Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Epistles & testimonies

Compiled for Yearly Meeting, Friends House, London, 1­–4 May 2015

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0297.CS.0115

0297.CS.0115 - Epistles & testimonies - Cover.indd All Pages 13/04/2015 09:40:34 Epistles & testimonies Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Documentation in advance of Yearly Meeting to be held at Friends House, London 1–4 May 2015

Epistles & testimonies is part of a set of publications entitled The Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain 2015, published by Britain Yearly Meeting. The full set comprises the following documents: 1. Documents in advance, including agenda and introductory material for Yearly Meeting 2015 and the annual reports of Meeting for Sufferings and Quaker Stewardship Committee 2. Epistles & testimonies 3. Minutes, to be distributed after the conclusion of Yearly Meeting 4. The formal Trustees’ annual report and Financial statements for the year ended December 2014 5. Tabular statement.

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All documents issued are also available as PDFs and for e-readers at www.quaker.org.uk/ym. Britain Yearly Meeting is a registered charity, number 1127633. Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Epistles & testimonies Epistles

Introduction to epistles from Quaker World Relations Committee 7 From Europe and Middle East 9 Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting 9 Central European Gathering 10 Denmark Yearly Meeting 11 Europe and Middle East Section of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC – EMES) Annual Meeting 11 Ireland Yearly Meeting 12 Netherlands Yearly Meeting 13 Norway Yearly Meeting 14 Sweden Yearly Meeting 15 Switzerland Yearly Meeting 16 From the Americas 17 Baltimore Yearly Meeting (FGC/FUM) 17 Intermountain Yearly Meeting 18 Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) 21 Monteverde Monthly Meeting 22 New Association of Friends 22 New York Yearly Meeting (FGC/FUM) 23 North Pacific Yearly Meeting (FGC) 24 Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (FGC) 25 Quaker Youth Pilgrimage 2014 25 Southeastern Yearly Meeting (FGC/FUM) 26 Western Yearly Meeting (FUM) 27 From Asia – West Pacific 29 Aotearoa/New Zealand 29 Australia Yearly Meeting 2014 30 Bhopal Yearly Meeting 31 Testimonies

Introduction 33 Kenneth Aldous 35 Rosalind Mary Baker 36 Ivy Broadhurst 37 Betty Curtayne 39 Alison Joan Gean Davis 40 Anne Faulkner 42 Martyn Gaudie 43 Irene Katherine Glaister 45 John Gray 46 Thomas William Greeves 47 Lawrence Raymond Hackwell 49 Harry Wilfred Hardstone 50 Pamela Harvey 51 Bettina Headley 52 Geoffrey Hemingway 54 Eric Hulland 56 Marjorie Jelfs 57 Billy Johnstone 58 Lloyd Kemp 59 Joanna Rodwell Kirkby 61 Audrey Doris Langford 62 John Graham (Peter) Leyland 63 Arthur (William) Marsh 65 Anna Pearce 66 Sally (Lillian) Peart 68 Linda Margaret Pegler 69 Margaretta Playfair 70 William K. Sessions 71 Edward Dell Sewell 73 Griselda Margaret Spence 74 Sylvia Stanyer 75 Ann Strauss 76 Elizabeth Margaret Sullivan 78 Margaret Waterfall 79 Anthea Webb 80 Anna Wing 82 Epistles Introduction to epistles experimentally, a faith that brought them direct, personal communion with the Divine and the from Quaker World Spirit that gave rise to the Scriptures. They were Relations Committee Christians who knew the Bible very well and who wanted their lives to mirror all the best Quaker World Relations Committee is entrusted characteristics of an early Christian community. by Friends in Britain to build and maintain our In the 21st century, not all Quakers in Britain relations with other yearly meetings around the would call themselves Christian. Our approach world and to offer support at times of crisis. We are to the Bible and to theology can be described as challenged by how best to uphold Friends through liberal. Our worship is based on silent waiting, devastating experiences: violence, earthquakes, seeking the divine in stillness. But while our floods or hurricanes. We are challenged too by the lives are influenced and guided by our beliefs growing diversity of our religious theology but and testimonies, we are also fully involved in the remind ourselves that we are different branches wider society in which we find ourselves. from the same root. Throughout our history Friends have kept in touch, in part, through epistles from Diversity yearly meetings which let everyone know how the Spirit is faring, of the tests and celebrations in the Unprogrammed worship can be found across life of the yearly meeting and to send each other Europe, in Asia, southern Africa, Australia, New greetings. Zealand, Canada and parts of the USA and Mexico. This tradition represents around 11% The following introduction explains the place of the total world membership. It is not however Britain Yearly Meeting has in the world family of necessarily correct to associate unprogrammed Friends and to set into context the epistles that we worship with liberal theology, and Christocentric have received from other yearly meetings in 2014. theology with programmed worship (see below). Many combinations exist. Background There are Quakers who describe themselves From the earliest days of the Quaker movement, as conservative, whose theology, worship and Friends travelled widely to share the message way of life remain much closer to that of early of our view of faith, convincing others to join Friends in the 17th and 18th centuries. These them. They took their message to distant parts Friends (mostly in the USA) represent 0.03% of of the world, ‘Speaking Truth to Power’ where the membership, but they feel that they are true they saw a chance to build the Kingdom of to the original guiding principles that George God on earth. In the last 350 years, Quakerism Fox proclaimed in terms of relationship to Jesus has spread around the world and in the process Christ and the Bible; there are a number of small has evolved and changed. Early Friends in groups and individuals around Europe who are Britain proclaimed a faith which they knew akin to them although not formally affiliated.

Epistles & testimonies 7 Some Quaker meetings have evolved patterns everyone’, although this phrase is widely known of programmed worship, usually for special in other branches, in the testimonies and in our occasions. Just as we once appointed recorded Quaker business method – with great variations. ministers, and still appoint Friends to serve the On the other hand, there are differences in the meeting, so Friends in programmed meetings way Friends work in the world: Friends of a appoint pastors to minister to the community. more liberal persuasion would see it as important Their form of worship may include hymns or to try to make the world a better place, while songs, a sermon, Bible readings and prayers, and Friends of the evangelical persuasion will be there is also a time of free or open worship, when more concerned with saving souls and bringing other Friends can minister, as in unprogrammed them into membership. Understanding one worship. Programmed meetings represent another is not always an easy process – Friends 49% of the total world membership and have come from very different cultural backgrounds different ways of counting members. and traditions, which influence the expression of their faith and practice in ways we may find Perhaps more than 40% of Friends worldwide unfamiliar or uncomfortable. We may need to belong to evangelical Friends churches, most but remind ourselves that we have not necessarily not all of them affiliated to the Friends World found all the answers – “Are you open to new Committee for Consultation. They emphasise light, from whatever source it may come?” bringing the Christian message to unbelievers (Advices & queries 7). and the authority of the Bible. The Epistles printed here are those which were Friends World Committee for received during 2014. Their content reflects the Consultation (FWCC) diversity of our worldwide family of Friends. No epistles from African yearly meetings were FWCC was formed in 1937 to provide received in 2014. opportunities for Friends to meet, to talk and come to a better understanding of each other, thereby deepening their spiritual life and strengthening their outreach. It includes in its membership yearly meetings from all the traditions described here as well as small groups and individuals. It has four regional groupings. These are Africa Section (with 43% of world membership), Section of the Americas (47%), Asia West Pacific Section (4%) and Europe and Middle East Section (6%). Britain Yearly Meeting belongs to FWCC and to its Europe and Middle East Section, of which it is by far the biggest yearly meeting. In the USA, many yearly meetings of the unprogrammed tradition belong not only to FWCC but also to Friends General Conference (FGC), whilst programmed yearly meetings may belong to Friends United Meeting (FUM) and evangelical yearly meetings to Evangelical Friends Churches International (EFCI). Unity Friends from these diverse traditions find common ground in the belief of ‘that of God in

8 Epistles & testimonies From Europe and Middle East

Belgium and Luxembourg ways. We have considered what is ‘Light’ and what is ‘Darkness’ in today’s world, and their Yearly Meeting relationship with our prophetic calling; we have To Friends everywhere: What does it mean to be considered our Quaker community as a base prophets in 2014? for prophetic action, which can be incremental, growing as we grow. Dear Friends, Who are prophets today? The biblical prophets We send greetings from Belgium and seem very different from those we might find Luxembourg Yearly Meeting. Over the weekend among us now. of 6–8 June 2014, at La Foresta, near Leuven, we have come together as a Yearly Meeting for the What stops us from being the prophets we are second time. called to be? Our theme has been ‘Finding our prophetic Arthur Pritchard, of Britain Yearly Meeting, voice: What does it mean to be prophets in has shared some reflections on Quakers, arms, 2014?’ slavery and consumerism. He has told us about John Woolman as an example of an 18th- Through our programme’s varied activities, century Quaker prophet who believed that it in which all have played their part, we have was “Better for all to have a little instead of experienced a keen sense of connection as we some who have none.” Woolman did not like have shared with each other at a deeper level to use the post, the fastest way to send messages than we normally can; our community has been at the time, because he objected to the abuse strengthened. Children have been fully involved and suffering of both horses and children throughout the weekend; their programme has employed. He noted that stagecoaches were been mostly play, but they have also shared mistreating horses and even driving them to in some of the main sessions, and considered death. The small boys who were used to guide similar themes, such as ‘darkness and light’. the lead horses were often found frozen to death. Our links with other Quaker communities in Arthur concluded by asking “who are the John Europe have been deepened as, for the first Woolmans of our time?” time, we have welcomed Friends from France, The answer is that we all can be prophets, if we Netherlands, German, and Britain Yearly ‘let our lives speak’. This requires a change in Meetings, as well as the Europe and Middle each of us; as William Penn said: “They were East Section of the Friends’ World Committee changed men before they changed others”. for Consultation. We have valued their contributions. In 2014 we are faced with many celebrations of ‘the Great War to end all wars’. At our last We have approached our theme in a variety of Yearly Meeting we committed ourselves to

Epistles & testimonies 9 undertaking more outreach. We have decided to Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, mark the centenary of World War I by holding Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, public, open-air Meetings for Worship in places England and Austria. We are grateful for the associated with the war, at which we will present financial and spiritual support given by German information about who we are and why we do YM, Swiss YM, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable this. Through this prophetic action we will not Trust, Hampshire & Islands Area Meeting and only speak out against war and violence but also EMES as well as the organizational preparations promote the search for peaceful solutions when and hospitality by Jalka and Johanna Steindl of others are celebrating the ‘heroics’ of war. Vienna. We also agreed last year to nurture our own We really appreciated the freedom afforded by spiritual growth; as part of this endeavour having a program made up of a large variety of we have agreed to publish a booklet entitled topics with the proximity to Vienna attractions Approaches to meeting for worship: Reflections and and simultaneous space to retreat and share useful practices prepared by our Ministry and among ourselves in small groups. There were Oversight group. It comprises contributions sessions on our considerations on what it means from Friends and attenders on their experience to be a yearly meeting, we learned and shared of Meeting for Worship. first-hand about the crisis in Ukraine which intertwined meaningfully with what we heard For many of us, ‘prophecy’ has been a disturbing from Alexandra Bosbeer from QCEA about theme, but we have nonetheless benefited and Quakers and our engagement in European been enriched by our reflections on it; we now affairs. understand better the need for each one of us to voice our Truth, and will continue to reflect on We are thankful for her presence as well as that this. of Julian Wood from EMEYF and hope that this kind of visitation support can continue. Jalka Our shared evenings have been brought to a led a group of us on the newly established peace conclusion in thoughtful epilogues. We leave trail in Vienna, part of the Discover Peace in you now with two of the excerpts we have heard: Europe project (www.discoverpeace.eu) which from Emily Dickinson: “The Truth must dazzle she conceived and saw through over the past gradually/Or every man be blind”; and from few years. We had a discussion about hospitality Leonard Cohen’s ‘Anthem’: “There is a crack, a and were enriched by Brian Phillips’ visit and crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.” his research about the ethical struggles of Hans On behalf of Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly von Dohnanyi and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in their Meeting, resistance to Hitler. Zsuzsa Eastland shared with a group her concern to work for reconciliation Paul Holdsworth, Clerk in the Carpathian Basin through a children’s Chloe Tan, Assistant Clerk summer camp and felt supported. As has become a tradition over the past years we enjoyed singing, dancing (including a tango Central European evening in memoriam for Ivars Abelis of Latvia Gathering meeting); and also – as a first – our self-prepared evening meals. Daily meetings for worship and Epistle of the 2014 Central European an Experiment with Light session deepened our Gathering in Vienna spiritual fellowship and we are looking forward to our unfolding development over the coming After four years in other countries we returned years. this year to Vienna, Austria for our 18th Central European Gathering of Friends. We were blessed Signed: Cathy and Arne with the presence of Friends from Belgium,

10 Epistles & testimonies Denmark Yearly Meeting Europe and Middle East To Friends everywhere, Section of the Friends Greetings from Denmark Yearly Meeting. World Committee for 29–30 March 2014 about 15 Danish Friends Consultation (FWCC – and friends of Friends gathered in Copenhagen EMES) Annual Meeting together with five foreign guests representing the YMs of Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, and Centre Culturel de St Thomas, FWCC/EMES. Strasbourg. May 1–4 2014 Our American Friend Thomas Swain of To Friends everywhere, Philadelphia YM was our support at this Yearly Meeting. During the days before the meeting he We send you loving greetings from the Cultural paid individual visits to several Danish Friends. Centre of St Thomas in Strasbourg where 47 of us, representing Quakers from 18 European Our first meeting day started with worship, countries have been holding our annual meeting. greetings brought by our guests and a brief Meeting with each other, and with our Friends meeting for business. In the afternoon Thomas from the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage Committee led a string of talks in plenary and in groups. (also meeting here), EMEYF, as well as visitors We were reminded of St Paul’s letter in 1 from FWCC World Office, QCEA, QUNO and Corinthians, ch.12 about the gifts of Grace Woodbrooke Study Centre, has meant times of which we all possess. Each of us must make joyful thankfulness, mixed with serious concerns use of our faculties with the support of other for peace building arising from the growing Friends. We should not hide our talents. Thomas unease and tensions across Europe and the guided us through an exercise in ‘meeting for world as we witness yet another time of political clearness’ about how I can best make use of my instability. gifts. For the person who during such a meeting presents an important concern, this process may The theme of this year’s annual meeting, ‘A lead to clearness and give strength to go further. Confident Quaker Voice’, has enabled us to look at our work through EMES to witness On 30th of March after worship we heard a to our hopes and beliefs for the wider world. summary of epistles from other Quaker YMs We have been reminded of the three aims of around the world. Concluding Danish Friends FWCC: connecting friends, crossing cultures talked about the difficulties a small group have and changing lives, and the transformative love in living up to its own expectations and those that unites us and the developing plan for the of others about a Quaker Meeting. Our guests next Worldwide Friends Representative Meeting gave us useful ideas. In critical situations we in Arequipa, Peru, in January 2016. lack a larger group to guide us in our decisions. A network of ‘elders’ among the Nordic We were enthused to hear reports of the General countries might be helpful. In the future a more Assembly of the World Council of Churches permanent collaboration between the Nordic (WCC) held in Busan, South Korea, in October/ YMs could serve timely. We do not always know November 2013 on the theme ‘God of Life, lead where and how the Spirit blows. Maybe we have us to Justice and Peace’. We were powerfully to get inspiration from outside and be where struck by the openings for Friends to join other people are. with other Churches to become instruments of justice and peace. Churches all over the “Stop, but do not stand still. Be in the present, world are coming together to share common but go on.” concerns about social and economic justice, On behalf of Denmark Yearly Meeting climate change, peace, and environmental sustainability. We recognised the same prophetic Mogens Clausen, Clerk

Epistles & testimonies 11 spirit that gave forth the call to action from our We imagined a world without war in a series 2012 World Conference in Kabarak. We need of workshops. We reflected on the ways each to work together towards ‘an economy of life’ of us had been affected by war and on the instead of the failed ‘economy of death’, to bring transformative actions each and every one of us about a spiritually-grounded transformation can take as steps towards peace, as individuals of the dominant culture. Here is an historic and as a community. Indeed, being community opportunity to encourage others to undertake is a step towards peace – we prayed ‘Our Father’ the Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace. each in our own language in the awareness that it commits us to a communal vision of our Pilgrimage can take many different forms relationship with the eternal. and happen in diverse settings. At a time of increasing tensions along the Ukrainian border, It has gladdened our hearts to hear how two Friends from the Baltic and Russia told us our Secretary and Ministry and Outreach of their wish to travel under concern to Eastern Coordinator use Internet and Skype to manage Ukraine to meet and talk with individuals and their work and share support and worship, and organizations, to hear their views of the situation that the whole Executive Committee seeks to and to explore what may be needed. During become a worshipping community. a deeply gathered and moving unscheduled We were invited to consider the effects that a business session their concern was tested and changing of our perspectives on biblical language gained support from Friends. We created a could have on the common understanding support group, experienced in peace work, among Quakers and among all Christians, tasked to help Friends develop their plans and noting that our responses to traditional Christian identify enabling resources. language can sometimes become obstacles to We heard two confident Quaker voices in the engagement in moving together in our common presentations on QUNO and QCEA: the concerns for peace, within and beyond the former’s behind-the-scenes, painstaking, long- Society of Friends. haul work that brings people together and sows In worship, we were reminded that a confident seeds that often flourish in unexpected ways, voice is not just self assured – the word and the determination that dares to ask the big ‘confidence’ derives from the Latin ‘cum fides’ questions; the latter’s articulation of the Quaker and means: ‘with trust/faith’. It is therefore the voice through advocacy to decision makers at the voice that springs from our faithfulness. European institutions. Dag Hovda Sture, Neithard, Petry, Paul We have been encouraged to consider whether Sladen and Lee Taylor the work of EMES is having an effect on our Meetings. Does the presence of the FWCC The 2014 Clerking Team Section make a difference? Are our Meetings and Worship Groups aware of the breadth of EMES’ work in Europe and the Middle East Ireland Yearly Meeting and, together with the World Office and other Sections, our FWCC work in the world? Can April 2014 we make better use of the resources we have to support our Quaker life and practice? Can To Friends everywhere, we uphold the work of peace building in our We send greetings from Ireland Yearly Meeting, local communities and internationally? We held from 24–27 April 2014 at King’s Hospital recognise and are thankful for the huge amount School, an Anglican school on the western of work that FWCC achieves in our Section outskirts of Dublin. We welcomed Friends from and elsewhere and are appreciative of the work a number of other Yearly Meetings from Europe of other Quaker bodies in their dedication, and the United States, and were very happy to generosity and effectiveness in their tasks.

