Category Archives: News

Quaker Border Meeting 2025

On the weekend of 5th to 7th September 2025 the annual Quaker Border Meeting will be held in France at the Centre Spirituel du Hautmont just outside of Lille.

The theme of the Border Meeting is:

“But what canst thou say?” Living your Faith in today’s world

To find out more look up the the 2025 Quaker Border Meeting website which already has comprehensive information on the  venue, how to get there, the history of the Border Meeting. At the time of publication of this post the Registration details and the full programme had not been published, but look out for emails and messages on the BLYM WhatsApp groups.

The Border Meeting website is currently available in both English and French.

Français

Le week-end du 5 au 7 septembre 2025, la réunion annuelle Quaker Border Meeting se tiendra en France au Centre Spirituel du Hautmont, à la périphérie de Lille.

Le thème de la réunion frontalière est le suivant :

Comment exprimes tu ta foi dans le monde d’aujourd’hui ?

Pour en savoir plus, consultez le site web 2025 Quaker Border Meeting qui contient déjà des informations complètes sur le lieu, les moyens d’accès et l’histoire du Border Meeting. Au moment de la publication de ce billet, les détails de l’inscription et le programme complet n’ont pas été publiés, mais surveillez les courriels et les messages sur les groupes WhatsApp de BLYM.

Le site web de Border Meeting est actuellement disponible en anglais et en français.

Nederlandse

In het weekend van 5 tot 7 september 2025 wordt in Frankrijk de jaarlijkse Quaker Border Meeting gehouden in het Centre Spirituel du Hautmont net buiten Lille.

Het thema van de Border Meeting is:

Hoe geef je uiting aan je geloof in de wereld van vandaag?

Voor meer informatie kun je terecht op de website van 2025 Quaker Border Meeting, waar al uitgebreide informatie te vinden is over de locatie, hoe je er kunt komen en de geschiedenis van de Border Meeting. Op het moment van publicatie van dit bericht waren de registratiedetails en het volledige programma nog niet gepubliceerd, maar kijk uit naar e-mails en berichten op de BLYM WhatsApp-groepen.
De website van de Border Meeting is momenteel beschikbaar in het Engels en Frans.

 

 

BLYM Supplement to Quaker Faith & Practice

We are delighted offer to you the link to the Supplement from Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting, to Quaker Faith and Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting.

Through many months of work some in our worship groups have compiled this compendium of material particularly relevant to Belgian and Luxembourger Friends. It was adopted at our June 2024 Meeting for Business, and has been distributed on-line in original and in machine translation to Flemish and French.

In a sense this supplement is part of the coming of age of Belgium and Luxembourg Quakers as a Yearly Meeting, for we have not had such a text of our own in the past, and still appreciate and rely on those of other Yearly Meetings including the ‘Red Book” of Britain Yearly Meeting.

We hope that you enjoy reading and using this supplement. As with all Quaker Faith and Practice texts, it is to be adapted and updated from time to time to continue to reflect our shared experience.

