Eye - 01 November 2013

From beautiful banners to creative connections

Beautiful banners

Quakers from East Cheshire, Manchester and Bolton made their presence known at a recent protest with eye-catching banners.

Phoebe Spence, of Stockport Meeting, was one of the Friends at the demonstration to save the NHS from privatisation and to protest at the cuts and Trident, during the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester at the end of September.

Artistic banners representing Quakers , Quakers for social justice, Quakers for equality and Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) made an appearance.

Phoebe recounted the day: ‘We held a Meeting for Worship beforehand, a respite from the noisy, busy demonstration.

‘There were a broad range of causes represented… solidarity on a sunny day in Manchester. 

‘I was not aware of any other faith groups there. Some of us were interviewed, and there was interest in the NFPB “Force may subdue but love gains” tea towel I had pinned to me – I should have brought some more!’

Remembering

On the ninety-fifth Remembrance Sunday, 10 November, Friends may be making a reflective appearance on Songs of Praise.

Anthony Wilson, of Lichfield Meeting, got in touch to alert Friends to this Quakerly connection: ‘It is looking very probable that Arthur Hinton – of the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) and now living at The Woodlands, Wolverhampton – will be featuring in the BBC Songs of Praise for Remembrance Day.

‘We have forwarded contemporary photos of FAU and Friends Relief Service work sites from the war years, and the Quaker Service Memorial in the National Memorial Arboretum has been filmed for the programme. The hymns will be from St Mary’s church, Warwick.’

Creative connections

Street Meeting held an exhibition of Friends’ artwork during Somerset Art Weeks (see ‘Quaker connections’). The visitor’s book reflected the reactions of those who attended, with some of the most recurring words being: ‘inspiring… beautiful… amazing… humbling… uplifting… peaceful… wonderful…’

Correction

In ‘Knitting against nukes’ (11 October) Angie Zelter’s name was incorrectly spelled as ‘Selter’. Eye would like to apologise to Angie for this error.

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