Some of the finished tabards and sashes. Photo: Courtesy of Bridget Oliver.
Eye - 22 May 2015
From tabards and sashes to Penington-penned preface
Exeter Quakers stand out
Sheets and marker pens have inspired some industrious activity in Exeter Meeting.
It all began when a group of Friends decided to join the ‘Wrap Up Trident’ demonstration, held in London on 24 January. The group decided against carrying the large Meeting banner and poles, which left Bridget Oliver with a conundrum.
She told Eye: ‘I thought, “it would be good for people in the crowd to know that we were Exeter Quakers”. So, the day before the rally I bought a black pen that would write on fabric and found some old sheet. Using pinking shears, I cut some oblongs and then wrote Exeter Quakers on each one. I found some safety pins and then my kit was ready.’
As a result of the signs ‘several Quakers made themselves known to us; someone came alongside me and said “I expect you knew my mother” (which it turned out that I had); two elderly CND members expressed amazement that we had come all the way from Exeter.’
This success inspired Bridget to propose ‘a rather less makeshift form of identification’ to the Meeting. The idea of printed tabards was ‘met with great encouragement’, as was an additional suggestion of embroidered sashes.
A dozen reversible tabards were duly printed and an old sheet was transformed into fourteen sashes.
One Friend marked the lettering on the sashes in pencil before a further half dozen members of the Meeting turned their hands to Quaker stitch to help complete them: ‘If you kept your eyes open, embroidering could be seen happening on trains, at coffee mornings and even at Area Meeting – with permission from the clerk!
‘At our last Business Meeting, a group of Friends modelled the completed tabards and sashes causing great excitement, dancing and (very unQuakerly) applause!’
A Penington-penned preface?
With a tender hand, a resource book for eldership and oversight written by Zélie Gross, was launched at Britain Yearly Meeting on 1 May. It covers pastoral care and worship as well as community, caring, communication and leadership
This warmly welcomed work has already sold over 370 copies and Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC), which commissioned it, hopes it will be a source of ‘information, inspiration and guidance’.
What appears to have caught the attention of some readers, however, is the apparent author of the preface.
Martin Pennock, clerk to QLCC, explained: ‘Those of you who have bought the book may be surprised that the preface appears to be by Isaac Penington. This could well have been appropriate as his well-loved quotation from Quaker faith & practice (10.01) underlies all twenty-two chapters in this comprehensive volume. However, the preface was in fact written on behalf of Quaker Life Central Committee and future editions will include that acknowledgement.’
Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.
Isaac Penington, 1667
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