You can find the English version here

You can find the French version here

You can find the Dutch version here

Friend in Residence / Warden at Quaker House Brussels

The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA). would like to maintain a lively, open
Quaker presence in Brussels. To that end, QCEA are looking for an experienced Quaker or Quaker couple to live in Quaker House Brussels (QHB) and provide a Quaker presence in the House as well as to work with the office manager to organise and administer lettings of the House.
Quaker House Brussels is the home of QCEA. It is an Art Nouveau house which includes QCEA offices, meeting rooms, two flats and a guest room. The house is used daily by QCEA and two smaller civil society organisations. It is also rented weekly by the local Quaker Meeting, the Unitarian Universalist Group and regularly by other non-profit associations. QCEA would like to increase these lettings to other like-minded organisations.
Traditionally the QCEA director has lived in the house and served as Warden/Friend in
Residence. The new director has his own accommodation and therefore will not live in
the house. The Resident Friend will live in the flat traditionally occupied by the director.
QCEA has a part time office manager who will work with the Resident Friend in this
work.
The role of the Resident Friend(s) will be as follows:
1. Maintaining a Quaker Presence in Quaker House Brussels:
a. The Resident Friend(s) will live in QHB
b. Be a Quaker presence for all those using the House
c. Help to make Quaker House a hub of organisations sensitive to Quaker
values
2. Working with the office manager to administer lettings in QHB:
a. With QCEA office manager, prepare a description of the facilities available
for lettings in the form of an advertisement
b. Investigate appropriate media where the adverts could be placed to attract
our target audience and make a comparison between them to determine
the most effective. Investigate rates elsewhere in Brussels for equivalent
facilities and agree hiring rates with office manager
c. Place the advertisements with the agreed providers and inform all QCEA’s
networking partners of what is available at QH
d. The Resident Friend and the office manager will operate a booking system
for the room lettings and receive all responses at a dedicated e-mail
address at lettings@qcea.org and responses for use of the premises
e. The Resident Friend will be expected to work closely with the Director to
ensure that QCEA’s usage of the house is integrated with other events
happening in the house

Quaker House, Brussels

Quaker House, Brussel

3. Managing QHB:
a. General hospitality when needed. (Much of this is often done by the office
manager.) Examples might include:
i. Opening doors for guests especially in the evening or during
weekends and sometimes also for Meeting for Worship on Sunday
ii. Ensuring that the lights, heat and coffee are on, making sure that
the internet connection is working, and that the rooms are set up as
needed
iii. Open to groups letting rooms during the day when the office
manager is not available
iv. Closing the house when there is an event in the evening,
which means cutting the heating, the lights, checking windows,
doors, clearing up, etc.
v. Occasionally opening to contractors or maintenance companies
when the office manager is not there

b. Alerting the office manager when there are small problems with machines,
plumbing, etc.
c. Considered as Belgian Art Nouveau patrimony, QHB is open to the public
for tours once a year. When there are public visits of the house, the
Resident Friend will work with the office manager to answer questions
about Quakers as well as to ensure that the house is open and visitors are
welcomed
d. Hours of work will vary from week to week but in general should average
out to about 8-10
4. Details of the position:
a. The duration of the appointment will be for 1 year renewable
b. Expenses linked to this work will be met
c. Accommodation will be provided in QHB. This will be in a furnished two
bedroom flat with a small office in the house at a steeply discounted rent.
The rent will reflect the voluntary work done by this Friend / these Friends.
d. Applicants must have the right to live and work in EU and speak both
English and either French or Dutch.

To apply send a letter of interest, including relevant experience to office@qcea.org . For
more information use the same address. Deadline for applying is 29 May. Interviews will
be on 2 June and preferred candidates will be invited to visit QHB in person on 20 June.

Quaker statement on Donald Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza

5 February 2025

children
Quakers are horrified by Donald Trump’s proposal to take over and own Gaza and ethnically cleanse two million Palestinians, photo credit: Hosny Salah from Pixabay

Quakers are horrified by Donald Trump’s proposal to “take over” and “own” Gaza and ethnically cleanse two million Palestinians.

These proposals come after a decades-long occupation which has already crossed numerous legal and moral red lines. A further “announcement” on the West Bank is expected within the next four weeks.

These threats must be taken seriously. Any attempt to implement them would be a grave violation of international law. Any move by the UK government or others to normalise or enable them would be a grave violation of international law.

Quakers and partners are actively engaged in the region and in the UK to end our government’s complicity and end the occupation of Palestine.