12 Epistles & testimonies get to know them through worship sharing, experience working closely with both loyalist and bible studies, discussions in special interest republican communities in Northern Ireland groups and conversations over meals. showed him that “every individual has the capacity to love, and to receive love”. His work Our theme was ‘Faith in Action – Living our showed him the transformative power of Love, Lives According to our Spiritual Experience’, and led him to see that of God in the face of taking up the idea expressed in James 2:26, every person he filmed. We found Ian’s passion “For as the body without the Spirit is dead, about the intrinsic equality and worth of every so faith without works is dead also”. This individual to be inspiring. The expression of this became the overarching theme for our sessions, passion through his life and work shows us that, which included presentations and reports like Early Friends, we are still able to live lives demonstrating how Friends have put their Faith of service, anchored in the Spirit of Love and into Action. Examples include support and care guided by principle, not consequence. for the elderly in Ireland North and South, the Alternatives to Violence Programme, work by We come away from our Yearly Meeting Quaker Service with young people in Ulster, and refreshed and convinced of the truth of the final Irish Quaker Faith in Action’s support of projects quote from Ian Kirk-Smith’s public lecture: such as the Palestine Trauma Centre, the Mutoto “Those who would have a closer view of the Education Centre in Uganda and therapy for Divine must seek it in a life of love and service.” war victims in Bosnia. Signed on behalf of Ireland Yearly Meeting The programme included reports about various Young Friends’ activities in Ireland, including Daniel H. Sinton, Clerk Junior Yearly Meeting, which took place 21–24 Ireland Yearly Meeting April 2014 on the theme ‘21st Century Fox: What would George Say?’. In one session, we considered trends shown by Netherlands Yearly the statistics for the Quarterly Meetings within Ireland Yearly Meeting, and began discussions Meeting about questions such as possible reasons for To Friends Worldwide, falling or rising membership and how we can facilitate the transition into membership for During a sunny weekend some seventy Friends attenders. gathered from 16–18 May 2014 at the Friends of Nature Home ‘De Bosbeek’ in Bennekom. Our In our Ministry and Oversight session, we theme was: ‘Dwelling on what moves us’. were moved and inspired by presentations by three Friends on ‘How do we Embrace Peace in On Friday evening six Friends introduced the our Everyday Lives?’. Each of these three very theme, each from a personal perspective. A different personal journeys underscored in its variety of aspects was presented to us: mysticism; own way the challenges of ‘embracing peace’, being prepared to work for peace and justice; the and the need to find stillness within if we hope question who God is to us now – “what or whoever to foster peace in the world around us. this is, we are the hands and feet to do the work”; the inspiration of George Fox and the early Friends Our Public Lecture this year was given by which may be traced back to the Mennonites from Ian Kirk-Smith, the Editor of The Friend and the Waterland region in the Netherlands having a member of Ireland Yearly Meeting, on the fled to England; simplicity and sustainability; theme ‘On Principle, Not Consequence – a and to be happy being with Quakers. In small Quaker Life in Broadcasting’. Ian talked about base groups we discussed the elements in the how his Quaker principles have influenced introductions that had moved us most. his career as a journalist and film-maker. His During an epilogue, one of our elderly Friends

Epistles & testimonies 13 told us in a video message how she had come to Norway Yearly Meeting decide to embrace life again for as long as it is granted her. To Friends everywhere, We elaborated on the Yearly Meeting’s theme We send loving greetings from the Norwegian in inspiration groups, such as the one titled Society of Friends gathered for our annual ‘Answering to that of God in extreme right meeting at Solborg Folk High School in politicians’, a topic of the day in the run-up Stavanger, in the town where the Norwegian to the European elections and their predicted Quaker adventure commenced. Fifty one outcome. Norwegian Friends were pleased to welcome guests from Rwanda, Kenya, the United During another inspiration group we listened to Kingdom and Sweden. We have also had the ‘The Living Spirit’, a musical interpretation of pleasure of the presence of a large group of a Quaker Meeting for Worship. In yet another children and young people. On the first evening inspiration group we practiced meditation by they each told us their names, and this was a fine walking, which cleared our minds. way to create closeness between the generations. We feel very inspired by the work of our Friend They have enriched our meeting through their Kees Nieuwerth in the Council of Churches who presence and their activities. has started a working group on the Pilgrimage The theme this year has been ‘Living according of Justice and Peace that the World Council to Conscience’. The first keynote speech was of Churches has called for. This is very close given by David Bucura, who in a personal and to the heart of our Quaker Peace Testimony. engaging way told us about his work for peace in The ultimate goal is to declare war and the the aftermath of the Rwanda genocide in 1994. production of arms illegal. He told us that peace requires personal sacrifice. Our Yearly Meeting was brightened by Friends He had been given a concern; he was compelled knitting in pink colours – women and men – for to follow the voice of his conscience. We are the action of ‘Wool Against Weapons’. all able to work for peace, in our everyday lives as well as in extreme situations. In the groups During the Meeting for Worship on Sunday we afterwards we found that David’s talk had been welcomed more dear Friends. In the words of the an eye-opener. Are we open to the tasks that song, we “felt the winds of God today”. This was God seems to place in our path? We all have expressed in the ministry and the songs we sang. different talents and God will give us different This made the meeting for worship the crowning tasks. point of this weekend. This year we mark that 200 years have passed We can look back at a moving weekend full of since the first Friends started practising their inspiration and encouragement. faith in Norway. They had been prisoners of war The program offered much space to meet and in England and got to know the Quaker faith share which greatly contributed to the good then. Our yearly gathering has characterised by atmosphere. some retrospective glances at the Norwegian Quaker history. Hans Eirik Aarek, in the second We wish Friends everywhere in the world Light, keynote speech, told us about the consequences Love and Just Peace. that early Norwegian Friends had to bear when Marlies Tjallingii, Clerk they acted according to their consciences. Their sacrifices were both personal and economic. We were also taken on a tour of the Quaker graveyard in Stavanger, several historical Quaker buildings, and closed with a short period of worship in the premises of Stavanger Monthly Meeting. We are grateful to those who have kept

14 Epistles & testimonies the Quaker flame alive through following their The gospel according to Quakers – how consciences. might Christian foundations give us light and guidance in our inner search, in our Mostly our annual gathering has been community and in our witness to the world? characterised by innovation and a forward- looking attitude to our religious society. We The gospel according to Quakers is not have learned about Quaker Quest from British principally about what we say, but about what Friends and are hopefully planning to test it we do. An example of the good tendencies in Norway. Some of our young people have that emerged during the Yearly Meeting was expressed how pleased they are in the youth how the programme of activities has developed programme offered in the place of what others throughout the past year following the call ‘confirmation’. They would also like to employment of a second person – the effects confirm their own sense of belonging to the of which can be seen all over Sweden. Quaker Society of Friends through a Meeting for Service Sweden’s gospel could for example Worship for this purpose, and we will take be helping to build terraces for agriculture in them seriously. In our business session we have Burundi, or stopping violence against women affirmed our change of name from ‘Vennenes in Bangladesh. In these places the gifts have Samfunn Kvekerne’ to ‘Kvekersamfunnet, increased and the activities developed. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Tribute was paid to the good cooperation in the Norway’, and we plan to examine and renew different committees, for example the eldership some of the functions of the Society. and oversight committee and the nominations We are grateful to have had this opportunity committee. We also heard about the negotiations of togetherness in a warm and open fellowship for the continued renting of Kväkargården with fruitful conversations, pleasant company, (Friends House in Stockholm), where the laughter and play. landlord was regarded more as a partner than an adversary. We were also happy to welcome two We repeat the quote that Hans Eirik gave new members into our midst. us from London Yearly Meeting in 1879 concerning the relation between the inner light In connection with the theme, here are some and the conscience: quotations from participants: The light that shines into man’s heart is not From the Bible: of man, and must ever be distinguished both “Love the Lord your God with all your heart from the conscience which it enlightens, and and with all your soul and with all your from the natural faculty of reason. strength and with all your mind” and “Love Stavanger, the 6th Day of the 7th Month, 2014 your neighbour as yourself.” Norway Yearly Meeting “Love your enemies.” Stephen Collett, Clerk “…and the greatest of these is love.” “…the kingdom of God is within you.” Sweden Yearly Meeting “In my Father’s house there are many rooms.” Quotations from elsewhere: To Friends everywhere, “Work is love made visible.” Some forty Friends gathered at Svartbäcken from 29 May–1 June for Swedish Friends’ 80th Yearly “Love is to wish spiritual development for Meeting in sunny but somewhat chilly weather. oneself and others.” The theme was: “The Quaker way is not a straight path past

Epistles & testimonies 15 difficulties, and following Jesus is not an easy achieved one-sided. Furthermore, our Young option, but may mean losing one’s life.” Friends felt that, as children, they could never be equals. But, “a person is a person, no matter how “We are each other.” small” (Dr Seuss). We encouraged the children Signed on behalf of Sweden Yearly Meeting, to remind us grown-ups of it on occasion. 1 June 2014 Finally, chairs representing garbage bags, rooms imagined full of water, and percentages of Julia Ryberg, Presiding Clerk probability of species survival were woven into Torbjörn Söderqvist, Recording Clerk an interactive session on sustainability. Jonathan Woolley (QUNO) inspired the gathered meeting by being drawn to Quakerism Switzerland Yearly Meeting at age 19 by the advice “to live adventurously”. To Friends everywhere, He experienced many opportunities, which opened up throughout his life and career. For Fifty-two members and friends of Friends him “the world is a good place”, and key to a gathered from June 6–9 2014 during a Quaker way “is to speak to it like that”. Pentecostal heat wave at the ‘Haus für Bildung und Begegnung’ at Herzberg near Aarau for the There were other magical moments: on one 80th yearly gathering of Friends in Switzerland. side of the fence the cows from the Herzberg The theme of this year’s SYM was ‘Switzerland farm, on the other side the Swiss Friends, both Yearly Meeting: Past, Present and Future’, collectively and intently listening, and between coordinated by Geneva MM. Swiss Friends them music from an alphorn that filled the welcomed representatives from Germany YM, landscape around us. Britain YM, Warsaw Worship Group, the Many Friends enjoyed SYM like a family Central European Gathering, and FWCC World gathering. It was sometimes difficult to find Office in London, and QUNO in Geneva. sufficient time for business meetings, workshops, We were touched by the accounts of spiritual and themed sessions. We witnessed people journeys given by Friends from different breaking out in dance, quite animated in their generations, experienced and new, far and near, interactions, and frequently showing how much to celebrate the role of Quakers in Swiss society. expertise they carry on the various testimonies We remembered members who passed away over that are important to Quakers. the year, as well as the children that were born As for the future of SYM, we all feel along into our community. the lines of Rufus Jones: “I pin my hopes to This year’s theme was framed around the quiet processes and small circles, in which vital well-known acronym SPICES. Simplicity was transformations take place.” embodied by silent walks in the freshness of early On behalf of Switzerland Yearly Meeting mornings. For the peace testimony, we listened to Friends who remembered the important work Anne Lotte Heyn-Cossalter, Nancy Krieger, of Dorothea Woods on her concern about child Michel Mégard, Co-Clerks soldiers. This life-long work finally led to a UN protocol signed months after her passing in 2002. The testimony of integrity was debated in small groups, including the example of use of money. The Elders reported on initiatives for outreach and community building among Friends, suggesting the use of media tools of the digital age. In small group discussions on equality we found that equality cannot be

16 Epistles & testimonies From the Americas In the USA, many yearly meetings of the unprogrammed tradition belong not only to Friends World Committee for Consultation but also to Friends General Conference (FGC), whilst programmed yearly meetings may belong to Friends United Meeting (FUM) and evangelical yearly meetings to Evangelical Friends Churches International (EFCI). Some yearly meetings belong to more than one grouping.

Baltimore Yearly Meeting his son Naiche Tayac, shared with us the culture and music of the Piscataway nation, reminding (FGC/FUM) us that American Indians are still here among us. He spoke of how the drum is the heartbeat 8th Month 10th Day 2014 of life, and that all people everywhere have To Friends everywhere, the same heartbeat. One of our Friends from Kenya shared that the dances made him feel at Friends gathered for the 343rd Annual Session of home. Earlier in the day, the delegation from Baltimore Yearly Meeting, from Eighth month, Friends Theological College, in Kaimosi, Kenya 4 to 10, on the campus of Frostburg State had blessed us with the message “If we have no University, in Western Maryland. Our theme peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong this year was ‘Transformation and Healing’. to each other.” Our opening retreat focused on bringing our differences into the light. We were reminded Margery Post Abbot, a released Friend whose that the only constant in life is change, and ministry is supported by the Multnomah that change can generate conflict. The word Monthly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, ‘discernment’ kept arising for us as we were led spoke of how “power over” dominates and to consider new ways of seeing our differences as demeans, while “power of the Light” enables us something that has the potential to strengthen or to walk side by side as equals. She reflected on even transform our relationships. These themes the power Margaret Fell knew as the source for continued to nourish us throughout the week. transformation of the human heart, and of the Morning Bible study, inspired by a passage world. She shared a vision of “the wild power from Luke 6:28 – “bless those who curse you” of love let loose in the world” and called us to – encouraged us to expand our understanding witness to a new way of being, faithful to the of who is part of our beloved community. new creation. Worship sharing groups also met each morning Our Meetings for Worship with a Concern to consider queries centered on healing and for Business moved us toward healing and transformation. transformation. We approved a Minute on Sue Regen, carrying a Travel Minute from Inclusion, affirming the right of all individuals, Rochester Monthly Meeting, New York Yearly including transgender people, to understand Meeting, shared with us her ministry on and express themselves with authenticity and ‘Forgiveness as a Spiritual Practice’. She led us integrity. We shared our deep concern for the through a guided meditation called ‘The Arms child refugees crossing the United States border, of God Prayer’, moving us towards opening our for those who are unjustly incarcerated, and for hearts to someone with whom we are struggling. those who are suffering in Israel and Palestine. On Wednesday afternoon Mark Tayac, founder We agreed to bring back to our Meetings a of the Tayac Territory Singers and Dancers, and concern for climate change, resource depletion,

Epistles & testimonies 17 and environmental degradation. We welcomed that this Friend has laid down.” Perhaps the our new Development Director, and approved answer lies in a song the children shared with us our first ever capital expenditure budget. in spoken word and sign language: Together, we worked on building a “mini cabin” Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me as a fundraiser for our camping program. We heard of the “ministry of presence” that will be Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. the focus of our longstanding inter-visitation Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. program, and received a report from our Vision Implementation Committee, urging us to take simple, achievable steps to strengthen our connections with each other. We were reminded Intermountain Yearly when reports come before us, to look for that of Meeting (FGC) the Spirit, not the fatal flaws. Our Presiding Clerk Betsy Meyer completed her June 11–15 2014, with Early Days term of service. We joined in a joyful and tearful June 8–11 Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New appreciation, and a hymn based on the 23rd psalm. Mexico, USA We enjoyed times of play and laughter, including Dear Friends everywhere, a high energy all-age celebration featuring ice Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the Religious cream and a candlelight labyrinth, and our Society of Friends (IMYM), made up of seventeen sometimes raucous Saturday evening coffee monthly meetings in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, house. The presence of our children and young New Mexico and Western Texas, met amongst people among us, and the visibility of our the red-soiled mesas, dry arroyos and soul-stirring thriving camping program, are a continuing vistas of Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, New Mexico. source of energy and joy. We treasure the feeling Friends gathered for our fortieth annual sessions of family we experience here in Baltimore during the week of sixth month, 11th to 15th, Yearly Meeting. We are grateful to the many 2014, with early days the 8th through 11th; 289 volunteers who help us keep our Yearly Meeting’s Friends attended, with 75 children in that number. commitment to support young families and Optional early days allowed for relaxation before serve our youth well. our business began, with 60% of IMYM attendees taking part. IMYM is the only yearly meeting that Our Clerk shared a message that seemed to is a member of Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts, capture where we find ourselves: and our diverse early days seminars reflected that. In so much of what we do as a worshiping This year they included a full palette of workshops community, we are wandering in the in the arts – theatre, writing, watercolour, wilderness together, seeking Divine guidance, storytelling movement, SoulCollage®, and creative or we are in exile together, struggling to discernment. We see art as an effective tool for articulate a common understanding based positive change in our needy world. on our experiences of the Divine. We feel IMYM implemented a new organizational frustrated when we cannot see where we structure this year. We have replaced our are going or agree on the end product. But overworked Continuing Committee with a we have to realize that the journey is more structure including more volunteers as the important than the destination. It is the Representatives Committee (the discerning voice journey together that makes us a worshiping of our monthly meetings, standing committees community. And on the journey we are healed and youth group leaders) and the Arrangements and transformed. Committee (which plans and implements the As we undertake this journey together, we annual gathering). are challenged by words lifted up during our Continuing our focus on the Kabarak Call Memorial Meeting: “Who will take up the work for Peace and Ecojustice from last annual

