The South Belfast Eco-Quaker Group is organising and hosting a series of civic conversations related to the challenges of the ecological and climatic emergencies.   As well as enabling a process of learning together and from a diversity of perspectives, initiatives and stories, the ‘Eco-Quaker Conversations’ are intended to help us look for ways to enact constructive responses for the common good.  Several of the conversational gatherings scheduled for the coming months have a particular focus and involve invited contributors whose role will be to inform us and provoke our thinking together.  From time to time, the intention is to pause for reflection.

The programme until January 2021

Tuesday 17 November (from 7.30pm)– Responding Locally to the Climate Emergency
Guest:  Michael Donnelly from Dolmens Climate Action Network (Castlewellan)

Wednesday 9 December (from 7.30pm) – Growing a Forest Town
Guest:  Karin Eyben from Garvagh People’s Forest

Thursday 7 January 2021 (from 5.30pm) – Reflections and Resolutions

Eventbrite links
Invitation to participate in each session will be via an Eventbrite page. Those who register their intention to participate will then receive a Zoom meeting link shortly before the scheduled date. If you would like to receive these Eventbrite notifications, e-mail Jane Lutton at: janelutton@gmail.com.

Here is a link for the Eco-Quaker Conversation on Wednesday 14th October (19.30-21.00) – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-need-to-talk-about-basic-income-tickets-120576516607.

The Liberties Cultural Association have launched two new video pieces as part of their ongoing exploration of social history and folklore in The Liberties. The films are being made public to coincide with this year’s Dublin Festival of History.

The first film produced under the project looks at Quaker history in The Liberties and features Christopher Moriarty, curator of Friends Historical Library at Stocking Lane.  Friends have a long connection with The Liberties, including the city’s earliest Friends’ Meeting House at Meath Street and the little-known Quaker burial grounds at Cork Street.

Christopher talks about the charitable ethos of The Quaker Community and its work in the area in this short introductory film (6 mins). https://youtu.be/aEu0z3FlefQ

The clip forms part of a larger ongoing collaboration between the Quaker Community and the Liberties Cultural Association, celebrating the links between the Quakers and The Liberties 

More information on this project is available here:

We are delighted to bring you news of a recently published book written by Clodagh Grubb of Monkstown Meeting.

Clodagh, a history graduate from Trinity College Dublin who has curated the collection of samplers and other textiles in Friends House Historical Library in Dublin since 2011, has spent the past seven years researching and compiling her book, ‘Samplers, Sewing and Simplicity in Quaker Ireland’.

The book grew out of the author’s love for textiles and design, her interest in history and the discovery of the rich and varied collection of needlework and textiles in the Friends Historical Library. With over 150 illustrations, the book looks both at this work, produced for the most part in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and at the social and historical context in which it was made.

The Quaker belief in the equality of all and the consequent importance given to the education of girls meant that Quaker women were often better equipped than most to deal with running a household and dealing with much of the business and accounts. They might have to do everything, from spinning to making clothing, bed linen and other soft furnishings.  At a period when employment for women could be difficult to obtain, their sewing skills were a considerable advantage.

The Quaker ethos of simplicity in everything from clothing to furnishings to social life coloured most activity. Where unnecessary ornamentation was frowned on, surviving dresses show a definite awareness of fashion in their cut.

Making a sampler was a form of recreation for girls, some as young as six years of age, which allowed them to use more creatively the skills that they had spent many hours practising in the schoolroom. A love of colour and a diversity of scripts and motifs, many drawn from a broader European tradition, and the way in which they are arranged gives many of the Irish Quaker samplers a character of their own.

Clodagh is from a Quaker family who came to Ireland in the late seventeenth century.

‘Samplers, Sewing and Simplicity in Quaker Ireland’ by Clodagh Grubb is  published by Friends’ Historical Committee and copies are available from Friends Historical Library, Stocking Lane,  Dublin 16  at a price including postage of €30 for paperback or casebound at €40.  Email Library@quakers.ie to purchase a copy or for further information.

Almost 100 people signed up for EcoQuakers’ ‘Re-imagining Society Sustainably’ online conference, which took place on 18^th July 2020.

It was a wonderfully stimulating session considering how we can rebuild society post Covid19 with the three speakers providing plenty of food for thought.

Denise Gabuzda, Ireland Yearly Meeting Clerk and physics and astronomy lecturer at University College Cork, painted a wonderful picture of a more equal society with more renewable energy, more locally grown food, stronger communities, protection of biodiversity and a more peaceful earth.