Find out more about our work to bring about a just peace in Palestine and Israel

Better understanding the Israel Palestine conflict and recent events

We have all been shocked and moved by the current situation in Gaza. BLYM does not wish to make a public statement on this situation at the current time but simply to try to gain a better understanding . Here are some links that Friends have suggested:

https://upjb.be/crimes-de-guerre-et-crimes-contre-lhumanite-en-israel-palestine-halte-aux-deux-poids-deux-mesures/

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/10/statement23-10-07/.

https://shorturl.at/nsJMW

BLYM Residential Yearly Meeting Update 2021

Dear Friends,

The BLYM Residential Yearly Meeting has been postponed until 2022.

Our theme is:

Community, Compassion and Unity

There will be two guest speakers:


Jennifer KavanaghJennifer Kavanagh has been a Quaker for twenty-five years. She lives in London and attends Westminster meeting. Since leaving her publishing career of some thirty years, she has run a community centre in London’s East End, worked with street homeless people and refugees, set up microcredit programmes in London and several African countries, and worked as a research associate for the Prison Reform Trust. She spent many years facilitating conflict resolution workshops for Alternatives to Violence (AVP), both in prison and in the community.

Jennifer is an associate tutor for Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. She gives talks and runs workshops and retreats on aspects of the Spirit-led life. She is the author of two novels, ten books of non-fiction, and two games.

Balancing an active life with a pull towards contemplation is a continuing and fruitful challenge. 

She will present the first session:

 “Existence is an intricately interconnected web of relationships. We share the breath of life and thus we are connected.” (Satish Kumar)

This first session will take the form of a talk: a personal and spiritual overview of the topic of community, compassion and unity. About our uniqueness and diversity, and our interconnectedness, both in our human communities and with the rest of the created world. And how Unity is ultimately found in the Divine, our diversity both embraced by that oneness and an expression of it.

Followed by a time for Q&A 

Edwina PeartEdwina Peart is the diversity and inclusion coordinator for BYM. She has been in post since 2018 and has organised two national gatherings and held many workshops and provided learning opportunities with local and area meetings, committees and staff groups. She has wide and varied experience of equality and justice work in both local and international contexts and has a background in research, education and health. She favours an intersectional approach that prioritises lived experience whilst recognising the constraints of structures and institutions that regulate and mediate modern life.

This is how Edwina describes her individual session:

This session will be interactive and practical. I want to look at what community, compassion and unity (and their absence) looks and feels like in faith groups and the wider society. To do this I will draw on contemporary examples that resonate locally and globally. My current thinking is around refugees, nationality and ethnicity, and covid. Participants will likely be asked to participate in group work, possibly pairs. There will be specific questions/activities probing what Quakers with a faith-based approach can contribute and where they may need help.

They will present two joint sessions:

We will explore in pairs, groups and plenary the themes of community and belonging. What is community? Is it growing or stagnant? Outward-facing and inclusive, or inward-facing and excluding? Where do we belong? Why do we belong? What role does choice, default or intention play? What is the role of others?

Unity: how we can accept our diversity as human beings and embrace our interconnectedness. How we can find the unity of the Divine and express it in our lives.

Games, texts, solo activities, visuals and meditation may be used, Leading into Meeting for Worship.

The weekend will also be an opportunity to meet up with Friends we have not seen for a long time and join in some fun activities.

Anne Stone, Phil Gaskell, Jeannette Delgado-Holdsworth & John Williams

BLYM Social Evening 30 April

BLYM held another social evening on Friday 30th April 2021. The main part of the evening was Part 2 of the Belgium Quiz, this time including some tough questions on Luxembourg. Thanks go to Richard Condon’s work as Quizmaster and Janice Thompson for the Roadtrip song section and all who contributed to the evening.

The participants also contributed their favourite Roadtrip songs which are available on the Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

We welcome ideas for the next Zoom Social Evening and can’t wait to hold a face to face social event when the easing of COVID restrictions allows.

Leave suggestions on the Contact Us page.


Activités pour les Quakers francophones

Les Quakers francophones se retrouvent souvent soit dans des groupes où la langue majoritairement utilisée est l’anglais, soit isolé(e)s. Ils/elles sont aussi géographiquement éparpillé(e)s sur plusieurs pays (et donc assemblées annuelles) — la France, la Suisse, le Canada, la Belgique, le Luxembourg, le Congo, etc.

