‘During these difficult times making something by hand, generated by positive thoughts, was uplifting.’ Photo: Pendella Buchanan
Eye - 18 November 2022
From Helping hands to Appealing rhymes
An invitation
These ‘greatest hits’ are here to give you a flavour of what Eye has been (see 4 November), and to inspire you, our lovely readers, to reach out with stories and pictures you’d like to share in future editions. Let’s get to know each other in the things that are light-hearted!
Helping hands
An act of kindness to new families in one Local Meeting moved a Friend to contact Eye.
Two months after giving birth, she writes: ‘Our family’s resources feel a bit stretched, we’ve eaten up the things I had put in the freezer for after the birth and are still adjusting to our new family member.’
She was in for a heartwarming surprise when a member of her Local Meeting arranged to pop round for a cup of tea.
‘She brought with her four carrier bags full of convenience food and treats – chocolate, rice cakes, nut butters, pasta, biscuits, crackers, cereal, bath bubbles – all kinds of things. And a handmade card saying it was “with love from Meeting”.
‘Apparently they aim to do this for the family of any new baby in the Meeting. It’s such a kind and thoughtful gesture and very much appreciated by us.’
(first published 5 June 2015)
Health and comfort
Friends put in an unexpected appearance in The Unbelievable Truth on BBC Radio 4.
Hosted by David Mitchell, The Unbelievable Truth sees comedians compete to sneak outlandish facts past each other – hidden in lie-packed lectures.
Episode four featured Frankie Boyle, Sara Pascoe, Miles Jupp and Holly Walsh talking about puppets, spying, Glasgow, and religion.
Sara Pascoe tackles religion, covering Catholicism, the church of Maradona, Scientology, alien volcanoes, and Quakers!
One of the facts she successfully smuggles in is that Quakers invented the sanitary towel.
In the 1880s brothers Thomas and William Southall produced and sold what is thought to be the first commercially available sanitary towel.
David Mitchell quotes one of their early adverts:
Special to ladies:
A desideratum of the highest importance for health and comfort – increased cleanliness, less liability to chill.’
The Southall family had deep roots within Quakerism, with connections to Roger Pritchard, who established Almeley Meeting House in 1672, and Edward Pritchard, one of the signatories of William Penn’s 1682 Charter of the Liberties and Frame of Government of Pennsylvania.
(first published 12 February 2021)
