Eye - 20 March 2015

From Wheel Stop Trident to Threads and Stitches

Wheel Stop Trident

Passion, puns and pedal-power have come together in the name of a upcoming awareness-raising initiative.

Wheel Stop Trident is a group of about eight Young Friends and others associated with Friends’ work, who are united in the belief that the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system is wrong, particularly at a time when many vital public services are experiencing significant cuts. These ideas are explained in a quirky Youtube video:
http://bit.ly/WheelStopTrident

To raise awareness they will be cycling from London to Burghfield, home to one of the atomic weapons establishments (AWE). The journey will start from the offices of Lockheed Martin in London at 8:30am on 27 March, where a public protest will be taking place, and end at Burghfield on 28 March.

The group told Eye that they ‘will be stopping off to challenge some of the few companies who profit from the nuclear weapons, and to show solidarity with some of the many who are really suffering because of the unnecessary government cuts…

‘By physically linking the nuclear profiteers and some of the many badly affected by the cuts… [and] travelling by bicycle, we are showing the society we want to live in: a healthier one, with well-resourced free education for all, powered by renewable energy.

‘Getting rid of the UK’s nuclear weapons would be a massive step towards this better future.’

The riders will also, from 28 to 29 March, be visiting another gathering of Young Friends taking place at Reading Meeting. Acting on the recently adopted concern, Young Friends General Meeting’s Working Group Against Trident Replacement have organised a weekend devoted to acting against Trident. The weekend will include sessions on social media, nonviolent direct action, lobbying candidates for the general election, banner making and craftivism.

Quaking in the Breeze

During a quest for green-fingered knowledge, Marie Noon, of Rugby Meeting, happened across ‘Greater quaking grass’.

Curiosity piqued, further digging unearthed plants that had inspired some Friendly names.

According to the website, GardenersHQ, the Briza family of ornamental grasses are closely related to crops like rice, wheat, oats and bamboo. However, Briza plants are more commonly found in flower arrangements than in breakfast bowls and ‘most of these were given their common names because of how they seem to shiver in slight breezes’.

They have also inspired, amongst others, Friend-related names as, in addition to ‘Quaking grass’, some plants are known as ‘Quakers and Shakers’.

The dancing flowerheads have also conjured up whimsical labels like ‘Dithery Dock’, ‘Doddering Dillies’ and ‘Cow Quake’.

Threads and Stiches

When she popped into a needlework shop during a recent trip to California, Rosemary Emmett, of Bournemouth Coastal Meeting, got a surprise.

Facing her were two walls ‘covered with Quaker-titled designs and stitch patterns in kits’.

Rosemary spoke to the owner of We Of The Needle, Kerry Ince, who explained that the patterns had been created by needlewomen who ‘had researched stitches from earlier pattern books and handiwork, and had then incorporated these into their own new designs… A number of these contemporary needlewomen are Friends, others are not, but all are enthusiastic about the skill and artistry of early Quaker stitchers.

‘Whilst the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal tells the story of Quaker history and uses wools for the four ancient stitches to do so, these kits are commercial and for decorative purposes only, using silk/cotton embroidery threads.’

Rosemary found a range of titles, including ‘Quaker Values’, ‘Quaker Styles’ and ‘the wonderful combination of Friends’ stitches, penguins and the Antarctic in an exciting kit called Polar Quakers’!

She found the kits to be ‘an eye-catching and a delightful way of bringing to store visitors an awareness of Friends as, at the same time, they express our values of simplicity, peace and friendship’.

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