London Link Group are offering to provide (DBS checked) adult accompaniers for any Linkers (aged 11-19) who want to attend the upcoming Silent Walking Vigil for Peace in a group.
This is taking place on Saturday 19 September 12-4pm in central London and all are welcome.
We intend to meet at Westminster Meeting House at 11.30 and join the vigil for about an hour before returning to Westminster Meeting House.
If you would like to attend with London Link Group, please can you let us know by Sunday 13 September via this booking form This is to ensure we have enough volunteers. Thank you.
We are advised to Live Adventurously and that is what 13 Linkers, supported by 5 adult volunteers, did on a hot sunny day in the Lea Valley.
After successfully passing a challenging swimming test, involving jumping into a fast flowing body of water to prove we could swim to safety, 16 of us were divided into 2 crafts to experience Whitewater Rafting – down the course built for the 2012 London Olympics.
Events were faithfully recorded by our onshore Ffriends and we thank them, and our lovely instructors, for their support!
We learnt the importance of following instructions in order to prevent capsizing/falling out of a raft, how to work together as a team to move forward (and backwards), and how to overcome understandable fears and move out of our comfort zones. While having a very fun time (if not quiet – there was a lot of screaming). Many of us also got some first hand experience of following instructions after capsizing/falling out of a raft.
We then hit the water again for Wipeout – cheerfully racing each other on an inflatable obstacle course, occasionally falling (or pushing someone else) in! While less scary, there was still a lot of laughter and screaming. Once we’d tired ourselves out we enjoyed bobbing blissfully in the lake under the hot sun.
What do Venn diagrams, pizza and a wooden ghost all have common?
They all featured in the London Link Group annual Winterval celebration kindly hosted by Westminster Quaker meeting at the end of January.
19 young people from in and around London, and 5 amazing adult volunteers, came together to enjoy different games, a fantastic quiz, and pizza making. We shared a Meeting for Worship for Business where names were considered to complete our new London Teenage Quaker Meeting (LTQM) clerking team, and ideas were taken for future events.
It was a friendly and good-humoured afternoon, with much patience shown when a rogue food order delayed the presence of biscuits. Cue a slightly frantic supermarket sweep – apologies to anyone in Covent Garden looking for pizza bases – we ate them all! And enjoyed them.
Winterval (for ages 11-19) is taking place on Sunday 25th January 2-6pm. Join us for games, a fun Quaker quiz, Worship and making your own pizza!
London Teenage Quaker Meeting (for ages 13-19) will be held every 4th Sunday of the month in 2026 (2-4pm). Join our friendly young Quakers for games, biscuits and worship.
From Friday 26 to Sunday 28 September, 23 young people and 6 adult volunteers headed to buzzing Brighton for another marvellous London Link group residential.
We met for dinner at Wagamama whilst the stragglers battled with disruption on the underground, all being present and correct by our appointed departure time. The rear half of the post rush-hour Friday evening train was out of action, so with the other passengers, we squeezed on to the half of the train that was operational, and enjoyed catching up with Friends old and new as we trundled through the dark past Selhurst Park, Gatwick Airport and up over the South Downs.
We pulled into Brighton station and stepped down to the sanctuary of the Quaker Meeting house, where some participants had already arrived from Brighton, Lewes and environs, as had our Sainsbury’s delivery.
After a few “getting to know each other” games, we closed the day with epilogue and settled down to our improvised beds, snuggled in sleeping bags and roll mats.
On Saturday morning we feasted on Cheerios and toast with freshly brewed tea and coffee, made picnic sandwiches and headed off to Brighton Museum.
The museum was pleasingly interactive, and had an exhibition on Mod Fashion and style (1958-66). A rolling video reminded us that Abba’s Eurovision success with “Waterloo” had taken place at the Brighton Dome over 50 years earlier.
We had our picnic lunch in Pavilion Gardens and headed off in small groups to enjoy free time in Brighton, some taking in a graffiti art trail. Back at the Meeting House garden, we got to work trimming green beens from bushes which had bean gleaned the day before from a nearby farm, being uneconomic for the farmer to harvest. They were delectably cooked up in a Thai green curry and coconut sauce for dinner, and given out to Friends at meeting on Sunday.
