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2020-12-31-accounts

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

West Wiltshire and East Somerset Area Meeting

Annual Report of the Trustees 2020

West Wiltshire and East Somerset Area Meeting

Registered address: Friends Meeting House 1 Whiteheads Lane Bradford on Avon BA15 1JU Registered Charity Number 1134534 Email: info@wwesquakers.org.uk

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A different year

This report was compiled after almost a year of public health restrictions caused by the coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic experienced by the world in 2020, continuing into 2021 when this report was completed. We recognise that this report may have a particular historical interest for future readers, for its evidence of how Friends adapted Quaker practices in this year, for the new vocabulary of pandemic that we now use with familiarity, and for references to the new technology most of us have learned to use to meet and communicate.

Here are the words and phrases used in this report that we now use routinely in everyday speech, but which only a year ago were used only by specialists or had not even been coined.

Kate Macdonald, editor

blended meetings / together while apart

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / covid

covid secure / lockdown / furlough

shelter in place / socially distanced

breakout groups / muted / Zoom

Build Back Better

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Annual Report of the Trustees 2020

Trustees in 2020

Charitable object

The object of West Wiltshire and East Somerset Area Meeting is the furtherance of the general religious and charitable purposes of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, primarily in its administrative area of West Wiltshire and East Somerset, and also beyond.

In times without public health restrictions our Meetings for Worship are open to the public and to Friends and Attenders, for worship each Sunday as well as occasionally at other times during the week, such as the Wednesday evening meeting held at Bradford on Avon Meeting House and on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings at Bath Meeting at the Central United Reformed Church. We also support the emerging Chocolate Factory Worshipping Group in Keynsham. Voluntary collections are regularly made during our

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Meetings for Worship for passing to Quaker and other charities in furtherance of our charitable purpose.

Public benefit

The work of Trustees ensures that income and property are used to further the Area Meeting’s objectives as set out in our charitable purpose and in the Governing Document adopted in June 2011. We are aware of the Charity Commission’s guidance on our responsibilities concerning public benefit. Our activities as Quakers are, we hope and believe, beneficial to the public. While we focus our activities on the ‘protected characteristic’ of those who join with us in Quaker worship, our Meetings for Worship are open to everyone. We strive to do no harm, and our work does not benefit individuals financially or for their personal gain.

In 2020 this work included:

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year-old Friends in Meetings across the West of England.

The Meeting Houses were open for hire and use, in line with our religious and charitable purposes, by community groups to use them for their own meetings. These include environmental groups, self-help groups, the University of the Third Age, yoga, meditation and Pilates groups. The Devizes Meeting House is used by local Muslims for worship, until they can build a mosque. Where public health restrictions permitted, we made the rooms available for hire for the public benefit.

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Sustainability

Oversight: strengthening our community’s work for better sustainability

We are committed to supporting our young people and integrating work with them more closely with Quaker strategic work and the life of our Meetings. In that we unite with the wider Britain Yearly Meeting strategy of creating a simpler, sustainable and inclusive organisation.

Bradford on Avon Friends have committed themselves to supporting the Build Back Better campaign locally and nationally.

Eldership: our commitment to sustainability in our faith

All Meetings accepted the challenge of meeting online using Zoom (though other video conferencing services are available), which led to a delighted new appreciation of how we can avoid using petrol and meet more people online.

We continued to be cognizant of the need to keep finding ways to reduce our consumption and our ecological footprint in the world.

Our awareness of nature and its blessings was profoundly strengthened during the first lockdown in spring 2020 when the air pollution we have normalised disappeared, and the natural world became louder and more necessary in our lives.

Right ordering: Quaker core activity and property as these relate to sustainability

Trustees and Bath Friends continued to actively develop the Bath Burial Ground with the intention of making this

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available to the wider public as a green space for reflection and quiet leisure.

Witness: work for policy and system change

We considered how we could support the international movement to establish legislation making ecocide a criminal matter, and while we did not find unity as an Area Meeting, Friends learned much about this matter.

Bradford of Avon Meeting hosted meetings of support groups for Extinction Rebellion, and Friends took part in XR activities, with Diana Francis arrested for her participation.

We laid wreaths containing white poppies for peace at war memorials on Remembrance Sunday.

Living faithfully: changing our lifestyles

The Quaker Youth Project hosted a workshop at Area Meeting in March which enabled young people to connect with other Quakers of all ages and focus on what we are all called to do in the face of the climate and ecological crisis.

Devizes Meeting invested in a PAT tester, which will lengthen the life of electrical devices, for the Meeting and the community.

Governing document

The charity was originally registered in 2010, constituted by the Governing Document of North Somerset & Wiltshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (adopted 9 November 2008). On 5 June 2011 the Governing Document was amended

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to reflect the change of name to West Wiltshire & East Somerset Area Meeting, after a change in its constituent Local Meetings.

Governance and conduct

Six members of the Area Meeting Finance & Property Committee make up the Trustee body. They are appointed by Area Meeting following nomination by the constituent Local Meetings. If the Local Meeting can bring forward a second name, a deputy is also appointed.

The appointment of Trustees is subject to receipt of satisfactory references, one from inside the Society of Friends and one from outside, which must refer particularly to financial integrity. A nominated Trustee must also sign a formal Trustee Declaration based on the pro-forma document from the Charity Commission, which establishes that the Friend is a fit and proper person to oversee financial, governance and employment matters in the Area Meeting. These probity checks are carried out by the Clerk of the Committee who also ensures that new Trustees have access to past Minutes and key documents.

Trustees work under the guidance of Quaker Stewardship Committee; they all receive a copy of the QSC Handbook for Trustees of Quaker Meetings. They take part in training, and attend briefings and conferences organised at Friends House and Woodbrooke.