18 Epistles & testimonies sessions, our theme this year was ‘What do we • It looks like Friends Peace Teams getting have to offer as Quakers in these challenging trained in trauma healing in Nepal and times?’ We were blessed to have Diane Randall, taking the technique back to New Mexico Executive Secretary of Friends Committee on prisons. National Legislation (FCNL), and Shan Cretin, • It looks like working with one another to General Secretary of American Friends Service shift from the big theoretical conversation Committee (AFSC) as our plenary keynote of privilege to examining what we can speakers. They spoke about a joint initiative actively do to create change. of FCNL and AFSC to envision a new US • It looks like our adult meeting creating a foreign policy grounded in worldwide shared safe space for our Junior and Senior Young security for our global community. It is a big Friends to share in an intergenerational project, a fifty-year vision, but we are excited by Listening Session on Youth and the the collaboration of these two strong Quaker Quaker Testimonies. organizations and the conversation they have • It looks like the lives of elderly friends, started among us. The speakers emphasized celebrated in their memorial minutes, who that we must have both an inward faith journey exemplified inward journey and outward and outward witness to make effective change witness. in the world. The Peace Testimony is not so much a philosophical position but the fruit • It looks like our own musicians forming of an inward spiritual journey. Diane Randall a Contra Band with our own caller for expressed her belief that Friends can offer the our Friday night dance, using our gifts to world our abiding love of the Spirit that takes spread joy in our midst. away the occasion for all war. Shan Cretin After two years of work, and in solidarity challenged us to start our work in the world by with indigenous rights organizations, laying down the worn out American and Quaker IMYM approved a minute affirming the UN exceptionalism that we bear, shining a light Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. on our privilege. We must heed George Fox’s Over two plenary sessions we tenderly laboured admonitions and be a pattern, walk cheerfully with this concern, wanting to be certain we were and really see that of God in everyone. supporting the voices of indigenous peoples without creating an “us versus them” dichotomy So, what does a faith-based Quaker witness in and not outrunning our guide. This was deep the world look like? and heartfelt work as we desire to live in right • It looks like an IMYM Young Adult relationship. The minute is attached. Friend, reporting on his experience as Upon hearing the keynote speakers and Friends General Conference Gathering the reports from Friends organizations, an clerk, sharing a vision of a coming Quaker octogenarian Friend remarked, “we are leaving Renaissance. the Society of Friends in good hands.” We • It looks like an artist making a movie feel energized by hope as we hear the voices about homelessness in her hometown. of our youth and reports on our service in the • It looks like getting to know each other world. We enjoy acknowledging the threads more deeply in our beloved small daily of connection we have and cultivate in the worship sharing groups. One of the complex Quaker web and send our greetings and morning groups is held in Spanish, encouragement to you. reflecting our appreciation for Latino How is God calling you to live into the vision of heritage and cultures and our proximity the world that we seek? In the Light, to the US/Mexico border, once north, but now south of this land. Afternoon groups Intermountain Yearly Meeting of Friends are intergenerational, led by our Senior Sara Keeney, Clerk Young Friends.

Epistles & testimonies 19 The Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the our government to make necessary changes Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) united in US laws and policies so that rights of on the following minute during our annual Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native gathering in June of 2014. Study of the issue Hawaiians are fully supported, in conformity began with workshops provided in 2012 and has with the UN Declaration on the Rights continued throughout our four states for two of Indigenous Peoples. As Friends, we will years. endeavour to learn how we can support the rights of Indigenous Peoples and take conscious Minute to Affirm the UN Declaration on steps toward living in right relationship. the Rights of Indigenous Peoples For centuries, European policies, principles Friends who reside in the Inter-Mountain region and legal constructs, grounded in the ethic of of the United States are aware that we occupy conquest and colonization, have been used lands that were recognized by treaties as the to justify oppression of Indigenous Peoples territories of many Indigenous Nations and then throughout the world and denial of inalienable taken from them. Consciously or unconsciously, rights, both individual and in national and non-Indigenous people benefit from historical community existence. These justifications for and ongoing injustices committed against the conquest, occupation and exploitation have the Native peoples of this land. This benefit comes common feature that they violate principles at great human cost to all of us, indigenous and of international law which European peoples non-indigenous, in the loss of opportunities and settler states have claimed for themselves, to grow in transformative understanding from widely accepted Christian teaching and our other cultures. We commit ourselves to humble Quaker testimonies of equality, peace, integrity, self-reflection, as individuals and as a community community and stewardship. Throughout the of faith, to align our actions with the practice of centuries and even today, Indigenous Peoples right relationship among all peoples. attribute many forms of discrimination to these racist doctrines and their expression in In order to build relationships between contemporary law and policy. Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples founded in equity and justice, we affirm our In solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and guided support for implementing the United Nations by the requests from representatives of leading Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Indigenous rights organizations, including, Peoples. The Declaration was adopted by the among others, the International Indian Treaty UN General Assembly in 2007 and endorsed by Council, the North American Indigenous President Obama in 2010. It affirms the right Caucus, and the American Indian Law Alliance, of Indigenous Peoples to exist as unique cultural and in concert with a growing number of groups and to exercise self-determination religious organizations, Intermountain Yearly and self-government. It seeks to ensure that Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Indigenous Peoples collectively and individually utterly rejects any legal doctrine which accords enjoy all the human rights and fundamental less than full human and communal rights to freedoms recognized in the Universal any of the world’s peoples or their members. Declaration of Human Rights and international We urge our governments at every level of human rights law. It establishes standards for our federal system and all of the world’s states equitable political, legal and social policies that to review their laws, regulations, and policies can assist Indigenous Peoples in combating impacting Indigenous Peoples and to repeal discrimination, marginalization, and oppression. laws, regulations, and policies that reflect ethnocentric, feudal, and religious prejudices. Just as Quakers played a role in promoting We accept our own responsibility to work passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights to change the economic, social, cultural and of Indigenous Peoples, we acknowledge that educational structures of privilege and injustice we must labour to implement it. We call on

20 Epistles & testimonies rooted in the historical regimes of discovery, Carrie Newcomer, a Friend from Bloomington, occupation and colonization. We welcome the Indiana, assisted us in writing our sacred and opportunity, in appropriate settings and to the simple stories, then in the evening ministered extent freely offered by people themselves, for us with a concert of her own sacred stories learning from each other about world views and through song, poetry and music. Each day at cultural perspectives of Indigenous communities Yearly Meeting began with the tradition of early and persons. worship before breakfast followed by Bible study after breakfast. Friends enjoyed this special We ask our constituent monthly meetings and time of reflection and inquiry. Other programs worship groups to each take at least one action included a walk in Scattergood’s prairie to during the next year to educate themselves learn more about native prairie plants and their about the history of colonization and its current importance in maintaining healthy ecosystems; a effects in our country and area and/or to consult climate change presentation; reports from FCNL with Native Americans in their area to build and AFSC offering their projects and concerns; a relationships. sharing of the spiritual roots of activism; then we ended each day with banjos, guitars and group singing. Committee meetings and meeting for Iowa Yearly Meeting worship with attention to business involved each of us in the practice of caring for our monthly (Conservative) and yearly meetings. Seventh Month, 26, 2014 The Yearly Meeting’s Young Friends and Junior Yearly Meeting blessed us yet again this year To Friends everywhere, with their presence. They attended Meeting for “Who is wise and understanding among you? Worship every morning, and joined us for some Let them show it by their good life, by deeds of our programs. They also did many of their done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” own activities including pottery, candle making, – James 3:13 hosting a talent show, and having a meeting with attention to Capture the Flag. The energy and Greetings from Iowa Yearly Meeting light that they bring to our Yearly Meeting is Conservative where Friends from nearly a dozen always a joy. states in the US and visiting Friends from Canada gathered on the campus of Scattergood We deeply enjoyed time to share the ways we Friends School for a week in late July to attend speak in this world with our lives, and are the 137th annual session of Iowa Yearly Meeting ever grateful for the continued guidance and Conservative. ‘Let Your Life Speak’ was our inspiration of Friends past and present. Our theme as we explored and celebrated the ways annual session brings us into the fold of God’s our lives spoke through song, story, service, love and helps us strengthen our relationship stewardship of nature, spiritual practice and with the Divine through knowing and being activism. with each other during this cherished time. Our first evening we put our attention to In warm Friendship, Pastoral Care, sharing in small groups ways Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) that we nurture each other within our monthly Deborah Dakin, Clerk meetings. Some practices included inviting new visitors to a meal, supporting parents of young children, intervisitation of other monthly meetings, and listening without judgment or trying to solve.

Epistles & testimonies 21 Monteverde Monthly now feel more connected to the larger spiritual community in our area and they to us. We Meeting joyfully welcomed Nicolette Smith into meeting Dear Friends Everywhere, membership, and we mourn the passing of beloved attender Rick Mera. Phew! That is our overall feeling of the moment. We are proud of what we have accomplished in Of course, there are always ways we are trying recent years and glad the pace is slowing down. to grow and improve. We are working on being This time of reduced activity – the absence of more open to leadings of the Spirit in our overwhelming work to be done – allows us to meetings for business. Despite many valiant appreciate what we have and provides a time of volunteers, it always feels like there is more rest and restoration. work to do than people to do it. We feel a need to spend more restorative time with each As many of you know, 2012–2013 was an other outside of business and work. How can intense period for us, including building a new we focus on what is most important and let preschool building and a new meetinghouse. We go of what is less important? How can we live continued working at a great pace through July out our values in our other work and projects? of 2013, getting the roof of the meetinghouse How do we allocate our time to honor our up and the space enclosed. Since then, we have commitments to our families, our work, our proceeded with less pressure, as funds and energy different projects, and each other? How do we become available. We are enjoying our new work through difficult situations while seeing space. The windows facing the forest and sky and acknowledging that of God in everyone? are a joy during meetings for worship. We have already used the space for special events such as Wishing you all joy, rejuvenation, and love as coffeehouses, school programs and graduations, you too walk in the Light given to you. concerts, weddings, and Christmas activities in On behalf of the Monteverde Monthly Meeting addition to regular community happenings such of Friends, as yoga, dancing, and AA meetings. Carol Evans, Clerk Light and life are being nourished in our Jean Stuckey, Recording Clerk meeting in many ways. Our business load (2014 Epistle Committee: Harriet Joslin, is lighter after several intense years. Many Katy Van Dusen, Heather Gosse) volunteers at the school and meeting enrich our lives and lighten our loads. Our active children’s meeting nurtures the children, families, and leaders alike. Our religious education activities The New Association of have included sharing of spiritual journeys, a workshop on nature and spirituality, small Friends (FUM) spiritual sharing groups, Friendly Bible study, Epistle to Friends everywhere, and a workshop encouraging us to put our experience of the Spirit into words. At times, “What canst thou say?” This was the question we have arranged for fruitful overlap between that George Fox put to the people in the parish children’s meeting programming and the adult church near Swarthmoor Hall in 1652. It is the religious education themes. Our meeting question about the work of the Spirit among us united with the local Catholic community that we in the New Association of Friends have to raise funds for our yet-to-be completed tried to answer in a gathering on August 23, houses of worship. Catholic neighbors joined 2014 in Muncie, Indiana. us for Sunday meeting, then we proceeded In our discussions of our lives as Friends over the to the new unfinished church in Santa Elena past two years, four themes emerged: for food, music, dancing, skits and mass. We

22 Epistles & testimonies First, drawing inspiration from our rich heritage. with each other. Many of us spoke of how Two of our meetings are over 200 years old; one wonderful it was not to approach a gathering is 196. This year Spiceland Monthly Meeting of Friends with apprehension, but with hope, celebrates its 190th anniversary. We all share a joy, even an anticipation of having fun. We are deep sense of the importance of our testimonies still in discernment about the future of the New and worship and an appreciation of the power Association of Friends. We rejoice at how far we of silence. Many of us are engaged in discussions have come, trusting God will continue to lead and study of how best to carry out these us to deepen and strengthen our ties, and to testimonies in the contemporary world. increased effectiveness and faithfulness. Second, intentionality. The break with Indiana Margaret Fraser, Clerk Yearly Meeting has given many of us a new sense Friends of the Light, Michigan of freedom – a feeling we can imagine and plan Russell Wheeler, Recording Clerk in new and innovative ways. We see this in a Englewood Friends Meeting, Ohio number of discussions and projects. These have, in some of our meetings, meant re-evaluating committee and meeting structures in ways that would not have been possible in the past. It New York Yearly Meeting has meant a new focus on missions and giving, (FGC/FUM) as each meeting has assumed responsibility for directing its donations and gifts, both in our Seventh Month/July 20–26, 2014 local communities and in the wider world. This To Friends everywhere, has given many of us a new sense of energy and joy. We were urged to seek ways to engage At Silver Bay, New York, in this our 319th with each other more intentionally through Summer Session, the Spirit moved mightily the New Association of Friends, in more direct among us to transform conflict into loving relationships. community. Our Priorities Working Group, charged with listening to Friends around the Third, change. The New Association is the result Yearly Meeting and discerning our priorities of a withdrawal from Indiana Yearly Meeting and leadings, presented the results of three that some found traumatic, others liberating. years’ diligent, faithful and spirit-led work. Our But we now share a sense of relief that the plenary speaker, Joyce Schroeder, brought us tensions we experienced are past. All of our tools for change. meetings are facing changes. Salem has children in its nursery for the first time in fifteen years. We labored and prayed, testing and Richmond First Friends mentioned the energy strengthening an emerging capacity to from its new leadership. Friends Memorial in experience “disagreement without estrangement” Muncie is in discernment about the future of its (2012 NYYM Epistle). After tender listening, preschool program. All of our congregations face re-visioning, and with renewed trust, we joyfully challenges and opportunities in change. All of approved the NYYM Statement of Leadings and us are trying to respond to economic and social Priorities. changes that have caused growing poverty and This is the beginning of something, not the end. deprivation in our local communities. How best to respond to these needs is an issue for all of Friends who paddled in a river journey us. We have also created a new web site for the commemorating the Two Row Wampum, Association that can be found at: a treaty between the Dutch and the www.newassociationoffriends.org. Haudenosaunee, urged us to “Be caught in the breath that drives us forward as Friends.” We Finally, hope. We share a renewed sense of the felt this manifested in the joyful laughter of encouragement that can be found in relationship children, in the energy of the Earthcare Working

Epistles & testimonies 23 Group, in the continuing transformation Young the world, we are called to find our voice as part Adult Friends experienced, and in the songs and of our witness. We approved a minute urging spoken words of Maggie Edmondson in Bible [Congress to] repeal the Authorization for Use of Study, which reminded us of the need for quiet Military Force. contemplation prior to action. We seek ways During our last annual session, we made a to hold and carry the Yearly Meeting, as the commitment to the children of the Yearly beloved Friends, whose passing we marked this Meeting to hire a paid children’s program year, did so ably. coordinator for Annual Session. The coordinator New York Yearly Meeting has allowed the children’s leaders to focus Jeffrey L. Hitchcock, Clerk on the children and activities rather than administration. He has also been reaching out to the monthly meetings to find children’s North Pacific Yearly program leaders and nurturing the connection between Annual Session and the children. Meeting (FGC) Youth committee is now freer to work with the monthly meetings on developing children’s To Friends everywhere, programs and sharing information. Throughout this annual session at Pacific We have struggled the last few years in engaging University in Forest Grove, OR, we sat in silence all of the monthly meetings, preparative with each other, spoke honestly, and allowed meetings, and worship groups in the business of ourselves to be open and vulnerable. Our Friends the Yearly Meeting. Some of these meetings have in Residence, Ken and Katharine Jacobsen (Ohio reported being overwhelmed by the amount of YM), presented the theme, ‘Transformative input requested from Yearly Meeting. This had Power of Spirit in Community: Finding Light become a burden. However, at a recent gathering in the Yearly Meeting.’ They shared their fears of the committee that coordinates the work of that illness would prevent them from serving Yearly Meeting, there was an unexpected rise us in the way they had originally intended. in energy. We made a change in structure that Accepting the disappointments of life teaches invites participation rather than requiring it, us humility. After speaking about trusting the hoping that more voices will be heard. At the two-way motion of love, Katharine asked us to same time, all of us are exploring ways to keep release our expectations for Annual Session. We connections open. We are still wrestling with were reminded that we gather to re-consecrate the tension between approaching our business ourselves so that nothing gets left out of the worshipfully and having enough time for all of healing work of the Divine. our business. We put effort into making sure our business was At the heart of our annual session is our worship. spirit-led by pausing frequently for worship. The Ken Jacobsen asked that we come together high-school age and young adult Friends led to remember that we are a part of something a plenary session in which they demonstrated greater than ourselves. We are to release ourselves comfort with a measured pace of speaking and from our words and stories. Then we can return silence when responding to the query: “What home to the wordless mystery of God. This is is the Spirit asking us to do?” Some spoke of followed by receiving messages, invitations to treasuring their community and feeling safe to participate in creation. Finally, we are called to speak about their faith. Others shared concerns respond fully to the motions of love. What is about the health and future of the Yearly love asking of us today? Meeting. They invited older Friends to join them in deep conversation. Many of us were inspired Signed in and for North Pacific Yearly by FCNL’s example of how the Spirit leads Meeting people to action. Rather than feeling helpless in Tom Rawson, Presiding Clerk

24 Epistles & testimonies Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting In the Light, (FGC) Stephen Angell, Clerk Epistle from the 194th Session Seventh Month 30, 2014 to Eighth Quaker Youth Pilgrimage Month 3, 2014 2014 Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to Cradles of Andean Quakerism my path. Psalms 119:105 To all Friends everywhere, The Friends of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting met at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana from “For as in one body we have many members, 7/30–8/3/2014. We gathered under the theme and not all the members have the same ‘Living up to Our Light’. The question that we function, so we, who are many, are one body addressed in our time together was: how is our in Christ, and individually we are members light embodied in action? As Friends met, the one of another.” answers that gradually emerged began to move Romans 12:4–5 us toward the truth that light is entrusted to all Friends in God: having to describe the why and of us, not just to us as individuals. the what unites us which is God’s love, has been In plenary sessions, workshops, small groups, a unique experience for each one of us. interest groups, and other activities all of us were We twenty-six pilgrims from nine different given the difficult question: how can our light countries have travelled together in Peru and make a difference in a broken world? As our Bolivia for a month (22 July–21 August 2014). sacred time together progressed, we experienced Due to the pilgrimage being the first to Latin not despair but a powerful sense of hope that we America there has been much travelling in order can make a difference. In living up to our light to see as many Friends and places as possible. together, we are empowered to change the world. The places we have visited include Ite, Tacna, The light given each of us is like a screen made Moquegua, Arequipa, Puno, Ilave, Amacari, up of many pixels that alone do not look like Sorata, La Paz, Coroico, Cochabamba, and anything, but taken together form a beautiful Santa Cruz. At most of these places we heard the picture. From our individual gifts we have a role about the founding and stories of the churches to play, however small that is our part of the we visited. We are grateful for the hospitality whole. We were given encouragement, tools, and and care shown to us during our travels. One of opportunities to put our gifts and testimonies the achievements of this pilgrimage was showing into practice. that a trip to Peru and Bolivia can be a success; with thanks to God’s blessing, to our leaders and We were reminded that we are not alone in this the FWCC pilgrimage committees for helping enterprise. Others join with us to bring growth make this possible. It was explained to us that we in each one of us, much as plants grow toward were guinea pigs and it just so happened that we the light. An awareness of the problems of our also ate guinea pig. world could not be avoided but seeds were planted that can only bear fruit if we care for The pilgrimage makes us understand that it is ourselves, our families, our meetings, and the God’s purpose that we are not alone. Whether communities where we live, breathe, and have our worship is programmed for a whole morning our being. one day a week, or an un-programmed spiritual moment that lets the silence work and enables There is much work to do in the healing of our us to listen to the voice of God or sometimes world and we received both encouragement and a semi-programmed union of the two, we tools to set about this work.

Epistles & testimonies 25 are united in faith to praise God. At first our Southeastern Yearly different forms of worship slightly conflicted, but after we discussed both at length, we came Meeting (FGC/FUM) to appreciate each other’s beliefs. In our meetings for worship for business we nominated co- Fourth Month 20, 2014 clerks, elders, a committee of care, a nominating Loving Greetings to Friends everywhere, committee, and a closing committee. Some of these appointments were made twice in order for Southeastern Yearly Meeting gathered in more pilgrims to participate. Fruitland Park, Florida, Fourth Month 16–20, 2014, with 172 participants, including two We have found a home away from home within beloved members who have attended Gathering each other. Everyone quickly became integrated for more than 40 years, and 22 children. We in spite of the language gap. We had ‘secret joyfully celebrated our 50th anniversary with friends’ (anonymously assigned friends) to look the theme ‘Quakers in the 21st Century: How after, which gave us a chance to get to know do we address our traditional testimonies in one another better. Playing games and learning our modern electronically driven world.’ This is songs in English and Spanish have helped us particularly appropriate since we just published get to know one another, including the young the 4th edition of our Faith and Practice, in both Friends from churches we visited, who made a print and eBook formats. Monthly meetings valuable contribution to our pilgrimage. Our and worship groups brought posters of their bus journeys were made more vibrant and noisy histories, and we celebrated the anniversary with by Noah’s Ark, a singing game. Many hours have cake and a group photo. been spent learning new games from pilgrims’ home countries. Whenever given the chance, Joining bird song beside the lake each morning we played lots of sports. It has been a month in worship, we were opened to the power of love entirely separate from our everyday lives yet we in the Spirit that renews. “Silence, especially in feel that we have known each other for years. life’s busyness, leads us through the whitewater of life to gentle pools of still and calm,” wrote Let all nations hear the word by sound or J. Brent Bill (New Meetings Project, FGC). writing. Spare no place, spare not tongue nor Selected as Walton lecturer, he led us through pen but be obedient to the Lord God and workshops with humor and inspirational go through the work and be valiant for the exercises to deepen our spirituality, build Truth upon earth; tread and trample all that is community, and envision the steps we need to contrary under…. Be patterns, be examples in take to lead us to the yearly meeting that we all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever want five years from now. Brent Bill focused our you go, so that your carriage and life may attention on the future of Friends “Lost – and preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Found – in Space”, urging us to be true to the Then you will come to walk cheerfully over testimonies we feel in our hearts, and tolerant of the world, answering that of God in every one. the differences in ways that Friends feel them. George Fox 1656, During meetings for worship with attention to letter from Launceston Gaol business, Friends were moved to: Signed on behalf of the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage • Support the work of Quaker House in 2014, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, August 20, 2014 Fayetteville, North Carolina, near Fort Original Co-Clerks: Bragg, the largest military base in the Alexandra Corcoran. Myron Guachalla United States. Current Co-Clerks: • Minute our deep concern for how Rachel Whittaker, Sergio Espino Gregorio we Friends address climate change as recommended by our Committee for Earthcare.

26 Epistles & testimonies • Express our appreciation to ProNica staff Western Yearly Meeting and Board who reported that income from educational-service delegations cover (FUM) operational expenses, so that 100% of contributions go directly to projects. 20 July 2014 • Cheer our youth and youth leaders To Friends everywhere, who created their ‘Tomato Crops to Western Yearly Meeting gathered in Plainfield, Mountain Tops’ programs, working with Indiana July 17–20, 2014 to examine Luke the Coalition of Immokolee Workers and 12:42: “Who then is the faithful manager?” Mountain Justice in Appalachia. Our This, our 157th Annual Session, was centered youth encouraged us to join them in an on the general theme of stewardship. Using Earth Day demonstration with Earth the statement of John Woolman, “To turn all Quaker Action Team at a PNC Bank we possess into the channel of universal love Stockholders Meeting in Tampa, Florida, becomes the business of our lives,” participants next week. We minuted support for this examined and considered stewardship in many action. forms, not just financial. We continued through our days together, with early morning worship at the lake, in worship Eden Grace, our devotional speaker, pointed sharing sessions, meetings for worship with out the accountability for right usage of all attention to business, and a wide variety of resources available, not just money. Stressing workshops presented by Quaker organization the privilege of stewardship, the need to seek staff, representatives, guests, and members. All God first rather than material wealth, and the workshops were nourishing, notably a double need to understand social inequalities as a guide session on the topic of Eldership, inspiring for responsible allocation of resources, Friends to many. We experienced Grace: greeting old were invited to examine their corporate and friends and meeting new ones, dining, singing individual lives to consider the need for changes. around the piano, playing intergenerational Continuing the theme through Quaker Lecture, games, camping, relaxing together, and dancing. Noval D. Reece examined the need to apply Our Faith and No Practice Band provided music the principles of stewardship to help us evolve for our lively intergenerational dance, and we from ‘Private Quakers’ working on self-centered closed the evening with our traditional acapella issues into ‘Public Quakers’ working to create round of “Oh Lovely Is the Evening.” an environment where a meeting’s resources are We ended our Gathering with gratitude in our used to uplift , support and reach out to those hearts and feeling more deeply connected to both within AND without the meeting. the Spirit and each other, aware of new ways to Workshops were conducted which further thrive as Southeastern Yearly Meeting engaged in expanded the concept of stewardship. From the the world. consideration of goals, reaching out to young In the Light, adults, sharing of food, equipping leaders and workers, ecological issues, ethical choices, public Phoebe Biers Andersen, Clerk policy, property, finance, and practical “how Epistle Committee: Lyn Cope, Nancy to” discussions, Friends were encouraged to Howell, Susan Taylor look beyond the traditional view of monetary stewardship. Building on last year’s theme of giftedness, this year’s theme of stewardship allowed groups and individuals to ‘rightly share’ their resources through times of worship, times of business,

Epistles & testimonies 27 and times of contemplation. As we continue in the coming year to become ever more faithful stewards, we ask for your prayer that we can, in fact, “turn all we possess in the channel of universal love.” In Christian Love, Dale Graves, Presiding Clerk Elizabeth Ann Carter, Recording Clerk Sarah Lookabill, Assistant to the Clerks

28 Epistles & testimonies From Asia – West Pacific

Aotearoa/New Zealand devastated city. Their frustrations and sense of powerlessness in their dealing with bureaucracy Te Hahi Tuhauwiri continue to exhaust and deplete them on a daily basis, yet hope and energy still remain. Held at Kiwi Ranch, Curious Cove, Tōtaranui (Queen Charlotte Sound), As we moved into further sessions our testimonies came to the fore and challenged 23–26 May 2014 us as to how we put our concerns into action. The upcoming one hundred year Gallipoli Dear Friends, commemorations bring a new light to our Peace Loving greetings to you all, everywhere! Statement of 1987 and how it could be a focus for our response. We were exercised in how In our opening worship we were reminded of we might do things differently in discussions our gifted name Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri (the faith about nurturing our children and young people community which stands shaking in the spirit) and meeting our own educational and spiritual as the wind whistled up the cove, through the needs. We also asked ourselves: how can we bush, and rattled the building. make our Testimonies to integrity, simplicity and In preparation over half the gathering made sustainability real and visible within our society space and stillness in a silent retreat in the day and in the wider world? leading into Yearly Meeting. We were invited to In the opening words of the 2014 Quaker deepen our breath and pace our step through Lecture Standing in this Place, we were again Contemplative and Zen meditation, and create reminded of a sense of place and time. Sydney an open place to welcome those coming to join Parkinson, a Quaker botanical illustrator, was on us off the boat and welcome the Spirit among us. board explorer James Cook’s first voyage into the Over 60 Friends from all Monthly Meetings and Sounds in 1769, and the introductory speaker’s Young Friends ventured by launch to the bush- mentor, John Rangihau, an influential Māori clad remote location for our Yearly Meeting. leader, gave a lecture here at Curious Cove some Understanding that growing points occur not 50 years ago. The four speakers spoke from a only at the tips of a plant, but also along the place of understandings distilled from deep and stem and branch and at the roots, was an image varied experiences as they grappled with our offered by the Clerks in their State of the Society relationship to Te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi) address. They asked: “do we need to look at the partners in social, historical, institutional talents we have been entrusted with and consider and personal settings. Together they explored how we have been using them, thus to bring opportunities for Pākehā to work for justice for creativity to our service?” indigenous people through political and social change in very different ways on a day to day Our Christchurch Friends began their story with basis. slides of the proliferation of street art in their

Epistles & testimonies 29 All the while in sessions we were constantly Light which sustains us. As a concentrated aware of where we were as the sounds of the Yearly Meeting community, living together and surrounds permeated our ears and vision and in interacting in a wide range of activities, with ministry we were asked: the frictions that this may bring, we have been reminded of the words of Isaac Penington to What can we hear but cannot see? bear one with another and, where there has been Feel but not control? any slip or fall, to forgive and provide a helping, What touches each of us differently? tender hand. Can change the course of our path? It is the wind. It is the wind. We delight that our Society is international in It is the Spirit. It is the Spirit. nature and we welcomed guests from Aotearoa New Zealand, India and the United Kingdom. Elizabeth Duke & Elizabeth Thompson, Co- Our FWCC – Asia West Pacific section visitor, Clerks Devdas Shrisunder, provided insights into the Pākehā = New Zealanders of European descent, challenges facing Friends in India. sometimes applied to all non-Māori New Zealanders At this Yearly Meeting, the issue of relationship to the environment, particularly in face of accelerating extreme climate, was an area of considerable deliberation. At an earlier Yearly Australia Yearly Meeting Meeting we developed an Earthcare Statement. 2014 This year we are grappling with how we can take the next step, including an Earthcare Testimony, To Friends everywhere, as witness to the centrality of the concern for our right relationship with the Earth. Greetings from Australian Friends, meeting in the undulating bushland setting of the Nathan We have explored a wide range of issues relating campus of Griffith University in Brisbane, to our Peace Testimony including our role with situated on the traditional lands of the Yuggerah Friends Peace Teams in the Asia West Pacific and people. the Anzac centenary. A large group of Friends joined the long-established Queensland Regional The temperature on the day of arrival for our Meeting Peace Vigil in King George Square, Yearly Meeting reached 39 degrees Celsius, Brisbane. providing a lingering thermal backdrop to our discussions concerning whether we should The First Nations Peoples have been the continue to hold Yearly Meeting in January, custodians of this ancient land for more than at the height of the Australian summer, or at a forty thousand years. The relationship between cooler time of year. these custodians and the settler community was explored during our Summer School with First As we have proceeded with the discernment of Nations leader Wayne “Coco” Wharton, and in the right holding of Yearly Meeting, in terms formal and informal deliberations throughout of time, place and process, we have become the course of our Yearly Meeting. Twenty increasingly aware of the complexity of finding five Friends engaged with local First Nations an optimal answer to these issues with many peoples at a smoking ceremony at the Aboriginal proposed solutions seeming to potentially embassy at Musgrave Park close to central prevent the attendance, or at least seriously Brisbane. The manner in which we can share disadvantage, some significant section of our sovereignty of the land between First Nations Quaker family. people and the settler community remains a Summer schools gave us opportunities, in continuing challenge for us and we have been small circles, to renew friendships and meet urged to make personal contact with our local new Friends to focus heart and mind on the First Nations communities and initiate and

30 Epistles & testimonies continue a conversation as to how we can act plan to implement the same at Friends Rural together to this end. Centre, Hoshangabad. Their report was very much appreciated by the Meeting and assured We have been concerned about the inclusiveness support to carry out this project at the Centre. of our practices, particularly in relation to our younger members. At last Yearly Meeting we Experience of attending Australian Yearly supported the appointment of a children and Meeting by Devdas Shrisunder, was amazing junior young Friends coordinator who was and helpful for organizing our future Yearly with us at this Yearly Meeting. In a remarkable Meetings. Backhouse lecture, incorporating Quaker Young Friends helped us in cooking food. history, personal experience, song and family participation, we were further challenged by our In our business meeting, all decisions were taken lecturer, Tracy Bourne, on how to bring children unanimously respecting each other’s thoughts as into the centre of Quaker life and worship. We a member of our family. are strongly aware that a healthy and resilient We closed our Meeting with a prayer Society cannot be sustained without strong inter- generational bonds, involvement and spirit. In love of Christ Ronald Titus Arvind Iliazer Bhopal Yearly Meeting Sunny Nathaniel Epistle of the Bhopal Yearly Meeting 9 Feb 2014 Greetings to Friends everywhere, We gathered together at Friends Church Bhopal on 9 Feb 2014 for our Annual Meeting with a great joy to have this meeting in newly built Meeting House. Our Meeting was started with giving thanks to Almighty, enabling us to construct new Meeting House even when we did not have enough money to complete this work. All our members contributed for this cause whole heartedly. Main theme of our Meeting was “If you love me, you keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Many shared their thoughts. Following commands in our daily lives is very difficult, however we can begin with the command which we can apply easily in our lives. And thus, if we follow, we become a letter of Christ. We also discussed the practical ways of witnessing our faith by obeying commands of truthfulness, love, simplicity, equality and way of peaceful life. Nalini and Devdas shared their experiences of participating in ‘Bio Sand Water Filter Workshop’ at Bengaluru, Karnataka and their

Epistles & testimonies 31 Testimonies Introduction marked by conspicuous service to God and the church” (text typed up in Friends House library Testimonies to the Grace of God subject files c.1970). in lives – an enduring presence An early American testimony written around The advice in the current Quaker faith & practice 1690 advises “it is a justice due to the righteous, at paragraph 4.27 that “a testimony should not and a duty upon us, to contribute something be a formal obituary or eulogy, but should to perpetuate the names of such who have record in thankfulness the power of divine left a fragrancy behind them, and through grace in human life” is not always easy to carry faith have obtained a good report” (Samuel through. Jennings’s testimony concerning John Eckley of Philadelphia). The following paragraph, 4.28, a minute from the then Hertford Monthly Meeting* of 1780, Coming forward to the 20th century, London records “the purpose of a testimony concerning Yearly Meeting Church government of 1931, our deceased worthy Friends [is] intended as a in use for more than three decades, stated memorial, that they have walked as children of “A Monthly Meeting may issue a testimony the Light, and of the Day, and to excite those concerning the life and service of a deceased who remain to take diligent heed, and to yield member whose life has been marked by devotion to the teachings of the still small voice, that to the cause of his Lord and to the service of the they may follow them as they followed Christ, Church. The object of such a Testimony is not the great captain of their salvation”. Much of eulogy, but to preserve a record of Divine Grace this expresses Friends’ interest in the writing of in the lives of (wo)men.” This last sentence bears testimonies today, but how is it carried out? a close similarity to para 4.27 in the current Quaker faith & practice. The text goes on to refer Historically in Britain the issue of records to progression of a testimony to Yearly Meeting concerning deceased Friends in the ministry “only if it is likely to be of service to the Society”. began in the 17th century. “An early record This is in line with our current practice. maintained by London YM is now lost but a series of volumes begun in 1740 were In today’s fast-moving world Friends face a maintained until 1872 with retrospective entries double challenge: to concentrate on the Divine copied up from 1719. These volumes are known and to write a short but rounded record. The as ‘Testimonies concerning ministers deceased’. first is not easy as it necessarily relates to our From the 19th century [they] contain minutes temporal experience; the second is increasingly from quarterly meetings recording the lives important if posterity is to hold learning from of Friends rather than ministers. From 1861 an inspiring text in an age of complexities, speed quarterly meetings were at liberty to prepare a and an increasing multiplicity of knowledge and testimony concerning any Friend “whose life was communication. Friends can be long-winded.

