Eye - 18 October 2013

From tasty treats to a profound visit

Tasty trays of treats

Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre celebrated its 110 year anniversary recently… with a tray of Tottenham cake!

Woodbrooke was founded in 1903. John Wilhelm Rowntree had previously led a campaign within Quakers for a permanent site for religious and social study. Within a few years George Cadbury, local chocolate maker and Friend, was inspired to offer his former home.

It is now the only Quaker study centre in Europe, providing education in subjects such as peace and reconciliation, Quaker history and spiritual journeys. Sandra Berry, director of Woodbrooke, said: ‘Whether visitors are here to attend one of our own courses, for a conference or to stay as a bed and breakfast guest, they can all be nurtured by the warm hospitality that Woodbrooke thrives on providing.’

To mark this milestone, Woodbrooke’s catering staff baked a Tottenham cake – a traybake dating back to pre-Woodbrooke days.

Tottenham cake also made a prime-time appearance in the BBC’s Great British Bake-Off in September, during the ‘biscuits and traybakes’ week of the baking competition.

Quaker baker Henry Chalkley invented Tottenham cake as an affordable treat for children, who could buy a square of the pink-topped sponge for a penny.

The distinctive pink icing was made using mulberries from the Tottenham Meeting House garden.

Doreen Brown, the North London Friend who appeared in the programme, explained to viewers that Tottenham cake ‘is a very convenient cake; it ties in very much with the Quaker ideas of simplicity and equality because it can be easily cut up and distributed.’

Eye readers tempted to join Woodbrooke in tucking into a tray of this tasty treat can find recipes (including one from Peter Brown, local historian and Tottenham Meeting attender) on the Haringey Council website: www.haringey.gov.uk/tottenham-cake

Reaching out

Friends in Wilmslow spread words of peace amongst bustling shoppers on the International Day of Peace, 21 September.

Andrew Backhouse explained: ‘Two of our members, who attend Churches Together in Wilmslow meetings, persuaded them to support a stall in our Artisan Market… Through most of the day the stall was really busy, reaching out to lots of new people, with visitors from other churches, but most of the work being done by Quakers. The way that seemed to work best to bring people in – and most of the stallholders in the market displayed a little poster too – was to offer everyone “would you like a poem for World Peace Day”? It was amazingly attractive, with biscuits for children when they added to our peace tree.’

Peaceful and profound

A coachload of Quakers from Leeds visited the National Memorial Arboretum on 21 September. Local Friends treated them to a tour of the Quaker Service Memorial. ‘As it was the UN Day of Peace we took photos that included our “Peace Flag” at the memorial,’ said Robert Keeble, co-clerk of Leeds Area Meeting.

Robert found the visit to be ‘a moving and profound experience, especially the “Shot at Dawn” memorial and our Meeting for Worship, which was “eldered” by our children and held within our own Quaker memorial.’ He adds: ‘We highly recommend that if your Local or Area Meeting intends to visit the memorial, you consider contacting local Friends in advance.’

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