On 7-9 October 2022, 14 London Linkers and 4 adult volunteers travelled to Brighton Quaker Meeting for the first LLG residential event in just over 3 years. THREE YEARS!!! We had totally forgotten how much fun they are. 

We took a Friday evening train from Victoria after wolfing down some pizzas at the rendezvous location, and played a few games on arrival. We were impressed to learn that one of our number had a Quaker heritage dating back to 1655 in their family! After hot chocolate and epilogue we retired to sleep on the floor in comfortable carpeted rooms in the Meeting House. 

On Saturday we visited Brighton Pavilion and were shocked at the royal opulence which clashed with our Quaker simplicity. King George IV (Prince Regent during the time of his father’s madness) had an enormous 54 inch waist! He liked his food, music, the seawater and partying in Brighton apparently. The guide said that he would approve of all the stag and hen parties which visit Brighton now. 

We really enjoyed sitting on the beach in the sunshine and chatting/being buried under pebbles/ paddling in the sea (and in a couple of cases being swept over by the waves and totally soaked). After lunch some of us explored the Lanes, others visited Brighton Table Tennis Club, and we met up on the beach again at the end of the afternoon and some of us swam, deliberately this time. A few brave souls took their chances on daredevil rides on the Palace Pier. 

After a Mexican-style dinner of veggie fajitas and nachos, we played Wink Ministry and an EPIC game of sardines — to which we found Brighton Quaker Meeting House is ideally suited. 

On Sunday morning we joined Brighton Friends in their meeting for worship, and learned from Helen Ledger about the inspiring work the meeting is doing with refugees and asylum seekers who are held in poor conditions in hotels for many months, with only £8.40 per week to live on and no access to cooking facilities. The Sanctuary Group at Brighton Quaker meeting enables people to cook meals from their own culture, paying for supplies and offering friendship and excellent kitchen facilities. 

We had a shared lunch with Brighton Friends and returned on an afternoon train feeling physically tired but socially and spiritually refreshed. 

Thank you Brighton Quaker Meeting and BRING ON 2023 residential weekends!

Young Quakers from LLG attend climate strike earlier in the day

On the 20th – 22nd September London Linkers Gathered in Epping. We had one of our most ambitious and “logistically heavy timetable” – Michael Wood events planned, and we’re happy to say we succeeded, with the assistance of 7 brilliant volunteers, in showing 14 “Linkers” not 1, not 2 but 3 centuries worth of delight in Essex in a weekend that utilised 5 trains, 3 buses, and 1 (not so) secret nuclear bunker!

Epping Meeting (established in the 1700’s) offered to host London Link in their beautiful Meeting House situated in the Market Town of Epping. The fun started on the Friday night with a tasty pasta dish (with roasted broccoli proving an unexpected hit with the young folk), games and a peaceful Epilogue.

Metropolitan number 1

An solid (veggie) cooked breakfast gave everyone the energy they needed to make the early start on Saturday – with a huge stack of sandwiches being constructed around the tidying up. We made it to the bus stop on time and all (just about) piled on to the vintage (Routemaster) 339 bus with a group of

Morris Dancers(!) for the pretty journey to our destination – the historic Epping and Ongar Railway where we spent a happy 20 minutes at the North Weald Station admiring the trains, architecture, Morris Dancing and the gift and tuck shops (we won’t let on to parents and carers quite how many snacks were purchased but it is was all for a good cause).  An 1800’s steam engine (Met 1) (perhaps appreciated more by the older members of the group) conveyed us to Ongar Station where a mad dash got us back on the 339 for a trip to the 1950’s and a product of the Cold War…..

