Peace scarecrows

Robert Keeble tells the story of pacifist birds at Gildersome Meeting House

The historic Gildersome Meeting House, which is located some six miles to the south of Leeds and was built in 1756, opened its doors for the annual ‘Gildersome Scarecrow Festival’ on Sunday 19 June.

Following the horrific murder of MP Jo Cox just three days earlier in Birstall, less than three miles away, it was not clear how the event would work out. However, on the day the festival brought the local traumatised village community together and many people visited the Meeting house.

It is estimated that up to 1,000 visitors came during the course of the day. There were a few couples, but most were family groups with young children and a surprisingly large number of dogs. Thankfully, apart from a few spilt drinks, there were no major mishaps – the liberal use of hazard warning tape is always recommended!

This year we had ‘Quaker Peace Scarecrows’ on display. At the gatehouse entrance ‘Margaret’, our present-day peace activist, was sporting all the badges we could find to illustrate the Quaker peace message over recent decades. ‘Margaret’ was inspired by one of the Friends who regularly worship at Gildersome.

A short biography revealed that ‘Margaret’ was born in 1935 in Leeds, became a teacher in 1958, had joined Mothers for Peace in the 1980s, had ‘Embraced the Base’ when women encircled the Greenham Common base in 1982 and had attended the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, which took place at Beijing, China in 1995. She had also been arrested on two occasions when she took part in a Quaker peace blockade at the Faslane nuclear base, Scotland in 2006 and 2007. ‘Margaret’ was also a keen knitter and had knitted three metres of the seven-mile-long ‘pink peace scarf’ in 2014. Now she gives ongoing support to the Leeds Quaker Peace Witness against Trident.

The ‘Robert Walker’ scarecrow took pride of place in the entrance courtyard. The scarecrow represented Robert Walker, who was born in Gildersome in 1717 and attended the local Quaker Meeting most of his life. He was the son of John Walker, who was from Batley and was a clothier by trade. Robert and his family lived in a little cottage at Gildersome and hand-wove woollen cloth for the Leeds market. At the age of thirty-four he was recorded as a Quaker minister at Gildersome – someone who was recognised as being gifted in preaching. One contemporary described him as ‘a preacher “eloquent by nature” … learned without education, and polite beyond all the forms of good breeding’.

In 1756 Robert started travelling and visited most parts of this country and Ireland. In 1773 he visited America, where, in April 1775, he was so concerned about the ‘bitter hatred of the mother country’ that had developed, and the prospect of a war, that he travelled to Washington and spoke to the newly formed Congress. Robert’s attempt to help avert the American war of independence was not successful. He returned to England and later, when visiting friends in London, became ill and died in 1785. He was buried at the Quaker Burial Ground at Whitechapel, not at home at Gildersome.

Visiting friends will be able to see ‘Margaret’ and ‘Robert’ on Sunday 3 July when Gildersome Friends will be celebrating 260 years of the ‘new’ Meeting house. The afternoon will include a performance by a string quartet. A cream tea and family activities are also planned in the afternoon.

Sunday worship at Gildersome can be peaceful but the numbers attending are now very small and there is concern for the future viability of the Meeting. However, we hope that by being welcoming to so many people we will, in time, see a growing Meeting.

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