Something to celebrate
Marjorie Lazaro writes about 200 years of Berkhamsted Meeting
On the front wall of our Meeting House in Berkhamsted is the lettering: 1818. Not the date when Friends were first active in the district, but the year when they had a home. This was, we thought, something to celebrate.
As a small Local Meeting – part of Luton and Leighton Area Meeting – we knew that we should not be over-ambitious, so we planned a single weekend of events followed by the planting of an apple tree in the autumn: Lane’s Prince Albert, a variety developed by a local Quaker. There would be an Open House on 7 July, followed by a play in the evening. On Sunday 8 July we would have a shortened Meeting for Worship followed by a Question and Answer session designed for newcomers and enquirers, with a shared lunch to follow.
The local press showed an interest in writing about Quakerism and printed a full page about the Meeting (Berkhamsted Gazette, 4 July), prefacing it with the words: ‘One of Britain’s best-known but least well understood religious communities will celebrate 200 years in Berkhamsted this weekend.’
On Saturday morning visitors began to arrive and there was a constant flow of people until four o’clock, when we took a break. Attracted perhaps by the banners and home-made bunting – not red, white and blue – there were some who came in because ‘we’ve always wondered what this is like inside’. There were hirers of the rooms, who were invited to mount displays in the main meeting room – the Cardmakers, the Berkhamsted Local History and Museum Society, the History of Art group, and the Drawing Group.
Perhaps best of all, small reunions went on between present Friends and those from the past who made journeys to join us. The room was buzzing. There were posters, a Quaker bookstall and other printed material from Friends House, plus our own publication The Story of a Meeting: Quakers in Berkhamsted 1650 to 2000 by previous member June Ward; the newly-elected mayor came and cut a cake with an edible picture of the Meeting house miraculously embedded in the icing; Quaker songs issued from a CD player; cream teas were served; local radio turned up and asked questions; and everybody talked to everybody.
In the evening a select audience enjoyed a two-person performance by the Quaker theatre company Journeymen Theatre. They presented The Bundle, a play based on the true story of a woman migrant from Chechnya and her struggles to survive the rigours of life in her place of birth and then the ‘hostile environment’ created by our own government.
A bundle of leaflets from the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) were on our seats. These contained answers to questions around ‘But what can we do?’ and put out a challenge to all of us. Perhaps our Meeting will find a way to help.
We cleared the decks for Meeting for Worship on Sunday with no idea who would attend, or how many. In a heart-warming moment, visitors from neighbouring Hemel Hempstead Meeting began to pour in, until we wondered how many (or few) would be left at Hemel to hold their own Meeting. It was unusual and delightful to be so well supported.
Newcomers were fewer in number and much quieter, but we felt that there were individuals there with a genuine interest, and hope that we shall see more of them in the future. There was a half hour of worship, with a short, seated discussion to follow. I think that more questions were raised privately over lunch, which was well attended, and where iced drinks were much appreciated in the intense heat.
Earlier, answering the question ‘What is special about Quakerism?’ one respondent said that given that most people are in favour of peace and humanity anyway it was the combination of community, spirituality and activism through which such values are expressed that drew her to it.
The bicentenary event had embodied these three elements: our communal work of bringing the weekend together, the play informing and moving the audience towards action, and the shared silence of the Meeting for Worship.
