Britain Yearly Meeting
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Britain Yearly Meeting is the umbrella body for the Religious Society of Friends in Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man). It is among the many yearly meetings of Friends around the world. It assembles and publishes the core British Quaker publication Quaker Faith and Practice.
Britain Yearly Meeting, which until 1995 was known as London Yearly Meeting, grew out of various national and regional meetings of Friends in the 1650s and 1660s and has met annually since 1668.
[edit] BYM as an organisation
Britain Yearly Meeting corresponds with Monthly meetings who in turn correspond with preparative meetings (that cover a small area) and recognised meetings (that cover an even smaller area). There are committees set up to deal with particular issues, long running committees consisting of representatives from all over Britain include Meeting for Sufferings and Quaker Peace and Social Witness.
This means that Quakers in Britain tend to have a fairly unified response on major issues but it also produces a lot of bureaucracy and many consider it to be outdated, so plans have been put forward under the name of RECAST to restructure BYM to be decentralised. This has become a significant issue for Quakers in Britain and it is unlikely that any decisions will be made in the near future.
[edit] BYM as an event
Currently, three out of four yearly meetings of BYM are held at Friends House in London, over a May Bank Holiday weekend. Once every four years, there is a week-long residential meeting in summer, usually on a university campus. All types of issues are discussed in the standard fashion of Quaker decision making. Among several lectures over the gathering, one of the highlights is known as the Swarthmore Lecture, relating to issues concerning Quakers. There is also an under 19's programme, with activities tailored to each age group.
- In 2005, a residential Yearly Meeting was held at the University of York, from 30 July to 6 August.
- In 2006, Yearly Meeting took place at Friends House in London over the second May Bank Holiday, 26-29 May, in the UK
- In 2007, Yearly Meeting will take place at Friends House in London over the first May Bank Holiday, 4-7 May, in the UK
