Tower and Town, April 2018 (view the full edition)Clergy LetterIn 2011, Britain Yearly Meeting, the central body of the Society of Friends(Quakers) in Britain, wrote a minute of which the following is an extract:- "The global economic system is posited on continued expansion and growth, and in its pursuit of growth it is often unjust, violent and destructive. Several Friends have said 'we must move out of our comfort zone' and we have heard that rage and passion may also have a place in our responses. We need to ask the question whether the system is so broken that we must urgently work with others of faith and goodwill to put in its place a different system in which our testimonies can flourish." In response to this calling we in Marlborough decided to refurbish our Meeting House in order to make it more energy-efficient and to divest from use of fossil fuels. We also encouraged our members to do the same. Over the last four years we have insulated the walls and ceiling of the meeting room, installed LED lighting and replaced our windows with double glazed ones. We have also changed our energy supplier to Ovo, a company who claim to supply electricity from 100% renewables. At our March Business Meeting the annual accounts showed a reduction in our energy usage of between £200 and £300. We have ended up with a bright and cheerful building with ever-increasing lettings. In response to the above minute the Economics, Sustainability and Peace Committee of Britain Yearly Meeting developed a series of booklets which have been used as the basis for the New Economy Reading and discussion group that we have been facilitating at the Jubilee Rooms on Tuesday evenings. Few of us had much prior economic knowledge but we have been introduced to new ideas and shared our thoughts in a deep way. Numbers attending session have varied from 30 to 18. We have been alerted to more positive actions that can be taken to make our world a little more equal and environmentally friendly. Rachel Rosedale |