Beth Follini

Dr Clarissa Giebel and Emma Williams from the University of Liverpool are looking for participants living with a neurodegenerative condition or caring for a family member or friend with a neurodegenerative condition, to take part in research.

Read More: buff.ly/mJuyogH

@liverpooluni.bsky.social

Quakers join call for “full-throated defence” of UK human rights protections Almost 300 organisations, including Quakers in Britain, have issued an urgent plea to politicians and the UK government to stop scapegoating the UK’s human rights framework.

We’ve joined almost 300 organisations in an urgent plea to politicians and the UK government to stop scapegoating the country’s human rights framework.

King's MFA Author Talks Join the University of King's College at Halifax Central Library for the 2025-26 Season of Author Talks! Every Little Thing She Does is Magic By Michelle Hébert A darkly humorous family saga set in Nova Scotia about a young woman coming of age in a family that believes it's cursed, for fans of Emma Straub and Lesley Crewe. Kitten Love's family is haunted by the memory of her teenaged aunt, Nerida, who died just days before Kitten's birth in 1970. Her mother, Queena, believes the family is cursed, and she's determined not to let disaster strike again. She won't let Kitten out of her sight-especially to visit the beaches that surround the town. She's built a bomb shelter to protect against Soviet attack, and she's desperate to protect her husband, Stubby, from the fatal and mysterious Love Heart. Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Halifax Central Library 5440 Spring Garden Road BMO Room 7:00 - 8:30 pm

#HaliSky - join me tonight, 7pm, at the Halifax Central Library. Gillian Turnbull, head of the King's MFA program, and I will be discussing my novel, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Very seasonally appropriate book - ghosts! attics! tarot! cozy bookstores!

Clean energy jobs a step in the right direction, Quakers say Quakers in Britain has welcomed the first ever national plan to recruit the workers needed for clean energy.

Quakers in Britain have long called for a just transition, which puts justice and equality at the heart of climate solutions.

We welcome the first ever national plan to recruit the workers needed for clean energy, which aims to train 400,000 people by 2030.

Parkinson's - the diagnosis crisis UK's neurologist shortage continues to bite, says biggest PD audit

open.substack.com/pub/rorycell... Biggest ever audit of Parkinson’s in the UK says there’s a diagnosis crisis with a shortage of neurologists leaving thousands waiting up to 5 years to see a specialist

Remembering, cooperating, and working for change A blog with personal reflections on the meaning of remembrance and how Quakers can participate.

Quakers believe there is “that of God in everyone”, and that violence can never be justified.

As a result, many Quakers have mixed feelings about Remembrance Day. Some wonder if military involvement in the day risks celebrating rather than commemorating.

Judith Baker explores this in our new blog:

Babs Michel on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - 05/10/2025 - BBC Sounds Join Babs for a relaxed and spiritual start to your Sunday.

Check out this radio segment on Quaker Week. Lizzi Rawlinson-Mills talks to Babs Michel about the power of silent worship to ground us and help us deal with crises and events that can be overwhelming.

The discussion starts from 14:50, listen here:

Radical Hearts, Open Minds: the story so far Find out about Quakers and how our faith translates into action.

Last week we held our first "Radical Hearts, Open Minds" meeting.

The first session produced lots of creative ideas about how our Quaker communities could flourish and thrive in the latter part of this decade and into the next.

www.quaker.org.uk/communities/...

You can always ask me: intergenerational conversations about faith Extract of an intergenerational conversation about Quaker faith

How can we share knowledge and insight across generations within our communities?

Read and watch searching conversations on faith and action between young Quakers and older members of the Welsh Quaker community.

Read the full blog, and access our new film, here:

A person cups a lit candle in their hands.

Three people march in a protest with a banner reading - Peace pilgrimage to DSEI global arms fair.

Four people march in a protest with a red banner reading - Quakers for peace.

A Quaker holds a placard with the message - this is not a migrant crisis, this is a crisis of inequality, war, and climate change.

Yesterday, Quakers led a walk of witness to arms company HQs, speaking out against those who profit from war and suffering.

We also joined with Pax Christi for a silent candlelit vigil outside the Excel Centre, where the DSEI arms fair is taking place.

📸 Michael Preston for Quakers in Britain

A photo of several Quakers in blue Quakers for Peace t-shirts sitting cross-legged in worshipful silence.

A circle of several dozen Quakers sitting on the grass, taking part in a meeting for worship. In the middle of the circle, Quaker and peace banners are placed on the ground.

As part of the No Faith in War day, 200 people joined our Meeting for Worship, creating a grounded space in the face of the violence embodied by the DSEI arms fair.