Epistles & testimonies 33 This puts some off from joining in our business Were outward concerns truly a reflection of meetings for worship. inward Grace? How does economic comfort sit easily with God’s Will? Then we come back to A testimony should radiate the Grace of God as what to include, what to leave out and how to shown in the life of the Friend who has passed outwardly reflect a spiritually inspired life to from this world. It differs from an obituary future generations. account of achievements, yet a few milestones in the life of the deceased will serve to illuminate Not far distant may be the expectations of the spiritual gifts bestowed. relatives of the deceased. When a close relative died I had anticipated a prepared obituary in The Date of birth, date(s) of marriage(s), and date Friend but instead I read a note from one who of death describe the setting of time. This is had only known her in her last years. I know a a necessary aid to living Friends. It is also a Friend now who feels hurt that no testimony was recognition of the times in which the life is set written around her partner who died some years for posterity, where future Friends can relate the ago. On another occasion a Friend who was to spiritual gifts received to the cultural context die shortly afterwards made plain that he did not of the era. Reference to immediate antecedents want a testimony written to his life. It is difficult can anchor the recall of a name for more distant to know the aspirations of family members, and Friends. Reference to children can demonstrate particularly so when anxiety and grief intrude. the enrichment of life. With a little passage of time, such aspirations, Recognition of a spiritually lived life and its if known, should not cloud the consideration application characterises the preparation of a within monthly meeting of how appropriately testimony. Worship through quiet waiting upon to remember a Friend. Such an interlude of God prayerfully alone or where two or three are perhaps a few months may help the meeting also gathered together in meeting is the hallmark of in its discernment as to whether to prepare a a Quaker. This does not deny the devotional or testimony to the Grace of God in a life. It is the biblical emphases in other traditions. As seekers Light shining in life that matters. after Truth, Friends should be open to new That meetings might hold a short record of learning as God’s revelation continues in the the lives of members is commendable. That world. these should be developed into testimonies is It is against this background that the application not necessarily the right use of time for the of talents, whether within the life of the living. It is difficult to distinguish between the Society or in witness in the wider world, are Martha and the Mary, and neither should we described. There is a temptation to link these to judge. Meetings need prayerful thought before a career pattern or an extended voluntary body committing the strengths of a life to a Quaker commitment, and hence border on an obituary. testimony. Rather, it is the spiritually inspired application John Melling, Assistant Clerk to General of the talent for good that matters. Examples of Meeting for Scotland the flowering of each talent in the life pattern of the departed Friend can then be quoted. If As endorsed by General Meeting for Scotland carefully knit together these convey an image of by its minute 15 of 11 September 2004. the whole. Approved by Meeting for Sufferings by minute Writing a testimony to the life of a departed 6 of 2 December 2006. Friend may not be easy. How far do we *Monthly meetings are now known as area understand the familial and cultural background, meetings. the stresses and successes in that life? Did the light shine forth in life? Where we see glimpses of the inner spiritual life, how do these reflect in outward activity?

34 Epistles & testimonies Kenneth Aldous working life he became assistant director of social services at the London Borough of Brent. 13 vi 1924 – 12 v 2014 Ken Aldous’ work over many years led in 2000 to an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Ken Aldous showed a positive and caring Surrey County Council. attitude in all that he did. This was typified by the way that, after receiving a diagnosis of cancer In 1956 Ken married Margaret Bennett. Theirs in 2009 and expected to survive only months, was a close and very happy marriage that lasted he grasped the situation with firm resolve and 50 years until Margaret’s death in 2007. They continued to live an outward-looking and had three children, Robert, Helen and Anne. purposeful life. Anne was born in 1969 with Down’s syndrome. This put a great strain on Ken and Margaret but Ken and his brother Howard were twins. Their they bore this burden and cared for Anne with family were Baptists and they were brought up boundless love and dedication and they worked in Canada. At Ken’s funeral Howard told us tirelessly for the provision of group homes for that when Jesus said “Thou shalt not kill” Ken the mentally disabled in Surrey. After Margaret’s understood that He really meant it. Howard was death Ken continued his devoted care for Anne, impressed that his brother as a conscientious asking that his funeral should contain happy objector was willing to go to prison for his songs for her benefit. beliefs. He told us that Ken shared a cell with a murderer who could not understand why he Ken Aldous was at the centre of Sutton Meeting was in prison for killing someone and Ken for for many years. He served as clerk for two refusing to kill! years from 1982 and later as an elder. He was involved in many other activities of the Meeting Ken was 15 at the outbreak of World War and constantly challenged us to move forward. II. Three years later he joined the Friends He had an enquiring mind and in his later Ambulance Unit, trained in nursing and driving years his writings and vocal ministry tended and was sent to Egypt, Italy and Greece to work towards philosophy, dealing with our place in in military hospitals and with refugees. In 1945 creation and holding a faith that takes account at the end of the war in Europe he volunteered of developments in science. He took part in local to go to China which was still at war with Japan. meetings of a Progressive Christianity Network. His experiences there of medical work in village Ken’s attitude was always positive and this came clinics in wartime had a profound effect on Ken with a strong sense of humour: he didn’t mind for the rest of his life and he looked back to this making a fool of himself. His frequent attitude time, and his later service in India, as a formative to tensions within the Meeting was ‘don’t get period. worked up about it – just let it flow’. He relaxed Back in England, Ken decided to train in Social playing bowls and was a valued member of the Services and this was the start of a successful Sutton Steel band ensemble. career with various County Councils. In 1965 Ken’s strongly pacifist principles were seriously he became head of the Children’s Department at challenged by the 1992 war in Bosnia and the London Borough of Sutton and this is when Herzegovina. Quakers were contributing to he came to Sutton Meeting. That was a time humanitarian relief in that area and some of great tension in social work. The Seebohm Friends objected to relief workers travelling Report, published in 1968, recommended under military protection. Ken Aldous took the that most social workers should become view that delivery of relief was of paramount generalists. Ken was fiercely opposed to the loss importance and if we needed the support of of specialisation in child care and shared with the army then so be it. In this we saw Ken’s Friends his deep opposition to this development. willingness to review the application of his He resigned and went to work for Dr Barnardo’s principles in the light of a changing world Homes, although for the last ten years of his situation.

Epistles & testimonies 35 For some years, Ken regularly supported Arts. She also took a year’s course at the Institute Purley Quaker Meeting during a period of low of Archaeology and Ethnography in London attendance there. His presence brought a much- which led to a time as assistant curator at the valued warmth and wisdom into that small Verulamium Museum in St Albans. meeting, where he also led a Bible discussion Her love of poetry started at The Mount, where group. His intelligent and questioning approach staff required each girl to learn lines of poetry to the biblical text was a revelation to Friends each day. Rosalind went on to write her own and new attenders. poems – some of which have been published During his final illness Ken refused intensive in three booklets. Her poetry includes astute therapy, having watched his wife endure a similar observations of the mundane things of life – the condition. He took an extraordinarily relaxed noises made by her elderly father as he moved view of impending death and set about using around the house are, for example, described on his remaining time as positively and usefully as a par with his beautiful piano playing. The weeds possible. He continued for four years beyond his in the garden are as important as the cultivated expected survival time and we, his Friends, were flowers. She had the ability to bring ordinary, amazed and delighted that he continued to be seemingly dull things, to life. with us. In spite of having periods of pain and She enjoyed reading poetry and prose aloud suffering he seemed determined to keep going for others, and took an active part in the local and prove the doctors wrong. He moved down poetry-reading group and in poetry writing the road into a care home where he soon became courses all over the country. Similarly, she a valued resident, warmly loved by the staff. enjoyed drawing and painting, sharing her In Ken’s writings at this time he repeats Jesus’ insights into everyday scenes, and she frequently words “I and the Father are one”, seeing ‘Father’ illustrated her letters to friends and family with as a metaphor for the spirit of love, compassion amusing sketches and cartoons. and purpose. He goes on to write of the gift of Singing was also an activity she much enjoyed, silent worship and exhorts us to a life of service, always eager to be part of a choir and to give not being too clever or too good or proud, but pleasure to others through music. She was very aiming for a contrite, open and loving heart. much a ‘doer’ rather than a spectator. Signed in and on behalf of South London Her willingness to serve, her enjoyment in Area Meeting, sharing her interests with others, and her held at Croydon on 15 November 2014 enthusiasm to explore, travel, observe and Rhiannon Rees, Clerk work at new things were amply demonstrated throughout her life. She spent three years in the Quaker Rural Rosalind Mary Baker Centre in Rasulia (India) where an English family remembers her as being a “very warm and 29 ix 1929 – 24 xi 2012 fun teacher – tutoring the children of her fellow Rosalind lived adventurously and fully workers combined with caring for visitors – and throughout her days. Born in Oxford, she was chickens!” She was a very unassuming person the first of three children of Quaker parents. and was surprised to be asked to return to India After primary education in Oxford she went to be Acting Director at Quaker House in New as a boarder to the Mount School in York. In Delhi during an inter-regnum. Afterwards she 1945 the family moved to Bristol when her travelled widely in India and Nepal. father was appointed to the Chair of Organic Further service included six years as housekeeper Chemistry at the University. It was at Bristol at Woodbrooke, and two years as Assistant that Rosalind obtained her degree in General Warden at Friends’ International Centre, and

36 Epistles & testimonies both allowed Rosalind to use her knowledge and Signed in and on behalf of North Somerset interests, and to participate fully in community Area Meeting, life, in spite of bouts of anxiety and depression. held at Weston-super-Mare on 9 February She continued to live at the International Centre 2014 when she started work at the Mary Ward Centre. Tom Leimdorfer, Clerk Throughout her time in London she welcomed friends and strangers to the International Centre and maintained Quaker values there, for instance upholding the Centre’s “9pm one minute’s Ivy Broadhurst silence for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa.” 1920–2014 On retiring she moved to Winscombe to look “A testimony... should record in thankfulness the after her parents. She took a full part in Sidcot power of divine grace in human life” (Quaker Meeting, where she was greatly appreciated as faith & practice 4.27). an elder. She rarely ministered in meeting for Ivy was a member of the Religious Society of worship, but when she did, her ministry was Friends for all of her life. Although born in helpful, as were her contributions to elders’ Glasgow, she was brought up in the almost- meetings, where she was always aware of their feudal agrarian village of East Harling in nurturing role. She was an active supporter of Norfolk. Her article for the Friends Quarterly Churches Together in Winscombe. some years ago “A Quaker childhood” gives a Vulnerable herself at times, Rosalind could show warm and humorous account of her experiences. compassion and empathy with the vulnerability Her understanding of the ways of the Society of of others. Friends have written of her kindness, Friends began as a small child sitting through the her sense of humour, joyousness and positive whole of meetings for worship – and monthly attitude to life. They have described her as “an and quarterly meetings. encourager who eased the lives of others” and Her attendance as a boarder at Sibford School as someone who “made us feel quite special”. encouraged an independence of thought and When hospitalised, she took a great interest an interest in people which ever remained with in the lives and wellbeing of those caring for her. Ivy’s life was enriched by her enduring her, and continued to write. She was a non- friendship with Helen Brigham, which began complainer. Rosalind’s courage in dealing with when they were pupils together at Sibford. Their her increasing health problems over the years was shared Beverley home became a place of spiritual quite remarkable. refreshment and renewal for many who visited. From Sounds of Morning Their shared life enriched and strengthened I’m awake, and listening their local and monthly meeting. Ivy and Helen To sounds within the house, were among the small group of Friends who in The fridge’s erratic humming 1954 had the vision and courage to build a new Clicks from the central heating Quaker community in Beverley, after an absence My clock ticking of some 100 years. I’m awake, and hearing Initially, in her employment with the YWCA, Sounds of my father stirring. she experienced a hurtful intolerance of her The cistern gurgling, fridge door shutting, faith, which she overcame by her characteristic Crockery clinking. humour and conscientious work. A highlight When the sounds turn to smells of her early working life was attending an – Bacon frying, toast burning – international conference in Norway, where she was able to meet other delegates and learn of I get up and begin making their very different ways of being faithful. Her My own morning sounds.

Epistles & testimonies 37 commitment to ecumenism stemmed from this Ivy lived adventurously. An ambition to own experience. Later she trained as a teacher of blind and ride a motor bike was never fulfilled, though and partially-sighted people, whom she visited in a photograph of her, aged in her late eighties, their own homes – a rich source of stories. sitting astride a Harley-Davidson was displayed in her lounge. Bird-watching was always keen Ivy’s life and work was always in the service passionate interest, but age did not stop Ivy of others, On retirement she was freed to do from taking up new hobbies and projects and what she loved best – immersing herself in all travelling. Until well into her eighties she aspects of the community of Friends, especially regularly gave talks, with a slide show, of her in Beverley and the monthly meeting. A photos of pub signs, the origins of which she had work colleague remembers her commitment, assiduously researched. Her holidays in Orkney dedication, kindness, fairness wisdom and and Shetland involved some strenuous feats on sense of humour. Friends echo those epithets in sea and land, but guts and determinations to recalling her service as monthly meeting clerk, experience all overcame her increasing lameness. as chairman of Ravensworth Lodge Committee, as a Quaker Tapestry steward, as an elder, as a Making light of her own troubles, Ivy had a Friend in every sense of the word. genuine concern and sympathy for others. Many turned to her for support, advice, comfort, but Ivy used hospitality as a way to welcome new she would also take the initiative in giving of attenders and to develop friendships. People herself to those in crisis. Her heart went out to a were naturally drawn to her. In company she Quaker family caught up in the spurious ‘child was always cheerful, often bravely hiding any abuse’ saga of the 1980s and also to a family of her own pain or distress and so drawing struggling with the impact of a son who was attention away from herself. She had a pleasing dying with HIV/AIDS. She upheld them with rapport with younger people, who felt equal in loyal friendship through all their difficult years the mutual respect and affection she so naturally and on for the rest of her life. engendered. But her warmth and friendliness were gifts she bestowed on everyone. She was When Ivy’s dearest friend Helen Brigham died actively interested in the lives of her friends’ in 1994, Ivy described the lonely, barren and children and grandchildren. One small lad, on dark period of her grieving in an article for meeting her, told his mother that she reminded The Friend, entitled ‘The Treasure Chest’. Ivy him of Mrs Tiggywinkle How that would discovered that even on her desert island of have made her chuckle! Ivy’s twinkling, self- despair, she was standing on a treasure chest, in deprecating sense of fun was a delight. At her which she recognised the gold of love enfolding very core Ivy was a serious person but her sense her, pearls of prayers said by those who cared so of humour, quite mischievous, even ribald at much for her, the silver of laughter from those times, could break down barriers and include who tried to raise her spirits and a ray of hope everyone within a loving circle. illuminating the picture lying in the darkness. Ivy went on with these words: Her serious nature is best exemplified in her deep rooted commitment to the Religious Glad as I was to find the treasures, I realised Society of Friends. Many have learned of the they were useless unless they were used. The nature of Quakerism from Ivy’s innate wisdom gold would lose its lustre unless the love I had and her faithfulness in acting out the truths received was used by me to enable another to she held so dear. She was an example and an feel touched by the finger of God’s love. The inspiration. In later years, she worried about pearls of prayer would become dull unless the possible dilution of Quaker principles, but used by me on behalf of others. The silver she was prepared to look afresh at her own would tarnish unless I could bring laughter perceptions and accept where changes might be and joy to those with whom I came into daily ‘in right ordering’. contact. The ray of hope would never lighten

38 Epistles & testimonies the painting unless I found the right place for with Quakers came when she saw that he had a light to fall. been invited to speak at a public meeting in a Friends meeting house. One Sunday in 1935 she A precious memorial bequeathed to us from a took some posters to Kingston-on-Thames local much loved Friend. meeting and stayed for her first Quaker meeting. Signed in and on behalf of Pickering & Hull By then her family had moved to Surbiton and Area Meeting, she soon became aware of the Adult Schools held at Pickering on 14 December 2014 meeting at Kingston-on-Thames. Christine Fellowes, Clerk Her sense of life-long education (both intellectual and spiritual) began early. Beyond her dynamic professional life she attended a Betty Curtayne wide range of classes, including the Workers Educational Association which she supported 23 iv 1915 – 1 viii 2014 until her nineties. Of particular influence on her was the Heard-Huxley group, set up by Gerald Even in her late nineties Betty Curtayne must Heard and Aldous Huxley which met at Friends have been one of the youngest spirits in Britain International Centre, beginning each meeting Yearly Meeting. She had truly spiritual gifts with an hour of silence. Whilst still going to which she dispersed widely during her life 8am communion, she began to attend Quaker among Quakers, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists meetings, mainly in Kingston-on-Thames and and folk of all faiths and none. The memory of in 1947 she was accepted into membership. those gifts lives on. Those who encountered her Quickly she became involved in taking on will not easily forget her. As one Friend said of roles in the meeting and was instrumental in her, “Every meeting should have one!” establishing the Wimbledon Quaker Meeting, Born in Southend (she was proud to declare helped support Richmond Meeting and herself a “cockle”) Betty moved to Kilburn at formed with others a Quaker Retreat Group. the age of eight, where her father became a coal Throughout her life Betty was affected by a quite merchant’s manager. She failed her ‘11+’ exam: severe speech impediment, so she tended not to those who knew her sparkling intelligence to accept posts that involved public speaking. this was an indictment of that selective process. But her stammer never influenced her spoken However at 13 she passed her supplementary ministry. exam and gained entrance to the London Betty never married, though she hinted at a Collegiate School where she remained until 18 love that was never to be. Despite this she loved and had happy memories of her schooling. She Quaker weddings. On retirement from London began work in advertising for organisations as Transport she moved with her widowed mother varied as the Milk Marketing Board and the to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in 1976. She had naturist magazine Health and efficiency. But for never visited Bury before, but had seen a vacancy most of her working life she was employed by for a Fennell Homes flat adjacent to the meeting London Transport, firstly in publicity, being house advertised in The Friend. involved with the wonderful posters and the legendary tube map, then for the best part From her arrival in the town she was a familiar of 35 years she was their chief librarian. Her figure, a slight little woman, often a blaze of parents were not particularly religious and as contrasting colours bustling through the streets. a young woman she became drawn to Anglo- Some passers-by would stop to chat. Others Catholicism. A significant moment came for her would be arrested by her. She was quite capable when she heard Basil Jellicoe speak and was very of sensing an interesting or troubled soul and much in sympathy with his social gospel and would act as a kind of spiritual sounding board work in clearing slums. Her first acquaintance even to a complete stranger. She became a key

