If pressure is brought upon you to lower your standard of integrity, are you prepared to resist it? Our responsibilities to God and our neighbour may involve us in taking unpopular stands. Do not let the desire to be sociable, or the fear of seeming peculiar, determine your decisions. (Advices & Queries 38)
Addition to published calendar:
January Sun 29 1.30pm A special Area Meeting on “Changes to Area Meeting” at Newcastle Friends Meeting House.
February
Wed 1 10am–1pm Wallhanging Proggy*
Sun 5 8am Early Morning Meeting
10.30am Meeting for Worship followed by Meeting for worship for Business
Tue 7 10.30-12.30 Coffee Group
Sat 11 10am–1pm Wallhanging Proggy*
Sun 12 8am Early Morning Meeting
10.30am Meeting for Worship
1.30pm Area Meeting for Worship for Business at Sunderland
Tue 14 10am–1pm Wallhanging Proggy*
Thur 16 Deadline for items for March newsletter
Sun 19 8am Early Morning Meeting 10.30am Meeting for Worship followed by lunch
Mon 20 10am–1pm Wallhanging Proggy*
Tue 21 10.30-12.30 Coffee Group
Thur 23 Walking Group – Penshaw Monument*
Sat 25 10am – 3.30pm Thomas Merton: his contemplative voice for today*
Sun 26 8am Early Morning Meeting
10.30am Meeting for Worship followed by Special Meeting at 12*Mon 27 10am–1pm Wallhanging Proggy*
Friends are reminded that the car park to the rear of the Meeting House is for the use of ‘blue badge’ holders or those conveying disabled Friends or Attenders. The car park off Gosforth High Street (behind the former Post Office) is free all day on a Sunday. Parking is also available on the roof car park above the Sainsbury supermarket.
There are a number of address booklets containing the names and addresses of Friends and Attenders of all the Local Meetings, including Newcastle, within the Northumbria Area. These are available from Stella Clark.
Please send articles and images for the next newsletter to newcastlequakers@yahoo.co.uk by 16th February.
News of Friends
Dorothy Marshall writes:
Many Friends signed the Christmas cards for people who had left the meeting. I enclosed with each card a letter describing the move to Gosforth, and several recipients have replied with thanks and good wishes to everyone. Here are some bits of their news.
Anthony and Alison Ashcroft are enjoying being near some of their family. They attend Acomb Meeting, where they used to meet up with the Greys. Irene Grey reports that Ted is now increasingly frail. She is grateful for the flexibility of arrangements in their Quaker retirement village, which make it possible for Ted to sleep in the nursing home wing and return home during the day when he feels well enough. Also in Yorkshire (Ripon) are the Quilleys. Three of their four children live in Whitley Bay, so Alan and Janet hope to work in an inspection of our new Meeting House in the course of a family visit before long. They are still very involved with Quaker work, though no longer fund raising for Capetown Quaker Peace Centre. After further surgery Alan is now "in good working order" once more. Dick and Ann Taylor are as busy as ever, with gardening, travel and the Quaker Tapestry providing plenty of interest. All of these Friends write of the great pleasure they get from their grandchildren. So does Terry Pollard, who now attends Headington Meeting which normally has an attendance of 12 to 14 he says.
All of these correspondents, once very faithful in their contribution to Newcastle Meeting, say they had great pleasure in reading your signatures and recalling you with great affection.
New Convenor of Elders.
Nova Brockbank has been appointed as Convenor of Elders and has already begun her work.
Events in February
Wallhanging proggy dates:
Wed 1/2, Sat 11/2, Tues 14/2, Mon 20/2, Mon 27/2 - all sessions will be 10-1pm.
If you have any comments or requests, contact Marcia Lemon
Quaker Walk in February
Our February walk will take place on Thursday 23 February. We are going to climb up to an iconic structure, Penshaw Monument. Then back down over another one, the Victoria Viaduct, as far as my house in Washington where tea/coffee and cakes will be on offer.
Please could you all meet at Heworth Metro Station to catch the M1 bus at 10.16 to Penshaw Bank Top. A Metro leaves South Gosforth at 09:50 to arrive at Heworth at 10.07. Frank and I will join you on the bus in Washington.
It could be muddy so boots are needed. Please also bring a packed lunch. There is a public toilet at Heworth but nothing else after that.
Please let me know if you will be joining us. Contact details in the blue book.
Special Meeting Sunday 26th February at 12 am.
Following consultation between the Meeting Clerk and the outgoing Convenor of Elders we have decided to call a Special Meeting to consider issues related to our relations with the yoga class.
Thomas Merton: his contemplative voice for today
Saturday 25th February 2012. Newcastle Meeting House
10.00 for 10.30am until 3.30pm
Cost £8 (full time studentsfree). Please bring your own lunch. Tea, coffee and cakes provided.
Out of an unhappy and confused childhood and youth, Thomas Merton became one of the 20th century’s most famous monks. Themes that began in his childhood run throughout his life, becoming the basis for his contemplative message. During the day we will explore some of these themes, looking at how Merton’s inner journey developed, growing out of both his own experience of life and his deep knowledge of the Christian tradition; and at ways in which his extraordinary, authentic and soul searching integrity, speaks to us today.
