On the 4th of October, 13 Young people and 6 adult volunteers made their way down to Brighton Meeting house. There we met up with 9 more young people from Brighton and beyond, making 28 of us altogether. Like all events we started by introducing each other in as many creative ways as possible.

One of the great things about Brighton Meeting House is it’s very close to the beach, to get our bearings we headed down for an evening walk while some lovely volunteers made dinner. We came back, ate, had an epilogue, hot chocolate and then bed.

After breakfast on Saturday, packed lunches were made and a prologue and introduction to the theme was done, we wondered down to the beach with our picnic. We ate our food and played some games. Some of the linkers and a staff member even braved swimming in the sea!

We came back to the meeting house and signed out as groups to explore the lanes and laines of Brighton for a few hours. We had some tea, snacks and a bit of free time on arriving back to the meeting house. Some people used this to make beaded bracelets.

Judy from Brighton meeting arrived to lead a creative session exploring the theme of Awe and Wonder through writing poems, drawings and making clay models. Many Awesome and Wonderful things were made.

Dinner next and then some games, including a new favourite “Empire” and an old favourite “Sardines”;  Once everyone was re-found we went into an epilogue and then bed.

Sunday morning we quickly vacated the meeting room floor (carpeted, yes!!) to make sure it could be set out for Sunday Meeting. Had breakfast and then made our way into Meeting. We went out of meeting with the other Children from Brighton and carried on our own Meeting for Worship outside in the garden. After this we reflected on the weekend, gave feedback and heard about the up coming events (Quakers on Ice on the 17th Nov and the Winterval in early 2014).

Tea after meeting provided time to play a bit of Quaker bingo – trying to find people from Brighton meeting who “had a favourite biscuit” or “Went to a Quaker school” etc, probably to the bafflement of most of the Brighton Quakers…

We just had time to enjoy the fantastic weather again by going down the to the beach and visiting the pier before heading back to London and Home.

We’d like to thank all the Young People who came, the volunteers and Brighton Quakers for letting us use the lovely Meeting House.

Scottie, Michael, Sarah, Sam, Jonathan and Liz.

Luton and Leighton Area (LLAM) meeting Link group invited London Link to come to their SUMMER LINK event at Watford meeting house

We took the train up from Friends House and arrived at Watford a bit earlier than expected. Thank you everyone for being so prompt! We introduced our selves with a few name games and joined up with the LLAM linkers, making 20 of us in all, many of us knew each other through Summer School and from previous Link ups so we quickly re-connected.

We then went off to Cassiobury park where we had an energetic game of rounders and relaxed in the very sunny weather. After we walked back to the meeting house, where Alistair Fuller, Outreach Officer for Britain Yearly Meeting joined us to talk to us about Talking about theism and non-theism. We explored how we communicate the concept of GOD and the different approaches and vocabulary we might use to help us.

We had some free time while the group on the rota helped to prepare food. Watford meeting has a fantastic garden and it being great weather we had a BBQ. As the evening drew in we gathered round the fire chatting and listening and signing to some guitar playing which lead us into an epilogue around fire. Free time and then bed (well,  floor).

On Sunday we had breakfast and went back out into the garden to play table tennis, swing on the swing, bounce on the trampoline or just chat with chickens until it was time for Meeting. After meeting we continued the theme of theism and non-theism by discussing some quotations from “Twelve Quakers and God” in smaller groups in a creative listening session.

After this we had a picnic lunch in the garden, some free time, a short evaluation session and then back home.

Thank you to all the volunteers from London Link and, especially to Luton and Leighton Link group committee for organising and inviting London Link group to their SUMMER LINK event.

As we journeyed from the grand St.Pancras International to the ever so slightly less grand East Croydon, much like the early Friends, we grew in numbers from those convinced on the worthy of London Link Croydon II. From 5 to  22.

Having arrived at Croydon Meeting house we introduced ourselves and welcomed new London linkers, gratefully our dinner was already well under way by this point so our next job was to set out the dinning room and eat and then clear up.

After a small amount of free time we went to an epilogue lead by a nominated participant then some hot chocolate and bed.

Croydon meeting house has many advantages, but one that stands out for us is the warm upstairs carpeted rooms. Hooray for Carpets! Small luxuries but we definitely appreciated them.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast and then Liz, a local Quaker came to talk to us about her job running community services for Croydon council, she challenged us to help think of solutions to the problems of building communities, and many ideas came out of this. With some interesting discussions on how strong communities build a sense of home and responsibility to the place you live, as well as providing a valuable support network.

We had some free time before lunch to play some games and relax with friends before we caught the tram to the bowling venue.

Two games of bowling later we were all bowled out and returned to the Meeting house. A bit more free time then dinner.
After dinner we played a new game called Empire where each person gives themselves a new name such as “George Cadbury” and you have to guess who would give them selves that name, guessing correctly gains you that person onto your team/empire.

