Quaker-related documents and multimedia
Developers called to account
David Mowat, Bristol Central Meeting and Tony Weekes, Ferguson Fellow at Woodbrooke.
A dead religious sect have left a stylish relic, Quakers Friars, as the back drop for a restaurant in a brand new retail complex. That this image risks sticking in the public eye if we don’t act to show both our liveliness and our questioning of consumerism is what prompted Friends from Central Meeting (built to replace Quakers’ Friars in the 1960s) to stage a public debate in Quaker Week. Attendance was boosted by the favourable publicity given after some Friends were turfed off the privatised pavement by Quakers’ Friars for unauthorised leafleting.
Cabot Circus, Bristol’s new £500M shopping centre, opened at the end of September. The retail businesses and restaurants are aimed at the affluent customer, (designer hand bags going for £2,000) but the centre also sees social responsibility as part of its task, promising training and employment opportunities to people living in the adjacent deprived areas of the city. It means, in the City Council’s words “ … more Bristol jobs for Bristol people, and increased trade for Bristol businesses …”
Entitled ‘Cabot Circus; New found land or same old fare?’ the meeting had two speakers: James Bailey, the Centre manager and Tony Weekes, Ferguson Fellow at Woodbrooke Quaker Studies Centre.
James Bailey shared some of his own history: how his time as porter and later manager in the NHS had sharpened his understanding of people and their needs. He explained how Bristol ranked second in ‘the profitability stakes’ in the UK yet until now was only eleventh in ‘retail ranking’. He stressed the developer’s awareness of the ecological, social and economic needs of our time, emphasising the un-heated but covered walk ways and recycled rain water. He seemed responsive to comments and criticism – around the lack of cycle racks for instance.
Tony Weekes offered criteria by which the audience might judge Cabot Circus as an example of urban renewal. In the words of Fritjof Capra: “… The great challenge of our time is to build sustainable communities – communities that are designed in such a way that their ways of life, businesses, economies, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature’s inherent ability to sustain life. … The ecosystems of the natural world are sustainable communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms. There is no waste in these ecological communities, one species’ waste being another species’ food. …. The energy driving these ecological cycles flows from the sun, and the diversity and cooperation [is] the source of the community’s resilience.”
Emphasising the dwindling inheritance of fossil fuel whilst sunlight is plentiful, Tony said “Our dependence on nature’s inherent ability to sustain life is something which is scarcely recognised; there are no substitutes for these services (clean water, air, soil etc)…Conviviality – literally, living together in harmony - requires us to value each other and to see our needs beyond ‘shopping’. We need places to meet and places for quiet and for recreation. In this context, ‘scale’ and the aesthetic are important”.
Listening to the two distinct speakers, it was hard to find to see Cabot Circus coming up to the Capra mark. On the one hand, in the centre manager’s optimistic assessment we have ‘business as usual’ with new technology as an add-on to minimise environmental damage. On the other hand we have a call to seriously limit human impact, which Cabot Circus is designed precisely to increase on the disproved assumption that greater material wealth makes us better able to tackle environmental problems.
However the debate albeit modestly, showed a way ahead. Communication is now more open with the previously faceless –and powerful- retail developer. The audience were interested in how the rest of Bristol’s city centre, much of it also owned by the developers could go. Smaller more affordable retail units opening to local firms? A convivial continental atmosphere not dependant on buying?
Some of us carried on in the pub across the road. With Quakers having made an opening, perhaps there is a way to influence the developers, rather than simply demonise them? Over a pint, James Bailey mentioned the power Cabot Circus management have, for example, to insist on reduced waste and product packaging with their tenants.
Progress happens when lofty sentiments meet the nitty gritty. Tony’s comments helped our way towards this - and he’s available to do so for your Meeting (tony.weekes@gn.apc.org).
Once, Quakers were involved in business and good at the detail. Can we be so again?
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Bristol Area Quaker Meeting Clerk’s Annual Report 2007
For a number of years we have provided financial reports prepared by our Treasurer which fulfil our legal obligations as a charity exempt from registration, and when we have to register as a charity we will need to produce an Annual Report to comply with the Charity Commission reporting requirements. We shall continue to do this. This report covers the calendar year 2007.
The purpose of this ‘Clerk’s Report’ is, however, rather different. It arises from a proposal made by Horfield Friends at their Preparative Meeting held in September 2005 that was accepted at Monthly Meeting through our Minute 05/137. Horfield’s original minute proposed that: …These reports would show how far the Monthly Meeting has discharged the responsibilities laid upon it by Quaker Faith & Practice 4.07. They would help Friends to see the direction and value of all of the Monthly Meetings activities. From Horfield PM’ s Minute 05/68
This is not an attempt to provide a complete record of the year – the minutes of our meetings do that. We have alongside those minutes and this report, the report of each local meeting, the report from our Trustees (General Committee) and Treasurer.
