Letters - 15 December 2023
From Grieving for Woodbrooke to Tropes
Grieving for Woodbrooke
I observe with wonder that, outwardly, we have not corporately grieved for the loss of Woodbrooke. It was so important to many of us as a physical centre, a beautiful place we loved, where we made friends, learned together and built up our varied communities.
Last summer, we didn’t mention it at Yearly Meeting, we haven’t yet minuted anything at Meeting for Sufferings, and, except for one short article, we haven’t mentioned it in any of our publications.
Is it because the huge gap we feel is so acutely painful, so deep and grievous, that we aren’t yet ready to speak about it except quietly and gently to each other? We often take some time to give voice to our feelings about such a big change in our shared lives. I feel that I want a memorial meeting of some sort, to give thanks – but not just yet. I’m not ready to put this emptiness into words.
Maybe the essence of Woodbrooke is like a dandelion seedhead – beautiful and full of seeds, now scattered and dispersed, but each with such potential for new life – all the terrific possibilities which we each took away from our times there.
Its staff are now offering us days and residential weekends all over the country, and their online courses go worldwide. All these opportunities are different from what we had in the past, but they are fruitful and powerful. Woodbrooke’s future is renewed; it is different, but in essentials it continues, open to new light and development and growth.
Beth Allen
A gift
Isn’t it difficult to know if a rising of energy in a thought is good ministry, or not? Please can I share this one with readers, just in case it is good ministry?
Could each Meeting, or Area Meeting, consider sending a book about climate change to their MP, a present this Christmas? I would suggest David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet because he is very well respected by most of the population, and he explains very clearly the problems and very thoughtfully some practical and achievable ideas to transform things.
The message inside could ask for more action on reducing our impact on our beautiful planet.
As COP28 rolls on focusing mostly on technological fixes, my feeling is cutting back is all humans can really do.
Barbara Mark
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