In 2020 Trustees attended training provided by a local firm of solicitors (Stone King, in Bath) on subjects of interest to trustees and charities, and from

Thirtyone:Eight (previously the Churches Child Protection

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Advisory Service) on safeguarding. Our Treasurer attended training for Quaker Treasurers. Trustees are grateful for the advice and support given by staff, officers and committees of Britain Yearly Meeting, and for the fellowship experience at gatherings of Trustees.

The Trustees met nine times in 2020, initially at Meeting Houses and, after March 22 when lockdown began, in virtual video conferencing online using Zoom. We were able to hold a socially distanced but in-person Strategy Day at Bradford on Avon Meeting House in September during a brief cessation of lockdown, which was much enjoyed. We reviewed our roles as Trustees for the Area Meeting and made plans for the better provision of succession planning, a new Safeguarding Coordinator, and better storage of our paper and digital records.

Future plans

Trustees are planning to support the wishes of the Area Meeting in the coming year by:

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Property, employment and other management

We own Meeting Houses in Bath, Bradford on Avon and Devizes. Chippenham, Frome and Trowbridge local meetings rent rooms at (respectively) a local community centre, school and church for their Meetings. We also own and maintain the Burial Ground at Widcombe, Bath, and welcomed the establishment of a Steering Committee and Steward for its maintenance.

Trustees agreed a scheme with the Charity Commission for all the properties held by Area Meeting at the end of December 2019. This scheme details the legal basis on which properties are held by the Charity. Friends Trusts Ltd is the Custodian Trustee for all properties held by the Charity and none are permanently endowed.

Our responsibilities as employers in 2020 were uppermost in our minds during the public health restrictions. While the Meeting Houses in Devizes and Bradford on Avon remained closed we used the government’s furlough scheme to cover the salaries of our Hirings Manager and Warden. We kept in close touch with them to ensure that their concerns about their homes, salaries, work and mental and physical health were allayed as much as possible.

In other areas, Trustees continued to attend to all the management matters recorded in the 2019 report. We successfully applied for a coronavirus grant to help with our properties’ costs, and managed the closure and reopening of the Meeting Houses and Burial Ground under changing public health restrictions, and established new risk assessment procedures and

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guidance for meeting in person when it was possible during the pandemic. We supported Bath Local Meeting by managing the sale of its Meeting House, and the subsequent negotiations with the buyer through our agents and solicitors.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding was on the agenda of every meeting of Trustees. No incidents were reported during 2020.

From the middle of 2020 we began to revise our safeguarding documents to take into account the new model safeguarding documents drawn up by Britain Yearly Meeting in consultation with Thirtyone:Eight. This work will be completed in 2021, led by Alison Hillis as Safeguarding Coordinator and supported by her deputy, Judith Eversley.

Youth development work

The three-year legacy-funded Quaker Youth Work pilot project continued throughout 2020, growing in ambition and scope despite – yet partly because of – the sudden and dramatic changes occasioned by lockdown.

Monthly evening meetings mostly in Bristol were rapidly replaced by weekly and even bi-weekly video calls; the planned residential weekend went ahead as a virtual residential, with a full timetable including shared meals, online craft, cooking and exercise breaks, Epilogues of course, and a bedtime story. Meeting online meant that young Friends from further afield could participate. This has been true in general for most of the year: Quaker youth work in the west of England is now even more

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firmly embedded in national Quaker youth work. The work in our region, so well led by Kirsty Philbrick, has been exemplary in drawing in ‘More Ages’, bringing Quaker communities together across the generations.

The project has now been externally evaluated by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the evaluation has been shared widely in Britain Yearly Meeting. This minute from Quaker Life Central Committee sums up a general feeling: ‘We have been enthused to hear of all the great youth work being done and only wish we had the resources to afford much more of this.’ The local support group representing our Area Meeting, North Somerset Area Meeting and Bristol Area Meeting is prepared to build on the success of this project in creating Quaker communities.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR issues are a standard agenda item at Trustees’ meetings. No data breaches were recorded this year. We heard that Bath Meeting was revising its practices for data protection and management with a new Data Steward.

Finance

Our financial position and financial arrangements are set out in the Annual Accounts, available separately.

The Covid 19 pandemic was the dominant feature for our 2020 financial position, resulting in greatly reduced income from lettings of our Meeting Houses. We monitored our finances closely throughout the year, and took all possible steps to minimise outlay. Our Warden at

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Bradford-on-Avon and our Bookings Manager at Devizes were furloughed, and we benefited from the Government Job Retention Scheme. We also received grant assistance from Bath & NE Somerset Council.

During 2020 we successfully marketed Bath Meeting House, and progressed the sale with our chosen purchaser, Topping & Company, Booksellers Ltd. This process was complicated and protracted by the current situation, but we hope that contracts will be exchanged in the first quarter of 2021. There have been unavoidable professional costs associated with the sale.

We are very thankful that our members have continued to maintain their regular donations. The level of giving has increased this year: a very positive response to the financial challenges of the current situation. The tenants of our rented property have also been able to continue with their payments. This has helped to reduce the financial impact of the pandemic on our reserves. We continue to monitor our finances closely, using the Quickbooks program that was set up last year.

Reserves Policy

Trustees recognise the need to hold cash reserves in our Unrestricted Fund, sufficient to meet both the normal pattern of expenditure in the Area Meeting (6-12 months expenditure) and also any unforeseen special expenditure that might arise from our properties. The reserves we hold are still at acceptable levels.

Our bankers

CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, ME19 4JQ

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Triodos Bank, Deanery Road, Bristol BS1 5AS

Co-op Bank, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP (account closed May 2020)

Our insurers

Congregational & General Insurance plc, Currer House, Currer Street, Bradford BD1 5BA

Examiner of accounts

Following best practice, we change the Examiners of our Accounts every few years. For 2020 we have moved this professional service from Blomfields in Trowbridge to Michael J Wilcox ACMA. OCL Accountancy, 141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath, BA2 2EL.

The Life of our Area Meeting

We held four Area Meetings again this year – in person in March, and for the rest of the year online – bringing all six Local Meetings together to conduct our joint business. Lockdown prevented national and international conferences and workshops on Quaker concerns from taking place but when these moved online, more Friends found themselves able to attend, which helped to improve and develop our practices.

We encouraged Friends to consider these national and international matters more deeply:

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Our Area Meetings normally conclude with a talk or a group activity. In 2020 these were:

Our Membership and Attendance numbers show a continuing decrease over two years, set out in the following table.

Year Members Attenders Total
2013 174 131 305
2014 175 141 316
2015 181 120 301
2016 187 130 317
2017 190 131 321
2018 192 133 325
2019 189 124 313
2020 184 117 301

The Area Meeting website www.wwesquakers.org.uk provides information on the six Local Meetings, notes on Quakerism and links to Britain Yearly Meeting.

Jane Stephenson, Clerk to WWESAM Trustees

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Bath

As for everyone else in the world, 2020 has been a strange and difficult year. We lost Shelagh James, Mary Moorhouse, Peter Schrecker and Jim Timoney, who all died this year. We hope to celebrate their lives when we can meet together again.

The year began normally, with plans for gatherings and meetings, and for connecting more with the Bath United Reformed Church community where Bath Friends rent meeting rooms and with the Islamic community at Bath Mosque. We continued to support the group of Friends meeting at the Chocolate Quarter at Keynsham. We had been making plans to hold two Quiet Days during the year at Kelston Old Barn, and to help with the British Yearly Meeting Gathering in August at the University of Bath, but these were quietly set aside until we can meet in person again.

By the end of March 2020, everything had changed. The public health restrictions in place to control the covid-19 pandemic, and to protect the population, caused us to change our ways, but also to carry on doing what we always have done.

We rapidly began using the Zoom program to hold online Meetings for Worship, Meetings for Business, talks on spiritual journeys, Meetings for Learning, a session on Tom Shakespeare’s Swarthmore Lecture, and for other Quaker gatherings. We quickly became proficient at the technical aspects of Zoom, and now use it routinely to hold meetings and Meetings several times a week. Those Friends who are able to take part in online meetings have found them effective, sometimes more so than face to

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face meetings since we can overcome distances by simply clicking on a Zoom link. (The contribution to the climate emergency from the increased use of computer servers is unquantifiable, but we all rejoiced at the worldwide plummet in air pollution during the year.)

We continue to use old and new ways of keeping in touch with Friends who do not or cannot use digital connections, or who find online meetings inimical to worship. The drawbacks of Zoom meetings (technical glitches, fatigue, the absence of body language and the need to rely heavily on face and voice alone) are outweighed by the advantages: of greeting old Friends and new Attenders who join us remotely, and of finding new ways to stay in fellowship and support each other despite the stringent separations we must follow. We were happy to welcome Frome Friends who came regularly to our Meetings for Worship. By the end of 2020 we were holding two regular online weekly Meetings for Worship. These have been well attended throughout the year, including by Friends, Attenders and enquirers from other parts of the UK and from abroad. Other Friends have continued to hold Meeting for Worship on their own or with family in their own homes, knowing that others are doing the same. Our new fellowship groups worked well over the summer, with some continuing through the winter as well.

2020 also began with plans to accelerate our work to restore and develop the Bath Quaker Burial Ground, with the intention of making it a resource for local Friends and for the community. Despite rising and falling hopes of being able to meet again in person throughout the year, we managed some happy ad hoc Meetings for Worship in

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person in the open air at the Burial Ground. While it was closed during the lockdown periods, its new steward Susan Tomes, supported by the new Burial Ground Committee and volunteers, continued to work steadily as its lead gardener, transforming the neglected space into a beautiful and cared-for site of Quaker history to all to enjoy, when we can meet again there in person.

We also began 2020 by being able to finally put Bath Meeting House on the market. After considerable work by Jane Stephenson, our Trustee and the Clerk of Area Meeting Trustees, several sealed bids were considered by the Trustees in March, and they selected their preferred bidder: Topping and Company Booksellers, who propose to move from their rented shop on the Paragon to the Meeting House in York Street. By the end of 2020 the required planning permission was under

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consideration by the council, with much public support expressed for the new use of the building.

In March Area Meeting’s Young Friends helped Bath Meeting produce an all-age workshop on our Quaker response to the climate emergency. Later in the year we learned about the international move to criminalise ecocide under international law, and were greatly cheered when news broke in November that draft legislation was in preparation. We supported an application to Quaker Peace and Social Witness for a grant to the Hebron International Resources Network to fund a minibus to take Palestinian children to and from school from their homes in the village of Umm al Khair, in the West Bank.

We began to educate ourselves in the issues around assisted dying, in response to the request from Meeting for Sufferings to discern whether a change in the law on assisted dying had become a concern among Friends.

As individuals Friends have continually sought out new ways to meet and share friendship and spiritual growth. We uphold each other actively, and our Clerks, Elders, Trustee and Overseer meet regularly online in our meetings for Care of the Meeting to remind ourselves of how Friends can help each other and extend this support into the community, where we can.

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Bradford on Avon

This was the year of finding different ways of caring for each other.