The day will be led by Bridget Hewitt. Bridget lives in Northumberland, where she is involved in running groups which encourage a spiritual outlook, amongst both teenagers and adults. She is a wife, a mother, a daughter; the interplay of each of these roles, alongside her own space, is the warp and weft of her life! She recently completed an MA in Christian Spirituality with a dissertation on Thomas Merton’s contemplative message and will be sharing thoughts from this during the day.
Both the morning and afternoon sessions will include a period of meditation.
For further details, or to book, please contact Charles and Jill Foister. Contact details in the blue book.
Booking forms are also available in the Meeting House.
Legacy grants and giving
At our December Business Meeting we agreed to grant funds to several groups. They have now written back to me with their thanks:
Tim Crump from Hexham Meeting writes “Please pass on my thanks and those of Hexham Meeting to Friends in Newcastle for the generous gift of £500 towards bringing two students from the Friends School in Ramallah to Summer Shindig 2012. The students who have attended in the past are still in touch with the young friends they have made here so your gift will go towards building this connection for another year.”
The West End Refugee Service writes that it was a fantastic and generous donation and our continued support is very much appreciated. “Without your support we would not be able to continue to support our clients as we do. Everyone here at WERS joins in sending their sincere thanks and warmest wishes”.
We also sent a grant to the Friends World Committee for Consultation for their general bursary fund for the World Conference this April. They write “The donation you kindly sent will be passed on to the World Office to add to the general bursary fund, where it will be a very valuable addition.”
We also sent a grant to Britain Yearly Meeting which has been acknowledged.
If you are considering leaving money to your local Meeting, or to British Yearly Meeting, then advice is now available from Friends House. Jez Smith has recently been appointed as Donor Support Officer for BYM. He is responsible for promoting legacies for Quaker work and is the main contact available to Friends for outline information and advice about wills - although he does recommend that anyone who is making a Will speaks to a legal adviser.
He is happy to answer questions to a prospective donor in confidence and without obligation. He can be contacted at jezs@quaker.org.uk and 020 7663 1117. He is also prepared to speak at meetings about giving in general or legacies in particular.
He also refers us to a booklet, Nurture the future of Quaker work, which us available from himself or by downloading from: www.quaker.org.uk/sites/default/files/Legacy-booklet.pdf.
Margaret Bozic. Treasurer.
Green Corner
As reported last year, our two Energy Monitors have been continuously out on loan since they were presented/acquired—as they are whilst you read this. May we remind Friends that they are (a) the OWL Electricity Monitor providing up to the second information on the amount of electricity you are using in terms of both power and cost; and (b) the Ecosavers Powermeter offering a way to measure the electricity consumption of individual electrical appliances.
In an attempt to streamline their circulation, whilst continuing the policy of not setting a time-limit on each loan, a slight change in their management has been made. As before, they are kept in a Northumberland Farmers Market shopping bag, appropriately labelled. Our Administrator, Lynne Barfoot, has kindly agreed to give the shopping bag a temporary home between borrowers, as and when necessary. It is the responsibility of each Friend as they finish using the Monitors to tell the next in line. The latter can then collect them from the Office. Alternatively, of course, they can be passed directly to the Friend next on the Waiting List.
The Waiting List can be seen via a permanent notice on the board to the right of the kitchen door in the Meeting House. Hopefully, borrowers can add names to the Waiting List, tick next to their name when they receive the Energy Monitors, cross out the tick when finished and hand to next in line or leave the Monitors in the Office. Any problems should be referred to me.
Friends who own an Epson Printer will know that none of the good causes which provide envelopes to recycle empty inkjet cartridges will accept cartridges from an Epson Printer. However, Epson themselves have a free return envelope scheme, using which can ensure that empty cartridges “do not end up as landfill but are properly recycled using the latest available technology.” I quote Epson itself! However, Epson’s latest available technology betrayed a slight hiccup last month and, having requested four envelopes online I ended up with 48 (4 in each of 12 separately posted envelopes). Anyone interested in a recycling envelope—or four?
The Winter Edition of earthQuaker has now been made available to Friendly readers on the bookshelves opposite the Office in the Meeting House. Among other items, the contents include book reviews: eg Prosperity without Growth by Professor Tim Jackson, formerly of the now dissolved Sustainable Energy Commission; and the latest edition of Resurgence. There is a full page on the Living Witness’ Sustainability Toolkit and three lovely poems. What more could green Friends want?
Reg Snowdon
A glimpse of what The Leaveners are up to in 2012...
2012 will also see us launch our first ever project for under 11’s, explore Forum Theatre, do some more Big Singing and perhaps even perform another Panto! And don’t forget – we also run art/music/drama workshops for Meetings. For more information see http://www.leaveners.org/
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A message from Wensleydale and Swaledale Area Meeting
We thought we ought to tell you asap about the date we have earmarked for the Quakers in the North East of England (QUINEE) event that we, Wensleydale & Swaledale Area Meeting, are hosting in 2012.
The date will be Saturday 22 September 2012. More details to follow.