Exeter Friends host school visits
Meeting Clerk ‘thrilled by the visits, particularly the depth of silence held by the students’.
Exeter Quakers welcomed two groups of Year 8 school children to their Meeting house this summer. Pupils from schools in Exeter and Ashburton visited over two days, as part of a programme organised by Exeter City Council.
Ian Martin, from Exeter Meeting, told the Friend: ‘We were asked to show the students how we conduct our Meetings for Worship. Groups of thirteen-year-olds walked quietly into the Meeting Room, in which Friends were holding the silence, and settled for three minutes of stillness. We then moved on to an introduction of Quaker Testimonies.’ After, the pupils explored the Meeting house and peace garden, including the bird bath, which has the text ‘Let your life speak’ carved around the edge.
Laura Conyngham, clerk of Exeter Meeting, told the Friend that she was ‘thrilled by the visits, particularly the depth of silence held by the students’. She added: ‘When I was [working] on media and outreach years ago, I wrote to several schools in Exeter [as well as] Cathedral School. Two of the comprehensives asked for visits and with other Friends we developed a lesson plan.’
After the Covid-19 lockdowns, the Meeting was approached directly through its website by two schools, St Peter’s Church of England, and South Dartmoor Community College.
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