‘Your mention of the Quaker committee song reminded me of a couple of irreverent songs we sang back in my young Friend days (around fifty years ago!).' Photo: by Clint McKoy on Unsplash
Eye - 2 December 2022
From A feast for the senses to Curious creations and intriguing inventions
A feast for the senses
Local Friend Anne M Jones told Eye that the event was ‘held in an attractive church hall tucked away behind trees in Camden Square to raise money for two refugee charities’.
She describes a vibrant evening: ‘A band that has won world awards, She’Koyakh, specialising in klezmer, Balkan and Middle Eastern music, captivated nearly 100 people for over two hours with music and dancing.
‘In between were heaps of home made snacks – vegan pies, sausage rolls and ratatouille, and of course cake, plus a raffle with so many donated prizes that one in four happy people went home with a prize, from prosecco, to an M&S voucher for thirty pounds, and one young woman was gleeful with her special box of choc truffles.
‘The handsome sum of almost £2,000 was raised, thanks to very hard work behind the scenes from the organiser plus a happy band of helpers without whom the phoenix of success would not have arisen from somewhat chaotic ashes.
‘Everyone left with smiles on their faces – greatly appreciated at a time of relentless bad news. Also this was timely because the main beneficiary – Friendly Welcome – is about to re-settle a Syrian family from a refugee camp to a new home set up in Camden. They fled Syria nine years ago, and everyone hopes for their future happiness here.
‘The other charity is Refugee Tales, which supports refugees detained indefinitely in prison while awaiting asylum applications to be processed – England is the only country with indefinite detention.’
Anne reflects: ‘Music in an attractive hall in a leafy square of timeless beauty, happy people helping good causes – all in all a feast for all the senses.’
Congratulations Euston Meeting!
There’s no business like showbusiness
‘Anon the mouse’ wrote to Eye to relate an intriguing analogy: ‘An interesting comment from an Area Meeting clerk, who had past working experience with local radio, and who was being complimented on her clerking… “I’m a producer and a presenter, but I’m not part of the show.”
Musical memories
Eye’s greatest hits inspired Betty Hagglund, of Selly Oak Meeting, to share other sing songs with Friends.
She writes: ‘Your mention of the Quaker committee song [11 November] reminded me of a couple of irreverent songs we sang back in my young Friend days (around fifty years ago!). Unfortunately, I only remember a couple of verses of each – but maybe there are Eye readers who can fill in the gaps.’
One was set to the tune of ‘The Church’s One Foundation’:
Quakers have foundations,
And one’s the Inner Light.
It’s out in many Meetings,
In others not so bright.
It causes many people
To speak a lot of guff,
And elders have to tell them
‘Our Friend has said enough’.
Another Friends’ foundation’s
A fellow called George Fox.
He tramped around the country,
And wore holes in his socks.
He went to many churches
And called them steeple hice,
And some folks thought the things he said
Were somehow not quite nice.
Another was to the tune of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’
All Friends bright and beautiful
All Quakers great and small
All Friends wild and wonderful
The Good Lord made them all.
He made the hard hard benches,
Some Friends are also that way.
He made the cushy cushions too
For wishy-washy me and you
Friendly fowl
Rae Street, of Hebden Meeting, spied a Quaker mention in the Guardian ‘Country diary’ on 5 November.
For Friends who are unfamiliar with Woodbrooke, the Quaker study centre was founded by George Cadbury in 1903 and occupies his former home. The building is set within grounds that include a small lake, with some fairly forthright feathered occupants!
On Canada geese, Jim Perrin wrote: ‘When I was at the Quaker study centre in Selly Oak in the 1960s, I made a pet of one from the garden lake. Eventually, I had to dissuade him from following me into Meetings. Even Quaker tolerance has its limits.’
Curious creations and intriguing inventions
We thought the occasional puzzle might pique Friends’ curiosity. So, let’s discover some of the contributions Quakers have made, for better or worse, over the years.
Eye anticipates quirked eyebrows and a few exclamations of ‘Well I never!’ For the solution, see the answers on page 17 of the pdf version of magazine or paper copy.
Down
1
In 1888 two Quaker brothers in Birmingham, Thomas and William Southall, are thought to be the first to offer ladies this now-common type of towel (8)
2
Chewy and coated in sugar, these tasty sweets were first made in the UK by the Quaker confectioner Joseph Rowntree, who imported the idea from France in 1881 (5,9)
3
This delicious traybake with pink icing was originally produced by the Quaker baker Henry Chalkley near a certain Premier League football ground (9,4)
4
This colourful and tasty apple was first grown by Quaker Jesse Hiatt in the 1850s (3,9)
6
A Quaker pharmacist in the USA, Charles Elmer Hires, invented this now-popular ‘temperance drink’, which was launched in 1876 (4,4)
Across
5
The Manchester Quaker and cartographer George Brayshaw published the first of these in 1839 (5,9)
7
The first of these confectionary delights was invented by Bristol Friend Joseph Storrs Fry in 1847 (9/3)
8
Lizzie Magie invented a board game to illustrate how rental markets enriched landlords while impoverishing tenants. After some developments, families now know it by this famous name (8)
9
This punishment, originally intended as a method of rehabilitation, was devised by Quakers in Pennsylvania in 1787 (8/11)
