- wardenship - lists.quaker.eu.org

job advert
by Lancaster Quakers June 13, 2023

June 13, 2023

Hello Judi I've attached a copy of an advert that should appear in this and next week's Friend. I've also cut-and-pasted it below as that may be easier to distribute... Alistair Gault, Warden Lancaster Quaker Meeting House (starts) *Job Vacancy* *A Warden is required for Lancaster Quaker Meeting House, working from Sunday to Thursday for a total of 35 hours each week.* The postholder will work in the office and around the building on the days given, usually for seven hours each day. Duties include opening the building before 9am each morning (later on Sundays) and locking up between 9.30 and 10pm on weekdays (usually earlier on Sundays). Other staff cover these duties on Fridays and Saturdays. A three-bedroom Cottage is provided rent-free; it is a requirement that the postholder lives there full-time for the better performance of his/her duties. The postholder must be experienced in computer-based administration and in other areas of IT and web use such as Zoom. Other duties include; managing a small staff team; ensuring the cleanliness & maintenance of the building; liaising with contractors; dealing with building users; handling bookings, drawing up invoices and responding to in person, phone and email enquiries. As most of the working time will be spent on their own, the postholder must be able to work on their own initiative. Wage; £22,132 per annum. Closing date for completed application forms; 23rd June For further details contact the current Warden, Alistair Gault, by ‘phone - 01524 62971 - or by e-mail *lancasterquakers(a)gmail.com <lancasterquakers(a)gmail.com>* AG010623 (ends)

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Meeting House Matters on 14 June at 2pm
by Oliver Waterhouse June 9, 2023

June 9, 2023

Oliver Waterhouse Quaker Life Hello everyone, I hope that you are well. There is going to be a Meeting House Matters online discussion next week on Wednesday, 14 June at 2pm. The topic for the discussion will be accessibility and how meeting houses can respond to questions that the Swarthmore Lecturer raised. The joining details are below. * Join Zoom Meeting: https://quaker.zoom.us/j/81586087624?pwd=VHk3MW9sTHJUVDdsMFlTMUN3WEpmUT09 * Meeting ID: 815 8608 7624 * Passcode: WT-online You can still register for the next in-person session which will be in Leeds on 18 July, https://forms.quaker.org.uk/mhm-23/. Please ensure that you register in advance as we won't be able to cater for you adequately if you just turn up without letting us know. In friendship, Oliver Oliver Waterhouse (he/him) Quaker Life Team Leader, Local and Area Governance Quakers in Britain 020 7663 1007 (Direct) oliverw(a)quaker.org.uk<mailto:oliverw@quaker.org.uk> | www.quaker.org.uk<http://www.quaker.org.uk/> Follow Quakers in Britain on Twitter<http://twitter.com/BritishQuakers>, Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/BritishQuakers>, YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/quakersinbritain>, and Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/britishquakers/>. CLERKS OF TRUSTEES: Please send TARA documents to supportmeetings(a)quaker.org.uk<mailto:supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk> All Quakers in Britain staff can be contacted using their usual email addresses or phone numbers. They may be working from home, in Friends House (London), in the Yorkshire Centre (Leeds) or at a base local to them. The Quaker Centre Bookshop and Café<https://www.friendshouse.co.uk/quaker-centre/> (Friends House, London) are open to the public. If you would like to support our work, you can give online at www.quaker.org.uk/donate. Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Registered charity number 1127633 | Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ ________________________________ Quakers say: Religion is about the whole of life.

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Hammersmith Buildings Manager
by Wendrie Heywood June 8, 2023

June 8, 2023

Hello Friends, Hammersmith LM are looking for a non-resident buildings manager: https://londonwestquakers.org.uk/ Do you care about reducing carbon emissions? Could you market Quakers newest and most energy efficient Meeting House? Hammersmith Quakers are looking for a Buildings Manager to take up an imaginative approach to increase the lettings of this unique, flagship building. You will be based in Hammersmith and be the face of Quakers in the building during the working week. We are open to flexible working, although occasional out of hours work may be required. *Closing date: *14th June 2023 *Contact: * Hammersmith Quaker Job <office(a)londonwestquakers.org.uk> *Download:* Recruitment Package <https://www.dropbox.com/s/eb68yghs2nr8ger/2023%2005%20Hammersmith%20Job%20D…> Please do circulate to anyone who might be interested. Yours in peace, Wendrie Heywood she/her MindfulBusinessServices.com Book a meeting with me <https://calendly.com/mindful-business-services>

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Electricity prices
by Saffron Walden Quaker Meeting Friends Meeting June 1, 2023

June 1, 2023

I might be behind the curve on this one, so please excuse me if I am. My meeting has been with Good energy for a long while. My assumption was that we might well be paying a small premium for all the ethical niceties but when I looked at our charges I was shocked. Good Energy's billing has been a nightmare with bills coming at irregular intervals and often having refunds so it has become difficult to work with. My assumption was that their per-unit rate would be followed pretty universally but found that while Good Energy are charging 51.16p/kWh; Octopus on their Green Energy Tariff are charging 27.57p/kWh Their standing charge is cheaper too. (Our meeting house is entirely electric and so this should reduce our bills from somewhere just over £12k to around £7k. This is not a small premium and we are changing. It is also worth bearing in mind that the daily standing charge is so high because we have such high electricity use, it scales back depending on usage and can be as low as about 50p/day, but you should probably do the comparisons, I have pasted the chart to show where the break points are for the tariff bands. Our treasurer is going to be doing it because it involves setting up a DD but the process itself seems very easy by filling in an online form at octopus.energy/business though it would be good to know your annual consumption and you will need your bank details to complete the form. I hope this is of use to someone and that I am not just being the last meeting to do such an exercise. In Friendship, Karl Saffron Walden [image: image.png] [image: image.png][image: image.png]

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Use of Quaker Library
by Ann Turner May 22, 2023

May 22, 2023

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Meeting House Matters - Friday, 19 May at 2pm
by Oliver Waterhouse May 19, 2023

May 19, 2023

Oliver Waterhouse Quaker Life Hello everyone, There will be a Meeting House Matters online discussion meeting today at 2pm. This month the theme topic is tensions in our governance structures. Tension in governance was a theme at Yearly Meeting this year and has also been part of the thinking at the Quaker Centres' Gathering which took place this week. Find the Zoom link below. * Join Zoom Meeting: https://quaker.zoom.us/j/81586087624?pwd=VHk3MW9sTHJUVDdsMFlTMUN3WEpmUT09 * Meeting ID: 815 8608 7624 * Passcode: WT-online There are still two in-person Meeting House Matters events planned this year at the times and places shown below. * Tuesday, 18 July at Carlton Hill LM Leeds * Tuesday, 14 November at Westminster LM London Please register in advance if you wish to attend either of the in-person events. The registration form is here, https://forms.quaker.org.uk/mhm-23/. I look forward to seeing you this afternoon if you can join. In friendship, Oliver Oliver Waterhouse (he/him) Quaker Life Team Leader, Local and Area Governance Quakers in Britain 020 7663 1007 (Direct) oliverw(a)quaker.org.uk<mailto:oliverw@quaker.org.uk> | www.quaker.org.uk<http://www.quaker.org.uk/> Follow Quakers in Britain on Twitter<http://twitter.com/BritishQuakers>, Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/BritishQuakers>, YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/quakersinbritain>, and Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/britishquakers/>. CLERKS OF TRUSTEES: Please send TARA documents to supportmeetings(a)quaker.org.uk<mailto:supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk> All Quakers in Britain staff can be contacted using their usual email addresses or phone numbers. They may be working from home, in Friends House (London), in the Yorkshire Centre (Leeds) or at a base local to them. The Quaker Centre Bookshop and Café<https://www.friendshouse.co.uk/quaker-centre/> (Friends House, London) are open to the public. If you would like to support our work, you can give online at www.quaker.org.uk/donate. Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Registered charity number 1127633 | Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ ________________________________ Quakers say: Religion is about the whole of life.

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TV licence for MH.
by Vicki May 18, 2023

May 18, 2023

Dear all. We have had a letter from the TV Licensing body warning us that we are being investigated because we have a TV but no license which is correct. We (Quakers) only use the TV for blended meetings on zoom so a TV license is not needed and at the time we got it (during the pandemic) there were no groups coming into the MH. Now we have various groups coming in and have no idea what they may be watching on it. I would be grateful for the thoughts of others. Is it enough to put a sentence into our hiring agreement and a notice on our telly and will this cover us? Many thanks, Vicki Ross Warden. Taunton Quaker Meeting

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Re: TV licence for MH.
by Judi Brill May 17, 2023

May 17, 2023

Dear Vicky Here is a notice we display in Horfield Meeting House: Judi Brill Resident Warden Horfield Quaker Meeting 300 Gloucester Road Horfield Bristol BS7 8PD ///beyond.always.proof Tel: 0117 942 9142 Mob: 07967 558615 horfield.warden(a)bristolquakers.org.uk https://bristolquakers.org.uk/room-hire/room-hire-at-horfield/ -- *bristolquakers.org.uk* <http://bristolquakers.org.uk> Bristol Area Quaker Meeting is registered at Companies House as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation No CE011904 and is Registered Charity No 1175435 Registered Office: Horfield Quaker Meeting House, 300 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8PD

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Corporate Memory Webinar
by Wendrie Heywood May 12, 2023

May 12, 2023

Hello Friends, We're holding a webinar on 'Corporate Memory' on 31st May. This is aimed at Trustees, but also volunteers and committee members especially Premises. We want to give a space for people to share good practice, what tools they've found that worked for them, share the free versions of the tools Mindful Business Services (MBS) recommends with tips on how to use them (which includes the Meeting House handbook from Quaker.org.uk) and then tell people about the accompanied courses we're launching. Accompanied here, means you commit to creating your operations manual, or corporate memory plan and then have regular check ins and mentoring within a group. All the details and the link to book a free ticket in our newsletter which was sent out this week. If you didn't get a copy you can read it here: https://buff.ly/3VRcNGG You can sign up to get the newsletter on our website, linked below in my signature. Yours in peace, Wendrie Heywood she/her MindfulBusinessServices.com Book a meeting with me <https://calendly.com/mindful-business-services> Yours in peace, Wendrie Heywood she/her MindfulBusinessServices.com Book a meeting with me <https://calendly.com/mindful-business-services>

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Tips / advice on paid management?
by Room Lettings April 27, 2023

April 27, 2023

Hello Friends, I - and the rest of Premises Committee at Wandsworth MH - am looking for advice and/or tips from experience of paid management of a MH. Wandsworth QMH is a historical, Grade ll listed, building in a busy part of SW London. It is in an excellent position right on the High Street with lots of bus routes passing the door, opposite the Town Hall and near to a large shopping centre BUT the facade on the road is not the MH itself - that is set back, up a passageway - and people go past without realising we're there because it doesn’t look like a religious building at all. And our rooms and facilities don’t match up to more modern buildings. So our hirers largely come from word of mouth or vague connections to the meeting. We have the Main Meeting Room (18th century, wood panelled with its original benches), the Library (similarly wood panelled and bare floorboards) and the Children’s Room (recently refurbished), an outdated kitchen and loos (one accessible). We WERE gearing up for a huge refurbishment and modernisation but then along came Covid ……. The room lettings side of things was very haphazard until I took on the job - voluntarily, from home (which is a 45 minute journey away on public transport) - nine years ago. The first thing Premises Committee wanted to do was to set into action a 5year plan to get all our hirers onto a standardised scale of hire charges, so we could be fair, honest and transparent. That was not easy, but with careful negotiation and plenty of personal contact we got there, didn’t lose anybody and managed to keep everyone happy. At first we had resident caretakers; their responsibility to the meeting was basically cleaning and opening up for hirers in the evenings (we had few daytime hirers). Gradually we went over to a key and fob secure system of getting in and out, which meant that each hirer could have their own keys - by which time both our caretakers had full-time jobs. But that has meant that I’ve had to get new keys cut, have had to initiate a system to enable me to keep track of key holders, and have had to make that long one and a half hour return journey just to show potential hirers around the MH. Our flat is now let out to a family with absolutely no connection to the meeting (not what we wanted - that decision come from LQPT, London Quaker Property Trust, who own all of the QMHs in Greater London) so we have had to find, and pay, a cleaner. Liaising with her has fallen to me, but because we have no resident caretaker we have also had to make alternative arrangements for buying stocks of cleaning equipment etc. and the disposal of our rubbish (nobody there to put out the bins on bin day). A few years ago we installed a system enabling the heating to be programmed remotely by wifi; that job fell to me as it needs to be dovetailed with the MH diary for users of the building and, for that very reason, it needs to be re-set every week because we don’t have a regular pattern of room usage. Of course, Covid kept me busy drawing up plans, making labels, moving benches and lots of communication with Friends re 2m, then 1m, distancing etc etc. Pre-Covid we’d gradually increased our room lettings to the point where we could contribute a healthy amount annually to LQPT. Post lockdowns we’re a long way from that; our regulars are still with us but people have become used to using Zoom and the amount of face-to-face room hire has dramatically decreased. After 9+ years I have decided to relinquish my role but the trouble is that the job has grown and no-one else at meeting is willing to take it on voluntarily. LQPT wants us to produce a business case for employing a paid administrator ….. and that’s where any advice, tips from your experience etc would be most welcome! I must say I’m not a trained administrator, and it may well be that a professional person would be able to deal with booking enquiries, the diary, invoices, liaising with the treasurer etc, more efficiently and quicker than me. But we are also worried about losing that personal connection between myself and our hirers (and cleaner too) - which puts a face to Quaker values. And if LQPT decides it’s not financially feasible to pay someone to administer the hiring as it is now …… what is our listed Quaker Meeting House saying to, or doing for, our local community? Sorry for the long explanation. Hoping for some enlightenment! In Friendship, Kate Bone Bookings Manager Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House

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