Northern Friends Peace Board

Yet there have also been successes - the seeds of a UK civilian peace force planted by Peaceworkers UK; the ending of a 26 year civil war in Angola. The awarding of the Right Livelihood Award, an alternative Nobel prize, to the Trident Ploughshares campaigners (including NFPB member Ellen Moxley of West Scotland Monthly Meeting), and to Gush Shalom, an Israeli Peace group. These have given us inspiration and renewed hope. 

Speakers at our meetings this year have reminded us that our Testimony to Peace comes not from our heads, but from our faith. We cannot control world events, may not even be able to influence them. But we can witness our truth, and sometimes, often where least expected, the tiny seeds of Peace we plant will take root and grow. 

Aware of the need to support each other in this witness, this year we have consciously added Communication to our other two strands of work: Challenging Militarism and Creating a Culture of Peace. Our efforts to improve communication with local Meetings have shown results. Friends have responded to our request for increased financial support and financial contributions have improved. Just as importantly, we have been delighted to welcome Board Members from Monthly Meetings who have not been represented for a while, but who have once again found Friends who are willing to serve. As we have travelled round the country, we have been warmed by the welcome we have received from local Meetings, and appreciated the p articipation of local Friends in our Board Meetings. 

We have also improved communication between and involvement of Board Members by setting up working groups to oversee our three key work areas. 

In the dark months following 11th September, many NFPB members dedicated much of their time to developing and maintaining a peace witness locally and in other groups. We responded by slightly modifying the balance of our work to take account of international events, recognising that we needed to identify ways of supporting Friends throughout the North of Britain. One of the key tools for this has been our website, which is becoming an important part of our work. Since last autumn, visits to the site have significantly increased, and feedback suggests that we are now providing support for peace groups worldwide. Overall, we were reassured that the work we had begun over the last few years appears to have been rightly discerned. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we have upheld Friends in the North in our prayers and been upheld by them. 

In Peace and Friendship 

Jo Valentine 
Clerk to Northern Friends Peace Board  

At the beginning of the year three working groups were set up to manage and to keep an overview of the work in these areas. An innovation this year was to ask each of our members to 'attach' themselves to at least one of these groups, so that everyone on the Board has a closer connection to at least one of our work areas. This has proved a worthwhile approach, giving more frequent opportunities for Friends to be in contact with one another and to contribute to the work of NFPB as a whole. NFPB is and always has been a lot more than the four members' meetings we have each year. 

After 11th September we did find that NFPB members had greater demands on their time in developing and maintaining a peace witness locally and in other groups. This did have some impact on the working groups. We also decided to modify the balance of our work to some degree to take into account the global situation, recognising that we had a duty to identify ways of supporting Friends. In most ways, however, the events of the autumn underlined for us the relevance of the priorities that we had already identified. 

  

Culture of Peace

• Workshops: Our one workshop on offer was on the theme of "Building a culture of Peace; from paper to practice". We ran three of these during 2001, in Doncaster, Penrith and in Glasgow, with six Friends and attenders involved in the facilitation. We ran an additional workshop on conflict resolution in Chester with the collaboration of the Alternatives to Violence Project.
• Racism and violence: Soon after the violent disturbances in northern towns in the early summer, NFPB members were able to exchange news and experiences in the course of our meetings. In the early autumn, we developed a consultation amongst a wider group of Friends and attenders, drawing together a range of experiences, insights and knowledge about the root causes of the violence. Friends participating in this process came from meetings in Lancashire, West Yorkshire and Scotland. The 'war against terrorism' did lead to a greater interest in and awareness of Islam, but we are aware that this has not always been positive. It has sometimes exacerbated expressions of Islamophobia and raised tensions within communities. It was unclear at the end of the year where the consultation process would lead, but those involved in its early stages had already found it valuable.
• Regional networks: During the year we explored the possibilities of developing regional peace groupings of Friends to help nourish and sustain a culture of peace within our own Society of Friends. After 11th September, many Friends found that their own and other Friends' time was in great demand locally. Whilst Friends evidently value opportunities to make connections across our Quaker boundaries, it was not clear that new networks would actually add to our efforts rather than take away energy from existing activities.
• Board meetings: Speakers at Board meetings in the course of the year helped us to reflect more deeply on the nature of a culture of peace. In March in Penrith, Ruth Harvey (then Director of the Living Spirituality Network) challenged us to look at seeking peace not only in the quiet places of spiritual retreat, but also in passionate and active engagement in situations where violence exists. Brian Phillips (on a Quaker Fellowship for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust) spoke to us in mid-September on the theme of Quaker Internationalism for the New Century. He urged us to remember that we are not just another pressure group, and that we need to find the right balance between prophecy and pragmatism in our spirit-inspired peace witness.

