On a not-quite spring 3-5th of March 13 young people and 5 volunteers from across the south gathered in St.Albans Quaker Meeting House.

Although tired out by the week, our energy levels were soon replenished by seeing friends new and old.

For dinner we had a curry of coconut dhal, vegetable curry, pakoras and rice that filled us up. After that meal’s washer-uppers had finished we settled down to watch a film on the projector in main meeting room. We had a short candle lit epilogue and then bed.

At the crack of 8:30am we tided up and joined together to have a veggie cooked breakfast. For one particular participant the morning also marked the dawn of a new age, …age 15. Happy Birthday! In terms of getting up throwing birthday balloons at each other proved very effective.

The first activity of the day was free time in the historic town of St.Albans, with attractions such as the charter market, Roman ruins, a cathedral and the ever popular Tesco Metro and Wilko stores providing places to visit – everyone found something to enjoy.

St.Albans Meeting House is conveniently located close to the town centre, for several hours we opened our exclusive artisan (crisp sandwich anyone?) sandwich shop for participants to drop in. This was also a good opportunity to sing happy birthday and dive into to birthday cake #1.

After letting lunch digest, a few of the participants and 3 of the volunteers went to the leisure centre to try our wits at crossing the inflatable obstacle course. Volunteers struggling with the er…agility, benefited from nice team efforts.

Once everyone was back there was time for some games before starting the main theme session on “What makes you, you? Exploring the world of our own identities”. We talked about about what is an identity and the protected characteristics in law. We went on to try to map out our broader identities with post-its. The meeting house floor was covered with colourful clusters of posits, reflecting the differences and similarities between us.

How can we make the meeting a community in which each person is accepted and nurtured, and strangers are welcome? Seek to know one another in the things which are fundamental, bear the burden of each other’s challenges and uphold one another. As we enter with tender sympathy into the joys and sorrows of each other’s lives, ready to give help and to receive it, our meeting can be a channel for love.

Adapted version of Advice & Queries 18

After consent from the group we wandered around the room looking at what people had chosen to put. A very deep respectful silence was experienced whilst we were doing this, perhaps reflecting the braveness, honesty and vulnerability we were all experiencing. We considered the questions of whether the identities we express change depending on who we’re with or where we are. What parts of our identities change over time and what stays the same. How do we make sure our identities don’t divide us.

It felt like a safe and spiritually connected time.

After some refreshments the volunteers set about making dinner, while the young people organised themselves into playing various games around the meeting house.

A dinner of pasta, pesto, broccoli and tomato was demolished. Cake #2 gently lead us to our open-mic evening, with an eclectic mix of talented and entertaining performances.

Epilogue followed. With a reading:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

“A Return To Love” by Marianne Williamson.

The next morning we got up and reassembled the Meeting House. A very long running cooked veggie breakfast got our hearts, stomachs and minds prepared for Quaker meeting. Some stayed in Meeting whilst others joined a group making clay models.

A lunch of left overs and sandwiches, a few last games and we were ready to head home.

London Link would like to thank St.Albans Quaker meeting for welcoming us again, shifting around bookings and generally letting us make the house our home for the weekend.

Thank you to all the participants and volunteers for an excellent weekend. – Michael, Philip, Amy, Rob and Margarita

On 7-9 October 2022, 14 London Linkers and 4 adult volunteers travelled to Brighton Quaker Meeting for the first LLG residential event in just over 3 years. THREE YEARS!!! We had totally forgotten how much fun they are. 

We took a Friday evening train from Victoria after wolfing down some pizzas at the rendezvous location, and played a few games on arrival. We were impressed to learn that one of our number had a Quaker heritage dating back to 1655 in their family! After hot chocolate and epilogue we retired to sleep on the floor in comfortable carpeted rooms in the Meeting House. 

On Saturday we visited Brighton Pavilion and were shocked at the royal opulence which clashed with our Quaker simplicity. King George IV (Prince Regent during the time of his father’s madness) had an enormous 54 inch waist! He liked his food, music, the seawater and partying in Brighton apparently. The guide said that he would approve of all the stag and hen parties which visit Brighton now. 

We really enjoyed sitting on the beach in the sunshine and chatting/being buried under pebbles/ paddling in the sea (and in a couple of cases being swept over by the waves and totally soaked). After lunch some of us explored the Lanes, others visited Brighton Table Tennis Club, and we met up on the beach again at the end of the afternoon and some of us swam, deliberately this time. A few brave souls took their chances on daredevil rides on the Palace Pier. 

After a Mexican-style dinner of veggie fajitas and nachos, we played Wink Ministry and an EPIC game of sardines — to which we found Brighton Quaker Meeting House is ideally suited. 

