Dover Castle is one of the possible outings. Photo: Jim Higham, University of Kent.
Doing something different
Ursula Fuller gives a flavour of what might be done
Whether you prefer quiet contemplation or vigorous action, there will be something interesting for you at Canterbury. Do something different day (prosaically known as Wednesday in the outside world) will give us an opportunity for just that. Some Quakers will even get a chance to walk in the footsteps of Huguenots!
On Do something different day gatherers will be able to relax, explore the theme in depth through workshops and practical action, or visit some of the outstanding tourist destinations in Kent. In keeping with the gathering’s aim of sustaining the world we live in, there are activities on campus and outings using public transport, cycling and walks as well as coach trips – which burn much less fuel per person than private cars. Mindful that it is all too easy to cram too much into every gathering day, we are offering gentle drop-ins that do not need booking in advance in addition to more strenuous activities.
The gathering brochure gives details of all the off-campus activities and many of those on campus, so I will just mention a few here. The coach trips include destinations such as the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale and Howletts Wild Animal Park that are putting our theme into action through their work to preserve rare and endangered animals and plants. Dover Castle and Chatham historic dockyard are two excellent visits for the whole family that illustrate the lives of ordinary people as well as the history and architecture of Kent’s coastal defences.
Nearer to home some gatherers will be able to take part in a short Meeting for Worship in the Huguenot chapel which forms part of the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. The Huguenots were originally French Protestants who fled to England to avoid persecution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some sheltered in the Cathedral until they could find places to live in the city and they have worshipped there ever since. During the second world war they found themselves without a pastor and Alfred Tucker, a member of Canterbury Meeting, took on that role to sustain their congregation.
On campus gatherers are offered a range of lively activities, from drama and music with the Leaveners to practical action, working with the university to improve the sustainability of its campus and leave a small, tangible, legacy of YMG 2011. There is even a workshop that relies on gatherers’ rubbish for its success! Upcycling, a flower-making workshop, will take discarded plastic containers – up to forty large drinks bottles for a palm tree or a few yoghurt pots for a small bloom – and use them to make a colourful garden near the gathering tent.
There are also gentler campus-based options, from a silent retreat to Woodbrooke and Living Witness workshops. Refreshments will be available all day in the gathering tent and we hope that there will be a mixture of drop-in options during the day.
We already have a number of offers, ranging from banner making to jazz, but we need more. Could you teach people to knit shopping bags from old cassette tapes, or help to lead a three-hour Meeting for Worship in the manner of early Friends, or organize string quartets?
You can let us know on your booking form or by writing to Karl Gibbs at the Yearly Meeting Gathering office at Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ; email: ymg@quaker.org.uk.
