To start with two quotes. From Quaker Advices and Queries No 28: "Attend to what love requires of you." Quakers have also quoted Cornel West who said that 'justice is what love looks like in public'.
When it comes to climate change we are not all in this together. Evidence about this was highlighted in a report from the International Institute for Environment and Development.
"The effects of climate change, including drought, floods, fires and disease, will damage food production in every region of the world. But it is people already harmed by inequality, exploitation and conflict, people who are least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, who will suffer the most. Today eight countries in the world are critically food insecure. In a world that is two degrees hotter, that number rises to 24. Food insecurity for high-income countries will worsen by 3%; for low-income countries by 22%. (Paul Behrens, a professor at the University of Oxford who works on food security).
Learn more about Quakers and climate justice
This week MPs voted to give police the power to ban a protest if it is planned for the same location as earlier protests. The government says it wants to protect an organisation from repeated protests through what is being called the 'cumulative action' restriction. But Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist leaders pointed out that peaceful protest has often involved cumulative action. Campaigns that changed the world from the suffragettes to communities standing up against fracking were built on repeated, sustained demonstration.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly recently told UK civil society organisations and MPs that she was seriously concerned about these repressive new laws and the clause on cumulative disruption in particular. The Crime and Policing Bill is the third piece of anti-protest legislation in recent years.
Responding to the vote, Paul Parker, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain said:
“Peaceful protest motivated by faith, belief and love should be celebrated, not criminalised. This legislation adds to the increasingly hostile climate for protesters who seek a better world for us all. Quakers will continue to campaign for these measures to be repealed and for a healthy democracy in which ordinary people can hold their leaders to account. That is what it takes to build a truly peaceful world."
Paul is due to give evidence to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on Wednesday 15 April on how protest restrictions are affecting Quakers.
A clause to create a new category of 'Extreme Criminal Protest Group' was removed from the bill.
Forest of Dean Quakers have chosen to collect for the International Committee of the Red Cross for the coming three months, April - June. This reflects our Meeting's concern for the victims of the several conflicts in the Middle East. The ICRC works closely with their Islamic counterparts, the Red Crescent Society. The fighting has created a huge number of displaced and homeless people and these two organisations have a great deal of experience in helping with temporary shelter, food and resettlement.
Quakers in Britain have called on the UK government to focus on building a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East. The call comes after the news that British military bases will be used to bomb Iran as part of 'defensive' operations to attack missile facilities.
Quakers warn that military action will not make Britain or its allies safer. It will escalate the conflict, deepen regional instability, and endanger countless more lives. "As Quakers, we believe that every life is precious," said Paul Parker, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain. "We mourn every life already lost because of this conflict and fear the lasting implications if it is allowed to spread".
"Stability and security are achieved through dialogue, diplomacy and careful long-term peacemaking, not through threats or weapons, which bring destruction, pain and death."
Parker's words follow a statement by the American Quaker organisation, Friends National Committee on Legislation, which strongly condemns US and Israeli actions as well as the violent actions of the Iranian government towards its own people.
We look forward to welcoming our Quaker Local Development Worker for Gloucestershire and the West Midlands, Hilary Topp, to our Sunday worship. She will be answering questions afterwards. One of her roles is to help Meetings to think about their outreach. This is a pertinent subject for us this year as we seek discernment about the nature of our outreach and whether to hold an event in the autumn. So on Sunday we'll have a chance to chat with Hilary about what outreach is, what is making younger people interested in Quakers and what can sometimes put enquirers off.
Forest of Dean Quakers have adopted Stop Ecocide International as something we will individually support with our giving. Each quarter we choose a different good cause or charity. We invite readers of this website to learn more about this campaign to bring to justice those nations and industrialists who perpetrate large scale destruction of eco-systems . Stop Ecocide International - Developing Ecocide Law
On Saturday 31st January, almost our entire community of Forest of Dean Quakers met together for a bring and share tea to say thank you to our retiring clerk, Dorothy Cardus, who for six years has kept us in order at our business meetings, dealt with our correspondence, kept our records straight and much more besides. We are grateful for her diligence, her wisdom and her kindness.
The Government’s consultation on its new rules ends on February 14th 2026. Quakers are being encouraged to make their views known.
In a statement, Quakers say the Home Secretary’s changes are inhumane and divisive. If they becomes law, then refugees who currently have to wait five years before they can apply for the permanent right to remain can expect to wait 20 years. If refugees are deemed to have arrived illegally, the expected wait would be 30 years. A refugee’s status would be reviewed every 2.5 years, with return enforced if conditions are judged "safe”.
Quakers across Britain, many working alongside refugees and people seeking asylum, argue these new measure are divisive and unworkable.
"They will discourage employers and landlords, deepen poverty and unemployment and obstruct integration, harming us all."
The Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network believes government policy is being driven by unfounded narratives.
“Refugees and migrants are essential to our wellbeing, our public services and our economy. We call for genuinely fresh policies that allow people to recover and make their contribution”
Read the complete the Home Office consultation document. The consultation closes on Thursday 12th February.
In our Forest Quaker Meeting we collectively decide how much of our income to send to the Gloucestershire Area Meeting, which is our 'parent' Meeting and whose Trustees are responsible for us to the Charity Commission. In practice we receive a suggested sum from the Area Treasurer each year and we try to meet that, sometimes we fall short, and sometimes we exceed it.
But there is also another call on our giving which is the work of our national body, Quakers in Britain, home to a large number of good works, both outward facing, such as maintaining a Quaker voice on the national stage and within Quakerism, such as the training and support they provide regionally and locally. In their new guide to giving, Quakers in Britain ask us to consider giving more to our national headquarters. They refer to a formula which some Friends use. This states that if you can afford £42 a month, you might give a 6th to your local Meeting, a 3rd to the Area Meeting, and half to our national body for use by Quakers in Britain. The guide is called How much should I give to support Quaker work?
Quakers expressing support for Palestine is nothing new. But it is important that our support is voiced in ways that avoid being antisemitic. We haven’t always got this right. A new guide has been published by Friends' House in London called Challenging Antisemitism. The aim of the guide is to prevent antisemitism among Quakers, deliberate or unintentional and to help Quakers challenge antisemitism when we come across it . Copies of the guide have been sent to each local Quaker meeting, and is available to order or download online (PDF). Quakers are encouraged to read the guide, to discuss it, and to reach out in friendship to local Jewish communities.
Forest of Dean MfWfB follows our 10.30 hour of Meeting for Worship. It usually starts about 11.45 and can be attended via Zoom.
Sunday 1st February
Sunday 22nd March (Please note this change. Date was originally 5th April)
Sunday 7th June
Sunday 5th July
Sunday 6th September
Sunday 4th October
Sunday 1st November.
Friends gathered around the open fire at the Quaker Library in Newnham at the end of December to enjoy a mince pie and great conversation.
Friends met with the Forest of Dean MP, Matt Bishop at the end of October. Matt brought his researcher and work experience person with him. We enjoyed an hour of questions and answers, followed by tea and cake.
Around 15 friends gathered at Anne's house for a scone party at the end of September. It was a lovely time to chat informally and get to know each other, over a huge spread of cakes, scones and savouries.
Friends gathered at the Quaker library for a shared meal with Seren and Alex.
Friends enjoyed a summer picnic at Keith's house, with shared food and paddling in the river.
In early 2025, a group of Friends from the Forest of Dean Quaker Meeting, met at the Quaker library in Newnham to discern topics of concern. The Meeting sent a letter to the local MP, Matt Bishop, to express our concerns and requesting a meeting. We also contacted Forestry England concerning their tree felling policy in relation to climate change.