Eye - 15 April 2011

From Vienna to Windsor

A two wheel trend?

Eye has heard of two Friends taking to the roads of Europe this spring to travel to various Meetings on the continent by motorcycle. Kimmett Edgar, who works for the Prison Reform Trust, has begun a five-day trip to Vienna for the UN Crime Commission, while Roger Sturge is donning his leathers and setting out for Switzerland to attend three different FWCC events, including the international Planning Committee for Friends World Conference.

In an email to Eye, Roger detailed a route that will take him up though Normandy to the Loire then through Burgundy, Besancon and Jura to Herzberg. On the way back he hopes to vary his journey to connect with Quakers in Freiburg and Normandy and to visit the grave of his father’s cousin who was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916.

Roger’s history of scooting about the place includes travelling to Yearly Meeting Gathering in York in 2009. He told Eye that although he has been riding motorcycles for most of his adult life he ‘has not made an extended tour before’ and is ‘looking forward to the adventure and independence of travelling on two wheels.’

His family apparently think he’s mad to do this alone at seventy-two years young but he firmly believes in living adventurously. Eye wishes both bikers all the best on their adventures.

Querying queries

Eye received a letter from John Anderson of Taunton Meeting. He writes on prodigious enquiries:

‘Verily, are not Quakers prodigious enquirers? But are we not, perhaps, overdoing it? Does it not seem that there are, these days, a myriad more questions than answers? Do we not, too often, wrap up our opinions in the guise of a query? For instance is not a question such as “have we strayed from our spiritual roots?” just a rhetorical way of saying “I think we have”? Is this not merely a thoughtless aping of Advices & Queries style? Are we being polite, oversensitive to the imagined sensitivities of others or merely mealy mouthed? Is it not time for us to tell each other in plain language what we think? Have I made myself clear? Have I been too offensively direct? Do I protest too much?’

No bar to worship

Quakers of Slough and Windsor Local Meeting have no bars to worship, but they do have a bar in which to worship. While you might expect those in search of ‘spirited’ refreshment to gravitate towards bars and pubs, and those seeking spiritual refreshment to head for the Meeting house, these Friends gather for Worship at an establishment named ‘All Bar One’, on the first Wednesday of each month. Although this bar is part of a national chain, Eye expects that it is unique in its role as host for Quaker Meeting.

The group, ranging from four to seven people, finds itself waiting in worship in a room that once accommodated Queen Victoria waiting for her train. Not all signs of this past use have been flushed away – her Majesty’s toilet and wash basin remain in an adjunct to the room!

David May-Bowles, who attends the Meeting, explained to Eye that as a location for worship it works very well. He says: ‘The staff are very friendly and serve coffee at 11.15, which we have to pay for, but there is no other charge’. The only slight downfall is the musak of the bar – the Friends asked for it to be switched off but were told that, as it was a public place, that would not be possible. David finds that it encroaches on worship very little with the door closed.

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