One of the exciting projects that was partially inspired by Nottingham Young Quakers is The Young Quaker Podcast, a podcast made by and made for young adult Quakers.

I’ve been coming to NYQ events for a couple of years now, and have always loved the laughter, stimulating conversation, and friendship I have felt here. I decided that I wanted to expand this supportive community in whatever way I could, and being an avid podcast fan embarked on a mission for create a podcast for young adult Friends that would encapsulate the sense of community I had experienced at NYQ.

Posting in the Facebook page Friends Don’t Let Friends Procrastinate: Quaker Support and Accountability (also set up by a member of NYQ), my ideas were met with great enthusiasm from the community, and with the help of the lovely people at The Young Quaker magazine (TYQ), Friends House (the HQ of Quakers in Britain), and Young Friends General Meeting (YFGM), I was able to set up the Young Quaker Podcast as a sister publication to TYQ magazine.

The first episode came out in November 2017 and discussed ‘Beginnings’ with two Friends from Nottingham, and featured NYQ as an example of one of the many young adult Friends groups springing up all over the UK at the moment. Quakers in Britain also kindly agreed to partially fund the podcast, allowing me to get a good microphone and pay an excellent audio editor, who co-composed our awesome jingle too! It is also edited by some of The Young Quaker magazine’s editors, and part of what has been so wonderful about setting the podcast up is the community support and real collaborative effort that goes into producing episodes.

Each one includes the personal journey of a young Quaker to their faith, a central discussion about the podcast topic that month, and a young Quaker focus segment, where we look at what young Quakers are doing locally, and globally. The idea behind the formatting was to move from a more intimate retelling of a Friend’s story, then zooming out to several young Quakers’ opinions on a broader topic, and finally moving back again to look at global young Quaker groups in the world, creating a cross-section of views and voices that value each individual as well as the broader young Quaker picture.

Often recording at Nottingham Meeting House, I am reminded of what an important role NYQ has had in my setting up the podcast. Without the friends I have made and discussions I have had here I never would have been energised to start this project, showing just how significant and valuable community can be. I’m so excited to see how much it has grown, and as we move towards 1000 downloads and beyond I am even more excited to see where the podcast will go.

The Young Quaker Podcast aims to be a space for young F/friends to able to express and explore their spirituality, engage in lively discussions, and be part of a supportive community of young adult Quakers. Episodes are released monthly every 22nd of the month, with different topics and guests as we tackle questions like young Quakers’ experiences of God, Quaker social witness, and what Quaker silence actually sounds like in a Meeting for Worship. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play by searching for “Young Quaker Podcast”, or via libsyn or SoundCloud. If you’re interested in coming on the podcast either as a guest, or to talk about what young Quakers are doing near you, please email us at youngquakerpodcast@gmail.com.