The Peace Committee of Dublin Monthly Meeting is holding a one-hour Peace Witness on Saturday 23rd March from 11.30am to 12.30pm on the traffic island at College Green Dublin, across the road from Trinity College. We will have the “Quaker Peace Witness” banner, and we will have leaflets to offer any passers-by who ask questions or seem interested.

Later we plan to walk, carrying our Quaker Peace Witness banner (and having leaflets to give away) as a quiet and peaceful participation by Friends in Ireland, IMMEDIATELY BEHIND the (Dublin) Ireland Palestine Support Group National Demonstration.

For this we will gather at 1pm outside the Hugh Lane Gallery at Parnell Square North (just around the corner from The Garden of Remembrance).

We hope that you will join us for part or all of these, and that some people may feel able to help with holding the banner and / or giving leaflets to people.

To help us in this quest we shall look at what we can learn from a 16th century nobleman living in times of violence, hear about integration work with young people and consider how the use of language can influence relationships. The Border Meeting will take place on 6-8 September at the Jugendakademie Walberberg (between Cologne and Bonn, Germany).

The EMES Youth Group Gathering (14-18 year olds) will take place at the same time and place.

For more information, have a look at this Quaker Border Meeting leaflet and the other links given there.

Lisburn Monthly Meeting is organising a day to consider the role of Ministry and Oversight in our Meetings at Lisburn Meeting House on Saturday 18th May, open to all interested Members and Attenders across all Meetings (not just Elders and Overseers). More information can be found on this M&O Day leaflet.

You can access the IYM 2024 registration form by clicking here:

Register for IYM 2024

There is no registration fee, and all those registered for IYM 2024 will automatically be registered for the Public Lecture.

This same form can be used to request a single or double room at Deans Hall or a twin room at Coleman Court – have a look at this link about accommodation for IYM2024 to get more information on these and other nearby options.

A link to a form allowing you to book meals will be sent out separately to all those who have registered.

Marking International Women’s Day (March 8), this year’s “Women & War” virtual film festival from March 9-23, 2024 explores the intersection of women, war, and militarized masculinity. Each week, a live Zoom discussion with key representatives from the films and special guests will be hosted, to answer your questions and explore the topics addressed in the films. One ticket gives online access to all three films and the scheduled Zoom discussions.

Tickets and further information can be found on World Beyond War’s website .

FWCC EMES is seeking a home-based, part-time (4 days per week) Communication & Networking Coordinator to work alongside our Executive Secretary to help us deliver our workplan to Friends in our Section.

We are seeking a competent organiser to help us manage our work, with a good knowledge of Quaker traditions and processes and able to work on their own initiative. Some travel and evening & weekend work will be necessary and a good knowledge of communications technology is required. Excellent verbal and written communication in English is essential, as well as the ability to read, speak and write at least one other major European language or Arabic to at least level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Further information can be found in this job advertisement.

Irish Quaker Faith in Action, in conjunction with Islamic Relief, will hold a Street Collection for the people of Gaza in Galway City this Saturday the 9th of March.

Proceeds from the collection will go to help alleviate the suffering of people in Gaza through several long-standing partnerships and projects.

The Religious Society of Friends has been in Palestine since the mid 19th century. We oppose all wars and violent confrontation, as well as the circumstances that lead to wars.

This Lenten season coincides with the Holy Month of Ramadan for our Muslim neighbours and friends. Let us work together to bring hope and peace to the people of Gaza and all people in the Middle East.

Contributions can be made online: Bank of Ireland, Irish Quaker Faith in Action, Iban: IE66 BOFI 9002 0164 1985 89, Bic: BOFIIE2D

For more information, or if you would like to get involved contact Richard Kimball on 087 23 75 789.

Hungarian Friends would like to invite you to come and join them for the 27th Central European Yearly Meeting in Budapest.

When: 16th – 19th May 2023 (Thursday dinner – Sunday lunch)
Where: Hotel Budapest, 1026 Budapest, Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 47

https://hotel-budapest.hu

The Public Lecture will be given by by Ben Pink Dandelion on the topic “Dynamic Quakerism; Constancy and Change”.

The link for the application form is https://forms.gle/hwgeSR62KUfi1PmX8

Further information can be found in this leaflet on CEYM 2024.

It began with a suggestion from Quaker Eugene Dugan-Brause, of the John Hewitt Society, to Margaret Fraser, that Frederick Street Friends might open up their newly renovated Meeting House for an event at the North Belfast Festival.

This morphed quickly into an invitation to Frederick Street Friends to offer their own session at the festival. The meeting is a member of the North Belfast Heritage Cluster, a group of voluntary organisations that own or care for an historic building in the area. Very quickly the idea hatched of an event entitled ‘It happened at Frederick Street’, where Felicity McCartney, interviewed by Ian Kirk-Smith, described the initiatives that were birthed at the Meeting during the Troubles. 

The first response was in August 1969, when families whose homes in North and West Belfast had been firebombed sheltered in the old Meeting House. A range of multi-level responses by Quakers throughout Ireland and Britain followed. Initiatives included Quaker Cottage and prison work – set off as a separate charity, now called Quaker Service. The caretaker’s cottage at the new Frederick Street Meeting House became the home base for peace workers from the USA, Britain and Ireland. That work, modelled on ‘quiet diplomacy’ of the Quaker United Nations houses in Geneva and New York, later moved to locations close to Queens University. Felicity and a community worker colleague also set up the Centre for Neighbourhood Development, based in Frederick Street Meeting’s Institute building. 

From wondering if anyone outside the Meeting would come, Friends were delighted to hear that there had been 30 online bookings. Extra chairs had to be taken out of store as even more people showed up, and the final attendance was just over 60. 

                                                                                                                                                                                    Margaret Fraser (Frederick Street Meeting)