CARLTON HILL MEETING during 2008

Our Meeting has  continued to thrive during 2008.  We are a meeting of all ages and welcomed to our meeting two new friends, Noah and Peter born during 2008.  Remembering advices and queries 19, Rejoice in the presence of children and young people in your meeting and recognise the gifts they bring, our children have continued to ground us spiritually, culminating in our all age worship in December 2008 where our children led us in guiding our thoughts and actions towards the giving of gifts to PAFRAS who we continued to support with donations of food and toiletries during the year.

We are a dynamic Meeting , the banner outside our Meeting House attracts many people to see what goes on inside, we have a good position opposite the university and are very pleased to meet all people who come, pass through and sometimes join us and this year  some long standing attenders have become members – Ben Wood, Peter Rice and  Lis Bertolla.

Our discussion groups have thrived.  They have been held enthusiastically on Friday mornings  followed  once a month by Meeting for Worship.    This is augmented on 3rd Sundays where our  shared lunches are preceded by talks which during 2008 included the subjects of refugees, criminal justice, Membership and Trident.  Many  have followed  our friend Paul Raymond as an accompanier in IsraelPalestine  through his emails and have been moved by his account of life there.

We continue to support Gildersome Meeting and friends from this Meeting helped when Quaker Quest was held there during 2008 attracting new people.  Our outreach committee gained publicity for us by having a stall at the Hyde Park Unity Day.

We are trying as a worshipping community to think about the impact we are having on the environment, we are counselled to;

Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects your style of living is having on the global economy and environment?

We are a fair-trade meeting, we supported fair-trade fortnight by giving away bananas at the gate with a support fair trade website sticker on each banana and we also held a green fair.

We hope that during the coming year of 2009 we will be able to meet the challenges ahead and through our lives and activities stand up for a fairer and more just world.

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