Quakers around Britain are speaking about their convictions and lifestance during this, the fifth national Quaker Week, 1 – 9 October 2011.
The focus is on making peace a way of life.
It is 350 years since Quakers declared to King Charles II that “we are a people that follow after those things that make for peace, love and unity” and that sets the theme for Quaker Week this year.
Enquirers are being welcomed to Quaker meetings for worship to experience the communal gathered stillness which stirs Quakers to work for peace, equality, simplicity, sustainability and truth. Local meetings are listed on www.quaker.org.uk
Dozens of events are planned around England, Scotland and Wales including vigils against the arms trade, book fairs, coffee mornings and car washes, all to welcome people to Quaker meeting houses.
Discussions range from economic justice, sustainability and nonviolent alternatives to terrorism. In line with Quakers’ recent decision to become a low-carbon sustainable community one local meeting is planning a recycling event, saying “Bring things you no longer want and take things others have brought. No money involved.”
Elsewhere, fairly- traded bananas will be handed out to students.
Quaker Week will be marked in Friends House, the London home of Quakers in Britain, with a series of talks in the Quaker Centre.
Author and magician Geoffrey Durham, will speak about a new guide for newcomers called Being a Quaker; campaigner and facilitator David Gee will launch Holding faith: Creating peace in a violent world; and activist Tim Gee will look at how campaigns work in his book, Counterpower: Making Change Happen.
Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Approximately 23,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings.