Ben Okafor in performance Photo: Tom Kirrage
Eye - 21 October 2011
From song-writing at Sidcot to a reunion in Romford
Ben Okafor at Sidcot School
One of the liveliest events in Quaker Week was the visit to Sidcot School in Somerset of the singer and activist Ben Okafor.
Quaker Week is one of the biggest collaborative events in the school’s calendar. It not only brings the school together, but is also an opportunity to put on many imaginative events, and to bring in interesting visitors. Ben Okafor is a prolific performer and advocate of social justice, a passion that grew from his own involvement as a child soldier in the Nigerian/Biafran war.
On Wednesday, 5 October, Ben performed for the whole school and on Thursday did a song-writing workshop with students. The aim of the workshop was to compose and produce a song that reflects one of the Quaker testimonies. The song was performed on Friday afternoon just before the closing Meeting for Worship. Ben, who has toured with bishop Desmond Tutu, was captured in performance (see photograph) by year 12 student Tom Kirrage.
Bev King, director of music at Sidcot, was hugely enthusiastic about the success of the event. She said: ‘The song-writing session with Ben Okafor was inspiring. The group of year 10 and 11 GCSE music students – all working on lyrics about peace and child soldiers – made for a pretty intense morning. Now the lyrics are written, Ben is going to come back and work with the students in our recording studio to make it a great song. Watch this space!’
Rain on the roof
The noise of rain on the roof is an abiding memory in a new book, which tells an oral history of Watford Quaker Meeting: (Mostly) After the Tin Hut.
The (Mostly) of the title refers to the fact that the recollections and reminiscences were mainly from when the current Meeting House was constructed in the early 1950s. It replaced the ‘Tin Hut.’
Richard Jennings, of West Weald Area Meeting, was an early reader who appreciated not only the way the stories were told but also the presentation of the material.
He writes: ‘Being an oral history, the book consists of interviews with over eighty present members and attenders of Watford Meeting. It is divided into chapters such as Meeting for Worship, Old Building, New Building, Spiritual Journey, Quaker Activities and What is special about Watford Meeting.’
Richard, who comes from a printing and bookselling family, endorses the book as a ‘good read and worthy of a place on every Meeting’s library shelves.’
To purchase a copy, email: history@watfordquakers.org.uk or send a cheque, payable to ‘Watford Quakers’ for £10 (inclusive of post and packing) to: 7 Barnsway, King’s Langley, Hertfordshire WD4 9PW.
Romford Reunion
Nora Kelson got in touch with Eye to tell us about the day of celebrations Romford Meeting House held on 1 October to mark the Meeting’s fiftieth anniversary.
Friends from throughout the Meeting’s history came together for a reunion and the children of the Meeting marked the occasion by burying a time capsule in the garden. Happy anniversary Romford!
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