Europe and Middle East Young Friends (EMEYF) Annual Meeting held at Quaker House, Brussels 26th-28th October 2001.
Present: Marianna Batovsky, Anne Biermann, Rachel Bryers, Jan Caspers, Sarah Davies, Mike Eccles, David Ferrard, Carolyn Forrest, Ali Ghanem, Cedric t'Hart, Judith Kirton-Darling, Konstantin Kuzmin, Aidan McCartney (Clerk), Chris McCartney (Recording Clerk), John Myers, Annie Quinn, Rachel Ramaker, Jonathan Riddell, Heather Rowlands, Danny Schulz, Anneke Spreij, Maarten Spreij, Bronwen Thomas
We warmly welcome all to Annual Meeting at Quaker House, Brussels. We welcome David Ferrard as the new EMEYF Secretary and thank Kirsten Hills for all her hard work over the last year. We are also glad to have with us, Sarah Davies of Australia Yearly Meeting. We have received greetings from a number of Friends and groups:
Richard Waldemeyer, Petra Mauersberger, Becky Calcraft, Simon Best, Anita Wuyts (on behalf of EMES Executive Committee), Kirsten Hills, Birgit Filliesen, Ellen Ryberg and Budapest Worship Group.
We remind ourselves to be sensitive about language and to speak clearly and simply this weekend. English will be the working language, however many of us have another first language. We have been introduced to the Quaker business method.
A number of documents are available for reading this weekend: EMEYF annual booklet 2000, EMEYF outreach leaflet, Among Friends, Around Europe, Willy and Penn, EMEYF accounts 2000, Dina van Dalfsen Gathering report, FWCC statement to the UN conference on racism; FWCC interim committee statement for Friends and an FWCC public statement on recent world events.
We appoint the following Friends to serve on Nominations Committee for Annual Meeting 2001: John Myers, Anneke Spreij, Marianna Batovsky, Rachel Bryers and Judith Kirton-Darling.
Further to Minute AM 00/15, in January Rachel Bryers joined EMES Travelling Friend, Ute Caspers to visit Lithuanian, Belarussian and Russian Friends. She told us of the enthusiasm of Friends in Lithuania, who hope to open a Quaker Centre. In Belarus, Rachel and Ute joined with two enquirers in the first Quaker Meeting in that country. They shared a time of intense searching with them, which Rachel found challenging and moving. They also visited and worshipped with Russian Friends and organised workshops there. Rachel told us how much she had been challenged to think about her own beliefs and experiences, as well as aspects of Quakerism she had previously taken for granted. We also appreciate the opportunity for a Young Friend to take part in this trip, and hope this could be repeated. We thank Rachel for sharing her experiences with us.
Simon Gray read the Epistle of Spring Gathering 2001, which was held at Scartbacken in Sweden. The participants felt like flames joining together for this week, and appreciated many and varied activities and speakers. Simon recommended that future planning groups should develop their own support group to ease some of the burden. Future planning groups were also encouraged to think seriously about communication. All in all, Simon told us that he found it an exhausting but rewarding experience! We thank the Spring Gathering planning group and all those who contributed for their hard work.
Konstantin Kuzmin told us that Russian Young Friends have achieved many of their goals. Friends take part in EMEYF Annual Meeting and Spring Gathering as well as receive visits from other Quakers. Difficulties with information and communication are partly eased by this contact and the chance to meet other Friends.
John Myers shared with us about the activities of Young Friends General Meeting which meets three times a year. Since October, £10,000 has been raised for the Little Star Project, which helps traumatised children in Chechnya. The next YFGM will take place in London from 8th - 10th February 2002, and all are invited to attend. Other plans for the future include a gathering at New Year and a national gathering in March on mental health issues.
Marianna Batovsky told us that Young Friends in Hungary are very involved with the larger Quaker group in Hungary and neighbouring countries. Activities include meetings for worship, business and learning while individual Friends have taken part in the European Family Gathering and a workcamp in Italy. Marianna has written her dissertation about Quakers and it is hoped it will be published. It would be the first publication about Quakers in the Hungarian language. A border meeting is also held each year with Austrian Friends. The next meeting will be from 1st - 2nd December 2001, and Friends are invited to take part. The next Regional Spring Meeting will be in May 2002 in Brno, Czech Republic, and a warm invitation was extended to all.
Danny Schulz told us that German Young Friends have met at Easter and hope to meet at New Year. Up to 20 Young Friends attended the last gathering and they enjoyed hearing from guest speakers and discussing interesting topics. German Yearly Meeting has invited all Friends to hold a special Meeting for Worship about the current world situation each Sunday between 7 and 8pm.
Anneke Spreij told us that last year has been spent making contact with Young people in Netherlands Yearly meeting. A small group has expressed an interest in taking part in Young Friends activities and they will meet together in the coming weeks to talk about how to go on from here.
