The Friendly Podcast

For the final episode of this season, we talk to: Charles Lamb (Roscrea Meeting) Mason George (Illionis Yearly Meeting (USA)) Danica Buchanan-Wollaston (Philldelphia Yearly Meeting (USA)) Thanks for listening!

Joan Johnson is a historian and has been part of Waterford Meeting since the 1960's. She has written a number of books about Quaker History  and was instrumental in setting up the Quaker walking trail around  Waterford City. Liberty Britton is a Young  Adult Friend from New York Yearly Meeting. She is a political and social justice activist and works part time in an animal refuge shelter in  Philadelphia. Jonny Wigham is a lifelong and active member of the Society of Friends. He is an alumni of Newtown School and attends Churchtown Meeting in South Dublin.

Pauline Goggin grew up in Limerick and studied fine art at Limerick Art School in the 1970s. She lived and worked in many settings within the City of Limerick and returned to live in Limerick in 2008 after an extended period in East Clare. Her art and practice has included her interest in promoting changes in society in terms of prevention of violence against women and girls and also the international Arms Trade which is an ongoing concern. Zachary Dutton has been Philedelphia Yearly Meeting's Associate Secretary for Program and Religious Life since September 2014.  He holds a Masters of Divinity and has a wide range of  experience as a facilitator within the Yearly Meeting.  David Champman is a retired teacher of children with special needs. He's been involved with the Quaker Meeting in Waterford since the 1980's.

Nigel Bell attends Monkstown Meeting in South Dublin. He grew up as part of a Quaker family and has dealt with ethical issues in finance and investment policies affecting the Yearly Meeting, He has also introduced talks on the plight of refugees in Ireland. Marguerite Daw is part of South Central Yearly Meeting in the USA. She is a graduate from Columbia University with a major in Physics and concentration in Computer Science. She completed a service project with the Peace Corps as a secondary school physics teacher in rural Tanzania. Elllie McCarthy is Young Adult Friend from Britain Yearly Meeting. She is an alumni of the Yorkshire Friends Holiday School and has also worked for BYM as a staff member of their Children's and Young People's [rogramme.

Gillian Armstrong is a member of Rathfarnham Meeting in Dublin. She is a former Assistant Clerk of the Yearly Meeting and is a founding member of the EcoQuakers Committee. She has also acted as a representative for Friends at the AGM of the Irish Council of Churches. Tim Rouse is a member of Britain Yearly Meeting and an active member of Young Friends General Meeting. He's trained in Accountancy and works with a range of clients in the charity and not for profit sector in the London area. Lynn Finnegan is an illustrator and editor from the north coast of Ireland, now based at the EcoVillage in Cloughjordan in County Tipperary. She has worked in Geneva for the Quaker United Nations Office and with other international groups. She delivered the public lecture at Ireland Yearly Meeting in Belfast in August 2022 which is available to view online here.

Tim Kitz grew up in the Kitchisippi (AKA Ottawa River) watershed and has spent most of his life on Canada's East Coast, with forays down to big cities by the Great Lakes. He joined Quakers as a recovering Pentecostal pastor's kid in a full-blown existential crisis from a liberal arts university degree. Tim edits words for the Canadian Friend and the Leveller to pay the bills and makes a racket in a blackgrass duo to have fun. Sarah Sinclair is a Young Adult Friend from South Belfast Meeting. She teaches primary school children in Dubai these days, having spent time living in Australia. She is a past pupil of Friends School in Lisburn. Denise Gabuzda is (at the time of recording) Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting and a member of Cork Meeting. She's retired from teaching physics and astronomy at University College Cork. Her scientific and spiritual lives converge on learning to live sustainably.

Heather Bewley is a Member of Churchtown Meeting in Dublin. The youngest daughter of the late Victor and Winnie Bewley, Heather was Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting from 2017-2019 and was Headmistress of Rathgar Junior School (the only primary school in Dublin with a Quaker ethos) from 1981-2003. Fiona Murdoch, a Member of Rathfarnham Meeting in Dublin, is a granddaughter of the late Victor and Winnie Bewley and a niece of Heather’s. She works  in PR in the not-for-profit sector and has had three books published by Veritas, including Victor Bewley’s Memoirs, which is based on a series of interviews she conducted with her grandfather in the 1990s. Freya Blyth is part of Britain Yearly Meeting and an active member of European and Middle Eastern Young Friends.  She’s passionate about acting and making positive changes in the world. Find out more about the work she's involved with through her instagram page here

Dan Flynn is a native of San Francisco and  a member of Belgium and Luxemborg Yearly Meeting. For the past 20 years, he has been doing volunteer service for Médecins Sans Frontières' while leading Life Reflections workshops for Quakers in Europe. A Quaker since 2014, hes now besed in Brussels, not far from Quaker House. Will Haire is a member of South Belfast Meeting who is retired from leading a number of Government Departments in Northern Ireland where he played a key role in developing social policy. Maggie Knight is a Canadian Young Adult Friend currently living in Victoria BC. She is an experienced strategist and operations generalist who has built expertise in advocacy work in Québec and Nova Scotia. She delivered the public lecture for Canadian Yearly Meeting in 2016. You can view it at https://quaker.ca/audiovideo/continuing-revelation-quaking-with-grace-and-joy-in-modern-times-by-maggie-knight/

Our guests this week are: Felicity McCartney is a member of South Belfast Meeting in the North and a former Clerk of the Yearly Meeting. The contributions of Quakers during the troubles are chronicled in the book, edited by Ann Le Mare and Felicity, Coming from the Silence: Quaker Peacebuilding Initiatives in Northern Ireland 1969-2007 Anne-Marie Woods is part of the Quaker community in Dublin City after  finding Friends in her early teens. She attends Eustace Street, one of  four Meeting Houses in the city which was used as the headquarters for  Quakers in Ireland until 1986. Holly  Spencer is a Young Adult Friend from Britain Yearly Meeting. She works  for Stop Fuelling War, an organization that was born in 2017 and is now  based in France. It  builds on 20 years of Quaker witness outside the  Eurosatory arms fair and is supported by a network of French and  European pacifist and anti-militarist groups.

Our guests this week are: Tim Gee - FWCC General Secretary Tim is a writer and political activist who has written about pacifism and the Occupy Movement. He joined FWCC in January 2022. As General Secretary, he has responsibility for the spiritual and administrative leadership of FWCC, working alongside the four Sections. Bridget Guest - Quaker Tapestry Museum Bridget spent 27 years with the Quaker Tapestry museum, retiring as General Manager at the end of 2021.She continues to teach the six Quaker Tapestry stitches at the museum workshops and design embroidery kits. Christopher Moriarty - Friends Historical Library Christopher is Curator of the Quaker Archive at the Friends Historical Library in Dublin. He is among a group of  volunteers who take care of its collections.