After a dinner of mostly Mexican fajitas and nachos (with aforementioned green beans on the side) with cake and custard for afters, we played games and walked down through the busy Saturday night life to the beach for a memorable epilogue, under the stars and seagulls, the lights of the pier visible to the east.
On Sunday morning we joined a bumper meeting for worship of almost 90 Friends, with a brilliant Children’s Meeting to accompany it. We enjoyed participating in a marvellous shared lunch of soups, quiche, salads, breads and cheeses. After clearing the meeting house we headed back to the train, sorry to say goodbye but happy to have spent a delightful weekend among the company of Friends
Friday 26 September 2025 (6pm Victoria Train Station) – Sunday 28 September (afternoon)
While it might officially be Autumn by the end of September – London Link Group are hoping to prolong the summer vibes with a residential trip to Brighton!
Last visited in 2022 – we hope to offer a similar blend of beach, games, and interesting places to visit with spending thoughtful time with Brighton Quaker Meeting, who have kindly agreed to let us sleep on their comfortable Meeting House floors again.
After meeting for pizza close to Victoria Train Station on the Friday evening, we will travel to Brighton on the train together in time to arrive for settling in with Epilogue and hot chocolate.
Those wishing to travel direct to Brighton Quaker Meeting can do so, for 8.30pm. We will spend Saturday exploring the joys Brighton has to offer, and Sunday with Brighton Friends – travelling home together after a shared lunch.
Because of the need to ensure we have adequate volunteers and train tickets etc the deadline for booking is Saturday 20 September.
Please find the booking form here: https://londonlinkgroup.org.uk/buzzing-in-brighton/
The cost is £20 – but no-one is to be excluded so please contact us if you need to discuss this.
Please contact David Holtam (david.holtam@gmail.com) or Rebecca Fricker (clerk@londonlinkgroup.org.uk) if you have any queries, and do forward details of this event to anyone you think might be interested.
On Saturday 28th June a group of 19 Linkers, pre-linkers and adults met up at the Kindertransport statue outside Liverpool Street station, and boarded an early train for Southend.
Three of our number, over in London for June/July, are normally based at Albuquerque Quaker meeting in New Mexico, USA and we enjoyed talking to them about their life there.
We arrived at Adventure Island just as it opened for the day, Southend Pier and the Thames estuary illuminated by glorious sunshine.
We enjoyed the thrills of various rides and attractions, regrouped for a picnic lunch in the Cliff Gardens, supplemented with chips from the many fish and chip outlets, and cooled off in the shade of the amusement arcades.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we met to head back to the station (via the sweet shop!), with one person picking up an electric guitar in a charity shop.
We returned to London on the train, some catching up on naps.
Everyone is looking forward to seeing each other at FSSE Junior Gathering and Senior Conference in August, and then at the next LLG residential to be held on 27-28 September in Brighton!
On 26 January 2025, 20 young people and 4 adult volunteers met for the afternoon at Westminster Quaker Meeting for Winterval 2025.
Proceedings began with silent worship. We then had fun doing a Quaker Quiz, and (in Winterval tradition) made our own pizzas. The best quiz round was “Quaker or Quacker” in which we had to figure out if the person shown on the screen was a Quaker, a birdwatcher, or both (turns out Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz is kind of both).
We finished the afternoon and said our goodbyes, and went home feeling ready to start the week (well, after some of us had got over our eventful journeys on the Underground).
It was really good fun meeting up with Quaker friends and we had been looking forward to seeing each other and catching up. We are looking forward to the residential weekend in Welwyn Garden City in March.
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).
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.
London Link Group is a volunteer-run Quaker group that organises events to bring Young Quakers aged 11-18 together. We are part of London Quakers.
We aim to: help young Quakers to develop their friendships; explore Quaker values; empower young Quakers; put into practice our Quaker ideals to create an egalitarian, safe, inclusive, caring and positive atmosphere at every event. Find out more about us.
