Eye - 14 April 2023

13 Apr 2023 | by Elinor Smallman

Joyful creativity

‘Small children were free to create a hexagon or two, then dash, perhaps, pell mell through the Meeting house with sheer exuberance.'

Friends of all ages in Reading Meeting created a ‘Quaker quilt of joy’ in February.

Julia Dover, the youth children and families development worker for Thames Valley, told Eye what inspired the idea: ‘It was noted among Reading Friends that despite attending Meeting for many years – decades in some cases – they did not know each other as well as they wished, and so I suggested we invite everyone to a fun creative activity. Sarah Griffin mentioned the long tradition of Quaker quilts, which sparked my idea of making a Quaker quilt of joy, using multi-coloured paper hexagons and Friends’ joyful impulses instead of scraps of cloth.’

The session, which included toddlers to octogenarians, began with an invitation – ‘to reflect about joy, what is it, how do we show it?’

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