London Link is going to the Lea Valley Olympic Whitewater Centre on Saturday 11 July! Join us for rafting, or a walk in the Lee Valley Park if you prefer, followed by the water wipeout inflatable course on the lake.
This will be our most exciting and adrenaline-fuelled London Link event yet, and we will be delighted if you can join us – we welcome anyone aged 11-18, living in or around London, and have any association with (or interest in) Quakers!
IMPORTANT DETAILS
Meet: 12.15 for 12.30 departure on Saturday 11 July at Friends House (Euston)
(Travel card will be needed – cost is £5.20 each way)
Return: Around 6.45pm
Cost: £15 Rafting, £5 Wipeout, £0 walk (this is a BARGAIN and much less than the regular Lee Valley rates)
Note: Lea Valley will require each participant / parent or carer to sign the following declaration / waiver form before the event
Details for the form: David Holtam is our organiser, Rafting 2-4pm, Wipeout 4.15-5.30pm
All participants must wear closed toe shoes, no sandals, flip flops, heeled shoes or crocs.
You must also wear a minimum of shorts and t-shirts (covering shoulders, tummy and tops of legs) – we recommend bringing towel, change of clothes, warm layers , swimmies (and snacks)
If you have any additional needs, or questions, please contact David Holtam (david.holtam@gmail.com)
We will have (fully DBS checked) volunteers helping with transport, in the water and out of the water!
SPACES ARE LIMITED TO PLEASE BOOK ASAP AND NO LATER THAN 4 JULY!
March 11, 2026 / David Holtam / Comments Off on History, murder and shining lights in Forest Hill /
Sticky
On Saturday 7 March a group of 8 young people aged 11-18 and 5 adult volunteers made their way to Forest Hill for the weekend. On Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a walking tour around Bermondsey, hosted by local Quaker Sheila Taylor, who showed us key spots from the history of the remarkable Ada and Alfred Salter. Ada had been mayor of Bermondsey from 1922, the first female mayor in London, and Alfred was a GP who became the Member of Parliament. They campaigned for better housing, clearing dreadful slums, planted trees and cared tirelessly for the young, the sick and the poor. Ada ran girls’ clubs in the area. Tragically, their only daughter Joyce died aged 8 of scarlet fever. BYM has an annual Salter lecture, named in their memory.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the Ada Salter garden at Southwark Park, and from there we visited the Brunel Tunnel museum in Rotherhithe, where the first tunnel under the Thames was dug (now housing the Windrush Line). Feeling educationally nourished and physically tired, we headed back to the meeting house for biscuits, luxury hot chocolate and squirty cream, and a game of Mafia.
In the evening we ate double portions of pasta bake, Madeira cake and custard, and got dressed up in the style of 1930s train passengers for a very dramatic and highly entertaining murder mystery game. Most players were able to correctly deduce the identity of the murderer who done it, the guilty character being a detective by the name of Hugh Dunnit. We ended a happy day with a short epilogue in the meeting room.
On Sunday morning, International Women’s Day, we awoke to news of the Grand Prix result from one or two who had arisen extremely early (or stayed up extremely late!) to follow events in Melbourne, sang a few songs, and enjoyed delicious pancakes and hot cross buns as part of Forest Hill Quaker Meeting’s monthly shared breakfast. A bumper 24 children and young people joined the Children’s and Junior Meeting, on the topic of the Salters, before heading into the meeting room to join the adults for all age worship.
We were all given a card shaped like a candle to write the names of “shining lights” – Quakers who have inspired us. After meeting for worship some helped in the garden, including clearing a memorial stone removed from the old meeting house/burial ground in Peckham, which included commemoration of Ada and Alfred Salter. Around this we placed all the “shining lights” that Friends had written in meeting for worship. We shared lunch with Forest Hill Friends, and went on our way feeling very grateful for a super weekend together and looking forward to seeing each other again soon.
Sheila Taylor shared a lovely short film (6 mins) which was made for the Salter centenary by the local secondary school. (The one which is now on the site of the school that the Salters’ daughter Joyce attended.) It depicts Joyce as she was back in 1910 and then imagines her as a contemporary schoolgirl playing football with her friends on the river path and in the Ada Salter Garden. Video here
Calling all London Linkers aged 11-18. We are heading back to Forest Hill Meeting House for our next residential.
Booking is now open and the deadline is Sunday 1st March to allow us enough time to ensure we have the right quantities of food and volunteers!
What will we be up to we hear you cry?
Games, hanging out, eating delicious food, and (hopefully) an Ada and Alfred Salter themed walking tour of Bermondsey on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning we will join Forest Hill Quakers for Meeting for Worship, followed by a shared lunch.
Meet: Saturday 7 March
10am London Bridge Station or 10.45 Forest Hill Meeting House (don’t forget your Zip Oyster)
Leave: Sunday 8 March 2.30pm (from the Meeting House)
Cost: £5
Reminders will be sent closer to the time regarding what to bring but we will be sleeping on the floor (see picture) so sleeping bag, camping mat and a pillow are a must. Toothpaste is optional (in our opinion – other adults may disagree) there are toilets and sinks (but no showers)!
There is also a lovely garden for football and other outdoor games.
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.
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.
