'Meeting for Worship' figurines by Ulrike O'Flaherty Photo: Gloria Dobbin
Quakers reach out
The arts, peace exhibitions and thought-provoking debates took place during Quaker Week in 2011
A storytelling session in Lostwithiel and a Quaker-themed tour of Winchester were among the various ways in which Friends around Britain publicised Quakerism last week. They were two of the many activities to mark national Quaker Week, which ran from 1 – 9 October.
The annual event is designed to promote Quakerism and to increase public awareness of Quakers. This year saw a focus on the peace testimony, following the celebrations in January to mark the 350th anniversary of the first formal declaration of Quaker commitment to pacifism.
A number of Meetings used their buildings to host outreach events. Chichester Friends organised a peace exhibition, Finchley Quakers hosted a talk on banking and Dorchester Meeting house displayed repeated panels from the Quaker Tapestry.
‘A steady stream of visitors came to the Meeting house and enjoyed the well laid out display and the chance to talk about what the panels meant, as well as the technical details of the needlework and material,’ explained Dorchester Friend David Milner.
Friends in Leiston Meeting pulled in the public with a recycling fair. The fair allowed people to bring possessions they no longer wanted and swap them for those that others had brought, with no money involved. Publicity for the event included the cautious provision ‘no electrical goods or live animals’.
Several Meetings took leaflets to the streets while others ran events at public venues. Shipston Friends held a ‘quiz a Quaker’ event at their local library. Winchester Friends were approached in the street by a ten-year-old child who said she had read their poster. ‘I like the message,’ she explained.
Friends on local radio
Quaker Week led to several Friends being interviewed by local radio and newspapers. BBC Radio Devon gave their ‘pause for thought’ slot to Friends for the whole week. BBC Radio Solent featured a Quaker voice for four days running on its equivalent slot, in the form of Andrew Rutter. Someone who had sold him a car twelve years previously phoned him to say that his comments were ‘very thought-provoking.’
Arts play a role
Many Quakers turned to the arts during Quaker Week to get their message across.
As part of their 25th anniversary open day, Milton Keynes Friends displayed a clay model of a Meeting for Worship by Ulrike O’Flaherty (see photo at the top of the page). Stourbridge Meeting staged a one-person performance by Lynn Morris on the life of Elizabeth Horton, a local early Friend. Ilkley Meeting House hosted a new play, The Chocolate Paradox, which featured ‘reflections on pleasure, principle and profit’.
Peace and politics
Several Friends saw Quaker Week as a good opportunity for witnessing to God through political activism. Leeds Quakers ran an ‘alternative fair’, with campaigning workshops and FairTrade food stalls. Cambridge Friends staged a silent vigil for peace. Manchester Friends displayed a large poster about economic inequality outside their Meeting house – easily visible to delegates attending the Conservative Party conference.
Southampton Friend Jayne Whistance told the Friend she was feeling ‘very positive’ after a discussion on the peace testimony at Southampton University. A number of non-Quaker students turned up and local Friends are now thinking of holding a regular Meeting for Worship on campus.
They are also excited that film students from another local university, Southampton Solent, are making a promotional film for Southampton Quakers. They filmed the peace discussion, when speakers from MedAct and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) were joined by Rita March, who came to Quakerism after encountering Friends at Greenham Common.
‘The evening showed that Quakers are very involved in peace work practically and that it’s not just an idea in their heads,’ explained Jayne Whistance.
Thought-provoking events
A side effect of Quaker Week events was the opportunity they gave to Friends to explore the meaning of their own faith and to discuss differences among themselves.
Contrasting approaches to the peace testimony came to light when Cambridge Friends invited the Turning the Tide programme to facilitate a session on nonviolent direct action. There were about twenty-five people present, most but not all of whom were Quakers.
They discussed questions such as: What is nonviolence/violence? When might we take direct action? When might we decide to use ‘usual channels,’ as opposed to direct action?
‘I think those who took part found it a valuable and very thought-provoking experience,’ said Cambridge Friend Andrew Ellis, ‘There was a range of views about how Quakerly direct action is, and also on what constitutes nonviolence and violence.’
The internet has also played a key role in Quaker Week. ‘I knew it was Quaker Week because active Quaker friends posted on Facebook and Twitter,’ explained Riley Coles, a community activist living in Leeds.
Quaker Week was welcomed by many non-Friends. ‘I think Quaker Week is a great idea,’ said Yvonne Aburrow, a Unitarian student minister, ‘Religion in general is getting a bit of a bashing from certain quarters at the moment, so any increase in the visibility of liberal religion is a good thing’.