Over 2020 we gathered and Zoomed. Many novices, we learned together and supported the cautious and bewildered to get set up. Sarah White keeps her hand on the tiller every Sunday, hosting and ushering us in. The Zoom net is cast wide, embracing Members and Attenders from near and far, at the Meeting House and at home - solo, couples, family bubbles, young and not so young. We wave madly as we sign off and learned to silently shout ‘you’re muted’ when Friends mouthed words without sound. Meetings often chime to ticking clocks, barking dogs or slurping cups as we gather together prayerfully and gratefully for the fellowship enabled by Zoom. We miss the gathering in real life but have surprised ourselves by the enduring community that has adapted to online meetings. Numbers have been consistently high from week to week, and after Meeting we update those Friends who are not online by phone, or

The snail (or the slow worm) does the holy will of God – slowly.

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visits when possible. In a year that has asked us to ‘stay at home’, and ‘shelter in place’, and be ‘together while apart’, Zoom has offered a meeting place where we can hold each other and our communities in the light.

Our Children's Meeting has a regular core of six children aged now between 2 and 8. At the beginning of the year they were able to meet as usual in our smaller meeting room. We have a rota of adults who join the children and at least one of the parents for a variety of activities, planned and unplanned. In good weather they can also make use of our small peace garden just outside.

When the first Coronavirus lockdown was in place the main Meetings for Worship were by Zoom. Two of these, in May and July, were all-age meetings where children were encouraged to share meaningful objects or creativity. In August we went ahead with our usual annual all-age outdoor meeting in the country park. It had to be socially distanced and the weather was not perfect but the children were able to enjoy the park, picnic and games. In August the children also began to

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meet monthly in the very large shared garden belonging to one of our members. This worked splendidly as the children loved the freedom and variety of activities it gave and there was an awning for gathering and sheltering if necessary. They were also delighted to welcome a new baby. The November Children's Meeting was cancelled because of the renewed lockdown but we had another all-age Zoom/blended meeting using a YouTube video story. In December the children made decorated clay stars and these were distributed to members of the main Meeting, especially those who had not been able to attend Meeting in person for quite a while. On Christmas Day the children met and played outside.

We had a full shake-up of our fellowship groups in January 2020, resorting to a ‘sorting hat’ to select four new groups. Since March the fellowship groups have all been meeting via Zoom, with only one group managing to hold any in-person meetings since the first lockdown in March. Frequency has varied between the groups, but overall we have met more often than before lockdown. In all cases there has been a core of around half the group who have met regularly, with others attending more occasionally, and a further group who have not come at all, mainly through lack of access to online meetings or discomfort with talking online, including because of a physical disability such as deafness. For those who have attended, the meetings have been an important source of support and deepening care for one another.

One of the first things that happened in the Meeting House in 2020 was a thorough upgrade of the electrical

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installations in the entire building (including in both upstairs flats), mainly to improve fire safety. The Meeting House remained very busy for most of the first quarter of the year. Then, on Sunday 22 March, after a sparsely attended Meeting for Worship, the Meeting House closed its doors for all activities. It re-opened exactly four months later, on Wednesday 22 July, with our first ever blended Meeting for Worship. Outside bookings resumed the following week. They remained understandably at a modest level throughout the rest of the year. On 25 December, a blended Christmas Day Meeting for Worship was held.

The Meeting had three notable community events in 2020. On 31 January we had a Social Evening, and on 2 August we held an Outdoor Meeting for Worship in the park. On 13 December we hosted an online Area Meeting with Paul Parker (BYM Recording Clerk) as speaker, drawing a record attendance of over 50 Friends logging on.

Early in 2020, the Meeting House hosted meetings of a new Extinction Rebellion (XR) Families group. Following discernment made at Meeting for Business in November 2019, the room hire charge was waived for these meetings. Several local Friends are part of the group. In late August, several local Friends took part in XR activities, both regionally and in London. Our Friend Diana Francis was arrested during one of these events.

Our Meeting is so fortunate that our tenants Kevin and Rona are devoted and skilled gardeners. We try to keep them covid secure.

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Chippenham

Like everyone else this has been a strange year for Chippenham Meeting, being unable to meet up for worship for most of 2020. During the first lockdown we met at the usual time in our own homes, alone but still feeling spiritually connected with each other. During August and September we were able to meet, socially distanced, in person in The Cause which we followed with coffee at a local hotel. But then it was back to ‘meeting’ alone at home. We began holding Zoom Meetings for Worship at the end of 2020. We usually get seven to nine attending and we have found it rewarding. We are also mindful that others of our Meeting are also attending but in spirit only.

Sadly during 2020 we recorded the death of our Friends Dorothy Burbidge and Joan Staines. Dorothy was well known in Chippenham for her work with Amnesty International and with CND and she was also a fine poet. In a poem ‘Green Learning’ she speaks of how we can learn from nature.

And in the city Though she felt old and ugly and ill dressed, She was perhaps a little more generous, A little less greedy Than she might have been. She will go back again And learn some more.

Two Friends have continued to produce our newsletter which is appreciated now more than ever and has helped to keep us linked. We have also, as a small Meeting, been able to keep in touch with each other via email and

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telephone with some of us meeting up for walking together when allowed.

Our Friend Cora Gallagher continues her work for Area Meeting as prison chaplain. Most of this year’s work has been under Covid restrictions but fortunately the Establishment has had only a few scares and on the whole has been almost Covid-free. Staff, of course, have to remain vigilant and currently no religious services are permitted. Prisoners are not allowed to mix with other wings so they are very much confined to their own wings. They have exercise time in the morning and afternoon. The Chaplaincy Team go out to see the men on the wings so are kept very busy with pastoral care while also trying to support all the staff working at the Establishment.

The Bible study group managed to meet four times between lockdowns and is ready and primed with their next subject for study as soon as actual meetings are allowed.

