Eye - 29 January 2021

From Oh no they didn’t! to Eye spy a rhyme

Oh no they didn’t!

One Area Meeting’s thigh-slapping efforts to ensure that festive frolics weren’t derailed by Covid had Eye marveling at their creativity.

Andrew Backhouse, of Wilmslow Meeting, set the scene: ‘East Cheshire Area Meeting (AM) has organised a pantomime trip for many years, with free tickets for children and preceded by a shared lunch and games. Sometimes as many as sixty people have taken part.’ Covid restrictions appeared to prevent this seasonal shindig, until old traditions combined with surprising talents to create something unique.

‘Our AM clerk grew up in Sutton Meeting, where they had a long tradition of the Meeting staging a pantomime of its own… So the AM clerk did not think it would be beyond her capacity to write something if enough others were interested.

‘It was easiest to start with some familiar bits – Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears – and twisting them to include every local Quaker Meeting, Covid links, and much more gender flexibility.’

The call went out for volunteers, and Friends came to know one another in unexpected ways: ‘The AM has a regular performer with the Poynton Gilbert and Sullivan Society who loves being a pirate (and has the costume to boot)… Another member is the organiser of a children’s theatre company… Others would write songs, play instruments, suggest audience participation ingredients, and one could give the script rhyme and bounce.’ Add in a dash of technical wizardry and sprinkle four young people in lead roles with fairy dust, and the stage was set.

Over seventy people gathered on 2 January to enjoy the result: ‘Hansel and Grettilocks meeting the Three Bears became A Bubble in the Woods. From being led into the woods to find food as there were no school dinners, a gingerbread house became the home for Nan t’witch and her Crew. The three bears had Quaker oats on the table… so of course they were all Quakers heading for an Area Meeting tea at Farmer Maccle’s field when at one point they are ambushed by Pirate Pete… it is amazing what you can drag into pantomime, with other people providing warm up acts and interludes.’

Friends can see the panto in all its glory at: http://bit.ly/ECAMpanto.

A skulk of foxes

George Fox caused quite a stir when he appeared to pop up in one of Donald Trump’s final executive orders as president of the USA.

He was among several Quakers, including William Penn and Lucretia Mott, to appear in a list of 244 ‘American Heroes’ proposed for inclusion in a National Sculpture Garden.

But is this really the Quaker George Fox? Or could it be a case of mistaken identity?

George Lansing Fox was one of four chaplains who died during world war two while rescuing civilian and military personnel as the SS Dorchester sank. They helped others, gave up their life jackets when supplies ran short and went down with the ship.

The three other chaplains – Alexander David Goode, Clark Vandersall Poling and John Patrick Washington – are also in the list of heroes, also without their middle names.

The garden was proposed by Donald Trump in the summer of 2020 to counter the call for statues of controversial public figures, such as Confederate leaders and slave owners, to be destroyed or removed. It currently has no funding.

Eye spy a rhyme

Jane Robinson, of Bolton Meeting, greeted Eye’s return with a much-appreciated jaunty verse:

Oh how we all have missed Q-Eye
It vanished and we wondered why
With Covid levels really high
We surely need some clear blue sky
Which verse and humour can supply
We must not drive or sail or fly
But reading’s something we can try
And all of those who choose to buy
The Friend, can keep their spirits high
When several pages in, they spy-
Q-Eye.

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