Tomorrow, join us to hand in a demand to stop DSEI. Meeting Waterloo train station, 11am: tinyurl.com/stop-dsei

📸 Michael Preston

Ah! I actually write about the blanket as one of my essays/chapter… focused on the small comforts of soft things.

My black cat Beckzy curled up next to book Ashes to Admin.

Loved this book by @christinamartin.bsky.social As a legacy fundraiser, I’m always on about making a will. (You can even make a will for free! www.quaker.org.uk/free-will-wr...) As someone writing a memoir about caring for my husband with Parkinson’s, I admired the book structure loads!

YouTube video by The Guardian Patrick Stewart sketch: what has the ECHR ever done for us?

What has the ECHR ever done for us?

youtu.be/ptfmAY6M6aA?...

Still here – making connections by exploring Quaker history Rhiannon Grant shares how Quaker heritage can create a starting point for conversations about Quakers today.

Quaker history is well known and intriguing. Rhiannon Grant shares how Quaker heritage can create a starting point for conversations about Quakers today.

www.quaker.org.uk/blog/still-h...

Jessica from Couples Therapy please leave Boris! Run don’t walk!

YouTube video by Quakers in Britain A space to connect, learn and build community

Watch our new film to find out how Quaker communities in Britain are bringing people together and creating spaces of connection and community: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYJtrik8iJU

Everyone is welcome – learn more about Quaker communities and how you can be involved: www.quaker.org.uk/communities

Faith organisations can strengthen communities: findings from The state of us Review of The state of us with lessons for Quaker communities.

One year on from the racially targeted violence in the summer of 2024, a major new report argues that the UK remains vulnerable to further unrest. But this is an issue that everyone, everywhere can help address.

Find out how Quakers are working on peacebuilding and bringing communities together:

Quakers join Faslane vigil against nuclear weapons The 'No to Nuclear Weapons' ecumenical peace gathering marked the 80th anniversary of the horrific nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nuclear weapons must never be used again.

Quakers in Britain Recording Clerk Paul Parker and other Quakers took part in an ecumenical peace gathering at the Faslane naval base.

Faith leaders from across Scotland called for an end to nuclear weapons.

London grief rave helps mourners celebrate loved ones The event aims to allow people to celebrate and remember those they have lost, and help process grief.

First heard about these through the @goodgrieffest.bsky.social programme. Glad they are spreading.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I can actually contemplate moving to a new town nearer retirement to free up capital from having a place in a now gentrified area. But that’s only because I feel so much more secure now and that I have a couple friends in this new town.

I feel such sense of stability having settled in same neighbourhood for last 35 years (moved once in that time). And so glad that my son didn’t have to keep establishing himself in a new place!

I’ve moved 28 times in my lifetime. This is the story of a new America It’s not that the dream of the stable home disappeared – it just started charging an untenable monthly rent

I found this article by @andreajavor.bsky.social very resonant - I moved four times before I was 11 & it was very painful. I reacted by settling in same neighborhood for last 30 yrs. My son attended neighborhood nursery, primary school & then secondary school…

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

With nukes in the news it's grimly fitting to be at Faslane to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and say 'never again'. @quaker.org.uk

Meet the childfree communities planning for a future without kids As increasing numbers of us can’t or won’t have children, Helen Coffey talks to those who are planning their lives without a nuclear family, and investigates why government policy has yet to catch up ...

Just off a death planning Zoom call with the organisation Ageing Without Children. Great article about them here:
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/c...

Motherfucking wind farms…

Churches call for restorative justice as Quakers highlight healing over punishment Quakers are amongst those supporting the failing criminal justice system by taking on roles once delivered by public services.

Quakers have a long history of campaigning for reform of the criminal justice system.

This new report draws on the work of Quakers, and other Christian groups, to call for the gov to recognise and fund faith-based work and to build a justice system rooted in compassion, responsibility and repair.

The Invention of “Sesame Street” Renata Adler’s 1972 review of the program that revolutionized children’s television.

“Small children from poor or middle-class families who watch ‘Sesame Street’ do better on cognitive tests and in first grade than children who do not watch it,” Renata Adler wrote, in 1972.

Just to say, it's really ok to mess up or make mistakes sometimes. It's part of life, and often, those experiences allow you to grow as a person. So, pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and go again.

Samaritans closures show brutal reality of financial crisis for UK charities Household names are having to take drastic action as they lack resources to meet rising demand for their services

Another great piece from @patrickjbutler.bsky.social on the pressure charities are under right now, highlighting the Samaritans.

We’re waiting to hear which jobs at @oxfamgb.bsky.social are going.

Without them, We Care wouldn’t be what it is today.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...