In November we laid a white poppy wreath at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday. As part of our sustainability efforts we have decided next year to make the

wreath entirely from sustainable materials – willow, bay and hand-made recycled fabric poppies. Otherwise our sustainability work has continued on an individual basis as we try to make our homes ecologically and

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environmentally as friendly as possible. One Friend gets the message across on her tricycle!

At the beginning of the year when we could still meet we collected funds as a Meeting for Quaker Social Action but since then we have continued as individuals to support various charities, among them Doorway and the local Food Bank.

As we face another year of Covid-related difficulties as well as all the other challenges facing every one of us and our Meetings we take comfort in the strength we gain from each other and being part of the wider Quaker community. We feel indeed that we are Friends and friends together.

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Devizes

We lost two elderly Friends in 2020, Jean Walpole and Mary Tigwell. Jean was a Member of the Society of Friends, Mary was an Attender. The deaths of Jean and Mary have been recorded and memorial meetings will be held when it is possible to do so.

During the first pandemic lockdown period we were obliged to close the Meeting House both for Meeting for Worship and hirings, but a lot of work by our Premises Committee went into preparing to reopen and ensure safety for everyone, checked by AM Trustees. As a result, the Meeting House is now able to host a few groups offering essential support to the public, and we are using the Meeting House ourselves. We are grateful for the donation of a television which has been mounted on the wall in the Meeting Room, which has allowed blended meetings to take place. We have also now installed an internet router. We’re really getting techy!

Hirings are currently restricted to one booking per room per day, and are asked to be flexible about rooms, days and times. Each group is asked to agree to our procedures before their booking is accepted. We are fortunate that we can use separate entrances for the two rooms and we ask people not to pass from one side of the building to the other. The library is out of use and so is the kitchen. We ask people not to bring in food and drink along apart from water bottles.

Our cleaner comes in to clean after each booking so that there is no risk of cross-infection. So far this has worked well: the hirings are much appreciated and bring in a

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small amount of welcome income. Let’s hope that we can continue to offer this service to the community.

Chris Dawson, our gardener, has continued to keep the garden tidy for most of the year and his efforts have been supported by work from a small number of Friends, observing the Covid rules, of course. Our Eco church work has not been active during the pandemic but there was a delightful surprise when after the first lockdown we spotted an orchid growing in the lawn.

The friendship groups, set up after our Threshing Meetings to handle oversight, have worked with mixed success. We have tried to maintain contact with Friends with one Friend calling or emailing a few others. With the advent of Covid 19 these groups have been of some benefit. We plan to initiate a review with each group.

We are also able to exchange news of members during our blended Zoom meetings. One of the positive elements of this has been that one or two members have joined us who are normally unable to come to the Meeting House. It has been so good to see them. Sadly less than half our members join our blended Meetings for Worship despite it being available by landline. There is a longing to ‘be back to normal’.

Veronica Franklin has continued to order Fairtrade goods for members and to deliver them though the stall is obviously not there just now.

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As in previous years, a few well-spaced members stood in silence near Devizes war memorial as a Friend laid a wreath of white poppies on Remembrance Sunday.

Frome

In common with brothers and sisters throughout the world, the life of Frome Meeting has been very different this year – and in ways we could not have imagined just 12 months ago. While we are very aware of losses and negative changes, there have been unexpected gains and the opportunities for many new learning experiences too. In March, when the first lockdown was announced, Somerset County Council informed us that we would no longer be able to hire the Key Centre to hold our meetings for worship. This coincided with our decision not to hold face to face meetings until further notice, in line with the guidance from Friends House.

We began to meet online on a Wednesday evening, and found that half an hour of worship followed by fellowship time suited us well. While not all Friends wish to participate in Zoom sessions, some Friends whom we previously did not see frequently are now regular attendees. Several Friends have joined Bath Friends on a Sunday Morning and found the practice of being put into breakout groups after worship has enabled them to grow and extend Friendships within the Area Meeting. Individual Friends have also occasionally joined other Local Meetings’ Zoom sessions.

Through the facility of Zoom, we have held various committee meetings and discussion groups, and

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individual Friends have been able to participate in Area Meeting committee meetings too. Hosting Area Meeting on Zoom in October was certainly a challenge and the coclerks were pleased that we were not in lockdown, and they were able to be in the same room!

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During the summer a few Friends met in very small groups in gardens and 'informally' shared a period of worship. In September a small group was appointed to look into alternative venues for face to face meetings. A village hall in Great Elm has successfully been used on two occasions catering for up to 12 Friends. Plans to use a room in the Town Hall were put on hold in December given the worsening situation of COVID-19.

A major topic that engaged us as a Meeting was the Stop Ecocide Campaign that seeks to criminalise ecocide in international law. Both at Local and Area Meeting level we were in unity concerning the need to protect our planet, but held different views of how to promote this. While Frome does not have a Meeting House to consider, we are trying to focus on ways of making our individual lives more eco-friendly and sustainable. Suggestions from Friends are being collated for distribution within the meeting. It is clear that choices and decisions are not always clear cut. We are aware that many of us are privileged in being able to afford solar panels and nonoil-based heating systems and are in a position to pay more for ecologically friendly goods. The ability to grow one’s own food is also not an option for everyone. A group of Friends is leading us in how we may support the ‘Build Back Better’ campaign as individuals and as a Meeting.

Although we have not been able to have our normal bimonthly collections to support chosen charities, we agreed as individuals to support the outreach work of Christchurch First School (on whose site the Key Centre is built) during the first lockdown.

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Our pastoral care group has worked lovingly and conscientiously to stay in touch with all members and attenders of the meeting, either by phone calls, emails, letters or socially distanced meetings. As individuals we have also used a variety of methods to stay in touch with one another, with some Friends having been happier with face to face get togethers than others. Despite efforts of families and friends, there are still those living alone, who have experienced a sense of loneliness and isolation.

