Eye - 02 September 2016

From roots to rain

The root of the matter

Sheila Hancock spoke to Broadleaf magazine, the magazine of the Woodland Trust, about Quakerism in their spring edition.

Christine Francis, of Stoke Meeting, spotted the interview in the section ‘Trees & me’, where Sheila speaks of her earliest memories of the countryside and how trees have played a significant part in her experience of living in France and Wiltshire.

The article finishes with the reflection: ‘There’s a strong environmental aspect to the Quaker movement, but that’s not what drew me. It was the lack of rules: no one’s in charge. We are a community of friends, who practise rather than preach. We do lots of work with the least attractive in society, the people who get left behind. There is active pacifism, too. People plan idiotic wars with enormous precision, so we believe you have to be just as businesslike to bring about peace.’

Facing adversity

Eye has heard tell of a Friend’s extraordinary achievement and a Meeting’s surprise celebration.

Jamie Wrench, of Southern Marches Area Meeting, writes: ‘After six years of study and a dreadful 2016, in which she suffered a broken ankle, an illness that meant she took her final exams in bed with a fever and antibiotics that made her deaf, Ludlow Meeting’s Ursula Freeman successfully completed an Open University degree in July.

‘She mentioned it to almost nobody, but Ludlow Quakers surprised her in time for her eighty-fourth birthday with a celebratory cake. Ludlow Friends thought it was worth sharing this example of courageous success in the face of real adversity.’

Peace and punctuation

The punctuation of a possible pin badge has weighed on a Friend’s mind following a recent article in the Friend.

Robert Kyte, of Charlbury Meeting, heeded Jane Pearn’s plea in ‘Practising peace’ (15 July) for the creation of a ‘Quakers practise peace’ badge (modelled on Rhiannon Grant’s left below).

However, he felt there might also be a need for a punctuated version (on Rhiannon’s right) which exhorts: ‘Quakers! Practice Peace’

Staying with the train

A story at a recent ‘Faith in Europe’ meeting caught the attention of Richard Seebohm, of Oxford Meeting.

After comments had been made about slow decision making processes in the Church of England someone turned to Richard and told him a tale about a woman on a delayed commuter train: ‘[She] tapped on the door of the driver’s compartment and asked him if he could go a bit faster. “I could, madam,” he said, “but I’d rather stay with the train.”

‘This may resonate with members of other religious bodies.’

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