Eye - 12 April 2024
From Upholding the local community to Not quite a haiku
Upholding the local community
Joolz Saunders, of Wells-next-the-Sea Meeting, has shed light on how a Meeting house and our book of discipline have been used in unusual ways!
‘The oldest, and last, Men’s Discussion Group meets in Wells-next-the-Sea Meeting every Tuesday evening.
‘They were started in the 1920s by [John] Reith (BBC) to help men with literacy, and enthusiastic people organised them, including Quaker Sam Peel, whose sixtieth anniversary is coming up later in the year.
‘Of course, now women have been allowed in and the local group is flourishing with a wide range of illustrated talks given, from weather-forecasting, birds of prey (a number brought into the room in their cages and then allowed out!) and printing history.
‘However, the tripod on which sits the projector has a problem with one leg. So, although Quakers might not use their geranium coloured book much, it’s certainly made good use of here.’
Dippy eggs
The question of what to call the toast dunked into a runny yolk (8 March) inspired Marion McNaughton, of Sale Meeting, to get in touch: ‘Beth Allen’s query about what Quakers might call the slices of toast for dippy eggs brings back eggy memories for me. In the 1970s I worked briefly in the department of Peace Studies at Bradford University with brigadier Michael Harbottle, former chief of staff of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. My two young children were very impressed by this, and from then on we always referred to our toasted soldiers as “peacekeepers”.’
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