A tram on Bull Street. Photo: William Waddilove.
Eye - 04 March 2016
From excitement to conincidences
Excitement at Bull Street
Friends at Bull Street Meeting House in Birmingham were treated to an unusual sight as 2015 drew to a close.
For the first time in over sixty years, trams have been trundling past the Meeting house (see right). Twenty-one trams, each holding up to 208 people, make up the new Midland Metro service. Once this stage of the multi-million pound project is fully completed, by the end of next month, the route will extend as far as New Street Rail Station.
Local Friend William Waddilove told Eye the tale of a very busy end to the year for the Quaker spot:
‘The service was started on Sunday 6 December. Worshippers to the Meeting house had to wend their way though the Meeting house car park as it was being used by the BBC outside broadcast crews. Part of their interview included a ninety-two-year-old who had been a “clippie” on the previous service.’
William added: ‘Two weeks earlier [the] Priory Rooms nearly had a visit from the Queen as one of the ground floor rooms had been reserved should she need a nearby rest room.’
However, such services were not required so… ‘Bull Street Meeting will have to wait a few years longer before it can display “by Royal Appointment” along side its certificates for recycling and other sustainable accreditations.’
Story of American Friends told on film
The profound impact of a group of Quakers on the course of American history has been celebrated in a feature length documentary.
Quakers: That of God in Everyone focuses on ‘that of God in everyone’ as being central to all branches of Quakerism and has been made by an independent production company based in Cincinnati.
The film, which was produced by Cincinnati Friends Meeting, was made by Rebel Pilgrim Productions and has been financially supported by Wilmington Yearly Meeting and The Christian History Institute.
Friends interviewed for the film represent both the programmed and non-programmed tradition in America – Meetings associated with Friends United Meeting and those Meetings associated with the Friends General Conference.
The film offers insights into the influence that a small group of devout Friends had on the development of America and focuses on the work of Quakers in a particular area. The film highlights the work of Friends in the campaign to abolish slavery, including the story of the ‘Underground Railroad’, their peaceful relations with the Native American tribes, their prominent role in the civil rights movement and their radical position on many social concerns.
A trailer for the film is available on the web.
Coincidental conversation
After a chance encounter during their travels to the Emerald Isle, Andy and Tony Stoller, from Winchester, shared this little nugget with Eye: ‘So there we were, in a remote pub on the southwest coast of Ireland, chatting to an American couple and saying that we had been coming there for over thirty years. Then a man at the next table came over, having overheard our conversation, and saying that he had been coming for much longer having been born in the village but he now lived in France.
Man: “Where do you come from?”
Us: “Winchester in England” (usual reference here about the song and the cathedral!)
Man: “I spent three months as a student in London working at the Club. That’s P.E.N.N. You would not have heard of it, unless you were a Quaker.”
Us: “Oh yes we have heard of it! We are Quakers and have stayed there often!”
‘We subsequently learnt that he and his wife now attend Toulouse Meeting. What a small world that has such strange conversations in unlikely places!’
