“Willy & Penn” is a humorous reference to William Penn, an early Quaker who lived from 1644-1718. As a pacifist, he proposed a European Assembly for peaceful conflict resolution, an early vision of today’s European Union. Penn often travelled with George Fox around Europe and England. He also wrote extensively about Quakerism, and his writings influenced debates within the Quaker community.
In this blog, we also want to share the perspectives of young Quakers. We want to hear your views. And we would like to invite you to our events. Sign up to receive each new post straight to your inbox. And please do leave comments on what you read! We want to engage everyone in an exchange of ideas.
“Willy & Penn” is the magazine of the EMEYF. It started as a printed magazine and is now continued as a blog. Our magazine has existed in many forms since 1990. It got its name in 1993, after a competition that promised chocolate to whoever came up with the best title.
Epistle EMEYF Spring Gathering 2026
From the 28th March 2026, over 50 young friends from across Europe gathered together for a week, in person and online, at this year’s European and Middle Eastern Young Friends (EMEYF) Spring Gathering. We arrived…
Der Augenblick der Übergabe / The Moment of Handover
Unser Blog “Willy and Penn” hat einen neuen Redakteur! Die Amtszeit von Anna endete nach drei Jahren mit dem Spring Gathering 2026, und Fridtjof wurde neu ernannt. Für diesen Artikel haben die beiden gemeinsam auf…
Cat Content
Marcie’s cat Misty is curious about the epilogue candle (It is battery operated so no risk of burned whiskers!) Misty: Meow meeeeeow meooow meowwwww, purrrrr purrrr.(Translation from cat-language: I am very happy and purry this…
Was ist “normal”? / What ist “normal”?
Auf dem Spring Gathering kommen viele Leute zusammen – und daraus entstehen viele Wünsche, Erwartungen, Bedürfnisse. Wir haben uns Gedanken gemacht darüber, was „Normalität“ bedeutet, wie man für eigene Bedürfnisse einstehen kann und wie man…
Greetings from Spring Gathering
Spring Gathering is already on its 5th day! Some of us went for a long walk on Wednesday afternoon. We enjoyed the sunshine, hiked up and down forest trails, and gathered wood for the campfire.…
Eine Gemeinschaft, in der alle willkommen sind / Building a Welcoming Community
Gedanken von Paula Christophersen (EMEYF Spring Gathering 2026) Am Dienstagnachmittag kamen wir für ein Gespräch aus der Stille zusammen, in dem es darum ging, wie wir eine Gemeinschaft sein könne, in der alle willkommen sind.…
En route to the Spring Gathering 2026!
Young people from many different countries are making their way to the south of Poland. That’s where the EMEYF Spring Gathering is taking place from Saturday March 27th to Saturday April 4th. Our topic is…
Behind the scenes: CC meeting
In the last weekend of February, most of EMEYF’s Communications Committee met in Leeds. We called in our beloved treasurer Juno, so they could tell us smart things about numbers and policies from a screen,…
Witnessing Borders: Faith, Identity and Conscience
Our title for Spring Gathering 2026 is Witnessing Borders: Faith, Identity and Conscience. This title emerged through reflection on the conversations opened by last year’s focus on conflict, integrity, and faith. We were drawn to…
Greetings from Cologne
This weekend, the All-Age Gathering planning committee met in Cologne, Germany. We visited the venue for our big event for 8th to 15th of August: the impressive Haus Altenberg. And we came up with lots…