Kelvedon (not so) Secret nuclear bunker

Picnic at a nuclear bunker

But before starting our tour of Kelvedon’s (once) Secret Nuclear Bunker it was agreed that feeding stomachs took precedence over feeding minds and we had our picnic sitting next to a stack of military equipment (and a replica missile) – not a usual location for Quakers.. Once in, we spent several hours exploring the 3 floors of the bunker which started life as an RAF ROTOR Station, then had a brief period as a civil defence centre, then becoming a Regional Government HQ before being decommissioned in 1992. It was designed for up to 600 military and civilian personnel, possibly even the Prime Minister (there were several dummies meant to be representing Margaret Thatcher in different locations which were properly scary), in order to organise the survival of the population should there be a nuclear war. The communications, medical, working and sleeping spaces were fascinating but also quite spooky – though nowhere near as scary as the government information films and adverts telling people what to do in the event of a nuclear war. The official commentary was very dark and confirmed my reasoning that survival might not in our best interests…..

Vintage Routemaster bus

A sit in the sun to absorb both the horror, and a piece of flapjack, preceded another bus ride on the bouncy bus back to Epping for a cup of tea, sit in the garden, and for groups of Linkers a wander around the shops. After a full day, Saturday evening was chilled with board games, music and a gorgeous potato and spinach curry.

On Sunday morning we joined Meeting for Worship and many of us then spent a happy Children’s Meeting making cards to thank Michael for his 10 years as Clerk of London Link!

Thank you to Epping Meeting for hosting us!

Next committee meeting we will be planning our programme for late 2019/2020, watch this space! Helping set up the Quaker Homeless Action Christmas Shelter and Winterval at Westminster in the New Year are likely to be the next two events. Sign up to our mailing list to get notification.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon,
Rebecca

Alan, Amy, Eli, Margarita, Michael, Philip (and we can reassure everyone that Michael hopes to volunteer in future events – phew).

p.s. Note for parents/guardians – Unfortunately this time there were some issues with respect for Meeting House property in the library/female sleeping area – despite being asked to leave the contents of a cupboard belonging to a hirer alone, after the event we found this not to have been respected, leading to the loss of chocolate and sweets belonging to an Alzheimer’s group who were understandably upset. Please remind young people that they agree to adhere to the boundaries at our events and that we do rely on the goodwill of Quaker groups to host us, which part of this is respecting the building and contents! Thanks

A group of 8 young people and 5 volunteers from London Link Group (LLG), aka ‘Linkers’ (nickname pending), spent the weekend at Hampstead Meeting House from 26^th to 28^th July 2019.

The small group meant the weekend was quite casual this time around with lots of chilled sessions and discussions with the obligatory Friday night getting to know you games and use of the many nooks of the Meeting House for a few rounds of the classic Sardines.

After a well-deserved lie-in on Saturday, we started our sessions. The weekend’s main conversations, focused on looking at the upcoming Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair Expo and the mobilisation of people resisting the Expo. We looked at the promotional material that DSEI used, which noticeably omitted the actual use and consequence of arms. We also partook in an exercise where we had to guess the cost of the armed forces and military equipment which was quite the eye-opener. This session opened up lengthy discussions on the high number of recruitment ads that target young people, centring around the supposed attractive perks of choosing a career in the armed forces.

From the alternative perspective, we looked at promotional materials by the network of groups from within Stop the Arms Fair, including Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). From this, we explored how Quakers engage in the activities through living their beliefs and putting their faith into action. We specifically looked at the activities that Roots of Resistance (RoR) will be doing within the days leading up to DSEI. It’s likely that some of the LLG may end up attending RoR with their Local Meetings.

Mother Nature decided Saturday needed rain, which scrapped our plans to go over to Hampstead Heath for a picnic lunch and a dip in the swimming ponds. Instead, when the rain settled, everyone had free time to roam around Hampstead. The evening was another chilled affair with more classic LLG games and board games.

As always, it was a pleasure to attend Meeting for Worship with Hampstead on Sunday, ending the weekend in the late afternoon. Over the whole weekend, suggestions for future LLG were collated. Who knows, we could have Kayaking added to the activities and maybe raisins will be added to the shopping list?

Thank you Hampstead Meeting for having us and thank you to the volunteers and the young people for a wholesome weekend.

Until next time!

Sally, Amy, Tas, Nick, Sue