Challenging Militarism

The three issues identified are: US Missile Defence Proposals and the relevance of Menwith Hill and Fylingdales in North Yorkshire; UK Trident Nuclear Weapons, with a particular focus on Faslane, and the arms trade, focusing in particular on the government subsidy of this and on key weapons that are being assembled in the north of Britain. 

The first part of this project was to gather and assimilate existing information. To this end, we have had representatives at conferences, at demonstrations and in correspondence with the UK Government on these issues and have acquired a significant number of key resources on the issues of concern. At Britain Yearly Meeting in July, we contributed to a special interest group meeting on US Missile Defence Proposals, along with David Gee of Quaker Peace and Social Witness. 

In the spring, in collaboration with Quaker Green Concern and the Quaker Socialist Society, we produced a short briefing sheet for Friends, focussing on arms trade and conversion, on US missile defence and the need for investment in non-military means of building security, including resource sustain-ability. We were pleased to join with Yorkshire General Meeting's "Quaker Outreach in Yorkshire", helping to run with them a day on disarmament and environmental concerns, stimulated by a presentation from Paul Rogers of Bradford University's department of Peace Studies. 

In the autumn, we were pleased to begin to develop some work jointly with the Oxford Research Group on workshops looking at skills for effective dialogue with Decision makers. As a precursor to this, we ran a seminar in Leeds on the theme of 'Who Decides', bringing in speakers from three campaigning groups to talk about their current priorities and their understanding of the relevant decision-makers relating to the three issues. Thanks to Anni Rainbow of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, Chris Cole of Campaign Against Arms Trade and to Rachel Julian of Yorkshire CND for their help with this.  

Communications

As well as benefiting from re-design of crucial pages, our web site has been regularly maintained and well used as a resource throughout the year. In particular, individuals have commented how valuable were its resources and links relating to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in America. 

Our newsletter appeared three times during the year, and towards the end of the year we launched a new Bulletin. This is a single sheet, occasional item that we are able to send by email to more than half of the meetings in the north and by post to the remainder. Its aim is to provide Friends with resources in relation to current crises. 

Our publication schedule for The Peace Papers continued during the year, with new materials added in the summer covering issues ranging from peace and Meeting House wardenship to Quaker work at the United Nations office in Geneva. 

As well as written resources we made available, at short notice, an A4 poster using the image from one of our envelope re-use labels with the wording 'War, a journey without return, let us choose another way'. Friends and other used copies of this at vigils and other events. We also put together kits and instructions for one-person Quaker banners, so that Friends can be visible at vigils and other events. 

We continued to serve as a resource for information and responding to enquiries for speakers and other advice and support, to Quakers and non-Quakers alike. 
 

Review of Progress and Achievements 

Four Board meetings took place during the year, with speakers on a range of issues of interest to our members and of relevance to our work of seeking to support Quakers and others in acting for peace in all its height and breadth. The Executive Meeting, comprising our Trustees, also met four times during the year. Executive members and our one paid employee - our Co-ordinator, Philip Austin - attended training courses during the year. During the period covered, Joanna Valentine has served as Clerk to the Board, Clare Whitehead as Clerk to the Executive, Nova Brockbank as Assistant Clerk, Peter Kennedy as Treasurer and Tim Carlisle as Assistant Treasurer, each having been appointed by the Board. With the exception of Nova Brockbank and Philip Austin, the above named served as Trustees.  

Key activities to note during the year have included; a day on the theme of 'Who Decides' on arms control issues; workshops for Friends on 'Building a culture of Peace'; consultations amongst Friends and others from urban areas affected by race-related violence; production of additional materials - on paper and on our web pages - to support people in their response to 11th September events; participation in and a contribution to activities during Britain Yearly Meeting gathering in Exeter; participation in a range of conferences and other events. We also upgraded our office equipment, giving us further scope to respond effectively to rapidly changing circumstances and to produce good quality resources in a range of formats.  

Commentary on the Financial Statements  

Risk Statement