Aidan McCartney described a difficult year for Irish Young Friends with a number of events cancelled due to snow and Foot and Mouth disease. Despite this a successful summer camp was held, and a gathering at New Year has been planned. A special Yearly Meeting of Young Friends in Ireland will be held in March 2002, and it is hoped this will develop into an annual meeting for business.
Judith Kirton-Darling reported that Belgium and Luxembourg Monthly Meeting includes a number of Young Friends who are working in Brussels and they meet informally. After a visit to Norway, Judith told us that Young Friends there are an enthusiastic group, and we hope they will have the more chances to get involved in European activities. Kostantin Kuzmin has visited Friends in Finland. There are some Young Quakers in this group and they were interested to hear about European activities. Ali Ghanem told us that Swedish Young Friends hosted Spring Gathering this year. Five of them attended and Ali reported that they were keen to be involved in the future. Sarah Davies told us that Australian Young Friends join twice a year for fun activities, business and worship. She extended an open invitation for Friends from overseas to take part in these events.
We are encouraged to hear news of Friends throughout Europe and the world. Many warm invitations have been made, to travel and meet with other Quakers. We hope Young Friends will make full use of these opportunities.
Simon Gray and Judith Kirton-Darling reported on the work of the Quaker Council for European Affairs and their involvement as our representatives. QCEA has worked on a number of issues, including the establishment of a European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, the arms trade, undocumented migrants and development aid. Several concerns were raised. The financial situation of the Council is not secure in the long term, and this has direct implications for the EMEYF Secretary and office resources. Yearly Meetings and others have been asked to raise funds. Also the staff are facing some difficult changes, and we were encouraged to keep them in our thoughts and offer support, particularly to the Programme Assistants.
Judith asked us to reflect on how EMEYF could better support the work of QCEA. She will be preparing a database of Friends' experience and interests, to build a bridge between the Brussels office and the wider family of Quakers. We thank Simon and Judith for their report, and taking an active role of the Council.
Jonathan Riddell reported on behalf of the Spring Gathering Planning group 2002. They have met once, without Natasha Badashova who had visa difficulties. Spring Gathering will be held near Edinburgh, Scotland from 31 March to 7 April 2002. The gathering will explore the theme of "Conscience and Conflict; a Passion for Peace and a Longing for Justice", with a number of interesting speakers. The planning group will begin publicising the event soon, and encourage everyone to come and to tell others about the event. Information is also available on a web-page http://emeyf.quaker.eu.org/ and we ask that the details are also sent out on the EMEYF e-mail list. We are pleased to hear of the progress in planning the gathering and thank the planning group for their ongoing hard work.
We agree to hold the Spring Gathering 2003 in Hungary and we ask Nominations Committee to find two Friends to serve on the planning group for this event.
We are excited about the idea of some link with EMES Spring Meeting, which will also be held in Hungary at Easter 2003. We ask our planning group and the Gatherings Co-ordinator to explore the best way of coming together, while allowing the Spring Gathering to fulfil its purpose.
Anne Biermann has presented the 2000 Accounts. Our income is less than expected, as no donations were received from EMES and YFGM. We approve the accounts for 2000.
Anne Biermann has presented the accounts for 2001 so far. She reports that overall we are in quite a comfortable financial position, taking into consideration our expected income, expenditure and reserves.
We ask the Treasurer, the Charitable Accounts Treasurer and EMEYF Secretary to nominate people living locally to examine the EMEYF Accounts 2001 and for Communications Committee to approve the nominations.
Judith Kirton-Darling represented us at the EMES Spring meeting 2001, held near Stravanger in Norway. She described a warm welcome by Norwegian Friends, and a packed and interesting business programme. There was a focus on events in the Middle East and the impact on Quakers there. We thank Judith for her report and for attending this event on our behalf.
Jan Caspers reported on his participation in the EMES Executive Committee in February. He felt the opportunity to contribute and the links created were worthwhile. We thank Jan for his report and attending this meeting on our behalf.
Further to our workshop discussion at Annual Meeting 2000, we have received a request from EMES Executive Committee to consider appointing an EMEYF representative to serve on this committee. We agree to send a representative to EMES Executive Committee for a term of 2 years initially. We will review the nature of our participation at Annual Meeting 2003, in light of our experience and the consecutive Spring gatherings in Hungary. We ask nominations Committee to find a Friend to serve on the EMES Executive Committee for two years who will also attend the EMES Spring Meetings in 2002 and 2003.
Anne Biermann has presented the budget for 2002. We have increased the budget for the EMEYF newsletter and distribution from €500 to €800. We have also increased the allocation to the Spring Gathering Planning group from €500 to €650, in line with increasing costs. We ask Gatherings Co-ordinator, Heather Rowlands, to amend the gatherings guidelines.
We felt that the budget for our representative to attend the Quaker Council for European Affairs did not need to be so high, and we agree to reduce it from €500 to €300.
We approve the budget for 2002, subject to change by the Communications Committee when it meets in the Spring. We thank Anne for all her hard work and diligence as Treasurer over the past three years.