The down fall of the empires left standing was time, as we then went into an epilogue and then bed.

On Sunday morning we got up and joined the early bird Croydon Quakers for breakfast  we had a small amount of free time afterwards to chat before going into meeting.
After meeting we continued some quiet reflection, we came up with a few ideas for next events and gave some feedback on what were the highlights and lowlights of the weekend.

We have an invitation to join LLAM’s link group in 2-3rd March St.Albans (Contact for details/see their facebook page). We also heard about the new initiative for regular events at Westminster meeting house, starting with the 17th March, as we look to make Westminster our base meeting house. Looking slightly further ahead of course the much anticipated MARGATE II on the 19th-21st April! (booking forms now out).

Thank you to Croydon meeting for hosting us so well, all the young people for being brilliant and the fantastic volunteer team – Andy, Michael, Katie and Inga

Just when you thought the partying was about to end

and you were about to recover from Christmas and New Years. London Link’s annual winter party comes around, and a good thing too.

As with previous years, we were gratefully hosted by Westminster meeting house. We played various favourite games, from a young people vs volunteers Giants, Wizards and Elves to Quaker musical chairs.

Thanks to Westminster meeting, Westminster meeting’s wardens, the young people, volunteer team, parents and all the lovely food that was brought for the shared tea.

We met on a rainy day in front of Gringott’s bank. Well, the Bank of England. Richard, our tour guide (dressed in Gryffindor cap and scarf) told us how JK Rowling was working in London just before she had the idea for the first Harry Potter novel. We walked to Leadenhall Market, where the film scene of Harry and Hagrid’s first trip to London had been shot.
We walked through hidden alleys and saw the Leaky Cauldron (twice, as it was also filmed at Borough Market in later films), the Millenium Bridge where Death Eaters are sometimes seen, the Globe Theatre (creation of actor Sam Wanamaker whose daughter Zoe plays Madam Hooch), Daniel Radcliffe’s school and finally St Paul’s cathedral, adorned by Fawkes the phoenix. Richard tested us regularly with entertaining quiz questions.
Afterwards we took the bus to Kings Cross St Pancras where the queue for the wall to Platform 9 ¾ eclipsed those of the ticket offices. From there it was a short walk to busy Friends House where we shared a picnic and enjoyed some time to talk and dry off!

It was encouraging to see some new faces and we all had a wonderful time.

·         Twelve participants
·         Five adults + one baby

Finance summary:
Total monies collected: £70
Total cost: £110

(Loss subsidised by current balance)

Thank you to all the participants and volunteers.

27 young people and 6 volunteers battled the commuters to arrive at Welwyn Garden city for Friday evening, escaping the rain in a very welcoming Welwyn Garden city Quaker meeting house.  Having introduced the event to everyone, we got to know each other a bit better by saying our name and crucially ..what we would do in the case of a zombie invasion…, dinner, an epilogue, some hot chocolate and then bed.

After breakfast we made ourselves a picnic to take to Stanborough Park, where we were graced with a beautiful day for games, ice cream and messing about in the river.

Having the park as a base we split into groups and went on a nature treasure hunt, after all the nature had been found we headed back to Welwyn Garden city meeting house to hear a talk on our theme “Marriage Equality” from Michael Booth (Britain Yearly meeting staff).

We heard about the decision made in 2009 at Yearly Meeting gathering and some of the history of the concern that links to our testimony to equality. This brought about a very open and challenging discussion about the homophobia that young people face and witness in schools and how difficult it can be do help people to overcome their fears and prejudices, especially when they are not supported well by their school, and when the word “gay” is used commonly to mean bad.

After dinner we had some free time and then we continued on our theme by looking at equality further, using a post-it based forum we had discussions on:

“Why are some people against Marriage Equality? Should some people be richer than others? What is the effect on us and everyone if people are treated unequally? Quakers have broken the law before to do what we believe is right, should we do so now? Do you feel equal to other people? and Why?”

After this we had an epilogue, some hot chocolate then bed.
Morning came round slightly earlier than we’re used to for a Sunday but we managed to be up and packed before the special early morning Quaker meeting started. A quick breakfast and then out onto the green to play some Frisbee, ‘Giants, Wizards and Elves’ and more games.

We then went into Quaker meeting and were warmly welcomed. Broadening our theme we heard from Michael Wood about the Occupy movement and the Quaker meeting that was setup at St.Pauls and how Quaker’s had many shared values.

We had a very short meeting about upcoming events and the formation of a Young People’s team to help support the events. Some free time and then back to London.

Thanks to all the Young People, all the volunteers and Welwyn Garden City meeting for hosting us.

Michael Wood (Assistant Clerk)