‘It does what is says on the tin.’
Impressions of a Quaker Voluntary Action Working Retreat
‘Welcome to the Lake District’, I smiled to my travelling companion as we turn into the drive on a damp Monday afternoon.
Swarthmoor Hall loomed up before us – unprepossessing from the outside, a little austere even, but we’d done some research beforehand and knew what to expect. My friend has been attending Meeting for Worship in her country for a couple of years now. I’d heard of the Society of Friends, but didn’t really know what it was about, and was something of a sceptic when it came to organised religion. When we found that Quaker Voluntary Action was running a working retreat in this beautiful part of Britain, and in the very ‘cradle of Quakerism’, we both knew we wanted to take part.
Bond of fellowship
A few short weeks after reading the retreat information, all eight members of the retreat group were enjoying a welcome mug of tea and a chocolate chip biscuit in the cosy kitchen while our facilitator Jane made us all feel at home, and set the scene for the next four days. The hour and a half flashed by with the foundations being laid for the bond of fellowship. We quickly organised ourselves into two teams to prepare the meals on alternate days. Vegetarian menus had been planned, recipes in all the correct quantities had been drawn up, and the kitchen worktop groaned under a huge basket of fruit and vegetables – they’d obviously done this before!
The well-stocked library adjacent to the kitchen was a treasure-trove of information about all aspects of the Quaker movement, and the cosy log fire and comfortable chairs provided the perfect setting for further inspiration and study.
A sense of history
The overwhelming impression for me on the first night was the sheer magnificence of the Great Hall, where we were privileged to hold our morning Meetings for Worship and the evening epilogues for the following three days. An almost tangible sense of history and Quaker witness permeates the room with its seventeenth century fine oak panelling and furniture both simple and practical. Ostentation, material riches and excessive ornamentation are not to be expected in what was the home of Margaret Fell and the centre of Quaker activity at the time.
The period of contemplation during epilogue enabled me to file away the miscellany of thoughts and impressions of the first day, and focus on the spiritual aspect of the retreat, and I soon tumbled into the warm and comfortable bed mentally refreshed and looking forward to the next day’s challenges.
After the short Meeting for Worship in the Great Hall next morning, we were treated to a tour of the beautifully restored historic rooms adjacent to and above the Hall, the living and working quarters of Judge Fell and his wife Margaret. A fascinating iPod commentary relating to the many artefacts on display helped bring alive many facets of the life and times of the early Quakers.
The work part
After coffee, we trooped out to the grounds to start on a variety of tasks in the gardens that Bill, our eco-friendly residential manager, had lined up for us. We were building on the hard work put in by many previous retreaters. Many hands make light work: several dozen saplings planted by our predecessors to create a shelter belt were cleared of nettles, watered and mulched; large mounds of earth were shifted and probably a ton of boulders and stones removed – all to be recycled for the dry-stone walling project or as foundation material for the wheelchair ramp into the beautiful Peace Garden – and a little further away another small group trimmed and interweaved the willow saplings that were already creating a sheltered arbour.
The chit-chat and good-humoured banter during the work sessions and at mealtimes, combined with the more personal and introspective testimonies we felt able to share during retreat sessions and Meetings, strengthened our bonds of camaraderie and unity of purpose.
Another highlight was a visit to the Meeting house in Swarthmoor village donated to the local Friends by George Fox – the only one to be given by him. If Swarthmoor Hall should be sold, he had reasoned, the local Friends would no longer be able to meet there, so he bought the building called Petty’s Croft and gave it in 1688 ‘for the service of the Lord and the people called Quakers’. The Meeting house was first used for worship in 1690, and has been used continuously for that purpose to the present day.
Food for thought
The retreat sessions invited us to think about the Quaker peace testimony in the context of our day-to-day lives. How were we carrying those principles through into our personal, social and professional relationships? Were there ways in which we could apply them more effectively – both on an individual basis and as part of our local Friends’ Meeting – in our spiritual life, in the community and the workplace? Could we aspire to translate those principles in more meaningful and practical ways into our concern for world justice, the environment, and fair trade? Are there relevant choices we could make the next time we buy our coffee, or oranges, or bananas or any number of foodstuffs produced in developing countries? Food for thought, indeed.
As the week progressed, everyone felt they had benefited from the experience. ‘I feel a sense of acceptance, and I thank you all for that’, one member of the group said at Meeting for Worship. This was gratifying for all of us. Another recalled a comment during Meeting for Worship that peace ‘is not the absence of war, but the presence of community’. ‘This was a very fitting description of our week’, she writes, ‘a week of growing community. As an attendee outside the Quaker tradition, I felt welcome and experienced the integrity of the group in the way that everyone was included, decisions shared, everyone listened to, and a difference made through small collective action’ – a generous tribute that speaks for us all. It might even bring a smile to George Fox’s lips.
You were right, Bill: ‘It does what it says on the tin.’
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