–

The Light will lead you out of darkness into the light of life, into the way of peace and into the life and power of truth. – George Fox

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Trowbridge

In this first year of living with Covid, we have had an average of nine people attending the weekly hour-long Meeting for Worship on Zoom since March, compared with seven in physical meetings in The Hub the previous year.

The composition of that number is, of course, radically altered. Zoom allowed pets and Northumbrian sparrows to join in, it brought a new Attender, we’ve kept those who could not have got to the Hub or have to shield, but the expense and difficulty of technology has meant we’ve missed seeing other Friends, that some decide to ‘keep‘ the Meeting quietly at home, and some make a choice to remain present in the physical world on a Sunday morning and connect with nature or a wider variety of human beings.

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There have been moments of simple joy at seeing a familiar face reappear on Zoom after a gap, times of enormous frustration in not being heard or not hearing each other (in addition to the usual misunderstandings and differences!) Inner experiences of meeting over Zoom range from feelings of exposure, uncertainty and awkwardness, to surprise that it’s possible to have a sense of gathering at all, to sharing intense personal experiences and beliefs in our discussion on Assisted Dying. Whether being single or double in your Zoom fishtank, reports confirm that it’s possible both to relish your particular situation and at other times to feel oppressed by that same situation.

With so many possibilities, the question of ‘what is the life of this meeting?’ becomes ‘what is the meeting?’

Is it all those on Zoom and those waiting to meet again at The Hub?

Is it all those names on the contact list plus those we remember who aren’t?

Is it a loose network with many possible overlaps through:

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Through all this activity, have we become any more aware of inclusions and exclusions?

Can one simply feel Quakerly in outlook and feel affinity with the wider Quaker movement without needing a local meeting?

We were astonished and grateful in late spring when a trustee of The Friend began sending a free second copy for the duration of the pandemic, directly to Friends living a few miles away under the edge of Salisbury Plain. The simplified Britain Yearly Meeting weekly electronic newsletter, QUAKE, has been important to many. A few Friends have been delighted to take part in conferences and training on Zoom, including The Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies, Safeguarding and the Quaker Life conference. Some listened and watched the Swarthmore Lecture online. Some of us write to MPs and take part in campaigns, mostly online. Some keep an eye on troops – who have had to be kept busy when not at war – taking smoking breaks from exercising on Salisbury Plain.

Being a Meeting the size of a house-Meeting in other places makes it possible for each to be ‘heard’ in a discussion. We have practices which enrich and challenge us: taking it in turns to choose or read a passage at the start of meeting for worship from any source (not only Quaker or Christian), hearing one person’s account of their ‘Spiritual Journey’ this year which is always stunning, and holding a ‘half and half’ meeting before Christmas of half an hour’s silence followed by sharing readings from any source however unQuakerly.

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The Hub, where we used to meet, now houses a community fridge. In the back room is our library trolley awaiting our return … perhaps with a laptop so as not to lose the sparrows.

Illustrations

Cover: Happy New Year from the Quaker Youth Work Project.

  1. Laurence Tindall surveys Quaker memorial stones in the Burial Ground, Widcombe, Bath.

  2. A slow worm visits Bradford on Avon Meeting House garden.

  3. Bradford on Avon Children’s Meeting.

  4. Chippenham Friends lay a white poppy wreath at the war memorial.

  5. Debbie Nightingale’s trike with a Quaker message.

  6. The Devizes orchid.

  7. Frome Meeting Friends’ activities in 2020.

  8. Trowbridge Friends in contemplation over Zoom.

All photos taken by WWESAM Friends; the Frome montage was made by David Marsh.

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Location of our six Local Meetings Chippgnham Av Bradford- oTrAvon Balh • Devlzes • Trowbndge Frome 38

Registered Charity 1134534 TRUSTEES, REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS) WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING OCL Accountancy, 141 Engllshcombg Lanè, Bath, BA2 2EL

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Contents of the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020 Page Trustees, Report Independent Examiner's Report Slalemenl of Financial Activities Balan¢e Sheet Notes lo the Financial Sialements Detailed Stslemenl of Financi81 Activities

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Trustees, Report for the year ended 31 December 2020 The Annual Report of the Trustees in 2020 forms a separate document and should be read in conjunction with these financial slatemenls. The information given below is supplemenlary lo the annual report. Structure, Governance. and Management Governlng Document The Charity is controlled by ils governing document, a deed of trust, and conslilules an unincorporated charity. Reference and Administrative Details Registered Charity numbor 1134534 Principal Address Friends Meeting House, Whiteheads Lane, 8radford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1JU Trustees Robin Brookes Jane Stephenson Angela Le Grice Elaine Hunter Kate Macdonald (Deputy- Balhl Debbie Nightingale ison Hillis Clerk lo Trustees Treasurer Indopendent Examiners Michael J Wilcox FCMA. OCL Accountancy, 141 Englishcombe Ln, Bath, BA2 2EL Rgport of the Treasurer In this unprecedented year, dominated by the global pandemic of Covid-19, we are pleased lo report that our overall position has remained stable, with Unrestricted Funds increasing by £789 over the year. Friends, regular donations within Unrestricted Funds have increased from £63,556 in 2019 to £70,478 in 2020. Of this, the allocation retained in the Area Meeting was £37,176, and the sum sent to Britain Yearly Meeting in support of centrally managed work, was £33,3021£4,000 more than last yearl. In addition to regular Giving there were other donation5 of £1,602, and a Bradford-on-Avon Friend left a legacy of £2,000. Income from rents & lellings al Devizes and 8radford-on-Avon lolalled £23,157 this year, which is less than half the income during 2019, bul was about equal to the costs of running those properties {excluding Insuran￿ costs and staff salaries). Page 1

