London Link Group

Young Quaker London Link Group

Food for the body and soul in Forest Hill

14 Linkers from the very new, to the sadly soon to leave us, along with 6 brilliant volunteers, descended on Forest Hill for a weekend of fun.

We started with culture in the Horniman Museum – where a few of us caused chaos by letting cats into the cafe, and others by trying to get pigeons out of the cafe! People were particularly impressed by the spinning globe (more of later), instruments and aquarium.

We ate a picnic looking at the fabulous views over London then, after some tree hugging in the beautiful gardens, headed to the funky Forest Hill Meeting House. Here we played some games to get to know each other (before killing each other – Mafia style – always a popular choice).

Linkers were then set a challenge – in small groups they had to recreate something they were inspired by in the museum.

An exhibition was then set up where the creations were judged against strict criteria including vibes, likeness and resources used.

This took us to a dinner of tasty vege chilli and some down time before Epilogue and hot chocolate.

On Sunday we joined Forest Hill Children’s Meeting where we learnt about Joan Baez,  and sang one of her songs, led by Suzy in some very funky dungarees that she had designed for her brother when she was the equivalent of a Linker! The children then considered what helped them feel safe, while the young people explored the power and role of protest music and culture – name checking artists including: Declan Benedict McKenna; The Halluci Nation, especially the track “Sisters”; Billy Bragg; and the Singapore punk scene!

Several families then joined us for another great lunch featuring baked potatoes and a very welcome homemade chocolate cake before we all headed home.

Huge thank you to Forest Hill for hosting us, the volunteers who made it happen, and the Linkers themselves whose ingenuity and contributions never fail to amaze. We look forward to seeing you in January for our annual Winterval (date to be decided soon).

Friends Girls School Tokyo visit

Gifts given to LLG to say thank you for helping host

London Linkers can now, with authority, share that The Sun Shines On is not just played by British Quaker youths….and that Ginger Nut biscuits are a huge hit with Japanese young people. 

3 older Linkers, and the LLG Clerk, were pleased to help Westminster Meeting host 30 students, and 3 teachers, from Friends Girls School Tokyo as part of their annual visit to the UK.

We spent the morning explaining what we do in London Link and LTQM, while also giving a big shout out to Junior Gathering, Senior Conference, and JYM etc. They had many questions for us and it was a joy to share our perspectives with them but also to hear the amazing impact of spaces like London Link on our young people’s lives and their Quaker journeys.

The final questions were around George Fox and one of our answers led the students sharing that they had learnt a song about him… This led to a brilliant sing along of the Sydney Carter Ballad of George Fox song (also known as There’s a Light that is Shining or simply The George Fox song). 

“In my old leather breeches and my shaggy, shaggy locks, I am walking in the glory of the light,” said Fox.

Afterwards our guests enthusiastically shared the biscuits we often eat at LTQM, with Foxes party rings and ginger nuts definitely being favourites. With all in unity that perhaps George Fox himself might not approve of Party Rings! Thank you to the Linkers for also helping to serve copious cups of tea.

We then played an extended game of The Sun Shines On with much hilarity – turns out not many of us have cats but most of us like chocolate.

The students then gave us an impressive, bilingual, presentation about life in Japan, and issues that are facing them such as coping with an ageing population, living with earthquakes, and the climate crisis.

We were then able to hear more about their trip to the UK, which included visiting places such as Jordan’s Meeting House and Firbank Fell, before they headed off to see Wicked in the West End.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Friends Girls School Tokyo, and to their UK guide and Westminster Friends, for enabling us to take part in such a special morning. 

Sun and fun in lovely Lewes

Outside Lewes historic Meeting House

On 29-30 June 2024, 15 young people and adult volunteers headed to the newly renovated Lewes Quaker Meeting for our first London Link Group residential event of the year.

Most of us met at Victoria station at 9am on Saturday and took a train to Lewes, with a few others making their way directly to Lewes Quaker Meeting. There has been a Quaker Meeting in Lewes since 1655 (!) and the meeting house was built in 1784.

We played games to get to know each other, aided by some tennis ball catching practice, and took a look around the meeting house to work out where we were going to be sleeping. Once we had established names we assigned secret friends for the weekend.

After lunch, we went to the Railway Land nature reserve, and played frisbee in the sunshine. There were a few hours to explore Lewes, when some people went charity shopping, and others bought things for their secret friend, or went back to the meeting house to sing songs and play card games.

Frisbee fun

We had a tasty dinner of takeaway pizzas and salads, and followed this up with a mighty, loosely Quaker-themed quiz! This included a picture round in which we had to identify whether a building was a current Quaker meeting house or not. Another question required each team to list as many facts as they could about an individual on the next team. The hilarious “false or true” round required us to work out what kind of Fox’s party ring biscuit was the favourite of George Fox, who would have been 400 this year. We finished the day with epilogue and hot chocolate/herbal tea before bedding down on the meeting house floor.

On Sunday, we joined Lewes Quakers for their meeting for worship. The children’s meeting made origami tulips. We had a shared lunch of quiche and salads before heading for the train back to London, having had a fun and fulfilling weekend among Friends.

Looking forward to the next residential event at Forest Hill on 12-13 October 2024!

Booking open for London Link in Lewes: Now closed!

Lewes Meeting House

Further details will be sent by email.

We’re heading from London to Lewes in East Sussex to the beautiful market town of Lewes (which has a recently refurbished Meeting House). There will be the usual array of hanging out, great food, visit to castle and gardens (tbc), seeing the town, games, Quaker reflection and the fun of camping out with Friends in a meeting house.

Book now! https://londonlinkgroup.org.uk/events/london-link-goes-to-lewes/

London Link in Southend – day trip to Adventure Island theme park

We met by the Kindertransport statue outside Liverpool Street station, or some of us did – before realising there was another Kindertransport statue inside the station, which also happens to be the dedicated meeting point for the station! So two groups formed, packed lunches in hand, and boarded an early train for Southend.

We arrived at Adventure Island 2 minutes before it opened for the day, Southend Pier and the Thames estuary illuminated by glorious spring sunshine, which was the backdrop for the day, between intermittent brief April showers.

After sampling the thrills of various rides and attractions, we regrouped for a picnic lunch in the Cliff Gardens, supplemented with chips from the many fish and chip outlets. The adrenaline junkies were soon back on the rides, whilst others enjoyed the amusement arcades or took to the beach. At the appointed hour, we met to head back to the station (via the sweet shop!) and return to London on the train, our naps taking the edge off our tiredness from a long but enjoyable day together.

As one of our (older) participants said “I loved the trip to Adventure Island, it was so nice to see friends again and was a solid final London Link event”.

See you in June for the residential in Lewes!

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