Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Barnes to Gorman, 13 October 1962
Description
Barnes sent letter to George Gorman, dated 13 October 1962, seeking to coordinate the publication of the report with an appearance of Committee members on the BBC programme, Meeting Point.
Source
HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London.
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Wennington School,
Wetherby, YORKS
13th October, 1962.
George H. Gorman
Friends' Home Service Committee,
Friends' House,
Euston Road,
London, N.W. 1
Dear George,
In the course of a letter from Anna Bidder I note that you are going to allow until the middle of November for the final preparation of our report, but I wonder whether you can fix the publication date? The reason for this is that the people in charge of B.B.C. television religious broadcasting have been waiting for about a twelve-month with great eagerness for this report and want to arrange a Sunday evening television broadcast for three or four members of our committee the moment the report is published. Oliver Hunkin (Assistant Head of the Department, whom I know very well) has been prodding me for a long time and now he asks whether he could be reasonably certain of using for this purpose the Meeting Point programme on Sunday, February 17th. The 3rd March is also a possibility but much less convenient.
I gather from Anna Bidder also that publication by the Home Service Committee would depend upon the approval of two Readers; I wonder to what extend this makes the project uncertain? The report will quite as controversial as my articles in "The Friend" earlier this year and will follow much the same line in general; indeed it was the feeling that I was largely supported by the committee that made it possible for me to write as I did.
It is a bit of a nuisance that the B.B.C. should want us to be definite in this way, but on the other hand if the Meeting Point programme that the B.B.C. arranges for us is well conducted--and I think Oliver Hunkin and I can see to it that it is--it should be good publicity for the Society of Friends in the eyes of people who are looking for a courageous and constructive lead in sexual matters, and personal relationships generally, from a section of the Christian church.
/Continued...
We have had broadcasts of Quaker Meetings occasionally but this broadcast would be a really vigorous and concentrated discussion on the Quaker approach to human problems. We should have to make it clear, of course, that it hadn't yet secured the official approval of the Society, but it was the work of people starting definitely with Quaker pre-suppositions.
Yours ever,
Kenneth
Wetherby, YORKS
13th October, 1962.
George H. Gorman
Friends' Home Service Committee,
Friends' House,
Euston Road,
London, N.W. 1
Dear George,
In the course of a letter from Anna Bidder I note that you are going to allow until the middle of November for the final preparation of our report, but I wonder whether you can fix the publication date? The reason for this is that the people in charge of B.B.C. television religious broadcasting have been waiting for about a twelve-month with great eagerness for this report and want to arrange a Sunday evening television broadcast for three or four members of our committee the moment the report is published. Oliver Hunkin (Assistant Head of the Department, whom I know very well) has been prodding me for a long time and now he asks whether he could be reasonably certain of using for this purpose the Meeting Point programme on Sunday, February 17th. The 3rd March is also a possibility but much less convenient.
I gather from Anna Bidder also that publication by the Home Service Committee would depend upon the approval of two Readers; I wonder to what extend this makes the project uncertain? The report will quite as controversial as my articles in "The Friend" earlier this year and will follow much the same line in general; indeed it was the feeling that I was largely supported by the committee that made it possible for me to write as I did.
It is a bit of a nuisance that the B.B.C. should want us to be definite in this way, but on the other hand if the Meeting Point programme that the B.B.C. arranges for us is well conducted--and I think Oliver Hunkin and I can see to it that it is--it should be good publicity for the Society of Friends in the eyes of people who are looking for a courageous and constructive lead in sexual matters, and personal relationships generally, from a section of the Christian church.
/Continued...
We have had broadcasts of Quaker Meetings occasionally but this broadcast would be a really vigorous and concentrated discussion on the Quaker approach to human problems. We should have to make it clear, of course, that it hadn't yet secured the official approval of the Society, but it was the work of people starting definitely with Quaker pre-suppositions.
Yours ever,
Kenneth