Eye - 19 May 2017

From Dorti Owen to George Fox

In the footsteps of Dorti Owen

As the country gears up for a general election on 8 June, a Quaker connection to the scene of Theresa May’s decision has come to light.

It has been reported that the prime minister changed her mind about calling a snap election whilst on a walking holiday in Wales before Easter.

Oliver Thring, writing in The Sunday Times, shed light on the Quaker Trail she and her husband were following: ‘The Mays asked for directions to the ruined home near Dolgellau of Dorti Owen, a seventeenth-century, barefoot Quaker preacher who is an inspiration to Quakers today. Perhaps she inspired our Anglican prime minister, too. May spent the final day of her Easter walking holiday – on which she apparently took the “reluctant” decision to call a snap general election – on the Quaker Trail, which honours Owen and her faith.’

The area has been a holiday destination for the prime minister since 2011 as, according to a local business owner, ‘it’s quiet, peaceful and she doesn’t get hassled’.

Details of the area’s Quaker Trail describe how George Fox visited Dolgellau in 1657 and that many locals became Quakers, though a significant number left for Pennsylvania following persecution.

The home of Dorti Owen was a Quaker Meeting house for over a century and it was her inspiration that led to the worship space being built.

Will the real George Fox please stand up!

The words of George Fox are being brought to life by a Friend in Kent.

Over the past year John Spencer, of Rochester Meeting, has been taking acting lessons, funded by West Kent Area Meeting, so that he can portray George Fox in a one-man presentation.

‘I have now performed parts of it twice. First, leading a discussion as George Fox, in character, and secondly acting over 1,000 words of George Fox as a presentation, followed by questions.’

Audience members have commented that the performance ‘electrified the atmosphere and was followed by a heated debate’. Others observed that ‘people reacted in a very natural way – our problems of today being so relevant to the solutions of George Fox’.

The scenes cover: Ulverston churchyard; George Fox’s initial revelation; his writing on prayer, ‘Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit…’ as quoted in Quaker faith & practice 2.18; a prison scene; and the end of his life.

John told Eye: ‘I have spent ten years wanting to do this. I was born five miles from Fenny Drayton and my father’s family history is from Barton in the Beans, the adjacent village. I have always felt an affinity with George Fox.

‘The scenes cover different aspects of the George Fox story.’

Part performance and part pilgrimage, John plans on taking either or both parts of the production around Britain, ‘in full costume, walking to locations who want me, in return for bed and board – I can also bring a tent.

‘In practical terms that would mean taking a train to a nearby location and then walking the rest… If any Local or Area Meeting would be interested please get in touch via spencerjsp@gmail.com.’

The show is still a work in progress and John asks: ‘If there are any experts on clothing my kit is ad-hoc and any suggested improvements would be welcome. My George Fox walks round in charity shop designer wear!’

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