Epistles & testimonies 39 figure in many groups in the town, such as looking forward and in 2009 she submitted an the Workers Educational Association and the essay on the future of the Society of Friends University of the Third Age. In some senses she to the Friends Quarterly, at the age of 94. In took on the mantle of Margaret Kemp, who in that year too she was given Maundy money the 1950s had kept Bury St Edmunds Meeting by the Queen in recognition of her work in going against all the odds. the town. She was delighted too to help the playwright Danusia Iwasku in researching the Yet Betty was more of a nurturer than a fighter. life of Margaret Kemp for her play Still Small She had a knack of making all, even the newest Voice. Her memorial meeting in August 2013 face in the meeting, feel part of something packed Bury St Edmunds Meeting House where deeper and her persuasiveness was difficult to colleagues from her London Transport days and resist. She had an endless curiosity, but this was Friends from Kingston-on-Thames were able to wedded to a firmness of conviction. Her spoken join the representatives of a wide range of local ministry was invariably profound and rooted in groups and Ipswich and Diss Area Meeting in a deep knowledge of the Bible and other sacred celebrating her life and her legacy which lives texts. Her capacity for quotation was legendary. on in the small, dynamic library that bears her In one of her last meetings for worship at name. Margaret Fell meant a great deal to her the age of 98 she was able to quote at length and she lived a life in the conviction that “the from the Sermon on the Mount. In her small word and the power and the spirit of the living person she seemed able to hold the Christian- God endures forever, and is the same and never Universalist span and epitomised the Quaker changes”. that is “rooted in Christianity and open to new Light”. Seasoned or weighty Friends would be In East Anglia many years ago, Julian of challenged by her, enquirers would be stimulated Norwich would engage with passers-by from to read and experience the Quaker way and she her porch. In her words: “For complete would delight in finding common ground with understanding we have to long to know our own other faiths. soul wisely and truly”. This was Betty’s way. She strove to understand her own soul and in the Always there was a buzz of enthusiasm about process encouraged us all to do the same. her. She loved to research and to write. In 1982 she published a booklet about the history of Signed in and on behalf of Ipswich & Diss Quakers in Bury St Edmunds which she revised Area Meeting, in 2008. In 2000 she submitted an entry online held at Ipswich on 26 January 2014 for a BBC “Creed for the 21st century”. Part Jen Larner, Clerk of it said: “I believe that all men and women are capable of receiving promptings of love and truth, which if acted upon, will lead us to right conduct and the transformation of individuals Alison Joan Gean Davis and nations.” She delighted in the development of her beloved meeting house. 11 x 1969 – 1 ix 2013 Her small flat faced on to a busy street. Friends Alison was a passionate woman who lived her and new acquaintances would drop by. Others life by her beliefs. A Quaker, feminist, massage would join her open evening meetings, where therapist, artist, poet and mother Alison poetry, music and worship mingled, her inter- challenged societies, and indeed individual’s denominational prayer groups or her meditation conventions, about what it was to be all of these groups. Her approach to animals mirrored her things. spiritual journey. She adored cats and strove Alison was born to Christine and Robin at to understand their mysterious ways. But this 11.22 pm, 7 minutes after her twin sister did not prevent her from offering a warm Marion. Alison always maintained that Marion welcome to a passing terrier. To the end she was

40 Epistles & testimonies did nothing special with those 7 minutes. Alison loved to learn. She had two master’s Being Marion’s twin was a very important part degrees, one in Scottish History from St of Alison’s identity and she always expressed Andrews and the second in Peace Studies from sympathy for the non twins of the world. Bradford. During a year out from her Scottish History degree she attended Woodbrooke Born and raised in Dunblane in a Quaker family College and her terms there were transformative Alison made Quakerism her own. She and her and inspiring. She was a lively presence in many family spent a year in Canada when Alison was of the classes and activities becoming particularly 8, where the welcome of Hamilton Meeting, engaged with Peace Studies and Women’s and the experience of travelling among Friends Studies. During her time there she became across the country, lived on with her. Many of interested in massage therapy and when she the friendships begun then are still alive into and Mark returned to live in Dunblane in 1999 the next generation. Active as a young person in she opened her own massage therapy practice, the Leaveners, at the Canadian Friends’ Centre Gean Therapies. Her initial interest in remedial at Camp NeeKauNis, at the Honduras World massage mushroomed into a wide range of Conference and with Northern Friends’ Peace therapies that had Alison travelling to the States Board, her Quaker faith also took her to Iona and England to further her studies. With the Abbey to work in the cafe where she met her life birth of her first child Caitlin in 1999, Alison partner Mark Hughes. with typical passion studied to become a doula Alison and Mark had a Quaker Celebration (birthing partner) and her practice attracted of their Commitment on 20 November 1993. women pre and postpartum who felt supported They felt marriage was not an option for them and healed by Alison’s talent and knowledge. until it was possible for all couples, regardless of During her time with cancer Alison rejected their sexual orientation (Quaker faith & practice the term ‘battling with cancer’ because she 20.46). On what should have been their 20th did not want to embrace violent language and anniversary, 20 November 2013, new legislation fight her body, but rather work with it. She in the Scottish Parliament took Scotland one therefore chose to ‘live with cancer’. Alison step closer to equal marriage, finally realised struggled to balance her beliefs about alternative on 4 February 2014. From their commitment therapies with the invasive and aggressive cancer celebration Alison and Mark took the mutual treatments of western medicine. She managed name Gean, Scots for the wild cherry tree, which a mixture of both, finding anaesthetists who their three children have as their family name. were willing to chant positive affirmations whilst To Alison life was a spiritual and creative she was undergoing surgery. In these years she journey. She was committed to processing lived with a highly disciplined diet, supported even the most difficult of times as part of steadfastly by Mark. Even when she was given her evolution. Alison had a personality that weeks to live and some of us would have been challenged. Her relationships with loved ones on the chocolates and champagne Alison was were passionate and could be fraught. Alison planning her juicing regime for her return home. loved the rain, writing letters, Lord of the Rings, When surgery and cancer drugs robbed her of reading books in one sitting, labyrinths and her ability to work in massage Alison turned her everything to do with the sea. She possessed energy to her long term passion for poetry and a wicked sense of humour and had a fine photography and found new visual expression appreciation of satire and the absurd. She had in constructing ‘altered books’. In June 2013 a laugh bigger than her body. In true Quaker she participated in Forth Valley’s Open Studios fashion Alison loved to challenge authority, any event exhibiting her deconstructed books and kind of authority, and this became difficult to photographs and she sold her book of poems balance for her when dealing with doctors and and photos, Sea Remedies. her cancer diagnosis.

Epistles & testimonies 41 As her health failed and she struggled to achieve member of the National Youth Orchestra of normal daily activities, including washing her Great Britain, and the residential courses, masses of curly hair, she ministered on her life concerts and rehearsals left a profound as a ‘lily of the field’ (Matthew 6:26). Alison, impression on her. the beautiful lily, felt tired as she described it, She gained a place at the Guildhall School of of ‘germinating in the mud’. Alison had spent Music to study cello with William Pleeth, and time in Canada, South America and Australia left as an accomplished player. She married and during her last weeks of life friends and Hugh Faulkner, whom she had met through messages poured in from around the world. She the peace movement. Hugh was a Quaker, and made peace with her death and consoled her a talented amateur pianist. Their marriage was friends and Friends who were devastated to see a true and happy partnership, which lasted the her dying. Alison truly radiated peace and was whole of their lives. They had two children, an inspiration and a source of strength to those Anthony and Jane. of us privileged to visit her. Alison loved well and was well loved. They created a very happy home, and brought up their children with full commitment, whilst When Alison died peacefully at home six weeks Anne was teaching the cello, and involved in before her 44th birthday, she left behind three of charity work. Anne threw herself into creating a her proudest achievements, Caitlin, Arwen and home and wonderful garden. David who were then 14, 11 and 8 respectively. Anne’s cello teaching was a major part of her life. Those of us who knew and loved Alison are left She became a renowned teacher who passed on with both an enduring sense of her presence as to her pupil’s immaculate technique. Sadly her well as her absence. ME gradually became worse and was only able Signed in and on behalf of West Scotland to pursue her teaching for about 20 years. Area Meeting, It was during the early years of her marriage held on 16 June 2014 that Help the Aged was founded, and Hugh Michael J. Hutchinson, Clerk became the first Honorary Director. Initially founded to help aged refugees overseas, it soon also came to give much needed help to the aged Anne Faulkner at home. Anne became very much involved, and had a gift to persuade people to give donations. 8 ii 1930 – 7 xi 2013 Anne headed up the Press and Public Affairs Department in an honorary capacity, working Anne was born Anne Carlton Milner in 1930, part time from home to conserve her health, into a financially poor but culturally alive and to keep the home running and continue her household. Anne was a very bright young private teaching practice. person with a vivid curiosity. Brought up in the Lake District, she had a passion for botany, for Her campaigning was legendary, and soon science, for astronomy, for gardening, and a love national newspaper editors came to her for of walking and climbing in the Lakeland Fells. stories and comments. She set up the Good As a child she already had bouts of illness which Neighbour scheme as a national concern, and were clearly myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), ‘Adopt a Granny’, and worked with government a condition that was to blight the whole of her ministers on pensions. With her husband they life. made the elderly at home and abroad part of the conscience of the country. She worked with Anne was brought up as a Quaker. When geriatricians to make the health of the elderly a she was 13 she began cello lessons, and made vital part of the National Health Service. Both incredible progress. She had found what she she and her husband frequently appeared on wanted to do in life. She became a founder television or the radio.

42 Epistles & testimonies Anne and Hugh regularly attended Brentwood health deteriorated over her last 3 years, but the Meeting. They organised a major public meeting day before she died she was still working, and on at the meeting house on the Irish question. Local the phone to lawyers over a particular concern clergy and politicians attended. Bomb threats with the charity. Only three months before she were made to the Faulkners, but this did not died she had published a lengthy article in The unduly concern them. Friend on 22 August 2013 about the work of the charity, and appealing for more Quaker support. A typical example of their unswerving commitment to others was in 1972, following We join with Jane in her feeling that Anne the Nicaraguan earthquake. It was Christmas, Faulkner had high standards and expected the but the plight of these poor people was so same of others. She was a natural leader, mover terrible that on Boxing Day they opened the and shaker. She had an innate sense of duty, and Help the Aged offices in London, and people a belief that you could and should change things. and donations poured in. Anne and Hugh This was based on Christian inspiration and encouraged their children to take collecting tins Quaker idealism. She has left an extraordinary into nearby Piccadilly Circus. The police were legacy. not happy, but eventually let the campaign carry Anne Faulkner’s funeral took place in Jordans on. Meeting House on 19 November, when she was Anne and Hugh moved to Beaconsfield in the buried in the grave with her husband Hugh in early 1980s, and became members of Jordans the Burial Ground. Meeting. Sadly Anne’s health, which waxed There was a well-attended meeting for morship. and waned throughout her life, was poor, and We give thanks for the grace of God in the life of she never really could become involved in Anne Faulkner. this meeting. Hugh had left Help the Aged and became Director of the Asthma Research Signed in and on behalf of Chilterns Area Council. Although very unwell, Anne took Meeting, an active part, and was a great help with the held at Aylesbury on 12 January 2014 publicity and forwarding the medical research. Tim Newell, Clerk Her final campaign was for those suffering ME – Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Frustrated by the lack of research, Martyn Gaudie and the ambiguity about the disease from the medical profession, Anne and Hugh formed 17 i 1925 – 4 ix 2007 a committee of top scientists and doctors to launch the new charity in 1993, the Chronic Martyn Gaudie was authoritarian in the gentlest Fatigue Syndrome Research Foundation, to of ways; his authority was rooted in Christianity raise funds for research of the highest standard. and its firm belief in the teaching of Jesus. The charity has helped ensure that ME is now Martyn witnessed the Grace of God in his whole a recognised and accepted illness, and research life. He just gave out love to one and all. He had continues towards the goal of a cure. a great gift of friendship which was very real. His support for others was valued. He was known to Hugh Faulkner died in 1997 and is buried in the throw a lifeline to those who were most in need. Burial Ground at Jordans, and Anne carried on alone as Honorary Director. In fulfilling the heartfelt imperative to promote “friendship and fellowship” via every aspect of Anne moved to Sarratt in 2001 to live near Jane his life, Martyn found the perfect helpmate in and her family. She had an office built in her his wife Marjorie, and ever-increasing support garden where she ran the charity. She had help from their four children and their families, from paid office help and many volunteers. Her all settled at or near to Stamfrey Farm, West

Epistles & testimonies 43 Rounton, North Yorkshire. Stamfrey Farm was a a Quaker perspective to any political or social loving home central to their lives with Martyn as debate. He could be challenging and forthright, its patriarch. It was the hub of the community, sometimes having a healthy disregard for rules. giving joy and love to those who visited. Once Martyn and Marjorie responded to a request from Friends to welcome with open arms Martyn’s early childhood was to shape his life. a Russian family visiting England at difficult His mother died the day he was born and for time in Russia in the late 1980s. Martyn was the first few years of his life he was brought up fearless and ignored all regulations to drive by his father Norman Gaudie, and so developed his car on to a Russia bound ship where he an unusually strong close bond between the unloaded his gift of food for friends in Russia. two of them. His father had been one of the This was typical of Martyn’s energy, sometimes conscientious objectors imprisoned in Richmond overstepping the line and ignoring red tape to Castle waiting sentence of death in 1916. The get things done. experience of his father was the rock on which Martyn’s own strength was built. Martyn was a keen cricketer. When he was working in Ghana as a farm manager at the In time Martyn’s father married the remarkably university farm, he had the distinction of playing creative and beloved Ruth Pumphrey. As for the national team of Ghana in the 1961 Ruth Gaudie, she took on the difficult role of Test Match against Sierra Leone. He was a keen helping to bring up Martyn. He was educated supporter of Sunderland FC, a team for which at Friends’ School Great Ayton and at Bootham. his father had played. He enjoyed his time at Bootham, especially participating in sport. He maintained a lifelong He maintained a lifelong interest in the Society interest in both Friends Schools. of Friends, in Guisborough Monthly Meeting, Durham Quarterly Meeting and its successors. On leaving Bootham at the age of 18 he wrote to He served on a number of central committees the Tribunal explaining with clarity and maturity including Christian & Interfaith Relations. His why he had registered as a Conscientious support for Osmotherley Local Meeting was Objector. As a result he was assigned to non much valued. combatant duties in agriculture. There he learned skills as a farmer which eventually led Using his gifts of friendship and reconciliation him to work in Ghana after teaching for eight he served as a prison visitor offering acceptance years at Askam Bryan Agricultural College and and respect to young offenders. He learned later to set up a dairy farm at West Rounton. much from this experience. Martyn himself never forgot his own father’s One Friend recalled that “I was frequently influence or the high principles which led to his chastened by his willingness to look for the father’s imprisonment. He worked courageously best in everybody without wavering in his firm for this story to be known and understood Jesus-based beliefs which so strongly coloured widely and was immensely moved when English his life. One of his vital insights that flowed Heritage responded by establishing at Richmond from this was to see true religion is a matter of Castle a permanent exhibition commemorating relationships not of doctrines and creeds…a vital the stand taken at such personal cost by “the message for the present day.” Richmond Sixteen”. Martyn Gaudie extended his great gifts for He was able to listen to others and to find hospitality, generosity and a keen sense of value in other beliefs He engaged with the life humour to friend and stranger alike throughout of the local churches in West Rounton and the world, fulfilling the heartfelt imperative to Osmotherley and also reached out to Baha’is, promote “friendship and fellowship” via every Muslims and others. He was always willing to aspect of his life. engage with his Member of Parliament bringing

