Present: Thomas Watts, Jimmy Green, Jo Hall, Hana Newport, Josef Beautrais, Josh Bottomley-Clapp, Joseph Barber, Matt Poucher, Rowan Brooks, Laura Hadfield, Rebecca Bewick, Madeline Schaefer, Olliver Greeves, and Rosie Remmerswaal.
Also at camp: Ria Pugmire, Ross Hebden, Jeremy List, Catherine List, Suzanna Remmerswaal, Chris Mottram, David Mottram, Carla Carter, Brooke Pugmire,
1. We welcomed everybody to YF Camp 2010, in particular Oliver Greeves, representative from Australia Young Friends, Madeline from Philadelphia, and also those who are new to YF camp.
2. The following people have agreed to write the epistle for the camp:
Thomas Watts, Joe Beautrais, Hana Newport and Laura Hadfield
3. Joe Beautrais reported back to the group about his thoughts and experiences at Australian YF Camp and YM, particularly about the backhouse lecture YFs in Australia hosted this year and the marriage changes within meetings in Australia.
4. Nominations
1. The following people have been nominated to attend Australian YF Camp and YM in 2010-2011:
Jo Hall, Fran Gleisner, Suzanna Remmerswaal, Jeremy List, Ria Pugmire and Ross Hebdon
2. Jim Green is finishing his term as the YF treasurer. The following people have been nominated for this position, which has a term of two years:
Joe Beautrais and Joanne Hall
3. Suzanna Remmerswaal and Sarah Tailby are finishing their two year terms on the YF nominations committee, which also comprises Thomas Owen and Thomas Watts. The following people have been nominated to fill these positions:
Joe Beautrais, Rosie Remmerswaal, Laure Hadfeild and Ria Pugmire
We will continue the nominations process for these three roles after camp. We will seek further nominations for each position through grouphug. The current nominations committee will discern names for two new members of their committee, and bring them to a YF meeting for business for approval. The new nominations committee will discern names for the treasurer and representative to Australia, and bring them forward a future meeting for business for approval.
4. The following people have been nominated to attend the FWCC AWPS gathering in Manila in the Philippines March/April in 2011 and the Young Friends gathering held in conjunction with this:
Jimmy Green, Hana Newport, Suzanna Remmerswaal, Chris Hall
5. The following people have been nominated to attend the world gathering of Friends in Nakuru, Kenya , 21-28th of August 2012:
Joseph Barber, Thomas Watts, Jimmy Green, Rebecca Bewick, Hana Newport, Jo Hall, Rowan Brooks, Kate Pierse O’Byrne, Chris Mottram, David Mottram, Richard Mottram, Josh Bottomley-Clapp
6. Jimmy Green reported on YF finances.
Jimmy has given us a report on YF finances. Our finances continue to be strong, as we have approximately $4000, thanks to continued camp surpluses, fundraising and donations from Kapiti meeting. We note that last year we minuted our intention to use this extra money for future Young Friend international connections, including helping YFs who are going to prepare for the event. For example, this may be language classes. We would also like to support some YFs from poorer countries within our section to attend.
7. Fundraising for Manila and Kenya
We will need to do further fundraising to support YFs form New Zealand and overseas to attend the gatherings in Manila and Kenya. We intend to do so at upcoming events, such as Summer Gathering. We invite suggestions from all YFs on ways that we can do this.
8. Yearly Meeting
a. We note that Yearly Meeting 2010 will be held in Dunedin, 9th - 12th July at John McGlashan College. We encourage Young Friends to attend YM
b. The cost of Yearly Meeting.
We are happy to know that this year’s Yearly Meeting will be self-catered. We acknowledge the difficulty of organising large gatherings and of finding venues for large groups which are affordable. However, we hope that lowering the cost of Yearly Meeting will be a priority for future organisers. We feel this is an important issue for YFs as we tend to have less financial resources than some other Friends. We are often recipients of funds to help us attend Yearly Meeting, and we appreciate this generosity. We think that a donation system like that used at the last Summer Gathering, whereby Friends can contribute to the costs for others with less money is a helpful arrangement. However, we would like to be less reliant on funding, due to lower costs. We also see the cost of YM is directly related to our testimony for living simply, and we hope that this can be a priority for all gatherings
c. Documents in advance - Futures committee
We affirm the work of the futures committee. We feel there is a need to reinforce an emphasis on tangible action within our Quaker community. One particular area in which this approach could be implemented is the creation of a handbook on how to produce sustainable Quaker events. There is already a wide variety of information available both inside and outside the Quaker community which could be tapped into. YFs are willing to help with facilitating this project, and would like to offer our own sustainable camp guidelines as a possible template for guidelines for all Quaker gatherings.
9. MMP
We acknowledge that the MMP referendum is a concern and we encourage YFs to read the information distributed with the latest YM Clerks’ Letter and be informed.
10. YF Camp 2011 will be at the Settlement in Whanganui, providing it is available for our use. As YF Camp Co-ordinator, Thomas Watts will begin the process of identifying what needs to be organised for the camp. The following people have also offered to help organise the camp:
Matt Poucher, Laura Hadfield, Jo Hall, Hana Newport, and potentially Chris Hall, Ria Pugmire, Brook Pugmire, Ross Hebdon and Carla Carter.
11. Summer Gathering 2011 will be held at Ngaruawahia. We encourage Young Friends to attend. The gathering is being organised by Waikato/Hauraki Monthly Meeting, including Young Friend Joseph Barber. We offer advice on any issues of concern for YFs.