QLCC 21-23 March 2025

Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC) held its annual in-person residential meeting at Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria to discuss reparations work, sharing the Quaker message, the support Quakers need in the coming years, and the role of Swarthmoor Hall. The committee also remembered one of its members, Harry Albright, who died a week before this meeting.

What is this committee responsible for?

QLCC guides all Quaker work to support Quaker communities to grow, thrive and be inclusive.

What did it do at this meeting?

Swarthmoor Hall itself, as well as being the venue for the meeting, featured in our agenda. We received an annual update from Quiet Company on the work of the Hall and the Quaker bookshop at Friends House, places run by the company but where QLCC retains governance oversight for spiritual aspects.

We were joined by BYM's Reparations Coordinator, to hear about the work happening to date and the opportunities in 2025, when several international bodies are focusing on reparation-related issues. We held a workshop to help shape the revision of our integrated strategy to support Quaker communities, sharing the aspects of our Quaker meetings that align with the six aspects of Our Faith in the Future. We considered what our approach to outreach should be in the coming years, recognising that many things can be done and encouraging the use of pilots to trial ideas as we go. And we heard about the changes to our structures, encouraging the sharing of minutes with QPSWCC so that each committee has a better idea of the other's work.

Alongside all this, there was time for the increasingly small committee to spend time together. The death of current committee member and former co-clerk Harry Albright meant that there are now just seven members of QLCC, and we are feeling increasingly stretched.

How can I find out more?

You can find more about the work of Quaker Life here.

You can read about the Quaker Life Representative Council here.

Information about Swarthmoor Hall is available here.

Reparations resources are here.

To read Our Faith in the Future, click here.