I hope this report will show how the seven different Quaker meetings in our area gain spiritual strength from each other and together find new opportunities to put their faith into action – in places from Portishead to Jerusalem. And will go some way to explain why 30-40 Friends gather 10 times a year for 30 hours over the whole year to share our spiritual journey, and work through some difficult and sensitive issues. It is in those moments when we have endeavoured to address difficult questions where our awareness of the spirit at work within our discernment process is clearest.
The report is organised under five headings:
• The life of the meeting – how we have discharged our duties in terms of right ordering, membership, nominations, eldership, financial and legal matters and pastoral care.
• The Area Meeting and Local Meetings – how all seven meetings have made valued and distinctive contributions to our shared tasks and concerns.
• The Area Meeting and the wider community – our relationships with other agencies and denominations in Bristol and how we have carried our witness to the world in general.
• The Area Meeting and Quakers in Britain – our relationship with Friends House and other Meetings across the country.
• Looking ahead – tasks and opportunities that lie in front of us.
The life of the meeting
Objectives and Activities The objects of the charity are the furtherance of the religious and charitable purpose of the Religious Society of Friends. These purposes are set out in Quaker Faith and Practice, and in particular include the right holding of public meetings for worship in our constituent local meetings, and the holding of regular meetings for church affairs in all our constituent LMs and our AM as a whole, forming a key part of our role in providing a public benefit.
Governance During 2006 our work was governed by Quaker Faith and Practice. We prepared and approved a new Governing Document and Terms of Reference which were to be implemented from 1.1.2008.
Members of General Committee (our Trustees) were appointed by MM following nomination by our Nominations Committee. Our Trustees in General Committee operate within terms of reference which are reviewed annually by our AM. New Trustees are briefed by the Clerk to the Trustees, and encouraged to attend appropriate training.
Area Meetings, our governing meetings through which we seek to discern the will of God, take place ten times a year, receiving reports from LMs, our Trustees, Nominations Committee and other groups. Our Trustees meet monthly and bring matters to AM as needed. All our LMs report annually to our AM and their finances are consolidated into the finances of the AM as a whole. All other committees within the AM who have funds report through the Treasurer and Trustees.
Membership In 2007 269 people were in membership, with 232 listed adult attenders. A recurring issue has been the balance between Members and Attenders. We have considered ways to encourage attenders to come into membership. The length of time people have been attenders before coming into membership is getting shorter, which perhaps is a sign that barriers to membership, real or perceived, are being overcome. All the applications for membership used the visiting procedure set out in Quaker Faith and Practice, although we remain open to alternatives. We have also welcomed new attenders, and have held outreach events, an attenders and inquirer’s day, and Hearts and Minds Prepared has continued to be used within our meetings.
This year we have welcomed six new Friends into the Society. The year has also seen seven Friends transfer their Membership to our AM and six Friends have transferred membership to another meeting. The membership of four Friends was terminated.
Sadly, during the year it was necessary to record the deaths of three Friends:
Norman Gibbins (Redland), Margaret Simpson (Bedminster), Miriam Stockbridge (Portishead).
All of these Friends have been remembered with fondness during our meetings.
We have been consulted about the future of the former Redcliffe Quaker Burial Ground and the headstones remaining there.
Marriage Two meetings for worship for the solemnisation of marriage took place, both at Redland.
Attendance at Area Meeting Over thirty Friends have gathered for our Meetings for Worship for Business – with all seven of our LMs participating regularly. A number of Friends, who attend regularly and faithfully, provide us with continuity. We are delighted to welcome the fresh energy that comes when other members and attenders join us. And there has never been a shortage of agenda items! Inevitably in a year when we worked through the process of charity registration and the changes resulting from Recast, there have been much inward looking business, but the vitality of our meeting has been the spiritual discernment Friends have bought to those items. This structural work has been leavened by discernment and action arising from our testimonies - locally and across the world. Our local worship meetings have been led to bring forward many initiatives through which we might live out our testimonies – and our AM has risen joyfully to the challenges these have led us into.
Posts in the Area Meeting We ask much of our Nominations Committee: although we keep under review the number of committees and posts to which we need to appoint, we continue to need to fill a great many posts. Our Nominations Committee use, and keep under review, a directory of tasks, with job descriptions, and indicators of any particular requirements for the task. They report to us regularly and respond to our need for names. Whilst attenders have taken on some of the roles within our AM, where appropriate, we continue to place the bulk of the responsibility on a small group of members who feel able to undertake tasks for the AM. We are grateful to all who have taken on new tasks, and for all the work done by Friends who have been released from their tasks, recognising that many Friends in fact fall into both of these categories!
Financial and legal responsibilities We have discharged our legal responsibility to provide properly audited accounts.
Our General Committee continues to oversee the majority of our financial and legal duties. Their existence and experience has been a great help in preparing for charitable status. They have also looked after a host of matters to do with the upkeep of our Meeting Houses, the employment of wardens, the safety of our meetings.
Our Trustees monitor the risks to which the Charity is exposed, and where appropriate draw these to the attention of the AM. Our Trustees review our risks and establish procedures to manage those risks, through insurance, legal compliance audit and health and safety audit.
