The Blue Idol in Coolham, West Sussex Photo: courtesy of The Blue Idol
Blue Idol Meeting marks William Penn’s death
Blue Idol Quakers commemorate the 300th anniversary of William Penn’s death
Blue Idol Quakers are celebrating the three-hundredth anniversary of the death of William Penn with a series of events at their historic Meeting house.
The tercentenary will be commemorated by monthly events leading up to the date of his death. He died on 30 July 1718.
Celebrations at the Blue Idol Meeting House in West Sussex, which William Penn founded in 1691, will include two concerts, a retreat and an exhibition about his life.
Susan Bittleston, an attender at Blue Idol Meeting, told the Friend that the first event, on 24 March, would be a talk on William Penn’s life and legacy.
She said: ‘We hope to attract Quakers and non-Quakers with an interest in William Penn, and to open up a discussion about the nature of Quakerism.
‘Penn must have been an extraordinary person In many ways, he was way ahead of his time. He understood the fundamental values of Quakerism and, when he moved to Pennsylvania, he managed to get a whole colony working to Quaker principles.’
