Page 2 - summer edition2 2023

Editorial.

Away, near Brighton for the weekend, we joined Ditchling Quakers for Sunday worship. We were warmly
welcomed. There were six of us, and we settled into distinctive Quaker worship: waiting and listening,
together in The Light.

Afterwards, tea and coffee were available, but we had to leave promptly. This was not, however, before
the conversation had turned to the small number present: ‘There used to be more of us…’ ‘Before

Covid…’

This edition of News and Views contains fewer contributions than previous editions. Why is this?
‘There used to be more of us…’ ‘Before Covid…’ Is this true also for Quakers meeting in the
Bournemouth Coastal Area? Is a smaller number of Friends and friends the reason why there is a
correspondingly smaller number of contributors to N & Vs? It may be a contributory factor, but it may
not be as simple as that. Is N & Vs no longer needed?

On 13 May 1897, Guglielmo Marconi sent the world's first radio message across open water, and the way

we communicate was changed forever. Before that, we spoke to one another, face to face, possibly sent
a telegraph message, but mainly we wrote – letters, books, articles in journals and magazines – the print
media. Now in 2023, we have many additional choices: face-to-face, telephone (landline or mobile),
letters-post, e-mail, Zoom, Facebook, Twitter, and a wide variety of other social media as well as the
printed word.

Many people however, believe that the written word is still the best way to communicate what matters
to us. To sit with a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen and take time to focus and capture what we

think is worth ‘saying’, can be both satisfying and personally rewarding.

Please write about what you have discovered or experienced, found amusing or irritating, perhaps filled
you with awe and wonder or what you found just plain boring. It can be someone else’s writing that
matters to you. Send your words to us for the Autumn/Winter edition. It doesn’t have to be flawless
prose or poetry; just do it.

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The e-mail address is ca.newsandviews@gmail.com Before 11 September, please.

Eric and Dorrie Johnson,
Joint Editors.

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