Walking a tightrope
Paul Simon talked to Diana Beddoes about her memories of fifty years of clerking Quaker Meetings
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.’
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