Depuis l’arrivée de la pandémie, une poignée de Quakers francophones a fait l’expérience de rencontres en ligne (groupes de discussion, présentations historiques, cultes de partage) destinées aux Quakers dont la langue maternelle est le français. Pour le moment, ce sont essentiellement les membres des groupes Quakers de Toulouse et de Genève qui organisent ces activités. Cependant, pour que ces événements fleurissent, il faut informer et attirer des Quakers francophones d’autres régions. 

Dans un premier temps, je me suis proposée pour évaluer l’intérêt pour des activités virtuelles en français parmi les Quakers en Belgique et Luxembourg. Si cela vous intéresse, pourriez-vous m’envoyer un mail en indiquant si vous aimeriez:
1) Être informé(e) des activités en ligne pour les Quakers francophones
2) Éventuellement organiser des activités en ligne en français pour les Quakers francophones

Pour information:
Les Quakers de Genève vont organisersur Zoom le mercredi, 17 mars 2021 entre Quaker House, Geneva18h30 et 20h, un culte de recueillement de 30 minutes suivi d’une discussion d’une heure en français et en anglais du “lexique Quaker” (les termes et les méthodes Quakers). Ouvert à tout le monde. Détails à suivre.

Les Quakers de Toulouse vont organiser, également sur Zoom, une discussion uniquement en français le dimanche, 4 avril 2021 de 9h30 à 10h20 sur “comment vivez-vous la spiritualité avec les autres”. Malheureusement, ceci est est limité à 12 personnes, de préférences des francophones qui ont découvert le Quakerisme récemment. Si cela vous intéresse, veuillez contacter Les Quakers de Toulouse pour réserver votre place et obtenir les codes d’accès.

Amitiés,
Janice

Retour

BLYM Quakers Social Evening: Belgian Quiz Night

We held a Quiz Night titled  “BLYM Belgian pub quiz (without the pub)” on Friday 5th March 2021. Richard hosted, asked the questions and then explained the answers, in English, Dutch and French. We thank Richard for making the night welcoming in three different languages and for bringing the proceedings to life. The quiz explored our knowledge of Belgium posing questions about cuisine, some culture, art and a little politics and history. We discovered some of the more entertaining aspects of this little country. Many of us enjoyed the evening after being locked down for so long.

Jan’s knowledge of his home country seems to be excellent and he was duly declared the winner. He is the one setting the pace for the next quiz.

Quiz nights are an opportunity to meet up socially, albeit on Zoom. It is hoped that we can run more social evenings, which will for the time being will be hosted on Zoom. We long to be able to meet up in person in the not too distant future.

We hope to hold another quiz night in the next few weeks. If you have any entertaining questions (preferably not too difficult) about Belgium that you’d be happy to donate to the social cause, then please forward them to any of the BLYM Oversight Group, namely Jeanette, Janice or John

Suggestions for other types of social evenings that we can arrange using Zoom will also be very welcome. Please contact one of the Oversight Group with your thoughts and ideas or leave a comment below.

Thoughts During Corona Time

These texts were written during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic – an unprecedented time of loss. Millions of people around the world lost loved ones, many have lost their livelihoods and most of us lost the freedom to live our lives as normal. But many of us also found more time to reflect on our lives, our priorities and what a better future might look like.

We all had to adapt to unprecedented circumstances and Friends have been no exception. We moved to virtual forms of gathering which brought unexpectedly positive experiences but also challenges of worshipping via technological tools.

All of these experiences have inspired this collection of writings and we hope that it will grow.

If you wish to share one or all of the texts with friends, please contact the Clerk of BLYM (quakerclerk@gmail.com) out of courtesy to those whose texts they are.

Should you feel moved to share your own experiences, please contact the Clerk likewise.