Northern Friends Peace Board

Development Plan

Our vision and aspirations for the years leading up to our centenary in 2013

July 2009

Summary

(full version available to download as PDF file)

Introduction

Northern Friends Peace Board was founded after a peace conference of Northern Friends in 1913, at which they agreed to set up a body 'to advise and encourage Friends in the North, and through them their fellow Christians and citizens generally, in the active promotion of peace in all its height and breadth'.  We have been implementing that mandate in many different ways over the past 95 years and are now looking forward to our 100th anniversary.  We have spent some time reflecting on our current work and future priorities, drawing much inspiration from the concerns we have heard expressed by Friends over recent months.

This paper is a summary of some of the key points of a longer develop-ment plan.  We hope it will assist our members and supporters in understanding our work and in engaging with and contributing to our activities.  Some of what is described is what we are doing already, whilst other parts are changes that we hope to make.

The full document is available from our office (see bottom of this page for contact details) and available for download from: http://nfpb.gn.apc.org/devplan.pdf

Overall vision:

  • We wish to build, diversify and strengthen our relationships with Friends, in the North of Britain and beyond, through events, personal contacts and effective and appropriate communication.
  • We wish to raise the profile of peace concerns, to provide support to others wishing to do that and to act in partnership with others.  
  • We plan to be sustainable as an organisation, in financial terms, in supporting growth and learning amongst our members and in our use of resources.

Relationships with Friends

As our primary purpose is to support Friends in the North of Britain, this will remain at the heart of our activities.   We plan to make good use of our four meetings of Representatives a year, combining learning, linking with local Friends, discernment, planning for action and networking.  We will also seek new and different ways for bringing Friends of all ages and backgrounds together and for contributing to existing Quaker events and activities.  We plan to provide more support to our Representatives in their role as links with Area and Local Meetings.

Communications

We need to communicate – to Friends, to others concerned to learn about and to act for peace, and to a wider audience of public, politicians etc. In doing so, we plan to continue to use new media when appropriate, trying out new technologies from time to time, whilst also using print-based and personal communications, so that we are accessible to as wide an audience as possible.    We have a particular responsibility to help raise the profile of the Quaker understanding and practice of peace and to seek ways of including this when working with others.  We also need to listen, so that our peace work is properly informed and responsive.  We hope to raise the profile of Quaker peace concerns and of our own organisation, both amongst Friends and more widely and will develop a communications strategy to assist us in implementing these aims.

Building Common  Cause

Our work has always been enriched by working with others and by actively promoting a spirit of inclusiveness in our own processes.  These will remain priorities, along with action towards fostering links within the Society of Friends and with other, non-Quaker, groups.  These are only enhanced by the spirit of collaborative working envisioned in the Yearly Meeting's Framework for Action and by our continuing membership of a number of networking bodies at national and international level.  We want to encourage the involvement of young people in our activities and to increase the accessibility of our resources and events.

Sustainability

Our work, and the building of peace in all corners of the world, is sustained by people, backed up with material and financial resources.  To have kept going for so long is a testament to the shared commitment of Northern Friends towards promoting and upholding our peace testimony.  We need to use resources entrusted to us with care and diligence; this applies to money, to the Friends who serve our organisation and to our own relationship with the planets resources.  We have always been careful in our expenditure; we must now be ever more thoughtful in how our activities impact on the planet.  We must also be imaginative and careful in how we nurture and develop the peace community of the Society of Friends – peace is not a short term process.

We invite...

  • Friends to consider serving on the Board as Area Meeting representatives, when the time comes for a  new appointment to be made.  We also sometimes co-opt Friends to work with us, when they have particular concerns, passions or skills to contribute.
  • Meetings and other Quaker groups to get in touch with us if they can see opportunities for us to contribute to an activity, to offer a workshop, or to collaborate in other ways.
  • Other groups or organisations taking action for peace in the world to get in touch, to let us know about their concerns and discuss possible areas of common concern.
  • Individuals to likewise let us know about their peace concerns and activities: we may be in a position to publicise  these or to put you in touch with others.
  • Individuals, groups, Meetings and other organisations to continue funding our work or to provide additional funding from time to time.

Keeping in touch

Northern Friends Peace Board   http://nfpb.gn.apc.org
Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street,
Bolton  BL1 2AS    
Tel: 01204 382330    
Email: nfpb@gn.apc.org

Charity Number:  SC 024632