44 Epistles & testimonies Signed in and on behalf of Teesdale & Burford Meeting House garden was landscaped Cleveland Area Meeting, and refurbished at the time of its tercentenary, held at Darlington on 25 January 2014 she was responsible for sourcing plants originally Richard Waldmeyer, Clerk introduced by Quakers and for stocking the Quaker flower bed along the frontage wall. With her educational background she was a Irene Katherine Glaister valued governor of the local primary school. As an expert on dance she developed the first A level 14 vii 1922 – 28 viii 2013 syllabus in that subject for London University, and was Honorary Secretary of the National Irene Katherine Glaister was born on 14 July Society for Dance Research. In a Quaker context 1922 into the Fardon family – who had a she was very involved with Sibford School, history as Quaker clock makers, based in North and was for several years Clerk of the Sibford Oxfordshire going back to the 17th century – School Committee. She was instrumental in and a Fardon grandfather clock was a prominent the appointment of the first Jewish headmaster feature in her entrance hall. there, John Dunston. The powerful tribute Irene trained as a physical education teacher, that he provided to be read at her funeral at and taught in West Yorkshire. Her special Banbury Crematorium, and which he later read qualities were quickly apparent and her methods very movingly himself at her Memorial Service were adopted by other schools. She moved on at Burford Meeting House, is attached to this to become a lecturer in physical education at testimony. Irene’s interest in, and support for, Bingley College of Education setting out her the school continued long after any formal concepts in a publication Pursuit of excellence in involvement and John Dunston went on to Sport and Physical Education. become head of Leighton Park School. She married Ken Glaister, a Quaker lecturer in Irene was very active in Churches Together in biology, a widower with two young children the Wychwoods, responding to that of God and therefore became wife, step mother, and in other denominations as well as introducing later step grandmother. They ‘retired’ to the local people to experience the Quaker way of Wychwoods at the end of the 1960s. mainly silent worship. Within the Society her deep knowledge of Quaker practice and her own Irene and Ken had shared interests including personal calmness and warmth made her an music and the visual arts. Their warm hospitality important and valued figure in Burford Meeting and capacity for making friends ensured a to which she and Ken had transferred on arrival constant flow of visitors to their home in Frog in West Oxfordshire. In her later years she would Lane, Milton-under-Wychwood. Irene was a always arrive early at meeting on Sunday, and great gardener and supported plant collectors was generally first to take her place for worship overseas who provided seeds of unusual plants and Friends have commented how welcoming which she germinated and grew on in her and reassuring they found her “settled presence” extensive greenhouse. She was a particular as they came in to sit down. Her spoken expert in alpines and lectured on these and other ministry was always pertinent and inspiring. horticultural topics, and was a prize winner She served the meeting in most capacities, and in the Alpine Gardens Annual Exhibitions as was an outstanding treasurer for several years – recently as 2010 and 2012. She was an active subsequently providing help and support to the member of Milton-under-Wychwood Gardening treasurers that followed her. She was an elder, Association being its chairperson for six years and when Charlbury Meeting was revived after and subsequently its president. a period of closure and needed experienced Irene had always had an interest in the early help she was appointed an elder there ‘on loan’ Quaker botanists and plant collectors, and when for three years. She gave sterling service on

Epistles & testimonies 45 nominations committee, and was particularly left school at 14 like most of his peers. He good at encouraging newcomers to the meeting registered as a conscientious objector on 13 to get involved. She commented more than once March 1940 and joined the Fire Brigade to to newcomers at the sink washing up the coffee protect his community without causing damage mugs after meeting that in her experience this to others. In his memoirs, A Silent Helper, he frequently meant they would become regular chillingly recalls an event that confirmed his attenders or members. She was generally right! decision to defy the warlike mood of the times. He witnessed a terrible aircraft crash and the Irene’s was a long, full and outgoing life, and ghastly deaths of a group of young men, no her achievements were considerable, but for older than himself, images which stayed with those that knew her these will be transcended by him for the rest of his life. Thinking it through the special qualities that she brought to all her he realised that the deaths of this young bomber personal relationships – her warmth of welcome, crew meant that other lives were spared and he her hospitality, her patient sympathetic ear and knew, with absolute certainty, that “There are no her kind and wise counsel. While we celebrate a winners in war, only losers”. varied and creative life in the words of a speaker at her memorial service “we are all the poorer for As soon as the war was over (1945) John joined her passing”; and we are the richer for having the Friends Relief Service (FRS) determined to known her. help recovery and reconciliation. Known as Jack (to distinguish him from the other men who Signed in and on behalf of Oxford & shared the name of John) he was equipped with Swindon Area Meeting, the Quaker grey uniform, marked with the red held at Charlbury on 8 March 2014 and black badge of the Quaker relief worker and Robert Stocks, Assistant Clerk joined a team of twelve. Their first, temporary task was in Holland at Scheveningen. They were shocked by the evidence of what life had been John Gray like under five years of military occupation as evidenced by Dutch Friends who admitted that 6 iii 1917 – 15 ii 2013 they had survived by eating tulip bulbs. John Gray was a cheerful young man who The team was soon given its main task, the happened to live for nearly a century. During welfare of displaced persons in the Goslar area of that time he saw a little too much, lived Germany. At the border crossing was an Army creatively and was true to his faith, bringing a notice. “You are entering Germany. Behave sparkle to Nottingham Meeting until the very like conquerors” – an instruction he cheerfully end of his life. ignored. John was born in 1917 to an Anglican family From their base at Goslar John’s team hunted and enjoyed Sunday school and church choir. out colonies of displaced people, ten thousand in As a teenager he was a Boy Scout in the 64th total, from the town and its surroundings. Many Nottinghamshire Group and became interested were Polish, camp survivors in various stages of in Esperanto, taught by Frank Goodliffe. Frank despair, misery and neglect. It was a mammoth was John’s first example of a Quaker and he task and one that John was able to commit found the older man’s openness and honesty to his whole heart to. “We had bugs and smells, be inspiring. John first attended meeting in the sewerage and semi-starvation,” John recalled. early 1930s, going to Nottingham’s Friar Lane “I saw the remains of Hamburg ... it was a slow Meeting House. He became a full member in task, but a worthwhile one.” He remembered the 1937. delight that the acquisition of a bale of parachute silk brought. That, and access to a sewing As the storm clouds of World War II were machine and a few needles and silks, suddenly gathering John was an office worker, having

46 Epistles & testimonies brought a flurry of lovely embroidered silk trekking in the foothills of Everest with his dresses to the women who had known nothing second wife, Val. Even into his 90s, after Val’s but privation for years. The healing had begun. death, he drove across Europe to visit friends from his post-war past and he remained in Many tasks followed. The team was offered guns contact with friends made through the Host for their self-protection from the ‘terrorists’. Family Project. Naturally the arms were declined, much to the despair of their officially appointed interpreter, His open-heartedness and generosity were but the rightness of the decision was proved illustrated by his sharing of his home with a when John was held up by a group of armed number of house guests, offering people in need men and could show that he was on a peace a place to stay. mission. But he was a humble man. When, in the latter In his quiet way John Gray made a difference. months of his life, he was asked his greatest The work of Friends Relief Service was contribution to Friends he tipped his head at acknowledged with the award in 1947 of the the simple oak table in the meeting room at Nobel Peace Prize to the Quakers of Britain and Nottingham. ‘I made that’, he said, and walked the United States, citing, “Silent assistance from away smiling. the nameless to the nameless”. Signed in and on behalf of Nottinghamshire John Gray might have spent the early years of and Derbyshire Area Meeting, his life as one of the ‘nameless’ but in his home held at Mansfield on 18 January 2014 community he was known and loved. A practical David Megginson, Clerk and creative man he became a schoolteacher of craft and technology subjects, with a love of wood that has inspired generations of young carpenters, and settled down to a fruitful life. He Thomas William Greeves eventually had two children, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and a great-great- 26 iv 1930 – 3 vi 2014 granddaughter of whom he was inordinately Tom lived his life in a spirit of abundance proud. and joy. He worked to resolve challenges with John served meeting in most capacities, as enthusiasm and practical creativity. Tom was clerk, trustee, committee convener and a dozen sensitive to others’ needs and quick to offer other, unsung tasks. He put great effort into both emotional and practical help. His playful researching and recording many aspects of wit made many a dry Quaker committee Nottingham Meeting’s history, not least the pleasurable. He lived the Quaker testimony to Old Meeting House and Burial grounds, and simplicity with a quiet, persistent grace, never spent much time working in the meeting house ostentatious in dress or lifestyle. garden. Tom was a good and faithful Friend from John was a member of the Alpine Garden childhood to his death aged 84 in 2014. Society and an expert on these joyful but robust Tom’s lodestones were his family, Quakers, the plants – very much in his own image. For the environment and technological innovation. majority of his life John Gray enjoyed good Tom once said of meeting: “In my younger health and vigour (including the survival of a days, the dominant reason [for my attendance] dose of Legionnaires’ disease at the age of 90, was to learn from the meeting – and to develop caught on one of his adventures). He regularly my understanding of life – physical, mental explored the world and enjoyed such experiences and spiritual – and my values. I then found as a Kenyan safari, a stroll on the Great Wall ways I could contribute as well as receive, and of China, cross-country skiing in the Alps and hence developed a feeling of being part of a community to which I owed a duty. Meeting

Epistles & testimonies 47 has become a valued and central part of my life At Cadbury’s, meanwhile, Tom developed the which I would feel deprived of if I lived out of Systems Engineering Department. reach of a Quaker meeting.” Tom had a ‘conversion experience’ when he In meetings Tom always spoke quietly, but read Limits to Growth in 1972, halfway through with authority. Over his 57 years at Cotteridge his life, leading to a passionate concern for Meeting he served in numerous capacities: the health of our earth. His response, which overseer, elder, treasurer and clerk amongst took much of his time in the second half of his others. Tom undertook what he called “a whole life, was wide ranging and practical as well as new career” when, in 1996, he became treasurer intellectual. of Warwickshire Monthly Meeting. From 1971–2003 Tom served as a trustee of Tom had a rich baritone singing voice and the Bournville Village Trust (BVT), acting as derived much pleasure from music, enriching vice chairman for 14 years. Tom steered the both Cotteridge Meeting’s social and practical BVT decisively towards sustainability. He was activities. Tom’s rendition of “Right Said Fred” the catalyst for a growing commitment to the greatly sustained Cotteridge Friends’ DIY need for energy saving technology in buildings revamping of the meeting house in 2006. Tom ranging from the innovative Solar Village of the supported the Leaveners, singing in The Gates of 1980s to the Shenley Development launched in Greenham, Cry of the Earth, Embracing the Tiger, 2003. Tom co-authored several academic papers and Woolman’s Witness. for the International Solar Energy Society based on this pioneering work. Born in Portadown, Northern Ireland, Tom was the youngest of five children in a Quaker Tom quietly began work on reducing energy family. Every morning after breakfast, joined by use at Cotteridge Meeting House in 2002 with their domestic staff, the household read from donations of a solar thermal panel and, later, of the Bible. From a very young age he opted to double glazed window panels to replace the ‘glass sit through the whole of their Quaker meeting. walls’ (which had been cutting edge design in The ideals of public service exemplified by 1964). generations of his family took deep root in Tom’s Tom’s constancy supported the small Cotteridge own character. Meeting Living Witness Group, which informed Tom boarded very happily at Leighton Park and encouraged meeting in its energy saving School before studying Mechanical and measures from 2004 through 2011, resulting Electrical Engineering at Queen’s University, in energy use reduction of over 90%. When Belfast where he met Isabel. In 1955, having issues affecting the environmental impact of completed a graduate apprenticeship with Rolls the meeting or meeting house came before local Royce, Tom joined Cadbury Brothers Ltd and business meeting, Tom invariably spoke clearly married. Cadburys seconded Tom to their and movingly on their behalf. factory in Tasmania for a year. Here he and Central England Quakers agreed, in 2007, to Isabel took great joy from both Hobart Quaker create the Northfield Ecocentre, a project which Meeting and the natural beauty of Tasmania. promotes sustainable living. Tom was deeply On their return to England in 1957 the Greeves involved from its inception and planning. settled in Bournville, Birmingham, and became He contributed funding, time and practical part of Cotteridge Quaker Meeting. Suzy, Geoff ingenuity to make the Ecocentre, an old and Marion joined the family, and the meeting, building, a demonstration of energy efficiency. in due course. In the mid 1970s, dawn of the Tom acted as Ecocentre treasurer for six years, a digital age, Tom, constantly desiring to be at the vital support to the new project. He was key to cutting edge of technology, completed an Open the success of the Ecocentre. University degree in Electronic Engineering. Tom’s deep commitment to peace and the

48 Epistles & testimonies protection of our environment is expressed in to continue working in the National Health his own words in his contribution to Cotteridge Service and remained in it all through his life Meeting’s 2004 ‘Living Minutes’ project: in employment, acting as a store manager “…we are people trying to learn to live in in various hospitals in north east London, harmony with one another and to care for a including Whipps Cross Hospital. lovely planet…the meaning and purpose of He found his spiritual home as a Quaker, life is therefore centred around that endeavour, spending his long life in faithful service both lightened by beauty, joy and laughter. To succeed to the local and the area meeting. He held we need to develop the power of love, and not many appointments, serving as local meeting the love of power, and to open our hearts and clerk, overseer, elder and treasurer to premises minds to the leadings of the Spirit of Love”. committee, to name but some. His quiet wisdom In the last year of his final illness Tom continued was evident both in meetings and in interaction to show a quiet fortitude and good humour with individual Friends. Even in the later years despite his decreasing physical strength. His of his life he always demonstrated a liveliness of was truly a life that spoke to all who knew him mind and an interest in others, evident in the as one who walked “cheerfully over the world, ‘twinkle’ in his eyes. answering that of God in every one”. Lawrie and Joan hosted and facilitated Quaker Signed in and on behalf of Central England groups in their home over a period of many Area Meeting, years, including a healing group and a Bible held at Bull Street on 6 January 2015 study group. They welcomed many of us to Claire Bowman, Clerk these meetings with unfailing hospitality and a commitment to share in the deepening of our lives together in the Spirit. Lawrence Raymond For several years Lawrie arranged musical concerts at the meeting house, with the steadfast Hackwell support of Sue Brackell, to raise funds for Claridge House, Quaker centre for healing, rest 22 xii 1918 – 20 xii 2012 and renewal. He played the violin himself at Lawrie was born in Leytonstone on 22 these concerts, as he had with Joan many years December 1918, the only child of Augustus earlier for the Walthamstow Adult Education (Gus) and Emily, and lived in north east Orchestra. Both also sang in the Forest Choir London throughout his life until his death two for 45 years, with Lawrie taking an active role in days before his 94th birthday. Lawrie met his its running. In later life he continued attending wife, Joan, at a youth orchestra and she then many concerts as well as practicing and playing introduced him to Quakers and Wanstead the violin. He shared his love of music with John Meeting in the early 1940s. They married Pippard, and they were friends all through their in October 1946 at the old meeting house lives after having met at Quaker meeting. Lawrie and had two sons, Dave and Steve, and five also had great interest in literature, poetry, grandchildren. Lawrie and Joan shared many science, politics and religious debate. interests, including their love of music, family Joan died in 2004, having been lovingly cared and friends, and a strong commitment to for by Lawrie during several years of poor health. pacifism – both being members of the Peace Lawrie fulfilled his promise to her by continuing Pledge Union. to pursue a happy and useful life. He remained Lawrie registered as a conscientious objector physically active, taking the bus to various points in 1939 and volunteered for work in Guy’s in London and then walking home, even when Hospital. He found the experience so in his early nineties. Even with his increasing rewarding and worthwhile that he decided frailty, he came regularly to meeting for worship

Epistles & testimonies 49 until his health deteriorated more significantly in He attended Westminster Meeting together with his last year. He moved to Homesdale sheltered his friend and future wife, Joan Horman. When accommodation in Wanstead from the home war came in 1939 they were both conscientious in Woodford he had shared with Joan and objectors and throughout the war worked spent some quite long spells in hospital with with the International Voluntary Service doing extraordinary patience of spirit. He was able to valuable relief work in London, Egypt, Sicily cope with quite trying circumstances on some and Calabria in Italy. They stayed on after the hospital wards without complaint, but with a armistice, Harry managing the relief there until willingness to speak his truth, when he felt led. 1946. Lawrie died in a nursing home in Ilford having On their return to England, Harry’s great love of been admitted there only a week earlier. Even the countryside found him working on a Suffolk during his gradual weakening he showed a farm before working again for the Friends genuine interest when enquiring about the Provident Society, eventually taking a new job in health and lives of his visitors. a Birmingham branch. Lawrie lived simply and possessed few material By this time they had two small children, Julian belongings since he valued a cultural and and Eugenie. They settled happily at Hall spiritual life above worldly possessions. He was Green Meeting where they were active for many a good and loyal friend, thoughtful, kind and years. Hall Green members noticed his quiet understanding of other’s needs. Though quiet and faithful service. He cared for the meeting and unassuming in manner, he was not afraid house garden, and throughout the summer, to speak out against any perceived injustice. His would work there until he appeared regularly for concern for the Earth’s natural environment led meeting for worship about two minutes before him to join the Green Party when it was first commencement. His whole service was steadfast formed and his concern for all God’s creatures and authoritative. He was known as a generous caused him to be a strict vegetarian for the whole and unfailing friend, brave and self-contained in of his life. anguish and dedicated in his unceasing search, through his reading, about the meaning of life. Wanstead Local Meeting and the area meeting feel blest to have had his presence with us for so His children remember many happy, outdoor long. holidays camping simply in Wales where he showed them his great love for nature and Signed in and on behalf of North East how much he cared for the protection of the Thames Area Meeting, environment. held at Romford on 19 October 2013 David Irwin, Clerk Music was another interest and as a keen flautist he joined Selly Oak Amateur Orchestra. On his retirement he bought Lye Head Farm, a Harry Wilfred Hardstone smallholding a few miles from Bewdley where he was in his element, restoring the property, 3 x 1917 – 1 vii 2013 growing vegetables and caring for his poultry. Harry grew up in Orpington, Kent where he Harry and Joan became active and valuable had been baptised in the Church of England. members of Bewdley Meeting, Joan becoming At grammar school, St Dunstan’s, Catford, he overseer and treasurer, while Harry was clerk of developed a love of reading, poetry and music. the premises committee. He was always quiet In 1935, aged eighteen, he worked in the Friends and watchful, noting what needed attention and Provident Society where he had a successful seeing that the work was carried out well. career eventually becoming an underwriter. Even for someone known to Harry for only a

