A patchwork artefact to celebrate eighty years of Yorkshire Friends Holiday School. Photo: Photo courtesy of Meg Forrest.
Summer time
Meg Forrest reflects on the history of Yorkshire Friends Holiday School 1933-2013
In 1932 the Annual Report of Yorkshire Friends’ Service Committee (YFSC) contained the following paragraph: In our last year’s report we made mention of our unsuccessful attempt for the past two years to organise a Children’s Summer School in Yorkshire for the advantage of the children who do not attend a Friends’ boarding school. We are happy to report that a way has opened for the holding of such a school next year, 1933, at Ackworth School, the suggested dates being August 4 to 11.
The photograph (above) shows ‘the artefact’ – a cover for the table at the centre of Meeting for Worship – that was made to celebrate the eightieth Yorkshire Friends Holiday School, which took place at Bootham School in York in August this year. There are eighty patchwork squares, in each of which is embroidered a year and the Holiday School venue.
Eighty years on things have changed in many ways but in others they have remained the same. The day still begins with Meeting for Worship and ends with Epilogue. The mornings are spent considering a topic of interest or concern stimulated by input from visiting speakers, media or in-house presentations. Afternoons are given over to craft and sporting activities and the evening socials are organised by groups of students and based on dancing and games (in 1933 the evenings were spent listening to lantern lectures!).
Over the years students from all parts of the world have come to Holiday School – a fact reflected in the rainbow colours of the artefact. The orange and green border is a tribute to the contingent of Irish Friends who were first invited when ‘the troubles’ began. They now make up almost a third of the numbers.
The continuing popularity of Holiday School is largely due to its ability to adapt to the changing needs of the students. Sessions are lively, interactive and tremendous fun. Venues are no longer provided free of charge and, to help cut costs, all activities are home-grown, low tech and designed to stretch the imagination and creativity of up to one hundred teenagers. Students experience a world in which many of the values they encounter amongst their own age-group at home – where popularity may depend on having all the latest clothes, phones, computers, being naturally sporty or liking the right music – don’t exist. They are encouraged to think deeply and express opinions on important subjects. They are taken seriously and valued in ways that they may not always experience in their everyday lives. They live for a week in a society which takes truth, equality, simplicity, peace and understanding as the norm and they make lifelong friends. When Holiday School ends they maintain their connection with it via the Holiday School website and other social media.
Yorkshire Holiday School has never had to recruit staff – from the moment they leave many of the students wait anxiously to be invited to join the staff, although this only happens after an appropriate number of years has separated them from the current students. Student numbers remain buoyant, although the current austerity means parents have to prioritise their spending. The only real problem is finding suitable venues. The Quaker schools are preferred but for a number of reasons it is not always possible to hire one and the organisers are always looking for new venues within the county.
We give thanks to Denis Binns, who was involved with Holiday School for over sixty years and kept copies of the programmes and address lists. I hope the next eighty years prove as successful.
