Eye - 04 December 2015

From pink blankets to crumbs

Becoming blankets

Countless balls of pink wool and the industrious clicking of knitting needles may ring a bell for many Friends around the country who were among those who created a seven-mile long peace scarf for the Wool Against Weapons protest last year.

Over 5,000 people from around the world contributed to the finished scarf, which was unfurled between the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites of Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire on the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August 2014. A portion went on to be used on 24 January this year in the Wrap Up Trident protest, where it encircled the Ministry of Defence.

The scarf is now being turned into blankets for humanitarian use. Recipients so far have included UK charities, such as homeless centres, and internationally they have been sent to charities in Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Syria and Tanzania.

Maggie Cartridge, of Exeter Meeting, is one of the knitters who has helped transform the scarf. She told Eye: ‘I have helped to make twenty already and can encourage other volunteers, as I find it heartwarming to sort and sew the glowing knitting produced by so many women worldwide for such good purpose.’

Sara Medi Jones, campaigns officer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), added: ‘Blankets have been donated to Knit for Peace and some will be going to the refugee camp in Calais. We’re down to the last few parts of the scarf now and any help from Quakers to finish this off would be much appreciated! Anyone can come into the CND office [in Islington]… They would just need to let me know when they could come in – sara.medi.jones@cnduk.org / 0207 700 2393.’

When hundreds of blankets were delivered to a hospital in Tanzania, Jaine Rose, of Wool Against Weapons, shared these words from those who made the delivery on Facebook: ‘Having seen what is going on on the ground in Berega, having seen mothers with babies wrapped in pink blankets, and having spoken to lots of people, I want to let you know that what you have done has made a huge difference to a great many people’s lives. It’s clear that not only have the blankets helped save babies’ lives, but that there is an overwhelming sense of gratitude from people there that someone out there cares about what happens to them. So, so many people came to thank me personally for your efforts and the work of [Wool Against Weapons]. It has been truly humbling.’

Probably best

Eye’s ears pricked up at a passing comment on BBC Radio 3 recently.

On 11 November, during Free Thinking Festival: In conversation with Richard Dawkins, listeners discovered that the scientist seems to have a hierarchy of Christian denominations.

Thirty-four minutes into the programme, which is still available on BBC iPlayer, one questioner spoke of his spiritual experience and said that he was now a Quaker.

He said: ‘I believe there’s an element of the unknown and the unknowable and the mystery which, to me, is part of the heart of the spiritual journey for many of us.’

In his response Richard Dawkins remarked: ‘You’re a Quaker and that’s probably the best of all the versions of Christianity.’

Crumbs!

Whilst enjoying an episode of Antiques Roadshow on 15 November, Philip Jacob, of Monkstown Meeting in Dublin, spotted a piece of Quaker workmanship.

The striking timepiece was the work of Daniel Quare (1648-1724), a celebrated clockmaker and inventor.

He was also a Quaker who, as the website Quakers in the World says, ‘lived his convictions very publicly… he had his goods confiscated on a number of occasions for refusing to pay tithes to the church, and he declined the appointment of watchmaker to king William III because he refused to take the oath of allegiance’.

The clock on the programme was made more than 300 years ago and worth £75,000. As the young man whose responsibility it must have been to return it to the family home unscathed said… ‘Crumbs!’

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