Friends at the ceilidh. Photo: Peter Hancock.
Dunblane Friends
Robin Davis reflects on the jubilee celebrations at Dunblane Meeting in Scotland and the life of Friends there
The life of a religious society consists in something more than the body of principles it professes and the outer garments of organisation which it wears. These things have their own importance: they embody the society to the world, and protect it from the chance and change of circumstance; but the springs of life lie deeper, and often escape recognition. They are to be found in the vital union of the members of the society with God and with one another, a union which allows the free flowing through the society of the spiritual life which is its strength.
William Charles Braithwaite, 1905
Quaker faith & practice 10.04
Fifty years ago our Friends Bill and Betsy Aitken hosted a Meeting for Worship in their home in Dunblane. The seed prospered and three years later we began to meet in the Chapel of Scottish Churches House in Dunblane.
Several moves later we currently rent rooms in the Braeport Centre, just up the hill from there. We have been through many ups and downs, from the wonderful years of supporting Peace House, the peace education concern of Helen Steven and Ellen Moxley, through the trauma of the Dunblane shootings of March 1996.
Children have grown from infancy to adulthood and we have always nurtured a Children’s Meeting. Our members have contributed much to the life of the Religious Society of Friends, locally and nationally. There were good grounds for a celebration.
Last summer we revived a tradition by holding Meeting for Worship one Sunday in a small kirk in Glen Artney (about fifteen miles away), followed by a picnic by the Water of Ruchill.
On 28 October 2017 we met again in what is now Old Churches House, Dunblane, for a day to celebrate the life and community that is Dunblane Local Meeting. Friends whom we had not seen for years came along to join us. We cut a cake and sang Happy Birthday. We produced a ‘Dunblane Book’ as a souvenir. Young Friends urged us to ponder what we find necessary and what is mere indulgence.
One told us of her recent visit to Palestine. Older Friends discovered how far they had come to be there that day, and who had been the first to join the Meeting. We spent time reflecting on what was special about our Society and Dunblane Meeting in particular, and what belonging to a Meeting means.
We read some sections of chapter ten of Quaker faith & practice and looked forward to many more years of worshipping together. In the evening we adjourned to the Victoria Hall, a local community hall, for a ceilidh.
This had been advertised widely in the town and a number of local folks joined us, as did some Young Friends who travelled out from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
