Sheila and Irene joined Keith, the Quaker chaplain for Coldingley Prison, at a 'festival of religion', an opportunity for all the chaplains who regularly visit individual prisoners there to explain their faiths to anyone else who might be interested. Some of both staff and prisoners showed genuine interest in our stand and the Quaker faith and it was also a great opportunity for the chaplains to get to know each other better.
Our Quaker Faith and Practice group this month shared insights into our practice of simplicity, using the booklet, ‘Twelve Quakers and Simplicity’, as a starting point for the discussion. Most of us found this a challenging topic but one that had depths and direct links to our inner spiritual experiences.
May's Woking Debate, 'How can we makes taxes fairer' had speakers from three of the political parties in Woking and ranged over personal taxation, local taxes, the national debt and the living wage. All the speakers thought that reform was necessary.
In January the Woking Quaker Faith and Practice group decided we would revisit the 'Twelve Quakers and…' booklets. In February we shared our thoughts on ‘Twelve Quakers and God’. These Monday evenings are always thought-provoking and a great way of getting to know each other.
The evenings are hybrid, using Zoom and face-to-face in the meeting house
The Woking Debates, which Woking Quakers support, aim to encourage active participation in our community by looking at underlying issues facing us. This year six talks have been planned so far on the following subjects:
28 January - Ukraine: what is the road to peace?
25 February - Cost of living or price of greed?
25 March - Is Woking broke?
29 April - Climate change: what can we do to stay within the 1.5°C target?
20 May - How can we make taxes fairer?
17 June - Play: ‘Breeding Grounds’