Rachel Bryers presented a set of guidelines for bursaries for gatherings from EMEYF and Trusts. These have been prepared by the Treasurers in co-operation with the relevant Trusts. All Enquiries should go to the EMEYF Treasurer and an application form should be completed as soon as possible before the event. A full copy of the guidelines will be available from the EMEYF Treasurer, Secretary and National Contact Persons. We welcome the guidelines.
Further to Minute CC 14/01, we have discussed fundraising for EMEYF. Rachel Bryers, the Charitable Account Treasurer has already approached a number of Trusts and organisations. We are mindful that fundraising is a shared responsibility. To help individual Friends, Rachel Bryers and Anne Biermann have prepared a letter with fundraising advice. Friends are encouraged to raise funds for EMEYF by approaching their Meetings, and to make a donation towards the cost of receiving EMEYF Newsletter, Willy and Penn. We thank Rachel and Anne for their work on this.
Anne Biermann reported on the gathering held in June, funded by the Dina van Dalfsen legacy. The gathering was held near Paris, France in June 2001, and Friends explored the theme of "Empowerment and Practical Peacemaking". A facilitator, Diana Francis, joined the activities, which were fun, enlightening and artistic. We are heartened to hear of the success of this gathering. We thank the planning group, David Gee, Birgit Fellisen and Becky Calcraft for their work on this gathering.
Rachel Bryers presented the EMEYF annual booklet 2000, which contains reports and information about the activities of EMEYF. We are reminded that this is a useful tool for fundraising, and Rachel told us it has also been sent to European and Middle East Yearly Meetings for information. In future years, the EMEYF Secretary will compile the report. We thank Rachel for her hard work in producing this valuable booklet.
Aidan McCartney reported on the progress of the EMEYF outreach leaflet. The text and format have been finalised and Communications Committee is not working on gathering pictures and translating it into several languages. We are pleased to hear of the progress and look forward to reading and using the completed leaflet.
Ali Ghanem has told us of the role of the two elders, and what he and Rachel Bryers have been doing in the past year. They have both attended Spring Gathering, Annual meeting and Communications Committee meetings. Our elders share our concern for isolated Friends and they hope to develop some work on this matter in the coming year. Ali and Rachel have also written a job description for elders, which they felt clarified their role. We thank Rachel and Ali for this ongoing work.
Aidan McCartney spoke on the EMEYF newsletter. The last edition of 'Willy and Penn' was distributed in February 2001, with no edition in June. Greta Hopkins, one of the two editors, plans to produce a larger issue in November. Naomi Morris stepped down as editor, and we ask Nominations Committee to find another Friend willing to serve as editor. It was suggested that sending the EMEYF newsletter by e-mail could save some money and time.
The name of our Newsletter was also discussed, and we agree that it will remain Willy and Penn for the time being. Friends are invited to send their suggestions and thoughts on the current name and alternatives to the editors, for further discussion in the newsletter. We agree that the EMEYF newsletter is an important channel for communication.
Carolyn Forrest and Sarah Davies have enthused us about plans to hold a World Gathering of Young Friends. Two meetings have been held in Britain to explore possibilities and a committee has been formed to take ideas forward. Many of the details have yet to be worked out, but the group is very motivated. Friends are invited to get involved, share ideas and spread the word among all groups of Quaker. More information will be available through future editions of 'Willy and Penn'.
Chris McCartney has informed us about the protest, which took place two years ago. In 2000 EMEYF sent a representative to take part in the Quaker presence at the protest which was organised with help from QCEA. It is uncertain whether a similar protest will by organised in 2002. We feel this is something we would like to send a representative to, and ask Communication Committee to look further into the issue in the coming months.
We agree to hold our next Annual Meeting from 25th-27th October, 2002 at Quaker House Brussels. We ask our Secretary to book Quaker House for that weekend.
Ali Ghanem introduced the topic of developing an EMEYF website. Many concerns were raised, but also many advantages. A website could help with outreach, information (particularly reaching isolated Friends) and fundraising. We were wary about the publication of some documents for internal use, the work involved in creating a website and ongoing maintenance, and access to the internet for all. We agree that it could be a useful tool for communication, but that we should develop our ideas more thoroughly. In the meantime, we agree to make more use of the existing EMEYF e-mail list, including to discuss this matter further.
We appoint the following Friends to the following positions for the following periods of time:
We thank Nominations Committee for their hard work this weekend.
We agree to pay for our incoming Treasurer to undertake a Quaker Treasurers Course at Woodbrooke.
We are grateful for the warm welcome from QCEA and Brussels meetings and for practical support. We thank David Ferrard for his hard work in organising Annual Meeting and acting as EMEYF Secretary. We thank David and Bronwen Thomas for all their service this weekend, for wonderful food, information and hospitality. As we part, we thank Friends for making the journey to Annual Meeting and all who contribute to the work of EMEYF. We have enjoyed our time together, and send Friends on their way with warm greetings.
Signed on behalf of EMEYF
Aidan McCartney Clerk
Chris McCartney Recording Clerk
Appended: