Eye - 2 April 2021

From A joyful journey to Going viral

A joyful journey

Friends in Beverley Meeting have discovered new ways of sharing their creativity and bringing joy to unexpected places during lockdown.

Local Friend Brian Fellowes sets the scene: ‘Six months before the first lockdown, Beverley Friends had celebrated the completion of a major refurbishment of our 1960s’ well-loved Meeting house. By March 2020, things were going well, everyone seemed to love the “new”, airy space… the place was buzzing, lettings were almost at the maximum we could accommodate.’

The Meeting decided to hold an exhibition called ‘The Joy in Creativity’ in mid-2020 as a community offering, celebrating Friends’ return to the Meeting house after its refurbishment. But then plans were put on hold.

Brian shares: ‘Disappointment and sadness led us to retreat into our shells for a while. Some of us were already taking refuge in the digital world; discovering in short order that Zoom didn’t only refer to cameras.’

Then one Friend suggested moving the exhibition online. ‘Soundings were taken, Friends felt it worth a try. One Friend with the right experience agreed to curate and within a few weeks seventeen Friends were offering some of their work.’

The exhibition can be seen at https://beverleyquakers.org.uk/the-joy-of-creativity and it features a wide range of mediums, such as: jewellery, paintings, photography, sculpture, lace-making, needlepoint, and writing.

Many are accompanied by notes from the maker, describing their pieces, inspiration or their creative process.

David Credland writes: ‘Art has the amazing power to prevent and cure depression, not just for those who paint but also for those who gaze upon the finished work.’

And Brenda Rigby reflects: ‘We are learning to treasure moments of joy, taking time to reflect, to slow down, to look closely, notice the beauty and intricacy of life around us.’

So what did the Meeting learn? Brian tells Eye: ‘There are many more talented Friends than any of us had thought… [and] we discovered that our website felt somehow more joyous too!’

Going viral

A Stourbridge Friend has been delving into an intriguing period of medical history.

John Lampen writes: ‘I’ve been looking recently at the efforts of Quaker doctors to prevent smallpox outbreaks and develop mass immunity to the disease in the eighteenth century… These doctors played an important part in developing the methods which are being employed today to halt the spread of coronavirus. But the only method available to them involved a risky process, variolation, which could also spread the disease; and this raised difficult medical and moral questions for Friends.’

This involved using viral matter, usually pus from a patient suffering from a mild form of smallpox, to inoculate others. This was supplanted by the development of vaccinations derived from cowpox after 1798.

John adds: ‘It’s a fascinating story, and I’ve written a five-page article about it… I would be glad to share my article with anyone interested, if you send your email address to lampen@hopeproject.co.uk.’

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