The centre of the labyrinth. Photo: Courtesy of Margaret Baker.
Eye - 11 March 2016
From a place of peace to enlightening directions
A place of peace
A temporary labyrinth created by Quakers in Welwyn Garden City is standing the test of time.
Local Friend Margaret Baker told Eye that, in 2014: ‘Much thought was given to whether we should do something to mark the beginning of the first world war or not.’
In addition to an exhibition in the Meeting house, reflecting the reactions of local Quakers, Friends ‘created a labyrinth in the grass fronting the Meeting house which could be used as a place of contemplation by adults passing by, or a place of fun for local children’.
Although it was only intended to last for one season, the labyrinth is still there.
‘One Sunday morning a short while ago a snowman appeared in the very centre of the labyrinth. We rather suspect the warden and his daughter bear some responsibility for this. Unfortunately, he (the snowman) didn’t live very long, and the space in the middle of the labyrinth we have filled with artificial white poppies, each bearing the word “Peace” at its centre.’
The Meeting also performed a reading of Jan Arriens’ play Tribunal on 27 February this year. Lucy Holmes, one of the wardens of the Meeting, told Eye that over forty people from the Meeting, Area Meeting and non-Quaker community attended.
They came ‘for afternoon tea and to hear the play about an eighteen-year-old conscientious objector in world war one.
‘The readers brilliantly brought this emotive and thought provoking play to life.’
Powerful bottoms
Historical texts can sometimes be a source of unusual wisdom. Could this be said of a gem recently unearthed from the Yearly Meeting minutes of 1694?
Judith Roads, of North East Thames Area Meeting, discovered a thought-provoking quote whilst transcribing a volume of Yearly Meeting minutes from 1691-1701. Under the heading ‘This meeting being the first of the 3 Things. Agree to put it by. and G.Keith saith he is willing to bury it.’ the minute, apparently recorded verbatim, reads:
‘The Nature of this Meeting is of a Travelling Nature and hath been and this not yet ceast, and there must be great Tenderness towards the person concerned.
‘I am one with the Generall part of the Testimonys given, As to the business before Us There hath been heats and differences among them.
‘And as touching G.K.’s [George Keith’s] books the matter is not well nor the manner is not well and without a good bottom it’s not well nor like we should build well.
‘The Lord’s Power is our bottom.’
Enlightening directions
Those seeking the offices of the Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) in Bolton may be getting unusual directions following recent developments in the city.
‘You might now be given the direction to “head towards the light and turn left”,’ the NFPB shared on their Facebook page.
The post elaborated: ‘We’ve been watching scaffolding, cranes, girders and hi-vis jackets across the road over the past year. Now the nearly-finished cinema is revealed, appropriately named The Light.’
