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)

Treasured questions

When faced with a gaggle of cub scouts, how would you get them engaged with the Quaker message?

Ruth Harrison went along to see how Aylsham Meeting tackled the challenge, and she shared the intriguing results with Eye.

The local cub scouts, aged between seven and ten, had been set a project on religion where they visited each church and wrote reports on what they heard. Aylsham Friends put together a ‘creative and inspiring’ event. Ruth writes:

‘After a very short Meeting for Worship, the visitors were sent round the Meeting house on a treasure hunt. The “treasures” were cued to prompt questions.

‘“Why is there a £5 note pinned to the notice board?” led to talk about Elizabeth Fry, formerly Gurney, both local names (Stephen Fry’s parents live in the town).

When one elder announced he had been in prison many times, eyes rounded, even when he explained it had been as a visitor.

‘Pictures of clouds led to discussion on the importance of enquiring minds rather than closed minds, especially in science.

‘Porridge and chocolate took them to talk of honest dealing in trade and banking, but the present wasn’t left out, either.

‘Finally, a table loaded with cake disappeared like magic.

‘The illustrated thank you letters we got showed how much they had taken in:

What do Quakers do? They sit round in a circle and think about things. If they want to say something, they can.

Quakers stopped slavery because they thought everyone should be free.

What is a Quaker? A Quaker is loving, caring, honest and trustworthy.

(first published 14 September 2012)

Craftivism in constrained times

A recent all-age Meeting for Worship inspired Friends in Winchester to flex their creative muscles.

Clarissa Palmer, from Winchester Meeting’s Children and Young People’s Committee, told Eye about the session, held via Zoom.

‘Inspired by Craftivism and the Loving Earth Project we considered the words of Betsy Greer, “godmother” to activist crafters, who sees in stitching strength, love and hope and says: “We are the makers of our own future.”

‘Creating through hope allows us to work on ourselves as we work for a better world. We reflected on what most touched our hearts in terms of positive changes we would like to see in the world and how those ideas could be transformed into clear messages using craft forms.’

Friends were inspired: some drew, some looked through their recycling for materials, one created a creature from an abandoned glove found during a lockdown walk, while others fashioned small, mainly textile, panels.

The panels were ‘influenced by the beauty of nature, the horrors of the Holocaust, the need for clean air, protection of pollinators… [and] will be joined together while we ourselves wait to gather in person to explore our ideas further and consider how we might become crafty activists’.

Clarissa reflected: ‘During these difficult times making something by hand, generated by positive thoughts, was uplifting. Craftivism is a form of activism that seems particularly suited to these constrained times when gathering en masse to seek to effect change is not possible.’

(first published 12 March 2021)

Dialect discovery

A jocular jotting prompted Keith Reeves, of Skipton Meeting, to write to Eye.

‘A friend of mine has been researching the history of a house in Great Asby, a very small village in Cumbria. His researches brought him to the Kendal branch of the Cumbrian Archive.’
He found an 1899 edition of A Glossary of the Words and Phrases Pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland, by William Dickinson. ‘There on the Q page (254) he came across the handwritten margin note:

Quaker Hay. Hay got in without rain – not baptised.

Appealing rhymes

Ruth Whitehouse wrote to Eye in praise of a local Friend’s creative concoctions.

She explains: ‘On the first Sunday every month Northampton Local Meeting [LM] has an appeal for its own funds. When it is the turn of attender Ann Sharman to do this she usually writes a verse…’

‘LM appeal I hear you squeal
My goodness what a bore
It’s tea and coffee, biscuits – we’ve
Heard it all before

‘But though it may be irksome
Just hark to what I say
Fresh painting, chairs and tables
They all have come our way

‘And here’s to all our workers
Who organise it all
Give cheerfully you shirkers
This is a clarion call.’

(an extract of a story first published 10 April 2015)

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