Walking a tightrope

Paul Simon talked to Diana Beddoes about her memories of fifty years of clerking Quaker Meetings

by Paul Simon 31st August 2012

Diana was first appointed clerk soon after she became a member of Bewdley Meeting in 1960. The Meeting was on the point of being laid down at the time. With the guidance of birthright Quakers, she served several three-year terms as clerk until she left in 1976. She went on to serve a three-year term as clerk at Newtown. Then Clun Valley Meeting was formed, where she was first appointed clerk in 1986.  Diana describes being clerk as ‘like walking a tightrope between not wanting to dampen enthusiasm and having to ensure discipline’. As clerk it ‘doesn’t do to want your own ideas put in place too much. Its largely a case of listening and weighing up what other people are saying.’