She said imagining a future like this was the first step to it becoming a reality. “As our planet heals, so will we as we appreciate the inter-connectedness of all living things,” she said.

You can read Denise’s full script here.

Romanian-born and US-raised Oana Sariana Marian, an artist and writer and Co-founder of the Active Hope Network who is pursuing a PhD in Theology at Trinity College Dublin, spoke about the need for climate grief and imagination as we work towards a sustainable future. She also encouraged each of us to self-audit how we spend our money and to educate ourselves about how our society is functioning within the wider global economy.

You can read Oana’s talk here.

Féidhlim Harty of Cork and Limerick Meetings and founder of FH Wetland Systems said there were five things we could do to help create a more sustainable future:
– spend our money consciously
– live more simply
– advocate for change
– build and strengthen connections
– remain optimistic and ‘hold the vision’

He encouraged us to nurture a clear vision of a beautiful earth and to anchor this in our minds through prayer and meditation.

You can read the full script of Féidhlim’s talk here.

The entire event was recorded and you can watch it on our You Tube channel.

Continuing and deepening difficulties in Lebanon make life for the staff, the pupils and the whole community of Brummana High School, a real and daily challenge.

The Quaker International Educational Trust’s (QuIET) responsibilities are twofold. Firstly to support the local Governors of the school; the Principal David Gray and his team; but most importantly the continuing education of the 1,250 children who study there. Secondly we are pledged to uphold the Quaker values upon which the school was founded nearly 150 years ago.

David’s letter inside sets out what the problems are and how the school is meeting the challenges. We, as QuIET trustees, invite Quakers everywhere to join us in supporting the school by donating to the 2020-21 Bursary Appeal.

Click to access brummana-appeal-2020-2021-1.pdf

In this time of Covid 19 crisis,  we are thinking of  the residents and  the wonderful staff working in Bloomfield Health Services.  Founded in 1812 by The Religious Society of Friends,  Bloomfield today consists of New Lodge Nursing Home with 36  beds and a Mental Health facility of 114 beds with a staff complement of over 200, from all around the world.

Bloomfield will need an  Emergency Fund to help them all through lockdown, isolation and infection.   Their immediate need is for iPads/tablets to help residents connect with and talk to their families remotely but  they will have to face and cope with other unexpected consequences for both residents and staff.   We ask Friends all over Ireland to Back Our Bloomfield Heroes.

We appreciate that many of you are already coping with job losses and other personal and financial difficulties so our appeal is to those who can help to please donate to our own Quaker charity.

Donations can be made on line by clicking on the following link
https://www.bloomfield.ie/support-us/donate/

On Monday 6th April, Rathfarnham Friend Ciara Harrison presented a 5 minute spiritual message on behalf of Quakers in Ireland on RTE News Now.  The following link will provide you with Ciara’s script.

A calendar of Quaker-related events across Europe and worldwide is available on https://www.fwccemes.org/calendar/ should Friends be travelling throughout 2020 and wish to attend.

Some events are online!

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) has produced a poetry book, Pilgrim Verses, with all profits from sales going to the work of AVP.

Pilgrim Verses contains a collection of beautiful and simple poems about travels, religion, family and life by Padraic Murray, who is one of the AVP directors and who attends Monkstown Meeting. 

The poems are accompanied by calligraphies by Vincent Daniau.   

Padraic says, “I have had the pleasure of walking parts of the Camino de Santiago on four separate occasions between 2006 and 2013. It was a vivid reminder, if needed, that life indeed is a pilgrimage.

“For reasons of health and climate concern, I am now discovering the pilgrim paths of my native Ireland. The pilgrimages marked my journey from spiritual certainty to questioning. Many of these concerns are reflected in the verses, which for the most part were composed ‘on the spot’ with the help of a series of now defunct iPhones. The verses of varying quality were herded into a single document and with the help of family and friends we narrowed them down.”

As of early 2023, most of the physical copies have now been sold, and the remainder are to be sold to individuals who are in a position to collect them. For those who wish a physical copy and are able to collect the book, the book costs €15, and you can obtain a copy by emailing padraicmartinmurray@gmail.com. 

‘Pilgrim Verses’ can also be purchased online from Amazon Kindle at a cost of about £10.

Padraic is happy to visit Meetings around Ireland to share a couple of his poems and to talk about the work of AVP. Why not invite him?

The Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Denise Gabuzda, and the Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, Clare Scott Booth, have issued the following joint statement: