Letter from Lancashire and Cheshire Meeting

I write on behalf of Lancashire and Cheshire General Meeting, within Britain Yearly Meeting. Our General Meeting covers the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, and the whole of North Wales. We have some 1100 members.

We met yesterday (20 October 2001), and were pleased to welcome Elizabeth Duke, General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation; she returned to Britain from USA early yesterday morning, having been visiting some of you during recent days. During the course of our meeting, we felt very close to Friends in other parts of the world.

We want to send you our love and support. This is a difficult time for all of us, but especially for you, as we strive to seek a just, not vengeful, response to the attacks on your country on 11 September. We have been heartened by the stand made by so many American Friends, and others, in working so hard towards a peaceful and reasoned resolution to this awful situation. You are all in our thoughts and our prayers.

With our very best wishes Peter Speirs, clerk, Lancashire and Cheshire General Meeting