On Sunday morning we joined Brighton Friends in their meeting for worship, and learned from Helen Ledger about the inspiring work the meeting is doing with refugees and asylum seekers who are held in poor conditions in hotels for many months, with only £8.40 per week to live on and no access to cooking facilities. The Sanctuary Group at Brighton Quaker meeting enables people to cook meals from their own culture, paying for supplies and offering friendship and excellent kitchen facilities. 

We had a shared lunch with Brighton Friends and returned on an afternoon train feeling physically tired but socially and spiritually refreshed. 

Thank you Brighton Quaker Meeting and BRING ON 2023 residential weekends!

Young Quakers from LLG attend climate strike earlier in the day

On the 20th – 22nd September London Linkers Gathered in Epping. We had one of our most ambitious and “logistically heavy timetable” – Michael Wood events planned, and we’re happy to say we succeeded, with the assistance of 7 brilliant volunteers, in showing 14 “Linkers” not 1, not 2 but 3 centuries worth of delight in Essex in a weekend that utilised 5 trains, 3 buses, and 1 (not so) secret nuclear bunker!

Epping Meeting (established in the 1700’s) offered to host London Link in their beautiful Meeting House situated in the Market Town of Epping. The fun started on the Friday night with a tasty pasta dish (with roasted broccoli proving an unexpected hit with the young folk), games and a peaceful Epilogue.

Metropolitan number 1

An solid (veggie) cooked breakfast gave everyone the energy they needed to make the early start on Saturday – with a huge stack of sandwiches being constructed around the tidying up. We made it to the bus stop on time and all (just about) piled on to the vintage (Routemaster) 339 bus with a group of

Morris Dancers(!) for the pretty journey to our destination – the historic Epping and Ongar Railway where we spent a happy 20 minutes at the North Weald Station admiring the trains, architecture, Morris Dancing and the gift and tuck shops (we won’t let on to parents and carers quite how many snacks were purchased but it is was all for a good cause).  An 1800’s steam engine (Met 1) (perhaps appreciated more by the older members of the group) conveyed us to Ongar Station where a mad dash got us back on the 339 for a trip to the 1950’s and a product of the Cold War…..

Kelvedon (not so) Secret nuclear bunker

Picnic at a nuclear bunker

But before starting our tour of Kelvedon’s (once) Secret Nuclear Bunker it was agreed that feeding stomachs took precedence over feeding minds and we had our picnic sitting next to a stack of military equipment (and a replica missile) – not a usual location for Quakers.. Once in, we spent several hours exploring the 3 floors of the bunker which started life as an RAF ROTOR Station, then had a brief period as a civil defence centre, then becoming a Regional Government HQ before being decommissioned in 1992. It was designed for up to 600 military and civilian personnel, possibly even the Prime Minister (there were several dummies meant to be representing Margaret Thatcher in different locations which were properly scary), in order to organise the survival of the population should there be a nuclear war. The communications, medical, working and sleeping spaces were fascinating but also quite spooky – though nowhere near as scary as the government information films and adverts telling people what to do in the event of a nuclear war. The official commentary was very dark and confirmed my reasoning that survival might not in our best interests…..

Vintage Routemaster bus

A sit in the sun to absorb both the horror, and a piece of flapjack, preceded another bus ride on the bouncy bus back to Epping for a cup of tea, sit in the garden, and for groups of Linkers a wander around the shops. After a full day, Saturday evening was chilled with board games, music and a gorgeous potato and spinach curry.

On Sunday morning we joined Meeting for Worship and many of us then spent a happy Children’s Meeting making cards to thank Michael for his 10 years as Clerk of London Link!

Thank you to Epping Meeting for hosting us!

Next committee meeting we will be planning our programme for late 2019/2020, watch this space! Helping set up the Quaker Homeless Action Christmas Shelter and Winterval at Westminster in the New Year are likely to be the next two events. Sign up to our mailing list to get notification.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon,
Rebecca

Alan, Amy, Eli, Margarita, Michael, Philip (and we can reassure everyone that Michael hopes to volunteer in future events – phew).

p.s. Note for parents/guardians – Unfortunately this time there were some issues with respect for Meeting House property in the library/female sleeping area – despite being asked to leave the contents of a cupboard belonging to a hirer alone, after the event we found this not to have been respected, leading to the loss of chocolate and sweets belonging to an Alzheimer’s group who were understandably upset. Please remind young people that they agree to adhere to the boundaries at our events and that we do rely on the goodwill of Quaker groups to host us, which part of this is respecting the building and contents! Thanks