Publications and Action Initiatives by Friends

• Quaker presence at Copenhagen.
• Debate on The Future of Banking which took place at Friends House in London, 19/11/2009.
• Notes by Tony Weekes towards a Special Interest Group discussion relating to the Copenhagen agenda, at Yearly Meeting July 2009.
• Fiona Murdoch is servicing the Eco-Congregation inter-church group.
• Slow is Beautiful - a weekend gathering at Larne, Co Antrim, November 2008.
• Various QCEA initiatives.
• What is the economy for? Tony Weekes reported to an interest group gathering at Netherlands YM, May 2008.
• Actions by Friends abroad, including the Tilburg meetings (2008, 2009) and Declaration: 'A Reorientation of National Economies'.

COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE

In advance of the Conference the document 'A Quaker Response to the Crisis of Climate Change' was prepared by British Friends and endorsed by a number of European Yearly Meetings, including Ireland (Yearly Meetings Committee), and then forwarded to the Conference organisers.

The following excerpts from the full-page document give a good indication of the approach which Friends support :-

* In rich European countries we consume more than we need within an economic system that divides us as a society; in much that we do we cause harm to the planet and each other , without enriching our lives.

* The Earth is God's work and not ours to do with as we please. We recall Gandhi's saying, often quoted by Quakers : 'Live simply that others may simply live'. As a Quaker community the values of simplicity, truth, equality and peace are sacred to us, although we too are falling short of honouring them. Climate change is challenging us to ask anew what our faith leads us to do.

* As individuals and as a community, we are now making the difficult decisions and plans necessary to limit our ecological impact to a sustainable level. As a small religious society, we take heart in belonging to a community of faith groups and others working towards the same goals in a hopeful spirit.

The following call was issued by QCEA some months ago; we hope eventually to be able to record the extent of the response:

Calling all Quakers who will be in Copenhagen in December 2009

This is a call to coordinate - the Climate Summit in December 2009 in Copenhagen will attract a large number of people for different reasons - some will be there to represent their governments, some will represent intergovernmental organizations, yet other will be there are NGO representatives or simply to be there.

There will be Quakers among them (we assume); FWCC/QPSW/QCEA are trying to find a way of assessing whether there is any scope/interest/enthusiasm for a Quaker presence and a Quaker voice.

To discern the scope for this, we need to know who among Friends is going to be there and what you are willing to participate in. Ideas that have been thrown into the ring are: an official presence under the FWCC banner (depends on whether we can agree on what we would say if we got the chance to say something), a worship sharing event as a side event for delegates to raise our concerns in a Quaker context.

Please help us with coordination; if you are going to Copenhagen, please tell us the following:
Your name
Your contact details
Your Meeting/YM/other Q body you belong to
Your role in Copenhagen - who are you going for/with
Would you be willing/able to participate in some Quaker presence in Copenhagen?
Would you be willing/able to uphold a worship sharing event?

Please send your response to Martina Weitsch at QCEA: mweitsch@qcea.org

The foregoing has been extracted from 'Among Friends' No 114: Spring 2009, published by the Europe and Middle East Section of Friends World Committee for Consultation; Exec Secretary: Marisa Johnson, P.O. Box 1157, Histon, Cambridge CB24 9XQ, UK, emes@fwcc.quaker.org, Tel: +44 (0)122 347 9585.

Fiona Murdoch is servicing the Eco-Congregation inter-church group.

She sends a monthly newsletter, to which it is well worth subscribing; you can register by contacting her at fionam1840 at oceanfree dot net. Newsletters such as this are the best way of keeping up with what is going on. See also their website: http://www.ecocongregationireland.org/eco-news

The November 2009 newsletter, among many other interesting things, has this note which may interest Northern Friends:

"...The Northern Ireland Climate Change Impacts Partnership has recently produced its first newsletter. NICCIP is a partnership consisting of representatives from central and local government, the business community, the voluntary sector and professional organisations. To sign up for this informative newsletter, email Irene McGee at irene@sniffer.org.uk..."

SERVICE of PRAYER for CLIMATE CHANGE

Much thought had gone into the shaping of the Service. Bible readings (from Psalm 104, St. Matthew, chapter 25 and Revelation, chapter 21) were interspersed with special 'green' wording for the Confession and the Creed. Young people were most appropriately represented by the touching simplicity of the singing of Cor na nOg RTE and by the prayers offered by children from Maynooth and 3rd level students from Indiana, USA.

Mary Robinson was the inspiring speaker. Her experience in many roles has led her to become almost an ambassador for Climate Change, or Climate Justice - the description she prefers. She urged us to realise that justice begins by understanding injustice: the fact that the most vulnerable nations are those least responsible for over-consumption. All nations need to work together if the looming crisis is to be avoided, and yet the issue is too important to be left to governments alone. It is up to all of us to act, and indeed the recent flooding in Ireland may help us to understand better what other parts of the world are suffering. She referred to the old Irish concept of 'Meitheal' - neighbour helping neighbour, and particularly highlighted the saying 'It is in each other's shadow that we flourish'.

Comment from RJ: I attended this event, and I felt it was incomplete; no collection was taken up; there were perhaps up to 1000 well-wishers there in a packed cathedral, and a substantial sum could have been raised in support of what eco-congregation and associated groups are trying to do in the Copenhagen context. I also felt a need to discuss the implications with others, leading perhaps to action; if an aftermath meeting had been arranged, a group who had registered for it and paid a small fee could have attended, perhaps in the Chapter House actross the road. The journey home would have been easier after the traffic had subsided. I conveyed this to the organisers by e-mail, along with appraciation of the overall content of the event, and received a positive acknowledgement. RJ 16/12/2009.

Our role in EcoQ is to develop as a supportive knowledge-base leading to actions, and the role of newsletters is to activate their subscribers and ensure that they can be briefed with relevant knowledge by hotlinking to appropriate website knowledge-bases. Reports in newsletters of noteworthy events may from time to time be referenced here. RJ 06/11/2009.

Get Rid of Your Bin and Save Money by Féidhlim Harty:

The new handbook for saving money AND helping the planet! Did you know that there is no such thing as 'rubbish' in nature? Surely there is room for improvement on the widespread use of the bin.

* Do you want to reduce your carbon footprint and minimise your environmental impact?
* Do you want to save money too?

Featuring easy to follow guidelines for all the areas of your home and life, Get Rid Of Your Bin is the new 'bible' for saving money AND helping the planet. With some straightforward steps and a clear goal in mind, it is quite easy to reduce your rubbish by a surprising amount. With a bit of vigilance it is possible to bring both your environmental impact and your waste disposal costs down to a minimum. Whether your motives are financial or ecological, the cost of refuse collection and disposal is a growing problem. Featuring easy-to-follow and practical guidelines, Féidhlim Harty shows you how to maximise your savings and help sustain our planet for future generations.

Get Rid of Your Bin and Save Money is published in paperback at €8.99.

The Amazon review (by Toby Allen) says: "Great little book. Full of ideas. This is a great book to give you heaps of advice on how to get yourself super organised and reduce the need to throw out stuff."

FH Wetland Systems Ltd, 30 Woodlawn, Lahinch Rd, Ennis, Co. Clare.
tel. 065-6797355 email: reeds at wetlandsystems dot ie

See also http://www.WetlandSystems.ie for more information on Catchment Management, Constructed Wetlands, Eco-Toilet Systems, Edible Landscaping, Educational Resources, EIS/IPC, Storm-water Management, Waste Minimisation, Wetland Plant Supply, Zero Discharge Willow Systems.

Future and Recent Events, including QCEA initiatives::

In Ecclesiastes 3.1-2, we are reminded that: "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck up what is planted". Yet we have set speed as the measure by which affairs are judged, and we are running down the gifts of nature faster than they can be replenished. In consequence, we find ourselves with serious problems: climate change, an energy crisis, a financial crisis, personal stress...

Alongside these anxieties, the idea of 'slow' has been developing - 'slow' food, 'slow' cities, 'slow' design. More generally reclaiming our time: time for recreation, family, social encounters; time to enjoy what we have; time to improve where we live.

This event was not a 'conference'. It was a 'gathering' which brought together people actively involved in the philosophy and practice of 'slow' with those of us who wish to know more. It began on the evening of Friday 14 November and ended after lunch on Sunday 16 November. There was a Meeting for Worship in the manner of Friends on Sunday morning.

Drumalis is a large ecumenical retreat house with wonderful grounds overlooking Larne Lough. It is about 15 minutes walk from Larne Town train station, to which there is an hourly train service from Belfast Central, the terminus of the Enterprise service from Dublin.

A report will follow in due course. Ed.

QCEA initiatives:

Re: European Security Strategy review

To Whom It May Concern:

On behalf of EPLO, the European platform for NGOs and think tanks active in the field of peacebuilding, would like to bring your attention to the enclosed position paper regarding the review of the EuropeanSecurityStrategy(ESS). As the ESS approaches its fourth anniversary and the completion of its review process, an initiative of the current French EU Presidency, the EU still facesa myriad of challenges in achieving the goals of the Strategy,entitled "a Secure Europe in a Better World". Whilst the ESS is primarily a strategic document, it has been used as the overall framework for much of EU's foreign and security policy, and may even enjoy an upgraded status in the future, in terms of defining priorities, addressing shortfalls, listing the principleson which EU action is based, and so on. It is therefore in the interests of the process for the review of such an important and EU and its citizens that the consultative overarching document be as wide as possible,especially in terms of bringing in the specialist knowledge of practitioners from the field. EPLO has thus created the attached position paper to partially address that need and provide the views of the peacebuilding sector on how the ESS shouldbe revised.

As the process of negotiaiing an upgraded ESS will largely be conducted between Member States, we hope to encourage a lively debateon this subject at national as well as European level. We therefore hope that this paper may inform some of these debates and we look forward to any further opportunityto engage constructively in this process.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine Woollard, Director EPLO.

The enclosed position paper can be downloaded as a pdf file, in some 15 pages. We are hoping perhaps to make a screen-friendly html version available. We are aware of problems at the interface between print and internet versions, and we are working on it. RJ Ed.

QCEA Conference: 'Not Privation but Appropriate Living'; Brussels, Dec 5-7 2008; this constituted an opportunity for Friends to reflect on energy securiry, climate and conflict. See the QCEA Website for details.

What is the economy for?

Background

The Meeting took place at the "Woodbrookerhuis" near Deventer, a lovely wooded venue. The name arises from a connection between Dutch students of theology and Rendel Harris, the first Principal and Director of Studies at Woodbrooke in Birmingham.

These notes arise from work and thinking in progress, and comments and suggestions for their improvement are welcome.

Introduction

First letter (Bríd Maguire and others):

We need political leadership to be both facilitative and challenging, unafraid to ask us questions about the kind of communities we wish to build. We need assistance to have our prejudices challenged, our greed identified and our resistances named. We need to move from the individualistic private relationship we have with our politicians to one where the collective is once again encouraged and fostered as a vital aspect of life today.

Urgent issues such as healthcare, the environment, the closing of rural post offices, the breakdown of community, integrating the variety of new cultures that have begun to develop in the country - all have consequences far beyond the economic. Political leadership requires more than having a handle on potential economic events. Political leadership requires us to think about the nature of the society that we want to create.

Second Letter (Henry Joyce, Marcella O'Shea):

This deliberate policy of "sustaining" annual GDP growth rates of 4 to 4.5 per cent], without due regard to its composition or effects on the environment or society, has given a new meaning to the term "sustainability"! (Suffice to say that the term was used 73 times in the document and with related adjectives, verbs and nouns, 258 times). The growth rates as outlined in the publication cannot be achieved without significant and irreversible environmental cost and degradation.

A balance needs to be struck quickly. Sustainable economic growth and progress can be achieved only by protecting our natural environment - not by attempting to "heal" it - and by providing a quality of life for all our people.

In short, the proposed National Development Plan takes little or no account of the compromises necessary between economic, social and environmental factors for real, sustainable progress to occur. Such delicate interconnectivity requires somewhat more than piecemeal environmental fire-fighting.

These sentiments were largely ignored by the rest of the readership (and by many of the electorate).

The power of the 'conventional'

" . the hallmark of the conventional wisdom is acceptability. It has the approval of those to whom it is addressed. There are many reasons why people like to hear articulated that which they approve. . The individual knows that he is supported in his thoughts - that he has not been left behind and alone. . In some measure, the articulation of the conventional wisdom is a religious rite. It is an act of affirmation like reading aloud from the Scriptures or going to church. The business executive listening to a luncheon address on the immutable virtues of free enterprise is already persuaded, and so are his fellow listeners, and all are secure in their convictions."

JK Galbraith, The Affluent Society, revised edition, pp 9 - 10, Pelican, 1999

I shall use Galbraith's term 'conventional wisdom' to describe the present economic paradigm.

What has the conventional wisdom given us?

Among other things:

* It has put considerable emphasis on concepts such as economic growth, competition, 'efficiency', productivity, 'free' markets and 'labour mobility'.

* Because it is unhappy about outcomes which cannot be measured (or easily measured and preferably in money terms) it ignores the value of the 'environment' and ecological limits, and ignores (or see as irrelevant) 'diversity' and 'cooperation' (or symbiosis), powerful ideas in the survival of natural communities.

* It has created a pernicious system whereby "money" comes from debt.

Money is a mysterious idea - most people do not know where money comes from and do not ask. The truth is that most 'money' in circulation is held in banks and arises from a debt: a mortgage, an overdraft, credit card borrowing. This money has cost the bank almost nothing to create, yet interest will be charged on it in compound form. As the late Kenneth Galbraith, one time professor of economics at Harvard put it: "The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled".

In giving us these (and other) outcomes, it also claims to be ethically neutral (more precisely, it simply ignores the ethical issues), and aspires to the prestige of Newtonian physics, an aspiration which, in turn, fosters the idea that 'there is no alternative'.

These claims and aspirations make it very hard to argue against the 'conventional wisdom'. The language of conventional wisdom adds authority to what a writer or speaker proclaims. Iti is not possible to challenge how the basic concepts provide solutions to currently perceived problems. Those who dissent are dismissed as 'unrealistic', 'idealists', . who will bring about economic disaster if allowed loose!

A recent OECD document - the Economic Survey of the European Union, 2007, strengthens the appeal of conventional wisdom, taking as it does terms such as those above as self evidently 'good things'.

A testimony from our heritage

"We look forward to an economy which is conservationist, balanced in respect of growth, and sensitive to the needs and situations of other countries, not selling arms to others. We have only one world, and our present wasteful consumption of non-renewable resources and damage to the biosphere must stop. This requires alternative economic strategies, which are driven by need, not greed."

Over twenty years later, we are still waiting! What is the economy for?

This is where the idea of moving from an economy to a society comes in. It is a question which is being asked by thoughtful economists (there are such people!) in several places. One academic response has been an initiative entitled Economics for Equity and the Environment. In a paper entitled Real People, Real Environments, and Realistic Economics the authors say in part:

What is the economy for, anyway? For many people, the good life is not just about individual material wealth but also about open space, time, family, community, life meaning, and stewardship. . [So] many things that matter are not individual commodities. It is absurd to try to attach monetary valuations to priceless values, or to view all the multiple facets of life through the distorting lens of the market.

Market efficiency, as conventionally defined, measures only a small subset of the human values related to the economy. [Emphasis added]

Margaret Legum, an articulate and eloquent South African has suggested that the objectives of economic policy should be to foster 'creativity'. Interpret that how you wish!

Another response is that offered by (among others) the New Economics Foundation (NEF) which has published a 'Well-being' manifesto, inspired by the view that one of the key aims of a democratic government is to promote a better life for its citizens. A brief extract reads:

"While many policies tend to focus on enhancing people's incomes by expanding the economy, this has not tended to result in higher levels of well-being. In fact, while GDP has nearly doubled over the last 30 years, measures of well-being have remained static."

A wider vision is proposed by Fritjof Capra:

"The great challenge of our time is to build and nurture sustainable communities - communities that are designed in such a way that their ways of life, businesses, economies, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. The first step in this endeavor is to understand the principles of organization that ecosystems have developed to sustain the web of life.

. [The] ecosystems of the natural world are sustainable communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms. There is no waste in these ecological communities, one species' waste being another species' food. Thus matter cycles continually through the web of life. The energy driving these ecological cycles flows from the sun, and the diversity and cooperation among its members is the source of the community's resilience. So what's stopping us?

What indeed? The necessity is very clear. Any effective approach to climate change/peak oil will require new ways of thinking and new ways of policy making, as will a move to a well being society. It will require us, as the philosopher and theologian Thomas Berry (the Great Work, Bell Tower, 1999) writes " .to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present on the planet in a mutually beneficial manner."

The ideas are there; the evidence to back the ideas is there. What's stopping us?

Is there a role for the Religious Society of Friends? If so, what is it?

Testimonies again

Devising a just economic order for the future will be an exercise in social ethics and spiritual vision. It is a work which will bring joy and fulfillment, but it will involve effort. God, the creator and owner of the earth, both enables us and requires things of us. The economic system of the future cannot be rooted in greed and self-centeredness, but must acknowledge the divinely ordained interdependence of all parts of the earth. Let us, then, strive to ensure that human laws and arrangements become consistent with the fundamental truth of things, so that they express what John Woolman calls "the regulations of universal love."

Resources

The New Economics Foundation (www.neweconomics.org) and its South African 'sister' SANE: The South African New Economics network (www.sane.org.za).

The Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org): pioneers of the ideas of natural capitalism and with some interesting ideas on 'development' (as distinct from 'economic growth').

The Post Autistic Economics Network (www.paecon.net) - arose from a dissenting movement of French economics students. Publishes a 'free' e-periodical (The Post-Autistic Economics Review). Somewhat academic, but constantly questions the 'orthodox'. Carries occasional articles on topics such as 'greed' and Margaret Legum's suggestion that fostering creativity should be the objective of economic policy is published there.

GDAE - The Global Development and Environment Institute (Tufts University,Massachusetts) (ase.tufts.edu/gdae). A website with access to (free) papers, articles and teaching modules on climate change, environmental economics, development, and economics from a feminist perspective.

James Robertson (www.jamesrobertson.com): a personal website from one of the founders of the 'New Economics'.

Bibliography:

Arguing with an economist: the difficulty of doing this has led to the publication of an interesting book: Lindy Edwards: How to argue with an economist (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Real People, Real Environments, and Realistic Economics can be obtained from Website www.case-and-e.org

Margaret Legum on Creativity: Obtainable from website: www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue39/Legum39.htm. She died on 1 November 2007

Comments welcome: tony.weekes@gn.apc.org

ACTIVITY IN OTHER YEARLY MEETINGS

The first "Tilburg" meeting took place in 2008 (see below), and produced the 'Declaration of Tilburg', a set of demands from citizens of the Netherlands and Belgium to their respective governments concerning 'the economy' and how it should be shaped in the future. The text (in English) follows this report.

The tone is very much in keeping with the background to the Woodbrooke/QPSW 'No-growth economy' project and the postings which have been made to the Quakernomics blog.

"Tilburg 2009" was actually in Antwerp - more can be found on other pages of the website quoted.

Kees Nieuwerth, a member of Netherlands YM, and I had the pleasure of attending and participating in the third "Tilburg" meeting which took place at the University of Tilburg (Netherlands) on 21 January. The theme was 'A fair and green new deal', with the American economist David Korten as the keynote speaker. David's presentation was largely drawn from his recent book Agenda for a New Economy, and was followed by thoughtful contributions from a small panel of speaker whose contribution was to put David's ideas into a European context, stressing (for example) the stronger sense of social solidarity which marks western European countries. All proceedings at this stage were - to my relief (and, no doubt, to David's) - in English!

The afternoon sessions were diverse, and covered a range of topics - from the need to engage with widely with citizens' movements, the churches, peace groups and trade unions to the dangers of "military Keynesianism".

A summary of the main points can be found at the webpage

http://www.economischegroei.net/index.php?topic=til2010.

Google Toolbar offers rough translations from Dutch. A few sound bites: our system creates fake wealth; we need a transition from "...an economy which offers welfare for business" to "...a society where the welfare of humankind and nature are the main goals".

Daunting? Yes; encouraging? Yes, because we see that we are not alone in what we seek. Around 300 people were present; more were with us in spirit.

We need something like the Tilburg meetings in the English speaking countries of Europe.

The Declaration of Tilburg

The text begins:

A reorientation of national economies

We, civilians of the Netherlands, Flanders, and of Europe, call upon a radical re-orientation of our economies. This call is motivated by the fast-growing urgency of global issues, such as climate change, resource depletion, the persistence of wide-spread poverty and increasing global inequality. The urgency of these issues forces us to discuss a necessary transition of all wealthy economies, thus also those of Belgium, the Netherlands and Europe. No matter how fundamental such a reorientation or trend break as we envisage it will be, it will not bring about a decrease in human welfare. On the contrary, it will protect us from even bigger future problems, such as health hazards, environmental degradation, a further increase in the global poverty gap, and armed conflicts and refugee movements. We are in the convenient position that a directional change is currently still possible.

The full text (in English) can be obtained from the website http://www.economischegroei.net/.

The future of banking

This was the title of a debate which took place at Friends House in London on 19 November 2009, organised by the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) assisted by Quaker Peace and Social Witness. The topic is particularly salient at this stage in human affairs. The misery caused by the crisis is one reason for our concern; but another is the need for a system which will provide the finance necessary for the transition to an economy based on renewable energy and lower carbon emissions.

Four panellists, representing the Church of England, BankTrack, The Green Alliance and Triodos Bank each made short presentations, describing the origins of the crisis, and the changes needed to the way banks are governed and the way their business objectives are set. The speaker from BankTrack was particularly critical of the Royal Bank of Scotland (in which the British government has an 84% stake, and which owns the Ulster Bank). He described how the overseas loan and investment side of the Bank's work still adversely affects human rights and ignores the financial needs for a lower carbon based future.

James Vaccaro, the speaker from Triodos Bank, told us that the operations to rescue stricken banks have largely ignored the serious need for fundamental reform. In consequence, the mindset and governance which brought about the crisis is still in place; the catastrophe can happen again. He reminded us of the need to be better informed about the financial system, to have a vision of what we need from its services, and to recognise the power we have as its users to press for change.

There were about 80 people present in the audience, and a lively discussion followed. Peter Challen (from the Christian Council for Monetary Justice) made a powerful plea for an economic system based on the work of the philosopher Thomas Berry: concern and compassion for all the earth's living systems.

It was encouraging to find oneself with people who share the view that what we call 'the economic system' is a human creation - and it can be (and has been) changed. All worthwhile progress in human affairs has started this way.

Notes by Tony Weekes towards a Special Interest Group discussion

http://www.cori.ie/Justice/Basic_Income/541-bien-world-congress-on-basic-income

The second comes from the American writer David Korten: Why This Crisis May Be Our Best Chance to Build a New Economy which can accessed (along with a number of other interesting short articles) from website:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3546

Comments welcome, and further information from Tony Weekes (South Belfast Meeting), e-mail tony.weekes@gn.apc.org

Notes and References:

[2] Jonathan Dale, Faith in Action: Quaker Social Testimony. London , Quaker Home Service, 2000

[3] Written, according to Michael Birkel ( Earlham College ), around 1764 but not published until 1793. See website:
http://www.earlham.edu/~birkemi/birkel_3.html

[4] Kenneth Boulding (1910-1993): Quaker, academic, philosopher, peace activist and poet. A brief memoir of his life and work, together with a portrait, can be found at website http://www.nap.edu/html/biomems/kboulding.pdf

[5] See Quaker Faith and Practice, 23.18. Poverty remains a concern of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A summary of Estimating the costs of child poverty, a recent publication of the Foundation, is available at website: http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/2313.asp

[6] The Moral Economy Project has produced a book, Right Relationship; building the whole earth economy by Peter Brown and Geoffery Garver, (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009).

[7] The presentations are available at website http://www.ctbi.org.uk/371/.The contributions of Ann Pettifor and Bob Goudzwaard are well worth reading and reflecting upon.

[8] The first Tilburg meeting (2008) led to the Declaration of Tilburg, a citizens' statement of what economic priorities should be and what changes these require. These meetings are now annual: the 2009 meeting took place in Antwerp and the 2010 meeting is now being planned.

From: Tony Weekes, Apt 5, Derryvolgie Mews, Derryvolgie Avenue, BELFAST BT9 6TQ
Telephone: 028 90 661591 [048 90 661591 from the RoI]
e-mail tony.weekes@gn.apc.org.