ROSS-ON-WYE QUAKER MEETING

NEWSLETTER APRIL 2014

Meetings for Worship on Sundays

6th April / 10.30am Meeting for Worship followed by the Business Meeting.
13thApril / 10.30am Meeting for Worship
20thApril / 10.30amMeeting for Worship
27th April / 10:30am Meeting for Worship, followed by a Discussion and Shared Lunch.

Other events at Ross Friends Meeting House

Saturday 5thApril / 10 – 12pm: Coffee Morning.
Monday 14thApril / 7:30pm: Discussion Meetingabout Quaker Work. Led by Caroline.

Events elsewhere

Saturday 5th April / 10am – 4:30pm, Llandrindod Wells Meeting House (Temple Street, Llandrindod, LD1 5HF). Laboratory of the Spirit, a workshop run by The Kindlers. £5 and bring a picnic lunch. Contact Lynda Williams for more details.
Tuesday 8th April / 7:30pm, Hereford Meeting House. Education and Outreach programme: Are we a Community of Ffriends?
Tuesday 29th April / 7:30pm, Hereford Meeting House. Education and Outreach programme: Getting to know one another.Offering something you might not know about me.

Appeals

Our appeal this month is for the Forgiveness Project. We will be running an exhibition on this in Ross between 2nd and 9th June, in collaboration with Churches Together.

World War I commemoration: resource materials

You can now read The Testimony, a compilation of original material relating to WWI published in The Friend during 1914, along with modern articles as well. This is just one of the items that can be downloaded from the national website at . It is also available in hard copy by emailing the Quaker Centre or ringing them on 020 7663 1030.

Other material from the same source includes a 1914-18 timeline (poster) showing various Quaker activities during the war and how they fitted into wider events, advice on running an event about commoratingWWI, material for schools, and details of WWI postcards found in the Quaker archives.

Friends in Wales have produced six short films capturing the reminiscences of people connected with conscientious objectors in WW1, and more upto date peacemakers. These are being sent to all schools in Wales, and for the rest of us they are available on DVD from Breaking Barriers Community Arts at a cost of £5. They will also be available in due course (for free) from the Breaking Barriers website, and also the YouTube and Vimeo websites.

Quaker Trustees – a film

The wonders of the internet mean that Quakers can now present an annual report, not just to the normal meeting of Trustees who gathered to hear it in person, but to anyone who would like to hear it. The Quaker Trustees 2012 report is now available at

You can also download a written copy (in PDF, epub and mobi formats) from

Richard’s Concern

We agreed some months ago that we would invite members to share their personal “concerns” via this Newsletter. Here is mine, which will hopefully encourage others to send theirs in – Ed.

I will give you a brief sketch of my friends, Ben and Anne (not their real names),who live (separately) on the South Wye estate in Hereford. Ben was a heroin addict before I met him about 7 years ago, and has been on methadone (a legal heroin “substitute”) ever since. He suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which means that even going to Tescos is an ordeal. He is gradually weaning himself off methadone, but has started to take another (illegal) drug “to keep the pain in his head away”. The trouble is that he can easily spend all his benefits money on this drug – and then get more on credit – and end up being threatened by the thugs who deal in these drugs. Last time this happened, they threatened to drag him into a field, pour petrol over him and throw on a lighted match.

Anne is a single mother of four children – the youngest is now 16, and the oldest is settled with a partner and her first child of her own. Anne’s medical notes say she was taken to the doctors at 4 months old “with first degree burns”. By five she had been sexually abused by relatives. By six she had been dumped in a blanket on the local green by her mother who could no longer cope with her. She grew up in care and in foster homes. A violent ex-partner arranged for her to be beaten up 7 years ago – an attack she barely survived at all. She now gets flashbacks due to PTSD, and has a serious alcohol addiction, which is one of the ways she calms the rage that often overwhelms her. She is never violent towards other people – she takes it all out on herself – punching the wall or slashing her arms with a blade.

Anyone who is aware of the “underclass” that we have in this country will know that these stories are fairly typical. And you will quite rightly believe that an army of “professionals” – social workers, mental health workers and so on – are the ones who have the skills and training to give them the help they need.

What I observe, from firsthand experience, is that the professionals are largely ineffective. Why is that? Well, the first problem is that people like Ben and Anne are unable to engage with the help that is on offer. If you are too scared to go into town, how do you attend a doctor’s appointment? If your life is chaotic, how do you remember you even have an appointment? Even voluntary schemes, such as food banks, are no use if you are too scared to go to them. Anne’s ex-partner was so violent that the professionals were not allowed to visit her at home because it was “too risky” for them.A further problem for the professionals is their huge case-loads, which mean they can only spend a short time with any one person. And that means that they don’t build up the relationship of trust and friendship that is essential to be able to give any real help.

I act as advocate, intermediary, friend and confidant for Ben and Anne. We may just sit and drink tea together. We might go shopping – having a car means you can take advantage of those BOGOF offers, because you can carry the extra one home. Sometimes just “being there” means they feel safe enough to go to their doctors or the bank. The benefits cuts mean that the system has become ever more intractable. Managing the small amount of money they do have would be a challenge for all of us. It isn’t all one way. Sometimes they come over to our house. Our vegetable and flower beds are flourishing this year due to Anne’s hard work!

Hopefully that makes “my concern” clear enough. If not, come and ask me about it after Meeting!