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS {QUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Trustees, Report for the year ended 31 Decgmber 2020 Trustees are pleased lo report a small surplus al the end of a turbulent year. We have successfully applied for Government Grants and the Job Retention Scheme, lo help counter the loss of rental income, and the cost of employing and retaining staff during the pandemic. In Autumn 2018 Area Meeting look the decision lo sell Bath Meeting House. There has been no rental income since March 2019 in preparation for this sale, bul there have been ongoing costs and repairs. In March 2020, after a period of marketing the building, Trustees chose Topping & Company Booksellers Ltd as their preferred bidder. Topping & Co applied for planning permission lo renovate the building as a bookshop and this was granted in December 2020. In the light of the impact of Ihe Covid-19 pandemic, Trustees agreed lo initially lease the building lo Topping & Co before the sale completes by April 2024, al the latest. In March 2021 the sale contract was exchanged and the lease contract Completed. In compliance with Charity Law the commercial arfangemenls for the lease and sale contracts were approved by our independent surveyor. The Burial Ground, under Bath Meeting's care, has benefilled from works during 2020, enabling it lo be enjoyed once again as a peaceful and beautiful space for Friends and others. During 2020 a Bath Friend bequeathed shares of £2,500 in the Community Interest Company AEOB (Abolish Empty Office Buildings, Registered number 32137RI. As we are not able lo realise these funds in the short term, we have not accounted for them. We ended the year with £124.365 of available reserves in our Unrestricted Fund. Approved by order of the board of Trustees on .17th May.2021and signed on Its behalf by: Jane Stephenson - Trustee Page 2

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERS} WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Independent Examlner's Report to the Trustees ol Religious Society of Frlends (Quakersl West Wiltshire & East Somersel Area Meeting I report lo the charity trustees on my examination ol the accounts ol the Religious Society ol Friends lQuakersl Wesl Willshire & East Somerset Area Meeting (the Trust) lor the year ended 31 December 2020 Responsibilities and basis ol report As the charity Iruslees ol the Trust you are responsible lor the preparation ol the accounts in accordance with the requirements ol the Charities Act 2011 (the Act). I report in respect ol my examination ol the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 01 the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llbl ol the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm Ihat no malerial mallers have come lo my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect.. 1. accounting records were not kept in respect ol the Trust as required by section 130 01 the Act". or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records., or 3. the accounts clo not comply with the applicable requirements concerning Ihe form and conlenl ol ac¢ounls set out in the Charities IAccounls and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true alld lair view which is not a maller considered as part ol an independent examination. I confirm that there are no other matters to which your allenlion should be drawn to enable a proper understanding ol the accounts to be reached. Michael J Wilcox ACMA OCL AccoLJntancy 141 Englishcombe Lane, Balh, BA2 2EL Date.. 2oLI Page 3

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WESTWILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Statement of Flnancial ActivitÈes for the year ending 310ecember 2020 2020 Total Funds 2019 Total Funds Unrestricted Fund Restricted Funds Notes Income and Endowments from Donations and legacies Charitable activities 74,080 74.080 69,527 Quaker work 1.330 324 1,330 433 700 1rFvegtrnent income 10e 469 Other incomè 36,522 36,522 46,975 Total income 112,257 108 112,365 117.671 Expendlture Charitable activities Quaker work 110,063 1,406 110,063 1,406 128.855 1,875 Other Total expendilure 111,469 111,469 130,730 Not income Transfers between funds 789 108 897 113,0591 789 108 897 113,0591 Recon¢iliation of funds Toial funds brought forward 1,177,794 42,456 1.220,250 1,233,309 Total fvnds carried fonmard 1,178,583 42,564 1,221,147 1,220,250 Contlnulng operatlons All income and expenditurg has arisen from continuing activities. Page 4

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Balance Shegt at 31 December 2020 2020 Total Funds 2019 Total Fund5 Unrestrlcted Fund Restrictod Funds Notes FSxed Assgts Tangible assets 1,054,218 1.054,218 1,055,624 Current Assets Debtors 15,690 128,208 15,690 170,772 23,398 170,995 Cash at bank and in hand 42,564 143,898 42,564 186,462 194,393 Creditors Arnounts falling dua within one year 119,5331 119,5331 129,7671 Net currgnt a55et$ 124,365 42.564 166,929 164,626 Total assets less current Ilabilities 1,178,583 42,S64 1,221.147 1,220.250 Net A$sgts 1,178,583 42,564 1,221,147 1,220,250 Funds Unreslrided funds Restrict6d funds 1,178,583 42,564 1.177,794 42,456 Total funds 1,221.147 1,220,250 The financial statements were approved by the 8oard ofTruslees on 17th May 2021 and signed on its behalf by.. Elaine Hunl&r- Trustee Jang Stephenson- Trustee The notes form part of these financial statements Page 5

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Notes to the financlal statements for the year ending 31 December 2020 1 Employees and Directors The average number of employees during the year was 2. Accounting policies Basls of preparing the financial statements The financial slalemenls of the charity, which is a public benefits entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP IFRS 1021 Accounting and Reporting by Charities.. Slalemenl of Recommended Practice applicable lo charities preparing Ih&ir accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard appliGable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (effective l January 20151 and the Charities Act 2011. The financial slalemenls have been prepared under the historical cost convention. Income All income is included on the Slalemenl of Financial Activities once the charity has enlillernenl lo the funds, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably. Expenditure Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or conslruclive obligation ommilling the charity lo that expenditure, il is probabSy that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in selllemenl, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related lo the category. Where costs cannot be directly allributed to particular headings they have been allocated lo activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Grants offered subject lo conditions which have not been mel al the year end dale are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure. Cash at Bank and In hand Cash al bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the dale of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Credltors and provisions Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will normally result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to sellle the obligation can be measured or eslimaled reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised al their settlement amoijnl. Tangible fixed assets Depreciation is provided on plant & machinery al 250/0 on reducing balance in order lo write off each of such assets over ils eslimaled useful life. The valuation of the meeting houses is subject lo regular review. The Trustees consider that insured replacement cost is an unsuitable valuation basis because it does not reflect current values. Nor is the open market value considered appropriate for property held for Quaker- supported work. Recognition of underlying value al an average of £350,000 for the three meeting houses and burial ground gives a lolal of £1,050,000. Taxation The charity is exempl from lax on its charitable aclivilies. Page 6