Our Collections Committee oversees the collection of funds from membership and attenders and their distribution according to the wishes of the donors to charitable bodies within the Society of Friends. Through Weekly Committee we seek to assist Friends in need. Individual LMs hold collections from time to time for other charitable bodies. These objects of these additional collections are agreed in advance from time to time by each LM in a meeting for worship for church affairs. Area Meeting makes donations to other charitable bodies, by Minute agreed by AM in Session. These additional collections and donations are determined by listening to the leadings of God in furtherance of our testimonies.
Elders, Overseers and pastoral care Pastoral care is a responsibility for both LMs and for the AM as a whole. Our Elders and Overseers have dealt with a number of issues that have had implications for more than one LM showing real care and discernment. We established a Support Group for Conflict Situations, available to assist LMs and our Elders, when called upon.
Testimonies and memorial minutes The preparation and agreement of Testimonies to the Grace of God as revealed through the life of individual Friends has been one issue that has received a lot of attention from Friends in Bristol AM over the last few years. Questions had been raised over the relationship between Testimonies and the Memorial Minutes that LMs produce when a Friend dies. Effectively, we had put the preparation of Testimonies on hold. In 2004 this matter was referred to Monthly Meeting Elders. On the basis of their consideration we decided that: Memorial Minutes may provide the basis for testimonies – but Testimonies should not be biographies and should focus on inspirational aspects of the Friend in question’s life. Minute 05/28
The Area Meeting and Local Meetings
There are seven local meetings within Bristol Area Meeting, each bringing different perspectives and understanding to enrich our meeting: Bedminster, Central, Frenchay, Horfield, Portishead, Redland and Thornbury. Each LM held public meetings for worship weekly and regular meetings for church affairs. All seven of our meetings – from Portishead, to Redland, which is one of the largest Quaker Meetings in the country – play an active part in every aspect of our shared work. I hope that all seven also find strength and support from the other six. A growing number of our meetings now hold children’s meetings.
We have received a written report from each LM on their progress in their spiritual journey during 2006. Some have prompted exploration of the spiritual nurture we provide within our meetings.
The Area Meeting and the wider community : our corporate witness
We have sought to live out our testimonies individually and corporately.
• During the year we agreed to establish a regular programme of events for those wishing to know more about Quakers.
• We have published a leaflet on our meetings and meeting houses to provide spiritual outreach and to widen public awareness of our meeting house
• We have continued to provide Chaplains to both of the Universities in Bristol and Ministers to those local prisons who will accept us.
• We have responded to requests to support Quakers in their work in other groups, such as Bristol Mediation.
• A longstanding concern of this meeting has been the role of torture. It has fallen upon three AMs to carry the torch of this concern for some years. We are grateful for the witness of Margaret Hodson. At times we have felt powerless to know how we might take forward our concern. Following a Conference in London proposals are going forward which may lead to a stronger level of national support for this work.
• A group was set up to plan our part in Abolition 200, marking the legislative abolition of the transatlantic slave trade – in a spirit of seeking to address the continuing scars of that trade and modern day exploitation and slavery.
• Quakers who live in and around Bristol are active all over the world. A particular concern for many of us has been Palestine/Israel. Several Friends have visited this troubled area during the year – as Ecumenical Accompaniers, and in other roles trying to understand the problems of the region, to bring attention to them and to help find ways forward.
• Our AM also considered Iran and were led to suggest action to develop loving relationships between people in Bristol and in Iran
The Area Meeting and Quakers in Britain
Friends within our Meeting seek to play their part in the wider work of Britain Yearly Meeting, with several Friends involved in national committees – to an extent that is probably unusual for a meeting of our size. A number of Bristol Friends were able to attend Britain Yearly Meeting itself and have shared their experiences both within their local meetings and through our AM Newsletter.
Sometimes we need patience. The future of Bedminster Meeting House challenged us for some years, but through the work of the LM and the working group established by AM with time, we were led to unity in 2007.
Looking ahead
Any annual report is inevitably a snap-shot of work in progress. By the time it is submitted, many of the issues raised will have been resolved, and new ones replaced them as uppermost in our attention. But this is a moment for taking stock, and reflecting upon the challenges that will face us in the period ahead.
• We will be faced with carrying into practice the changes that charitable registration brings. In a time when there is so much change, when we are challenged to lay down processes and features that have been a comfort to us, we need to find ways to see behind those changes to the continuing spiritual discipleship which underlies our processes, and which remains, constantly renewed but unchanged.
• We also need to find ways to give the time and attention that is required to ensure these changes are implemented in a manner which is true to our internal discipline and witness – without letting this deflect us from our calling to walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone.
• As we move beyond these organisational issues, we need to reflect upon the role of AM in providing spiritual nurture to our meetings – making more time in these meetings to bring joy and sustenance to Friends to help us to live out our testimonies.
• The challenge is to remain outward looking living out our testimonies corporately and individually, whilst nurturing the spiritual and organisational life of our community.
Christine Willmore Clerk to Area Meeting.
(Last update: September 18, 2009)