Managing public buildings, owned by faith communities and balancing those groups needs and wants can be tricky. These articles might help.
Z is for Zen No, I’m not suggesting that you become a Buddhist or learn to meditate. Instead I’m suggesting you find a way to bring a bit of Zen acceptance of what is, into your life. While managing a meeting house you have to accept that there will be days when: Someone thinks that
Quaker Business Conference ’15 Wednesday, 4th November 2015 – Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London. NW1 2BJ. Programme: (10:30am – 4:30pm) The 11th Q&B Annual Conference is asking the question ‘What is the purpose of business?’ This question will be addressed by some of the UK’s cutting edge speakers, with opportunities for group exploration in
Y is for Do it Yourself Quakers have a long and worthy history of working together to solve large and small problems. Painting parties, working in the garden – even the Quaker Tapestry was done as a group effort. As mentioned in V is for Volunteers you may get professional people volunteering and you should
W is for Where does the money go? One of the difficulties I have found in both being a warden, and in dealing with finances is that most people aren’t interested. They nod politely when you mention money, glance at the account reports briefly when presented (if they’ve attended Business Meeting) and it is usually
V is for Vulnerable Victim After a case of fraud in North Somerset and Wiltshire Monthly Meeting, members of that Monthly Meeting and Quaker Stewardship Committee produced a report titled: A vulnerable victim (you can download a copy at that link). The Judge at the Crown Court hearing referred to the Religious Society of Friends
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. U is for Unique Selling Point It is unlikely that your building is the only venue in your area. I remember having a discussion with the warden at Bridport who commented that their small village had a plethora of places
A&Q 18 How can we make the meeting a community in which each person is accepted and nurtured, and strangers are welcome? Seek to know one another in the things which are eternal, bear the burden of each other’s failings and pray for one another. As we enter with tender sympathy into the joys and sorrows
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. R is for Responsibilities Every Relationship has more than one side, as well as more than one set of rights and responsibilities. Local Meetings may be used to reporting that they have at least considered the list of their responsibilities
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. Q is for Quantities (and Quality) Buying in bulk can save money – whether from a warehouse store as pictured above or elsewhere. As long as you are able to store the resultant quantity and use it up before it
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. O is for Openness Qf&P 20.20 For a Quaker, religion is not an external activity, concerning a special ‘holy’ part of the self. It is an openness to the world in the here and now with the whole of the
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. N is for Nonsensical Notices It is always sensible to ask someone else to read your notice before putting it up. Just to check that it means the same to someone else – as it did in your head. To
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. M is for measuring Increasing productivity or income, decreasing waste and carbon all sound good but how can you tell if the plans you’ve so carefully made are working? Keeping a record of measurements can help you decide if that
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. L is for Lead Many meeting houses have lead on their roofs or windows – even those who have a tiled or thatch roof may have flashing as can be seen on the porch above. Sadly this has become a
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. K is for Knowledge & Know-how “Learning the Knowledge” or the 25000 streets in central London that a taxi driver must be able to recognise to gain their license has been shown to result in a visibly bigger hippocampus. Whilst
This post is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. J is for Joining the Dots In the last post I talked about how so many of the jobs done both in the meeting house and across the country in each meeting house have similarities. Each meeting will have their