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERS} WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Notes to the financial statements for the year ending 310ecember 2020 2020 2019 Investment income Deposit account income 433 469 Trustees. remuneration and benefits During 2020 Trustee Debbie Nightingale acted as a self-employed bookkeeper for our Area Meeting. Her fees for the year lolalled £3900. There were no such expenses or benefits for the year ended 31 December 2019. Trustee expenses Trustee expenses of £421.7612019.. £8181 are included in Quaker Meeting activities. The expenses. paid lo 5 Trustees, cover Trustee training courses & travel. Tangible fixed assets Freehold property Plant and machinery Totals Cost Al 1 January 2019 & 31 December 2019 1.050.000 31,601 1,081,601 Depreciation Al 1 January 2020 Charge for year Al 31 December 2020 25,977 1,406 27,383 25,977 1,406 27,383 Nel Book Value Al 31 December 2020 1,050,000 4,218 1,054,218 Al 31 December 2019 1,050,000 5,624 1,055,624 Debtors: amounts falling due within one year 2020 2019 Trade debtors Other debtors 15,337 353 15,690 14,170 9,228 23,398 Page 7

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Notes to the financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2020 Credltors: amounts falllng due within ong ygar 2020 2019 Trade creditors Other creditors 18,196 1,337 19,533 28,567 1,200 29,7e7 Movement in funds At1.1.20 Net rnovemenl in funds Transfers be￿een funds At31.12.20 Unreslricled funds General fund 1,177.794 789 1,178,583 Restricted funds Frome Building Fund Bath Meeting House Appeal 19,492 22,964 42,456 19,531 23,033 42,564 69 108 Total funds 1,220,250 897 1,221,147 Nel movement in funds included in the above are as follows.. Unrestricted funds General fund Incoming resources Resources expended Movement in funds 112,257 1111,469) 789 Reslficled funds Frome Building Fund Bath hrteeling House Appeal 39 69 39 69 108 108 Total funds 112,365 1111,4691 897 Additlonal note on Fund Accounting The Frome reslricled fund represents an amount originally sel aside by the Trustees for the purposes of purchasing a Meeting House in Frome. The Bath Meeting House Appeal consists of funds donated lo re-furbish Bath Meeting House. We are in the process of contacting those donors, as we can no longer use the donations as intended. The funds will remain reslricled until they are dispensed according to the wishes of those who generously supported the Appeal. The remaining funds are the combined unreslricled funds of the consliluenl meetings which can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives. al the discretion of the Trustees. 9 Rglated Party disclosures Except as slated in note 4, there were no related party transactions for the year. Page 8

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS) WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Notes to the financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2020 10 Contributions and rants Accounts detailed slalement (final pgl Individuals There were no grants lo individuals during 2020 Institutions BYM annual giving via schedule Quaker charities {11 Iransactionsl 33.311 see note il below 930 34,241 1,190 35.431 Non Quaker Charities (4 transaclionsl i) BYM schedule contributions are included in our accounts as gift aid is claimed by WWESAM The number of transactions for other payments shows that none are materially significant lo require individual disclosure. Acting as agent collections, not forming part of accounts Quaker charities Non Quaker charities 168 378 546 (ln 2019 this figure was £3,660) 11 Governance & Accounts remuneration Bookkeeping services (per Note 4} Payroll serviceslFurlough Claims IBlomfieldsl Independent Examination of 2020 Accounts Accredilalion Feeslsoflware subscription 3.9)0 521 816 480 5,717 12 Staff Costs Staff remuneralion'.Warden & Lellings Manager £ Council tax paid for Warden's flat 11,626 1.007 12,633 There were no Employers National Insurance contributions due There were no other employee benefits Page 9

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IQUAKERSI WEST WILTSHIRE & EAST SOMERSET AREA MEETING Detalled Statement of Flnanclal Activities for thg ygar onding 31 December 2020 2020 2019 2018 INCOME Voluntary Income Annual giving donations Donations Legacies 70,478 1,602 2,000 74,080 63,556 5,970 60,016 10,365 69,526 70,381 Investment Income Deposit account interest 433 469 510 Charltable actlvltles Grants Other income Frorn properties Frorll Local Authority Grants HMRC Job Retention Scheme Total incomB 1,330 700 8,000 23,157 10,000 3,365 112,365 46.976 77,485 117,671 156,376 EXPENDITURE Charitablg adivities Warden's & Managerfs pay Fees, rents, taxes & insurance Meeting house improvements (excl Bath Appeal) Bath Meeting House Appeal refurbishment Repairs & runnning costs Lrfe of the meeting Grants to inslilijlions Grants to individuals 12,633 28,961 12,900 39,165 10,262 11,224 41,672 5.087 5,521 24,799 8,706 29,109 260 126,378 23,498 3,823 35,431 19,486 11,428 32,512 1.437 127,190 104,346 Other Depreciation of plant & machinery 1,406 1,875 2,500 Support costs Governance costs Examination & accountancy 5,717 1,665 1,386 Total resources exponded 111.469 130,730 130,264 NET INCOME 897 13,059 26,112 This page does not form part of the slalulory financial statements Page 10