On the 13th-15th Of July 2018 a total of 20 Young Quakers and 5 volunteers met at St.Albans Quaker Meeting House.

After journeying from London and further afield on Friday the first priority was food, food, glorious food. We had some jacket potatoes with a tomato/veggie mince. As this was demolished we played some name games; we had a few new people including 5 young people from the local area meeting (Luton and Leighton).

After our dinner had settled we played some games, Newspaper hockey (being this author’s favourite) and sardines then we had an epilogue, some hot chocolate and then settled down for bed.

Newspaper hockey

Saturday was another beautiful sunny day, we started it in the best way possible with a veggie cooked breakfast. After this was cleared up we made packed lunches, had a bit of free time and then walked to the grounds of St.Albans Cathedral. There we had a picnic in the shade and relaxed for a bit chatting, playing uno and generally enjoying the sunshine. We then split into groups and either went round the town, seeing the sights or doing a bit of shopping, some of us went to the local swimming pool.

picnic

As many have done before, we gathered under the market clock tower in St.Albans.

On the clock tower

From there we walked back to the meeting house where Michael and Katy ran a session on ‘well-being’, discussing some of the training that they had recently received via an FSSE training day. We talked about what strategies people used to relax as well as remembering to celebrate our own successes, to this end we all wrote something that we were proud or glad of having done, we then gave out the stationary packs that Children and Young People section of Britain Yearly Meeting as prizes for everyone.

Some games were organised including Empire, Sardines (again), Bannagrams, cards and various others until it was time for dinner. The dinner was London link’s first furore into mass curry making, we had Saag, Aloo and brinjal bahji curries with rice to choose from.

After dinner we had another first for London Link group – an informal ‘open-mic’ session,

we had lots of fun and excellent performances,  ranging from telling jokes, playing the piano, the titanic on the kazoo and recorder and a rap about Junior Gathering.

At the end of the night we gathered round the piano and had a sing song, an eclectic mix of Beatles, rounds, Quaker songs and rounding off with Taizé which lead into epilogue.

On Sunday we were all up early to get the meeting house ship shape, ready for the local Quaker meeting, we packed our things away and had breakfast, and then what can only be described as a-power-ballad-driven-cleaning montage happened much to the delight of everyone (especially the volunteers I think).

Some of the group stayed in Meeting for the whole hour while others went with a group to the park.

Some lunch and free time and all too soon it was time to go home.

We’d like to thank St.Albans Meeting, the volunteers and the young people for a fantastic weekend.

Michael, Katy, Sally, Simon, Philip and Amy

From the 9th to the 11th March, 16 London Linkers and 5 volunteers visited the historic Jordans Quaker Meeting House, (William Penn and Isaac Pennington are buried here).

After meeting at Marylebone, the London Linkers jumped on a train to Seer Green. On the train, torches and reflective jackets were handed out, and tension began to build. ‘We’re not in Forest Hill anymore’, one young person was heard to mutter. We jumped off the train, into the pitch dark, and with torches at the ready, we headed into the woods. ‘Only at a Quaker event…’ another young person intoned, gravely, and with pride.

After safely navigating the roadsides and woods of Seer Green, we arrived at the Youth Hostel where we were to stay for the weekend. After some dinner and room-finding, games were played and a lovely calm Epilogue was had.

The next day, after breakfast, the Quaker-y band of city-people headed straight to the biggest attraction in the area: Bekonscot Model Village, the oldest of its kind in the world. After riding the model railway around tiny-town until the intense thrill had finally worn off, London Linkers took in the sights in groups. Tiny model figures were seen walking down tiny cobbled streets; tiny running trains steamed along tiny railway lines; and a group of much larger Quakers sat down together to have a sandwich lunch.

When we returned to the meeting house, Sally and Trottie ran a workshop about economic justice and how the whole thing is tied in tightly with fossil fuel usage and big business’s moneymaking concerns. Linkers particularly enjoyed the ‘adbusting’ segment, where magazine advertisements were scrutinised and their subliminal emotive messages were revealed.

After dinner, we settled down to play a couple of Quaker favourites as a group: namely Mafia and Empire. We had another lovely Epilogue, gorged upon a biscuit feast carefully laid out by Eli, and then it was time for bed.

In the morning, we attended Meeting for Worship at the Meeting House at Jordan’s, which is one of the oldest Friends’ Meeting Houses in the world. The simple beauty of this centuries-old Meeting House was not lost on the London Linkers, and the meeting was full of moving ministry.

Some Linkers joined the local young Quakers in their children’s meeting, which was excellently co-run by a young Quaker from Jordans. Two London Linkers would pair up with a much younger Jordans Quaker, and they would make mosaic tiles together. It was genuinely lovely to see the Linkers encouraging, helping, and getting on with the younger Jordans Quakers.

After meeting, and having had our final sandwich lunch of the trip, we set off across the fields in search of a London-bound locomotive train. Morale was high, the weather was good, and it was a lovely end to a great weekend. Massive thanks to Jordan’s Friends’ Meeting for hosting us so graciously in their meeting house for our activities during the trip, and of course to all London Linkers, young and old, who helped make the atmosphere warm, welcoming and friendly.

We hope to see all of you at the next one!
Eli, Noa, Sally, Trottie, and Scottie.

On the 23rd to 24th of September London Link visited Forest Hill Meeting.

After getting thoroughly confused by the new London bridge layout, London Linkers arrived at Forest Hill meeting house. 23 of us and 5 volunteers. As everyone was getting hungry for lunch we had just a quick introduction session.  After lunch we headed out to the Horniman museum, The Museum is a curious mix of collections having been started by Frederick John Horniman from the Quaker family that founded the Horniman Tea Company.

We went off in groups to look around at some of the museum’s collections, it was a bright sunny day so we spent lots of time in the gardens as well as looking at the animals.

Early evening we headed back to the meeting house for a BBQ, some played games whilst others chilled out. Later in the evening we set up a pop up cinema and watched a film. We had an Epilogue then bed.

Although we had planned a cooked breakfast on Sunday we had a bit of a cooker melt down, so instead we had to make do with just cereal (the horror!).  Before meeting we had some time to hang out; some of the group read through a sketch about going to Quaker meeting. We stayed in meeting for the first 15 minutes, some stayed for the whole hour. As it was another nice sunny day we went down to a local park and enjoyed the zip line and swings.

Once back at the meeting house we were greeted by an amazing spread of a shared lunch which Forest Hill Quakers had very kindly arranged. After lunch we played some more games and generally just enjoyed hanging out and the excellent weather.

We’d like to thank Forest Hill meeting for hosting us, the young people, the volunteers (especially at late notice and travelling a long distance to allow the event to happen) and to Kerri and Jonathan for also planning the event.

Michael, Kerri, Jonathan, Rob, Jen, Simon and Alice