Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre grounds
Parting company: Kate McNally bids a fond farewell to the Woodbrooke Centre
‘I think of the thousands of everyday decisions that make us so comfortable here.’
As I write this I am at Woodbrooke for the summer residential, an opportunity for many Friends to experience this place for the last time. It is a bittersweet feeling, and for many of us it is time to let go of the place where we learned what it means to be a Quaker.
Quakers do not build steeplehouses; we are not about bricks and mortar. We do not have hallowed places, and do not believe that God can be found in any place unless we bring God with us to it. And yet there are places that carry the weight of experience, which have a unique form of hospitality that makes them and us feel hallowed. Woodbrooke is one of those. As I sit in the Quiet Room, I think of the thousands of small and large everyday decisions that make us so comfortable here, decisions that have slowly built this place into one we will all miss.
I think of the people who have made all those decisions: the kitchen staff who hold a plate for someone coming late; the reception staff who patiently reprogram my key when I wipe it out; the housekeeping staff who make sure that I have what I need to be comfortable during my stay; the maintenance staff who keep the physical plant running; the gardeners (paid and volunteer) who make the grounds a haven; the trustees who guide the ship; and the director who has to have a firm hand on a loose rein. The Friends In Residence (FIRs), whose motto is ‘FIRS come, FIRS serve’ and who could always find a replacement for what I had forgotten to bring; the elders who held space for worship and for learning; the librarians who built an amazing collection; the learning staff who so generously share their knowledge and experience. And let’s not forget Dennis, the furriest FIR, who welcomed us all.
As I sit in grief and gratitude, I hope we can all hold in the light those Friends and friends who are charged with the difficult and painful job of un-building what they have built. I cannot think of anything harder for a librarian to do than to disperse a collection. I hope too we can hold in the light the staff who are working hard to welcome us, even as they are planning the dissolution of the site: the trustees and director who’ll negotiate the handover of the buildings and the preservation of Woodbrooke’s archives; the director and staff who must un-build the hospitality of Woodbrooke while holding it for us during this week.
Some of us have known Woodbrooke for only a short time; others for most of a lifetime. But all of us will go forward with a piece of it in our hearts. As we do that, especially in these last weeks and months, let’s hold in our hearts the people who have made this for us, and who now have to un-make it. Blessings on them.
Woodbrooke will continue in a new form. It will carry on the legacy of the centre, bringing Quaker learning into our homes or to sites near to us. We now have the opportunity to form new memories of Woodbrooke, and to share them with Quakers who will come after us.
Comments
Thank you for your memories. I was present for a few days at the last Woodbrook Residential gathering and said goodbye with mixed emotions. I took many photos to look back on my last time there, and I have memories of watching the sunrise from the patio outside the garden room. Also I have been reading books which I bought from the library about early Friends!
By Elizabeth Hockley on 31st August 2023 - 8:36
I have very happy memories of Woodbrooke, going back to my childhood (over sixty years ago). However, I think the decision to close it was correct. It was no longer meeting the need for which it was set up because not enough of us was going there to make it financially viable. As has been stated above, it will continue in a new form. What matters is the preservation of the inner spirit of the learning experiences Woodbrooke provided, rather than the outward form through which learning was delivered. Nevertheless, I will miss it very much. It feels a bit like losing a much loved elderly relative.
By Richard Pashley on 31st August 2023 - 9:13
The Woodbrooke spirit lives on not limited to a physical location as does the Quaker spirit.
By Daniel Flynn on 31st August 2023 - 11:26
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