Eye - 05 July 2013

From children to peaceniks

The children’s tale

Friends of all ages came together at Cambridge Jesus Lane Meeting on 9 June to tell an inspiring tale.

Dressed in period costumes, they performed a play about the children of Reading Meeting in 1665; children who continued to hold Meeting for Worship after their parents had been jailed.

Small but significant

Melanie Jameson, of Malvern Meeting, got in touch with Eye after an unusual diversion during a recent visit to Marazion Meeting. She writes:

‘I was surprised to find that Friends were being “shushed” and re-directed away from the usual path that leads to the kitchen/lobby area. Instead, we were urged to enter by the other door, which opened on to a gathering Meeting for Worship. What had caused this diversion?

‘The answer proved to be a grey fluffball that revealed itself as a baby seagull, planted firmly in front of the usual entrance and guarded by protective parents who were poised to defend their young.

‘Settled in this charming old Meeting house with the distant sound of crashing waves (Marazion is located opposite St Michael’s Mount), I reflected that a small being, standing its ground, can make a significant difference.’

Dogged by Quakers

‘Roger Carr may be wondering if the Religious Society of Friends is his nemesis,’ pondered a reader, in a recent missive to Eye.

‘As chairman of Cadbury, he drew criticism from Quakers when he sold the company to Kraft. As the current head of the CBI, he insists that tax avoidance is not a “moral” issue. Amongst his fiercest critics is Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network… a Quaker.

‘Now he has been revealed as the next chair of the arms company BAE Systems. At least seven Quakers were among the protesters at BAE’s last AGM, one of whom was physically removed from the building after challenging arms sales to Bahrain. A similar response is likely to greet Roger when he takes the chair for the first time.

‘Is Roger wondering what motivates Quakers to dog him wherever he goes? Perhaps Friends House should send him some introductory leaflets. Then again, Quaker testimony to light and truth is being acted in front of him all the time. What better introduction can anyone have to Quakerism than that?’

Peaceniks

‘Speaking truth to power. That was what the Quakers said, he’d had to arrest a few in the eighties, peaceniks, yakking on about “direct action” and Cruise missiles. For people who worshipped in silence they seemed to talk a lot.’

From Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson

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