Eye - 19 June 2020

From a rib-tickler to déjà vu

A rib-tickler

At a virtual meeting somewhere
A Friend said he’d shaved ALL his hair
Over virtual tea
The clerk said: ‘Let’s see!’
And virtually fell off her chair.

Helen Drewery

Giggles and games

Friends in Doncaster enjoy an annual weekend away at Barmoor, a Quaker house on the North Yorkshire Moors. The house is available for charitable uses, sleeping up to twenty-six self-catering people in nine rooms.

Local Friend Joy Paul told Eye that: ‘The weekend provides not only long walks, shared meals and a lot of fun but also the chance to catch up with Friends who have moved away from the area, including the younger generation who grew up in the Meeting but are now based as far away as London and Scotland.’

But with lockdown preventing the gathering this year ‘Zoom came to the rescue’ and sixteen Friends came together online. Joy Paul described the shenanigans that ensued: ‘Some had marked the weekend with walks and bike rides, others by baking cakes. Several had cooked favourite Barmoor dishes before joining in. The rhubarb for the traditional crumble had however been repurposed to flavour a bottle of gin.

‘The get-together was hosted from Stirling by Louise Waters, who had prepared a slide show of photos, some of them from years ago, which had been sent in earlier by those present. This prompted many happy memories and much laughter. It was then followed by a couple of rounds of Scattergories, one with a Barmoor theme. Even more hilarity ensued, especially as it was impossible to determine whether the usual suspects were, as usual, cheating.

‘Emily Paul, who has attended the weekends since she was four years old, and now lives in York with her husband and two preschool daughters, said: “I’d not had a giggle like that in ages. It was so lovely to see everyone.” While no substitute for a weekend of fresh air and fellowship the evening certainly helped lift the spirits. Friends had also made a donation to the Barmoor Trust to help keep the house going at this difficult time with no prospects of income from lettings this season.’

Catching the eye

A reader spied a Quaker popping up in an unexpected place on a recent wander.

Chris Lord, of Wanstead Meeting, clocked a manhole cover (see image) and told Eye: ‘I saw “QUAKER”, stopped, a little puzzled, and then saw what it was. A sort of real-world cryptic crossword.’

Déjà vu

A Friend-focussed tidying project has sparked déjà vu for Valerie Dennis, of Bournemouth Meeting.

Valerie told Eye: ‘As a good use for some of my non-travelling time, I decided to rationalise (dispose of) the pile of copies of the Friend next to my bed.’

When re-reading the 5 July 2019 edition something caught her eye: ‘In his letter referring to Jenny Cozens’ query “do we need to meet in person when we could meet equally effectively online?” ‘Fenwick Kirton-Darling reiterates with (paraphrased): “Do we need to meet face-to-face when we could do all this (albeit referring to the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s meeting in Canada) by video meetings?” Turning over the page was an article about cooperative board games in which Jessica Metheringham referred to one such called Pandemic where players work together to find a cure for four diseases.’

An uplifting limerick

There’s a Friend who because of the virus
Was suddenly very desirous
Of worship and leadings
And Quakerly readings
So she learned how to Zoom with the rest of us.

Barbara Miller

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