First, Friendly, Flexible, Forever… Fridays

An online gathering of AVP facilitators and graduates
6 – 7.30 pm (Sydney Time) every Friday
Zoom https://zoom.us/j/7595442928  

very brief history 

When ‘First Fridays’ began at the Quaker Meeting House in Sydney’s CBD back in 1998, its main purpose was to bring AVP facilitators together (i.e., to build community). After a few years, Katherine, Malcolm and Wendy decided to share a little of the AVP experience with others. 

Who were these ‘others’?  

Teachers and international students who were studying communication skills with Wendy or Katherine at the nearby Sydney Institute of TAFE, as well as new AVP facilitators. 

Those who could were invited to bring some food to share or put in $5 for pizza. Others came and shared the meal. Everyone shared their presence. They would mingle, eat, get warm and comfortable when it was cold, talk about whatever they wished to and then, an hour later, all would sit down for a series of activities loosely styled on AVP workshops.  

These 3-hour gatherings happened faithfully every first Friday of the month. Hence they became known as ‘First Fridays’. The wonderful thing about it was that, over the next 25 years, in warm weather or cold, people knew that this gathering was happening every first Friday.  

Whether they attended or not, they always knew it would be there. It was like a reliable friend they could always trust in if they were needed. Even people who had lost touch with AVP and/or were not active facilitators felt welcome to participate without the pressure of having to be more actively engaged with AVP! 

Since the pandemic 

Fast forward to 2020 and the onset of the COVID pandemic. These gatherings could no longer take place at the Quaker Meeting House. However, as we all know, AVP folk have a way of rising to the occasion, and so, almost seamlessly, the gatherings migrated to the internet.  

At first, they were monthly sessions, but it quickly became obvious that there was a need for more frequent gatherings. And so ‘First Fridays’ happened every Friday while retaining its original name! And just as the seamless migration happened, so did the structure of these gatherings evolve organically.  

They have become more free-flowing conversations where people are invited to share whatever is on their mind, whatever may be troubling or exciting them, whatever they feel they want to discuss and get some feedback on, or simply remain silent and rest in the safe space that together, we all hold. In short, we gather for mutual support, inspiration and the wonderful feeling of belonging! 

The people who have been attending ‘First Fridays’ are not just Sydney-siders. The gift of the internet and Zoom have made it possible for folk from Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria to be part of this nurturing community.  

Going forward 

Now, in 2023, those of us who have continued to meet want to extend a warm invitation to others (as we have done every week) to join us. We want you to also experience the value of these weekly gatherings as much as we have in helping us  

• Keep our spirits afloat (Caring for others),  
• Keep our heads and shoulders steady (Find a non-violent pathway, Think before Reacting)    
• Keep our inner peace (Respect for self) and  
• Keep our faith and hope in humanity, and our world, alive and ever deepening (Expect the best)!

In short, they support us in ‘Living AVP’, which is also a name we are seriously considering replacing ‘First Fridays’ with! 

We’d love for you to join us! We just want you to know that our gatherings are not mini AVP workshops or tasters. They do not follow the workshop format or structure. Rather, they are free-flowing conversations that are very much held together by the principles and philosophy of AVP, to the extent that each one of us is able to embody them! This, as you would know, is lifelong work-in-progress!  We are delightfully aware that this is a gap in our many and varied AVP offerings that we are filling, offering mutual support and community in an ongoing way without the structure and formality of an AVP workshop. 

Who can join and the possible change of time and day 

Typically, you will be either an AVP facilitator or someone who has done at least a Basic workshop. There may be occasional exceptions to this but such attendance will be determined by consensus with those present at the gatherings, prior to such attendance.  

Also, we are considering shifting the day and time of our gatherings, as there have been folk who want to attend other AVP Sydney workshops that are scheduled at partly overlapping times, or soon after. We appreciate that it takes out a huge chunk of peoples’ time and energy/attention to try and do both. For the moment, however, we will continue to meet on Fridays from 6 – 7.30 pm Sydney time on Zoom https://zoom.us/j/7595442928  

If you’d like to join us (and please do), just contact 

Wendy at wendyzammit@gmail.com or 
Lucy at lucy.light@hotmail.com  

Living AVP! 
Wendy, Phil, Janice, Lucy, Michael, Patricia…