Archaeology Project Studies Quaker Site in the British Virgin Islands
The first steps in a new archaeological project, which aims to be a long-term exploration of the BVI's 18th and 19th century history will take next month.

In August, a team of graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley, plans to begin surveying and mapping the BVI's historic sites, in preparation for archaeological research. The project will be led by Mr. John M. Chenoweth, a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States and will form the basis of his dissertation.

"While my focus is on the Quaker period, I am very interested in understanding the whole history of the site, from the pre-Columbian native groups who lived there, to the famous Dr. Lettsome and his Quaker contemporaries, to the not-so-famous but equally important African-descended enslaved people who lived there (and were freed there)," Mr. Chenoweth said.


Full article: http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?section=article&source=1217458216
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A Coffee Fundraiser
in Weston, UK

Quakers in Weston are next week launching a regular coffee morning event, designed to raise money for charities.

The Friends Meeting House on the corner of Oxford Street and High Street will host the events, which will take place on the last Saturday of alternate months.

A spokesman said: "It seems a good idea to share the space, and some company, while raising awareness and perhaps some funds.

"Other charities are invited to have stalls of their own. It is early days yet, but we hope this will become established as a regular feature of the town."

The first event will take place at 10am on June 28.

Source: The Weston & Somerset Mercury, June 18, 2008.
Quaker Adventurer Remembered

The Quaker Barrington family who lived in  Ireland 150 years ago were well-liked; they fed the poor people of Bray during the famine and ran a fever hospital in Dublin's Liberties.

One son, Charles Barrington, also had a love of adventure. His family was not surprised to hear that he and his companions had made it to the 4,000-meter top of The Eiger in Switzerland in 1858.

On Aug. 11, 2008, descendants of the family will dedicate two monuments to Charles, to be placed in Grindelwald. Other modern climbers will retrace Charles' steps up The Eiger.

Full story: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/adventurer-is-remembered-150-years-after-eiger-ascent-1450798.html
Tidbits

First Friends Meeting in Indianapolis is offering meditation classes to their community. Good outreach idea, Friends!

Sylvia Whitaker Cornwall, a Canadian Friend, has been urging her government to take action on behalf of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen held at Guantanamo Bay. Her letter to the editor of the Cornwall Standard Freeholder is available online at http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1121182.

Salem, Indiana, is mourning the loss of Eugene Trueblood, their beloved county assessor whose Quaker values and calm temperment won their trust during the 36 years in which he served them. Trueblood's touching story offers a heartwarming example of a simple Quaker life well lived: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/COLUMNISTS06/807130518

Diane Rapaport, award-winning author of The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England, has been participating in signings and similar events to promote her book. The "Naked Quaker" in the title was a Quaker woman who dropped her dress at a Puritan Sunday meeting to protest colonial authorities and restrictions.
The march itself was fairly uneventful with a number of arrests of activists wearing masks and apparently trying to escape the kettle on the dual carriageway. At the power station banners were erected on the gates, and the police kept a watchful eye on the speakers using the Bicycology sound system microphone.
At one pm a police helicopter announced that the protest was over and that anyone who stayed in the vicinity would be arrested under section 14 of the Public Order Act.

Most of the climate campers drifted off back to the Camp for Climate Action but many stayed outside the power station gates and the Rhythms of Resistance samba band continued their drumming at the nearby roundabout.
Eventually the police started to push and shove a group of teenagers who had been part of the flotilla of little boats, and several police horses were also used to try to force them to move back to the camp site.

One young girl appeared to be snatched from behind by the police and the rest of the group were shouted at and bullied for about twenty minutes before the police finally gave up and left them alone.
Video footage of the incident is being edited and will be posted on Indymedia soon.
Climate Camp
Children's Revolution
Images from strife-torn Zimbabwe will be on have been on display in Littlehampton since Saturday, July 19, providing a stark reminder of the ordinary people going about their lives amid the chaos around them.

The 35 photographs were taken by Hazel-Ann Morris, a member of the Littlehampton Quakers, who visited the Hlekweni Quaker Rural Services Centre with her daughter Blossom in 2005 and again last year.

Any money raised from admission to the exhibition, at the Friends' Meeting House, Church Street, from 10am-10pm, will go towards the centre's work.

Full story: http://www.bognor.co.uk/gazette-news/Images-of-hope-amid-Zimbabwe.4304765.jp
Friend Supports Educational Services and Skills Training In Zimbabwe
Friends were again among the activists participating in the annual Climate Camp Children's Revolution.

The Children's Revolution joined together with the Orange march to Kingsnorth power station on the day of mass action and combined with the children of local residents to help form a huge blockade which attracted the attention of all the international news media.

The Children of the Eco Warriors marched alongside the Kingsnorth dragon created by Raga the well known Quaker peace activist, and they were led by Kristoff the clown and the Carbon Town Cryer band.
Friends Honor Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing
Friends from Sparta, Ontario (Canada), organized a lantern-floating event to mark the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Floating peacefully on the surface of Pinafore Lake, the 40-or-so lanterns make barely a ripple in the water, casting colours of red, white and blue in the darkening evening sky.

One by one, children, parents and grandparents lit and gently set their lanterns into the water where they floated for more than an hour. Lanterns are used by the Japanese to remember those who have died.

Full story: http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1147022