London Link Group

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Brighton III – Awe and Wonder

October 7, 2013 / Editor / Comments Off

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.

Elizabeth Hooten play at Westminster

September 24, 2013 / Editor / Comments Off

London Link joined Westminster Quakers and other audience members for a unique Sunday afternoon performance on 22nd Sept 2013. Lynn Morris performed her one-woman show ‘Lover of Souls’, about the ‘mother of Quakerism’ Elizabeth Hooten. The dramatisation showed what a strong and outspoken woman Elizabeth Hooten was, and showed the persecution of early Quakers. Lynn talked to us about the show afterwards, including highlighting how there were still remaining inequalities between Quaker men and women at that time, and about the Palestinian charity that she is supporting with the proceeds of the show. It was a really interesting afternoon and it felt a privilege to see and hear Lynn share Elizabeth Hooten’s story.

Before the show was Quaker Meeting (lots of ministry), and a classic delicious shared lunch with other members of the Meeting (think humous, fancy cheese and Rocky bars). It was a relaxing afternoon of hanging out together, and playing with Westminster Meeting’s younger children in the newly refurbished Meeting House. Lots of tea was drunk, and a good time was had by all.

SUMMER LINK (Watford II)

July 1, 2013 / Editor / Comments Off

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.

Margate II

April 26, 2013 / Editor / Comments Off

I’ve just come back from a sunny, exhilarating, relaxing, exhausting weekend in Margate with 19 active thoughtful, helpful, delightful young people who seem to have come from all over the South of England to enjoy themselves in the company of other young Quakers.

And enjoy ourselves we did. The hostel where we stayed faces the sea, so we spent lots of time on the beach, watching the sunset, in the dark, or in the sunshine. The weather was great, so we strolled into Margate and ate Saturday lunch on the beach just beyond the Turner Art gallery (what a cultured group we are!), had half our Saturday party playing games on the beach, and, after meeting on Sunday, ate our lunch at Broadstairs on the sands there, followed by an Italian ice cream. Despite the sea being somewhere between cold and freezing, many of us we had a paddle, and some even managed to fall over (twice), which is an excellent way to wake up.

Broadstairs meeting, especially Liz Cooper their clerk, were superb and welcomed us warmly for their meeting for worship, providing a both good space for us to leave our bags and great flapjacks.

I suspect everyone has their highlights, but some of mine were the game of ‘sofa coup’ – far too complex to explain here, and requiring fiendish cunning and a memory, both of which we have, but not enough, so it ended in an honourable draw. Another highlight was finishing off the ice cream for breakfast. Offering ice cream to not fully awake people gets a blank response – a human ‘404, page not found’ type of message.

All the adult helpers were great too, and I was particularly appreciative of the way they worked alongside the young people as equals, which helped build a very positive, cooperative ethos.

And the downside: buying rail tickets is complex: the man in Putney ticket office refused to sell them to us as he was not sure groupsave tickets would be valid (isn’t that his job to know or find out?), the Nationalrail helpline couldn’t help, and eventually I had to buy them in groups of 8 tickets on the internet using multiple credit cards. Future event organisers be warned!

Keith

London Link at Westminster Meeting

March 30, 2013 / Editor / Comments Off

On Sunday 17th March, Westminster hosted it’s first London Link Meeting for Worship. We heard from our Friend Lynn Blackmore about her regular visits to detainees in British detention centres before joining the final part of Meeting for Worship. A lovely shared lunch in the Elizabeth Fry Room for London Linkers and a few Westminster Friends was followed by games and fun before people went their separate ways.

The next London Link at Westminster is on Sunday 16th June (and is timed to coincide with Westminster’s regular 3rd Sunday Children’s Meeting for younger siblings).

Young Quaker London Link Group