Eye - 15 June 2018
From 'What a funny lot' to the cycling estate agent
What a funny lot
Quakers are called ‘a peculiar people’
Who sit in a room without any steeple.
It’s hard for a stranger to tell who is who –
Who is the leader? Who sits in the pew?
The minister changes from minute to minute
And mostly there’s silence, peculiar innit?
Each has their own manner, each has their own say
You’re invited ‘dig deep’ to find your own way.
Can you be still?
Can you sit quiet?
Open your heart
To the whole planet?
Widen your scope?
Go beyond words?
Rest your soul in the source
Whence love inspires?
Find your way
Play your part
Learn from all
In this art?
Beware dear Friend
to come this far –
you may be known as
Pee-Q lee-ah.
- Helen Osborn
Tackling ‘mis-quake-ceptions’
‘How did a walking venereal disease have several TV shows and a number one single?… Should anyone ever open a joint bank account?… [What’s] the difference between Amish people and Quakers?’
Episode forty-five of The School for Dumb Women podcast seeks to answer these questions.
Hannah Varrall, Alexandra Haddow and Caroline O’Donoghue, who host the light-hearted podcast, delve into the quirky Quaker world in a ten-minute segment beginning twenty-six minutes into the episode.
Hannah Varrall covers varied ground as she debunks some common misconceptions about Quakers with the help of Young Friend Chris Venables. This includes the shocking news that Friends are ‘nothing to do with the porridge’ and the intriguing observation that ‘they’re the only religion that you associate with a lovely wooden chair’.
She shares answers to questions about what being a Quaker involves, what happens in Meeting for Worship, ‘being religious’, having ‘millennial’ appeal and the recent news coverage of the revision of Quaker faith & practice. The segment ends on a positive note: ‘Where’s the “but” here?… I haven’t found it yet.’
Britain Yearly Meeting responded on Twitter: ‘Thanks @dumbwomenpod for clearing that one up and a few other misquakeceptions… but we admit some of our Meetings do have nice wooden chairs though! Give them a listen for a good laugh and some fine Quaker facts. #NotOats #StillWholesome Starts: 26.20.’
Taking to two wheels
Estate agents don’t necessarily have the most eco-friendly image – but in Birmingham a Quaker has been changing this by putting his faith into action.
Sanjive Mahandru, who recently attended Yearly Meeting in London, is the owner-director of Muskaan Estates, a single office agency based in Smethwick, Birmingham. His company is involved in sales and letting properties under management for landlord clients.
So far, so ordinary – but Sanjive dispensed with his company’s car eighteen months ago and walks, or cycles, to viewings, market appraisals and meetings with landlords or tenants.
The distances involved are sometimes not short. In addition to properties near his office he handles sales and lettings elsewhere in Birmingham, as well as in Wolverhampton and even Middlesbrough.
‘It’s not a case of losing my licence,’ he explained, ‘I deliberately sold the car because it’s time to make a stand. I walk if the properties are close or I put the bike on the train and cycle in Wolverhampton or Middlesbrough’.
He says some areas of Birmingham in particular are badly polluted: ‘Estate agents sometimes have a poor image generally and especially about the environment. So, eighteen months ago I decided to do something about it.’
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