A collection of wooden-framed clock faces. Photo: By Jon Tyson on Unsplash.
Eye - 14 March 2025
Competitive commutes in Eye's dip into the archive, a story of coming to Quakers, and the children of Bradford on Avon Meeting share a spring time poem
On this day
Competitive commutes appear in the 14 March 1947 edition of the Friend.
Eye’s old counterpart, QQ, wrote: ‘Lengthy journeys were the prevailing topic of conversation in the tea room at Friends House, among London Friends and those who had come up from different parts of the country for committee week and Meetings for Sufferings.
‘The “champion” journey appeared to be that of Friends who took 22 hours instead of the normal 5 1/2 hours to get from Carnforth to London, and a 15-hour instead of four-hour journey from Warrington was also recorded.
‘Some Birmingham Friends reached Paddington at 1am instead of about 6pm the previous day. Some spent the rest of the night in the waiting room, but one octogenarian Friend got a lift in a newspaper van to the Euston Hotel where he had booked a room.
‘Friends were able to start home in good time since, for the first time for a long period, Meeting for Sufferings concluded its business before lunch.’
A story to share
On 14 February Eye asked: ‘How did you come to Quakerism?’
The question was well-timed for Brian Hopkins, of Chichester Meeting, who has just finished his memoirs!
‘For most of my life I was a Methodist and attended my local church regularly. We had one minister who had “odd” ideas. These resulted in the loss of about half our key lay workers. I started to go less frequently and eventually gave up.
‘I thought that, after retirement and once settled in Chichester, I would restart there – or go to a different church. Then came 9/11 which, I felt, changed worldwide events. The following Sunday I went to Chichester Quaker Meeting and I have never looked back (I had been a pacifist since 1953). I became a member in 2004.’
Crocuses shimmering in the sun
Rachel Berger, from Bradford on Avon Meeting, shared what happened in their Children’s Meeting on 2 March – which took full advantage of the spring-like turn of the weather!
She told Eye: ‘Last Sunday we had an absolutely delightful Children’s Meeting. We had lovely weather, bright sun and we made use of our small urban garden. The five younger children were tasked with going around the garden and reporting back what they saw, enjoyed, and were interested in. They had the most profound and lovely reflections and observations, which we noted. We then handed on these disparate thoughts to the two teenagers, Ilana and Seren, who wrangled them into a rhyming poem.’
What do you see in the garden?
We see…
Fabulous flowers glowing bright,
calming lavender in the sunlight.
Some tall trees and some short,
all growing leaves of a different sort.
Linden barefoot searching for bones,
‘bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.’
Lovely rocks with lovely hearts,
people sharing their wonderful art.
A spotty dotty ladybird or two…
‘I found something to surprise you!’
Crocuses shimmering in the sun.
Shadows playing on the wall are great fun.
Little nooks as houses for bugs,
the warmth of the sun gives good hugs.
With the sun glowing in the gloom,
snoozing yellow flowers start to bloom.
Black shiny coal, shimmering and sparkling.
We can hear overhead the singing of a starling.
All these things make us happy
we the children of the garden.
