The Friend

Interview: David Parlett

Three subjects dominate the hundreds of books that line the shelves of David Parlett’s study in his South London house: games, language and theology. They reflect the concerns and interests that have dominated the life of a genial, courteous and kindly Friend, who is known and respected across the globe as one of the leading figures in the specialist field of board and card games.

Margaret Fell in Sweden

In Sweden little is known about Margaret Fell’s life, work and writings – in Quaker circles and beyond. Most of the early Friends that are spoken or written about are men. This term, at the Quaker Retreat Centre near Rimbo, Julia Ryberg and I were minded to offer a retreat on Margaret Fell, the ‘Mother of Quakerism’, and share with others what she means for and to us.

Interview: John Creed

The artistic metalworker and sculptor John Creed has enjoyed a varied career in industry, education and the creative arts spanning more than five decades. An instinctive artist, his work seems to emerge from the hinterland between conceptual and practical, aesthetic and utilitarian, making his work particularly striking and tangible. Much of it is explicitly public art, more at home on the pavement than in galleries, but it is also consciously about public service: he is more likely to be working on items that serve some actual purpose – coat stands, signs, gates or musical instruments – than purely aesthetic objects offered as ends in themselves. He studied at Liverpool College of Art before working initially as a silversmith, later moving into teaching, ultimately at the Glasgow School of Art.

Visiting Rokel

Iwas hit by the humidity and heat. It was mid-June. Sweat was trickling down my face and my hair was wet. I noticed that the bag which contained my money, passport and visa had gone sticky and seemed to be melting. Once again, I was visiting Sierra Leone to view the progress of projects linked to the Quaker Peace Network West Africa (QPNWA), the Dorothy Peace Centre and Sidcot School Sierra Leone. The work is taking place in the deprived area of Rokel, which was notorious in the civil war for the number of atrocities committed there.

Young Friends

Looking closely

When did you last go for a walk – not to get anywhere in particular, not to go from A to B, but just to linger and look? Most of the time we are in too much of a hurry; late for school perhaps, or rushing to a rehearsal or a football match. The Welsh poet WH Davies, in his poem ‘Leisure’, asks what life is all about if we can’t find time occasionally to ‘stand and stare’? If we look we may see ‘streams full of stars’, perhaps in a canal or even a puddle.