Alpine meadow. Photo: Photo: Tom Pratt / flickr CC.
Eye - 16 August 2013
From discoveries and sing-songs to Q spotting
Discovering Friends
Whilst she lay in an alpine meadow, Lyn Wilson, of Cambridge Hartington Grove Meeting, made an intriguing discovery.
She writes: ‘I was browsing some of Wordsworth’s poems and discovered two published in The Friend in 1809…
‘“The French Revolution” and “The Influence of Natural Objects”; both became part of The Prelude of 1850. The Friend in which they appeared was a “literary, moral, and political weekly paper… conducted by ST Coleridge of Grasmere, Westmorland”. It ran from June 1809 to March 1810.’
Committee-inspired sing-song
Friends attending Ireland Yearly Meeting in July were treated to a rousing performance of ‘The Quaker Committee Song’.
Gretchen Castle and her husband, David Botwinik, sang and strummed guitar strings to an enthusiastic audience, inspiring Friends to join in and clap along.
The chorus kicks off with the modest job title: ‘alternate liaison to the nominating subcommittee overseeing planning of the annual preliminary meeting of the board that will appoint the secretary who’s in charge of making policy concerning the selection… of the snacks’.
With such a delicious morsel, Eye couldn’t rest until the story behind the song was unearthed!
When quizzed, Gretchen said: ‘The Committee Song was written by Gretta Stone, a member of Doylestown Friends Meeting in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (USA). The song was performed and recorded by the band Faith & Practice, which David and I were members of before moving to London when I took on the post of general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation – World Office.
‘The band’s tag line is “when good Quakers go bad” and the band’s logo is a rendition of Foxy George donning a Hawaiian shirt and sun glasses, playing a banjo. The Committee Song would be in keeping with this humorous irreverence.’
But the lines were not plucked out of thin air… ‘the lyrics were taken directly from minutes of Quaker organisations. The song has resonated with Friends around the world, and we are happy to have performed it in Ireland to the delight of Friends on this side of the pond!’
Anyone with a hankering to hear the full performance can find it here: http://bit.ly/QCSong
Q spotting
Has Quaker Quest branched out into crostino? Rod Harper got in touch after a new restaurant caused some quizzical brows at Hampstead Meeting.
‘Some Hampstead Friends have been involved with Quaker Quest since its inception. A few weeks ago this restaurant opened a few yards away from the Meeting house [see above]. This is obviously a message. Hampstead elders haven’t reached unity yet as to exactly what that message is, but it is hoped that seasoning will provide the answer. In the meantime, if other Meetings have suggestions, no doubt Hampstead Friends will be pleased to add these to the possible interpretations already proposed.’
