Eye - 05 July 2024

From Fox’s finery to On this day

Fox’s finery

Eye delights in hearing about Friends’ creativity for Fox400 celebrations!

Friend Frances Warns shared this photo of her granddaughter’s doll dressed as George Fox.

Frances writes: ‘It was the centre piece for our coffee morning which we had to celebrate the 400 years since his birth. We all brought George Fox readings and it was a good way to bring him into focus. Someone bought a birthday cake and we sang Sydney Carter’s song about George Fox with his shaggy shaggy locks.’

Has your Meeting featured any centrepieces or works of art that you’d like to share in the sunshine pages?

Finding Fox

‘Well, yeah, he was a little nutty. I mean, you don’t take your sandals off and wander through snow crying, “Woe to you, bloody city of Lichfield,” you know, for hours on end, without being a little tetched.’

So opens the June episode of Thee Quaker podcast about George Fox (https://bit.ly/GeorgeFoxTQP).

Hosts Jon Watts and Georgia Sparling hear from Max Carter, Rex Ambler, Damon Motz-Storey, and Mark Pratt-Russum as they explore the questions: ‘For a faith tradition that doesn’t honour creeds or hold up anyone as a hero, is Fox’s legacy even important? And do we know the real facts at all?’

Eye has spied some other resources to delight the ears of anyone who has had their interest in Fox piqued in this issue.

What could George Fox have sounded like? The Friend’s inaugural podcast episode asked historical linguist Judith Roads just that: https://bit.ly/TheFriendLive.

The BBC’s In Our Time (https://bit.ly/GeorgeFoxIOT), recorded in 2012, saw Melvyn Bragg discuss the origins of Quakerism with his guests.

Meanwhile, Ann Limb, then-chair of the Scout Association, nominated George Fox for the BBC’s Great Lives series (https://bit.ly/GeorgeFoxGL) in 2016.

For an evangelical Friend’s perspective, the Northwest Yearly Meeting’s podcast (https://bit.ly/GeorgeFoxNYM) interviewed Jim LeShana, the general superintendent of the Yearly Meeting and a Quaker historian. He and the hosts discuss the life of George Fox, early Friends, and lessons that can be learned for 2024.