The latest FWCC EMES newsletter is now available.

You can find information about how some British Friends are putting their faith into action in the January 2025 BYM Faith in Action Newsletter.

The Ireland Yearly Meeting Peace Committee has organised an Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Workshop on 7-9 March at Quaker House Dublin.

The workshop will be led by facilitators of the Alternatives to Violence Project Ireland. Participants will complete their basic level training. The workshop is free to attend and funding is available to assist with travel costs.

Here are the application form and a poster that can be used to advertise the event.

Please send completed application forms to aoiferr@gmail.com before 15 February.

For further information, please email aoiferr@gmail.com.

Peter W. Lamb will give a presentation on the Exhibition and Lecture Series on the Irish Quaker Tradition presented in the Lexicon Library during Autumn 2024 at a Churchtown Coffee Morning on Wednesday 5th February during 10.30-21.00.

You can find more information, including the Zoom link for joining online in this flyer.

The letter below from Tim Gee, the General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), provides details on how to register for the online Memorial Meeting in memory our Friend Simon. C. Lamb, organised by FWCC. The Memorial Meeting will take place on Saturday, 8^th February at 3pm GMT (3pm Irish Time).

FWCC have requested that those who wish to attend register in advance to receive the Zoom link. 

We thank FWCC for republishing the text of Simon’s keynote talk at the 2000 FWCC Triennial in New Hampshire USA – Friends: A People Called to Listen.

Dear Friends, Following on from my email sharing the sad news of the passing of our Friend Simon C Lamb, I am in touch to share details of an international online memorial meeting being planned.  It will take place on Saturday 8 February at 3pm GMT/UTC. You can find out the exact time where you are here.  Register for the event here to receive the Zoom meeting link.  Thank you for the many messages with memories you have been sending. We have shared some of them on the FWCC website. We are also gathering photos to share at the memorial. If you would like to add to this, please email my colleague Ruby on comms@fwcc.world.   Following requests by Friends, we have also republished the text of Simon’s talk given in 2000 to the FWCC Triennial in New Hampshire, titled:  “Friends: A People Called to Listen”.  Simon’s funeral in Northern Ireland was full of people and full of Spirit. I believe that “the Light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5).  We can keep supporting one-another through this online memorial.  In Friendship, Tim Gee General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation Friends: A People called to Listen. Keynote address to FWCC Triennial 2000 in New Hampshire.

A pre-recorded interview with the Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Will Haire, was aired on Newtalk FM earlier today, 23^th of January 2025.

This interview is part of a series the station is doing on various faiths/religions in Ireland.

A link to the Podcast of the recorded interview is available here: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-lunchtime-live/religion-in-ireland-quakerism

Ireland Yearly Meeting will be held on 25 – 27 April 2025 at Friends School Lisburn. Ireland Junior Yearly Meeting will be held just before, on 17 – 21 April 2025 at a venue to be determined.

Information about accommodation, submitting proposals and the Public Lecture is available by clicking on the IYM 2025 banner on the right-hand side of the quakers.ie website:

Additional information will be added as it becomes available. It is hoped that registration for IYM2025 and the Public Lecture will be open by the end of January.

Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) is a gathering of young Friends and any young people interested in Quakerism in Ireland aged 13-18. We come together to meet, discuss, debate, and learn together. There are many social activities, too, such as workshops, a decathlon, a fancy dress banquet, and a concert. 

JYM 2025 will be held 17-21 April 2025 at Newtown School, Waterford. The theme will be “Bursting the Bubble”. You can find some more information, including who to contact for additional info, on this poster. We’ll be keeping the JYM section on the IYM website up to date too, as more information and application forms become available.

We recently reported the death of our Friend, Simon C. Lamb, a member of Richhilll Meeting and Clerk of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). Simon (1959-2025) died suddenly on Wednesday 8th January at his home in Richhill.

A Meeting for Worship to celebrate the Simon’s life was held at Richhill Friend’s Meeting House on Monday 13^th of January at 12noon, followed by burial at the adjoining Quaker burial ground.  A recording of this gathering is now available.

Below is a letter from Tim Gee, the General Secretary of FWCC. We will publish details of how to join the online Meeting in Simon’s memory referred to in the letter once those become available.

FWCC has also posted a memories and photos of Simon that have been submitted from Friends around the world, which you can find here.

Dear Friends,

With deep sadness, yesterday we received the news that our friend, FWCC CEC clerk Simon C Lamb has passed away. 

This comes as a major shock, for his family, colleagues, Friends in Northern Ireland, Ireland Yearly Meeting, the Europe & Middle East Section and the world family of Friends.

He touched the lives of many, having been part of FWCC for more than four decades. We understand the cause of death may have been a heart attack. 

Simon is so well loved across many countries that many testimonies, words and memories are reaching us already. If you feel moved to, please do reply to this email with any memories, stories or photos, which we will compile and share at a later date. 

We are also hoping to organise an online meeting in his memory. If you would like to receive details of this, please do reply to this email too.  

One of his final emails to many of us was shortly before Christmas, expressing his deep gratitude for all who contributed to FWCC, and praying that we might know the Indwelling Presence of the Light of Christ.

I have been struggling to find words, but have been reading some of Simon’s, from his 2000 keynote address to the FWCC triennial, in New Hampshire. It begins as follows: 

“There is a quiet place at the very heart of our being, in the depths of our soul. It is the place where God and humanity meet. As we seek to understand and to know God, it is in that place that we search for reason in the face of starvation and poverty across the globe. It is to there that we escape for comfort in our own moments of personal grief and need, and it is to there that we go when we are struggling with the challenge and reality of a personal experience of the living inward Christ. For it is in this quiet place that we will find the still small voice.” 

In Friendship,

Tim Gee
General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation 

The Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Will Haire, was to have been interviewed live on Newtalk FM on Thursday, 16^th of January 2025 at 12:40pm. However, the interview was instead pre-recorded as the schedule was very full.  Information about when the interview will be aired will be posted as soon as this is known.

This interview is part of a series the station is doing throughout January on various faiths/religions in Ireland.

We hope to share a link to the recorded interview for later listening once it becomes available.