his youngest daughter might
meet a nice Quaker boy and have a nice Quaker wedding, followed by a Bring-and
Share!
After such a long session, I felt I needed
a stretch and a break so a walk and some lunch was in order. As my brain had
been over stimulated I put my feet up, only to discover it was mid afternoon
and I had missed my ticketed session. I had time for a leisurely cuppa before
the Home Group.
After supper I elected to sing. Newcomers
and the inexperienced, it was said, were welcome but I was rather anxious. We
used the Quaker song book, and because of a groundswell of experienced singers
I felt confident, joining in part singing, amazed at the lovely sounds we were
making. One African song seemed especially powerful, transporting you south, to
a different place and culture.
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On Tuesday I woke in time to become a
‘lark’ and thoroughly enjoyed a Qi Kung session. Yearly meeting was dealing with various
nominations and consequent issues but I elected to go to a session organised by
the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition. Janet Sturge,
who had recently visited the area, shared her experience. The most moving part
of the session was a letter from Jewish Quaker, Stevie Krayer
– I have a hard copy safe to share at some future time.
I then moved on to a Junior Yearly Meeting
Event; we moved between ‘Chat Rooms’ discussing different issues. These chat
rooms were not electronic and were groups of 10 or so sitting in a circle
discussing given subjects – ‘Rich and Poor’, ‘The Generation Gap’, ‘Money – do
we need it?’, ‘Individuality and Community’ (and two others I don’t remember!)
The ratio of JYM (Junior Yearly Meeting for those not familiar with Quakerspeak) was 80/20 and a proportion of the youngsters
had to stay in the group to keep the chat going, record views covered and to
summarise the main points at the end. The talk was lively and stimulating but
what impressed me was the maturity of the young people – they were thoughtful,
well-informed, sensitive and altogether impressive. I came away wanting and
hoping that if my grand-daughter could be like any one of those young people,
ten years down the line, I would be delighted.
I chose to abandon the gathering at lunch
time and went into
In the evening there was the Swarthmore
Lecture in the Great Hall delivered by Peter Eccles, addressing ‘God’s
Guidance’ and how we reconcile God’s actions with scientific laws. He moved on
to Quaker discernment. In spite of the ‘ afternoon out’ I found the talk quite
‘heavy’. Later in the week, somebody said the lecture should be approached as
the published book (a good deal longer) and needed to be approached in bite
size chunks, then set aside for thoughtful consideration.
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Wednesday was excursion day. I was organised enough to pack
sandwiches from Costcutter, white plastic bread and
plastic cheese which I regretted, for, when we reached the Bird Reserve at Bempton Cliffs, after an hour’s drive, in the car park was
an organic and fair trade caravan with coffee that York University Campus
couldn’t match and fresh organic rolls and truly home baked cakes. I bought
some rolls to take back and marvelled that the couple running it could survive
financially in that lonely spot. We were at the very tail-end of the breeding
season but there was still a lot of activity on the soaring chalk cliffs. The
weather was damp and drizzly as we visited the viewing points. At the last one
I was delighted to spot a puffin who was most anti-social, turning his back on
me after I had spotted him, and shuffling back into a hole in the cliff,
disappearing from view. Others in our coach actually saw one with babes! We
were told to watch out for porpoises but sadly they were distinguished by their
absence! While a handful of intrepid walkers set off in the rain the rest of us clambered back on the coach to
be taken to Flamborough Head. By this time it was
raining hard and really not inviting at all, so there was lots of chat as we
whiled away an hour or so in the tea rooms on the headland awaiting the
walkers. Then there was another drive inland and north to Beverley where
Friends at the Meeting House had prepared a lovely tea for us.
The continuing rain lead
me that evening to cheer my spirits with more uplifting song.
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Thursday started with QiKung
again, a lovely serene start to the day. I had previously enjoyed the QiKung we did at the start of my Tai Chi classes – it is
good to experience a different approach and a new forms I wasn’t familiar with.
The main event in the Great Hall was a wonderful presentation with images, talk
and meditations. Julia Ryberg is, as far as I could
gather, a Scandinavian Quaker with particular responsibility for a growing
Quaker community spreading in
The session at Yearly Meeting in the
afternoon was very well attended as the gathered meeting steadily and
painstakingly, for well over an hour, moved towards the point where the clerks
felt able to go away and produce a minute. The process I found amazingly
impressive and moving. By this time I was truly on a ‘high’ – just one after
another amazing experience and I stayed there for the rest of the day.
In the evening I went with Evelyn to an
evening with Harvey Gilman. He had requested a group of twenty or so for a talk
entitled, ‘The Quaker Way, communal, mystical, practical?’ but so many had been
disappointed at not getting tickets for his session earlier in the week the
venue was up-graded and there were probably 200 of us in the lecture theatre
and I found his talk so very uplifting. Sadly there was no hard copy of his
talk but he left an e-mail from which we could access the quotations he used. I
had been told that he usually danced on the platform as he talked but not that
evening. However his manner was expansive and charismatic. Why can’t I remember
a significant detail – though he certainly addressed the title of the talk, I
remember no details! (How can we replace him as he has now officially retired?
An answer came when I visited Hebden Bridge Meeting
ten days later and talked at length to Nilandri, a
young man, highly active in the Society, anxious to bring Quakers and all they
represent, to the attention of lots more people, especially young people, who
are unable to ‘buy into’ the traditional ‘God-centred’ churches, but are desperate
to experience a spiritual, as opposed to a material world reality. He is
presenting his concern at a gathering soon. He is most eloquent, with many
ideas as to how they could be practically applied.) At the end of his talk he
grinned and said we would be just in time for a showing of ‘Mama Mia’ I was so
energised mentally that I decided this would be a way of calming myself before
bed. Not so! Our Quaker audience, were on a roll, singing along loudly,
cheering and there was enthusiastic dancing at the end.
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It was difficult to imagine that Friday
would offer the spiritual and emotional ‘high’ of Thursday. So, proceedings on
Friday lead to a tranquil end to the week. In the penultimate session of Yearly
Meeting the clerks presented a minute which appeared to be well, received. That
did not mean it was accepted. A further 80 – 90 minutes were taken, refining
and improving it – not just dots and commas but content-wise. There was an
amazing feeling in this, as in other sessions, that the meeting was
‘Spirit-Lead’ and all agreed that the clerking was excellent. So much time was
given that there was little left to look at the Yearly Meeting Epistle, so the
draft, with each sentence numbered was left to the afternoon. By lunch time,
the diverse interest groups presenting their diverse interests in The
Exhibition Centre were packed up or packing up and leave-taking was upon us.
There was still a two hour session of Yearly Meeting to go. The first part
dealt mainly with the Epistle. I found the final ‘amendment’ a surprise.
Apparently the word ‘God’ did not appear in the document. (I hadn’t noticed!)
It was added; there was no issue! Then the entire gathering came together for
the final hour, Apart from a few crawlers and toddlers, behaviour was
exemplary. When one very young child, finally ‘stormed’ the stage having been
stopped a numerous times by his mother there was much laughter and applause.
Each group presented their own report about what had been achieved. So, finally,
a period of silence completed Yearly Meeting 2009. Our Home Group still chose
to meet which was nice.
The end was nigh, but not quite – there was
a Ceilidh for all ages, a huge affair with a
10-strong band and there were alternatives. But all stopped at nine when the
final epilogue took place. Lanterns (ecologically okay, naturally) were lit on
the lake-side and floated gently up, carrying our prayers for a loving,
peaceful, equitable world. Singing moved around the lake and we joined hands.
When it was over, a chap roared round, enthusiastically telling us to hug one
another. I thought of an elderly lady visitor to Skipton Meeting, a few weeks
back. She saw the door-keepers, one shaking hands, one hugging and asked me if
there was another way in as she did not like this ‘touchy-feely’ stuff. A lady,
much like this, was standing by me. She looked awkward and embarrassed, but
threw caution to the winds and turned towards me with open arms.
Then there was the final clear up in my
room and the kitchen. Every one of us sharing the kitchen helped, children
included, in true Quaker fashion, As I left, I recall a comment by one of our
group. She felt sympathy and tenderness towards those who had not been
comfortable with the outcome of our business. She had been conscious of the
passionate consensus of certain groups in the Great Hall which, must have made
those with thoughtful misgivings feel very isolated. I also recall a member of
our Home Group saying that the more evangelical Friends in Africa and
My final thoughts are with Evelyn. Although
sympathetic to the business, she did not attend many of the sessions on
Committed Relationships. She felt that (and these are my words) there are far more
urgent and pressing issues for the Society to be addressing, like global
warming and peace, and I can understand that!
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