East Sussex Quakers: Some Facts And Their Implications

[poliphilo]

 Lewes has the largest Quaker Meeting in the East Sussex area. It seems we have the second. Lewes reports having 40 people turn up on a Sunday, our numbers are generally in the high teens while other Meetings register single figures. I have to keep telling myself it's not a competition.  The high teens is the upper limit for a group in which everbody can be said to know everybody else and greater numbers breed cliques and factons- as in your average parish church. We have a large building and a large building eats money. Renting out our upper storey (quaintly known as Wish Cottage) is the area's biggest source of income- which means that there's no point to be pushing for it to be reinstated as a warden's flat- which is what I'd like to be doing.  Quakers tend to be well to do and generous but with such small numbers money is becoming an issue and Area wants a very much bigger donation from us this year. There begins to be talk of "fund-raising" .  I used to do "fund-raising" when I was an Anglican. I thought of writing "fund-raising is hell" but that would be an overstatement so I'm going with "fund-raising is a drag..."