Dear Friend,

Here is the first full QPSW Correspondents’ mailing of the year, bringing you news and opportunities to get your meeting involved with the work of Quaker Peace & Social Witness. (If you are in fact not a QPSW Correspondent, that’s because we send the mailings to clerks where we don’t have a record of a QPSW Correspondent having been appointed by your meeting. To update our records, please contact Elizabeth Payne, elizabethp@quaker.org.uk or 020 7663 1158.

Some of you will be newly appointed – please see the October 2014 mailing sent last October for information about the role and how you might carry it out.

In brief...

• Quaker News
• QPSW conferences and QPSW at Yearly Meeting
• Global day of action on military spending peoples' poll (closing date: 20 April)
• Applications for Ecumenical Accompaniers (closing date: 24 April)
• General election 2015
• Why prison? workshops
• Quakers and the Nobel Peace Prize
• QPSW on Twitter
• EAPPI UK and Ireland
• Stories of witness
• QPSW conciliation group

• 17 April: Election webinar on housing
• 21 April: National debate on 'Paying for society'
• 17 June: Climate lobby
• 6 August: Service to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• 26 September: Interfaith peacebuilding conference

Quaker News

The forthcoming edition of Quaker News, due to reach meetings by 24 April, features stories about several areas of QPSW work, including Sustainability & New Economy Grants, nuclear campaigning, Quaker Equality Week (where we supported the initiative of Manchester and Warrington Friends), and nonviolence training in Kenya. You might want to encourage Friends in your meeting to read these stories, or you might even mount a mini-exhibition on a noticeboard, using pages from Quaker News? Past editions of Quaker News are available at www.quaker.org.uk/qn - and you can ask to receive it electronically on that page too.

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QPSW conferences

Did someone from your local meeting go to the QPSW Spring Conference at Swanwick in March? Or if not, was your area meeting represented there? Have they found a way to report back? You might want to encourage them to lead a discussion or write for a local newsletter. And possibly you and other QPSW Correspondents could talk with them informally about what they learnt?

If you are coming to Yearly Meeting (1-4 May at Friends House, London) look out for QPSW special interest groups - see the enclosed list [PDF]. The main theme of Yearly Meeting is ‘Living out our faith in the world’ and one main session will focus on housing – so I have included two special interest groups on housing, run by the Quaker Housing Trust, in the list. For full details of Yearly Meeting, see www.quaker.org.uk/ym.

There will be other QPSW events later in the year. Details of a weekend conference run jointly by QPSW and QCEA (Quaker Council for European Affairs), 4-6 December in Brussels, will be sent out soon in the monthly mailing to clerks. So will details of a QPSW autumn conference 30 October-1 November in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The focus will be 'A changing world: changing the way we work' and QPSW Correspondents are among those we are specifically designing it for. If you are interested in coming, talk to your clerk. Or maybe you know someone else in your meeting who would like to be nominated for a place? More details can be found at www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw-conferences-and-events

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Still time to vote in the GDAMS People’s Poll

For the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, QPSW has created an online ‘People’s Ballot’ inviting people to choose how they would spend £38 billion which the UK currently spends on the military annually. Before Monday 20 April, Friends can add their vote online at http://demilitarize.org.uk/gdams-survey-2015/ (takes 1 minute). The final results will be published here.

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General election 2015: Quaker Vote

Colleagues in the advocacy and public relationships team have been working hard on the general election, producing an election guide and organising debates and webinars. They’ve also been writing a blog and would welcome contributions from Friends. To find out more visit www.quakervote.org.uk

If you’d like to contribute to the blog, request additional copies of the election guide, share information about Quaker parliamentary candidates or hustings you’re involved with then they’d love to hear from you. Email Jessica Metheringham and Elizabeth Payne at quakervote@quaker.org.uk, or tel: 020 7663 1107. They're also on Twitter @QuakerVote.

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Why prison? workshops

Despite the widespread use of prison sentences in Britain, it is not always clear why people are sent there. QPSW Crime, Community and Justice Sub-Committee (CCJS) has produced a framework for discussion to explore the purposes, effectiveness and experience of imprisonment as a response to criminal actions. It can be downloaded from www.quaker.org.uk/ccjg-briefings. CCJS members are happy to come and facilitate a 'Why Prison?' workshop for your meeting, particularly between now and the general election. Contact Paula Harvey, paulah@quaker.org.uk / 020 7663 1036.

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Quakers and the Nobel Peace Prize

As former recipients of the Nobel peace prize, Quakers are privileged to be able to submit an annual nomination to the Oslo based Nobel peace prize committee. The nomination is made by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on behalf of Quakers worldwide. If you know of a person or organisation worthy of winning the prize, you could suggest them to the nominating committee. Your proposed candidate for nomination should be received before 15 May 2015. You can find more information about suggesting nominees here.

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QPSW on Twitter

In the October mailing I listed the newsletters published by QPSW. This time I am listing our Twitter accounts. I know many people don't use Twitter, but some Friends do, and you might suggest that they could follow one or more of these, to hear the latest Quaker activities and be pointed to resources from other bodies.

• Earth and economy @EandEquaker
• Peace and disarmament @DisarmQuaker
• Peace education @PeaceEduQuaker
• EAPPI UK and Ireland @eappi_uki

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EAPPI UK and Ireland

Friends may already be aware of the work of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) in providing protection by presence, monitoring human rights abuses, and supporting Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. To keep up to date with all of this valuable work there is a new EAPPI UK and Ireland blog and Facebook page, as well as a regular monthly mailing. Subscribers to the mailing will receive updates on the latest eyewitness blogs written by British and Irish EAs in Palestine and Israel, plus news on actions you can take to help end the occupation.If you would like to invite an EA to speak at your meeting then please contact the EAPPI Programme Coordinator at eappi@quaker.org.uk or tel: 020 7663 1144.

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Share your stories of witness

We have a new way for Friends and meetings to share their witness with other Friends. Have a look at the stories of witness on the website where you can search what has happened across the country. You can also be inspired by what meetings have been doing on particular topics here.

If your meeting has a story to add then please fill in the online form and share your story. We are particularly looking for more stories about witness on peace promotion, disarmament, militarism and political engagement- but please add any stories of witness that your local or area meeting may have or stories of individual Friends witness.

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QPSW Conciliation Group

This sensitive work does not appear on the QPSW website and does not seek publicity. The work is undertaken by a group of appointed Friends coordinated by staff. The group has supported local conciliators in an area of South Asia for many years and we wanted to take the opportunity of a QPSW correspondents mailing to ask for the continued prayerful support of Friends. Establishing processes of peace and reconciliation has seen some very encouraging developments of late. However, formidable difficulties remain.

During a recent meeting in the region those of us who were present were humbled to receive heartfelt gratitude to Quakers for this long term commitment, from civil society and armed groups alike. We hope all Friends will feel a share of that gratitude and continue to support our work, and those with whom we work, with prayer.

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