50 Epistles & testimonies short time his company was thoroughly enjoyed, lovingly honest things about the departed his conversation being honest and forthright. Friend, among the happier memories. Friends’ He was a maker and a grower with a love of old willingness to be open, honest and truthful agricultural machinery, which may be difficult to drew her to the local meeting, Welwyn Garden deal with but would not let you down. City, where she was welcomed. She realised that she was loved and needed and became a valued Joan died in 1994 having been faithfully cared member. for by Harry and he stayed on at Lye Head for many years immersing himself in his farm work This led her to a life of inspired service – and reading widely in the natural sciences and hospitality, funeral arrangements, interfaith theology. work, membership of the Firbank Housing Society’s committee, wardens’ liaison, work as The softer side of Harry was shown in the an overseer and work for area meeting in several mutual care and support between him and Mary areas. All this was done with an interest in and Foster, Harry caring faithfully for her before her pleasure in working with people, coupled with death. He was not steel right through but a kind insightful responses to what she heard people and loving friend. say – she was a wonderful listener, and had He sold Lye Head and moved to a property on an ability to suggest to others a way forward the edge of Bewdley which had a huge garden. that would open up their lives to change and He delighted in showing it to anyone who improvement that they only later recognised. called, escorted by his little dog. He would also She was an enabling Friend to everyone. Pam proudly show his beautiful flower photographs had a habit of always greeting and speaking to and explain the technical details of modern passersby and made new friends all the time. She cameras. realised that the Muslim women did not attend the interfaith group because of the presence of Harry was a true Quaker of great integrity, living men there, and the monthly discussions at the out the principles of peace, simplicity, equality Welwyn and Hatfield Women’s Interfaith Social and truth. They were always his way of life. Group, which she helped to bring into being, is Signed in and on behalf of Worcestershire and one of her lasting legacies. She was involved in Shropshire Area Meeting, the formation of the Welwyn/St Albans Peace held at Church Stretton on 27 April 2014 Link Group and its work to establish practical David Rolfe, Clerk support for grassroots community peace building across faith boundaries in conflict areas of the world. Her preparation and planning for work and events was formidably comprehensive and Pamela Harvey was seldom faulted. She admitted to a striving to get everything right and said she might annoy 18 xii 1939 – 14 i 2012 people with her attention to detail! Pamela Harvey’s spiritual journey was shaped Her qualities were refined and determined by her and illuminated by her conviction that there varied life experiences. She was born in Manila is that of God within every person. Her life in the Philippines in 1939, the first child of her reflected her belief that the Advices and Queries father, Harold Russell and her mother Betty applied directly to her whole life. (nee Brangwin) Russell. Her father worked for Pam came to Friends at the age of 61. She said the Shell Oil Company there and her brother, she was not a Christian since she was unable to Anthony, was born there too in 1941. During accept the traditional or orthodox beliefs and World War II, her father was interned in 1942 practices of established churches. Attending a and in 1943 the rest of the family joined him in sometimes difficult Friend’s funeral, she had the Japanese-run internment camp. They were been astonished and delighted by Friends saying there together from May 1943 until early 1945.

Epistles & testimonies 51 Pam remembered vividly the small portion of encompassing” which was outside her. To her family food being divided equally between her husband, Robert, she spoke of feeling “an all- parents and two small children. After liberation, encompassing love”. they were rehabilitated in America and England Whatever she did, she brought the same concern before returning to the Philippines where she for others, the same empathy with them and the began her education in an American school. In same energy, insight and independence of mind 1950 they returned to England and settled near that she brought to her work and her family Canterbury. life. Whether it was altering a house, planning a At 16 years old she took a secretarial course and birthday party, arranging an interfaith quiet day, then began work with a London surgeon. In buying presents for her beloved grandchildren, 1960 her brother Anthony died at the age of 19 or just listening and talking, her love found from skin cancer. its expression in practical action. She was imaginative and creative and a marvellous She had met Robert Harvey in 1956 and they organiser. married in 1963, living in Bristol, where Robert was a teacher and where their two lively sons An example to us all was the courageous way she were born. Three years later they were living in faced her own diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Her Tanzania where Robert had another teaching concern was for her family and friends and she post. After two and a half years there they went set her affairs in order, with special remembrances to Carlisle where they adopted their daughter and care for her grandchildren, and with clear in 1970. Pam then began a series of courses instructions to family and Friends as to her culminating in a First Class Honours degree in funeral arrangements. Her local elders and Technology and Social Studies, which reflected overseers’ meeting minuted in October 2011, on her lifetime interest in how systems really work. releasing her from service due to her illness, When the family moved to Welwyn Garden “Her contribution to the life of our meeting is City, Pam trained as a social worker. Then in thoughtful, practical, loving and spiritual, and is 1982 she had faced the tragedy of the death of deeply appreciated by elders and overseers.” her older son, Philip. In Pam’s life, her truthfulness and integrity drew Her social work had led to her feeling that people to her. She valued the silence and stillness she dealt with the consequences of underlying of meetings for worship and her ministry problems rather than tackling the problems was clear and thoughtful. She followed her themselves. At this stage of her life it was a spur leadings towards truth, unity and love with an to change her career, and so she began a systemic adventurous spirit. The grace of God in her life psychotherapy course, adding a master’s degree spoke to all her friends and family. to her qualifications. The result of this was first work in a unit for disturbed young people in St Signed in and on behalf of Hertford & Albans, and then in mental health units, first in Hitchin Area Meeting, Barnet and then in Redbridge. held at Hertford on 25 June 2014 She joined Friends towards the end of her Katey Earle, Clerk working life. She used to say how wonderful it was to find the Quaker community after a lifetime’s spiritual searching. In a talk on Bettina Headley spirituality which she gave some years later at an evening meeting, she spoke about 10 i 1920 – 17 vii 2012 “something inside me and probably everyone else”, something, she said, that was “very deep Bettina Stern was born in 1920 in London. Her and inner and flickering” and she said that she father was a civil servant, and a distinguished was also aware of “something vast and all- scientist, and her mother was from a large

52 Epistles & testimonies family, originally from Germany. They settled in Bettina was active with the local meeting, Palmers Green. Bettina and her elder sister Anne Historical Society, Churches Together, and other grew up there, and in Enfield. The headmistress groups. She delighted others with her reading of their secondary school, Tottenham High, was of prose and poetry, which she did with grace a Quaker. Bettina and Anne remained in regular and style. She gave thoughtful and accessible contact until Anne’s death in Cornwall in June ministry in meeting for worship, and took a keen 2012. interest in the world, people, theatre, music, history, scientific and religious ideas. Enquirers Bettina went to the Croydon Rep Drama and younger members of the meeting often School, and she appeared in a number of early found in her an active listener to their reflections television productions at Alexandra Palace. on life, faith, doubt, God, and more. She was a When the war began she joined the Land Army, thoughtful questioner, and a source of practical, undertook agricultural training at Oaklands sympathetic and literary responses, although her College in Hertfordshire, and then worked on direct approach could, on occasions, be quite farms in Hertfordshire and the West Country. sharp. Meanwhile her sister Anne had married John Crockett, an artist, and moved with him to Over the years Bettina held many roles in Cornwall. A friend of Anne’s husband, Richard Welwyn Garden City Local Meeting, and was Ward, set up a theatre company of conscientious an active member of Hertford and Hitchin Area objectors and others that would tour the country Meeting, including representation on Meeting throughout the war, and Bettina brought her for Sufferings and at Britain Yearly Meeting. acting talent to the Adelphi Players. Her distinctive hair plaits meant she was easily recognised in a sea of Quaker heads. Bettina is In this small, dedicated company, Bettina met remembered particularly for her contributions to Greta Newell and Piers Plowright. Another the spiritual life of the local and area meetings. player was John Headley. Bettina and John were married in due course, a partnership After John’s death in 1994, Bettina continued that flourished and endured. Bettina played a to host Friends and other visitors at her home number of leading roles, and often spoke of her in Meadow Green, and travel widely. She had a theatre days and company with affection and special affinity for the Firbank Housing Society gratitude. Bettina and John’s daughters Kate and located next to the meeting house, where John Jo were born while John was still an Adelphi had done much of the building work. Bettina Player, and their son Piers came a few years later. was active on the management committee, A close and lasting bond of friendship developed welcoming newcomers, and visiting residents. between Bettina and John, and Greta and Piers She had longstanding friendships with, and Plowright. regularly visited many Firbank residents, until her last months. Both couples moved to Welwyn Garden City, where Bettina and John lived for three years Bettina maintained a mostly optimistic view at Meadow Cottage, then the home of John’s of the future of humankind, and periodically uncle, Jack Catchpool, and his wife Ruth. John said in her later years how she wished she could and Bettina returned to Meadow Cottage in the return to see the state of the world in 2030. Her 1970s when the Catchpools died. John Headley vitality and poise were still very evident when had been an apprentice builder before the war, she celebrated her 90th birthday locally in 2010, and took up building again. Bettina was at his surrounded by her own and her sister’s children side, including in the Quaker meeting which and grandchildren, and Friends from near and she promptly joined, and to which she and John far, all of whose lives she had touched. gave many years of loyal service. Bettina was a By late spring 2012 Bettina was unable to live seeker, and was open to new learning through on her own, and her close family moved her to her life. Bristol where she was near her grand-daughter

Epistles & testimonies 53 Amanda, and where her three children and two the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation grand-daughters were able to visit and say good Administration (UNRRA), which after living on bye to her. Many Friends continue to remember pocket money, enabled him to earn enough for with gratitude Bettina’s still presence and the fees to go to university at the London School ministry in our meetings for worship. of Economics. Signed in and on behalf of Hertford & After a spell working in England he went to Hitchin Area Meeting, South Korea to join a relief team organised by held at Hitchin on 27 April 2014 American and British Quakers, 1953–56. His Phil Rowe, Clerk main role was in establishing hospital and health administration, and here he met his future wife Ann, a midwife from Dublin. He also helped Korean women, recently widowed in the war, to Geoffrey Hemingway build their own homes using wattle and daub and rammed earth. When he visited in 1997 12 ii 1921 – 2 xii 2012 he was pleased to see some were still standing. Geoff was an inspiration and joy to be with. He He was also very delighted, not long before was a man with a ready smile, steadfast integrity, he died, to be sent some photos of their time and a way of making you feel special. He lived there. Sometime after his return from Korea he his Quakerism fully, and managed to combine was ‘head-hunted’ to chair the Work Camps a deep commitment with an infectious sense of Committee at Friends House. humour, all without fuss and display. He was Geoff and Ann set up home in Leigh-on-Sea always helpful, quietly doing everything no one and he worked at the Hammersmith and West else was doing. He let his life speak. London College where he lectured in, and Geoff was born in East London and the family published a book on, business finance. He and moved to Leigh-on-Sea when he was four. As a Ann, already in their late thirties to forties, teenager he became a Christian pacifist. When had three children, two girls and a boy. While war began he went to a public meeting at the the family were young there were five boys, Quaker meeting house in Leigh and decided he recommended by a social worker friend, who would like to serve with the Friends Ambulance came to stay from time to time for a holiday by Unit (FAU) abroad. He registered as a the sea. One of them, who has made good, is conscientious objector, but this was not easy. He still in touch. Later, when Geoff was a prison needed to make two attempts and get a letter of visitor they occasionally invited (ex)prisoners support from his Methodist church. Then there to come when they were released from prison, was a frustrating delay before the FAU had a job either for a few days or for a meal once a week. for him and that was in farming. During the Geoff and Ann supported the Medical delay he changed his allegiance to the Quaker Foundation for the Victims of Torture and saw meeting becoming one of only four people still an appeal in their magazine for people to offer in the area. holidays to refugees. They also offered holidays In 1942 the FAU sent him abroad to a variety of through Chris Gwyntopher’s Spare Room different jobs; first in Sicily and then southern system. Their visitors, some deeply traumatised, Italy and he very much enjoyed the work and benefitted from the friendship, generosity and getting to know other FAU members. His last trust they received, and several became personal job with the FAU was to take surplus army friends. Geoff would sometimes support their fabric to the nuns to make clothes for the poor. residency applications. Before he left this grew into quite a major Geoff never became a member of the Society project in almost all the churches in and around of Friends, preferring action to talk and Naples. He stayed on after the war to work with committees. He was described as “more Quaker

54 Epistles & testimonies than a Quaker.” If he could see anything which he organised annual vigils outside Southend needed doing he was always the person who library, with posters and leafleting for the worked behind the scene to see that things Campaign Against the Arms Trade. He made worked smoothly. He has given tremendous sure there were ample supplies of white poppies service as unpaid caretaker of Leigh Meeting for distribution each autumn. Southend Stop the House for 50 or more years, seeing to bookings War Campaign began life in his house. At the and payments and getting estimates for work age of 81 he was one of the million marching done, and seeing it through. After secondary against war in Iraq, just the last of many glazing in the 1970s he was involved in demonstrations that he attended. insulating the roof. He looked after the garden Geoff was very involved with the United at one time and made compost bins for it. When Nations Association (UNA). As treasurer he dustmen no longer collected from dustbins he used to organise collectors on an annual basis. made it his job to come to the meeting house Sometimes there were so many ‘coppers’ in the on collection day to put out the black sacks. boxes he would take them to the bank in his He emptied the collection boxes after meeting wheelbarrow. He never worried what people always rounding up the figures to bank, keeping thought! On street collections for Amnesty meticulous records. International, Geoff’s tin would always be Geoff has always been an expert re-cycler. He groaning with coins. This was partly because was ‘green’ long before it was fashionable. He of the hours he would put in, but it was also collected wood from skips and brought it home testament to the fact that people instinctively in a wheelbarrow to use, first on an open fire, trusted him, responded to his delightful smile then in a wood burner in the living room. Four and accepted the clear and sincere way he would years ago they moved to a more manageable explain things to them. And all that carried bungalow where they put in solar panels and through into talks he would give to a variety another wood burner. He has never owned a of groups on Amnesty and the United Nations car. He used his garage as a work place for his Association. Southend Amnesty Group had a handiwork. stall at Shoebury East Beach where a Black Gay Pride event was taking place. T-shirts came from He also used his wheelbarrow on his regular trips head office carrying the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual to the allotment. He grew vegetables in both the and Transgender logo of a rainbow and the allotment and his garden and loved to give his words ‘Love is a Human Right.’ Geoff promptly fresh produce away. Even a few months before removed his shirt and donned the Amnesty one, his death Geoff was thoroughly and carefully spending the afternoon chatting to the visitors digging a builder’s bag full of sharp sand into his and giving out leaflets. garden, really pleased to have been able to finish the job. He was a staunch member of Leigh Geoff was a quiet and regular presence with Allotments Orchard Group, which has planted a Ann in meeting and someone who inspired collection of old Essex fruit trees. absolute trust. He worked quietly and efficiently at whatever task he set himself, always with As well as his work in the FAU and in Korea integrity. He did so much for the meeting but he has always had a deep concern for world always in a self-effacing manner. His was a faith peace. He organised and made the props for a lived out quietly and significantly in experience. peace float in the Southend Carnival for several He was loved by children and adults alike. years and he and Ann went to stay twice at the peace camp outside the American cruise missile Signed in and on behalf of North East base at Molesworth. He was a keep member of Thames Area Meeting, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and held at Epping on 18 May 2013 a founder member of the Southend Christian David Irwin, Clerk Peace Group, for which, among other things,

Epistles & testimonies 55 Eric Hulland he thought that he might have rumbled the plot. With his own children, Eric was intuitively 22 v 1924 – 6 vii 2014 intelligent and would know that they were upset before they did. His tendency was to say, ‘If I Eric Hulland, a resident of Bedford Court, were you, I wouldn’t do that’. While growing who died on 6 July 2014, was a religious man up, Anita and Viv realised how fortunate they whose life was totally changed by World War were and that they had a duty to contribute. II. Born in Finchley in North London on 22 This notion of service, a strong work ethic, and May 1924, Eric intended to enter the Anglican humanitarianism underpinned Eric’s life, as ministry after he finished in Highgate School it did that of his sister Muriel, who (with her (where he had sat two places away from the husband Hugh), went as Christian missionaries cartoonist, Gerard Hoffnung), but war broke out to Sierra Leone where they set up a hospital. and altered the trajectory of his life completely. This profoundly Christian young man, thinking Eric was singularly marked by his ultra carefully about the moral implications of a war politeness, exact diction, and an impeccable that conflicted with his religious principles, command of language which was in itself a joined the Friends Ambulance Unit in 1944. constant source of fascination to him. This During service in Germany, he met Elizabeth interest was reflected both in his own careful Kerschke, a German nurse who was working in expression and in his ability to tell the most a displaced people’s camp in Wolfsburg and who linguistically intricate and dramatically engaged would become his complete other half. jokes which he did with a sense of orchestrated fun. His family, those who lingered in the Eric and Elizabeth, a life-long double-act (until Carlton Hill foyer or attended coffee mornings Elizabeth’s death on 14 May 2013), came back in Bedford Court were often treated to one of to England, were married in Middlesbrough these jokes, honed specially for the occasion and Meeting on 10 July 1948, became members of always eagerly awaited both by audience and the Religious Society of Friends in September teller alike. 1948, and it is within Friends that they made their home and brought up their beloved He always dressed formally and wore a suit even daughters, Anita and Viv. Following his ex- at weekends at home. In outward appearance, serviceman’s war degree begun in Bede College with his formal attire and clipped accent, he (Durham) in 1947, Eric taught in Halifax and looked and sounded like the schools inspector Huddersfield, and became part of Brighouse he once was. Becoming a hypnotherapist Meeting. Having ‘topped up’ his war degree by after taking early retirement seemed to be an MA in Education (Leeds, 1957), Eric spent an unexpected move, but was yet another the rest of his professional life, from 1958 to his opportunity to do some good and to engage retirement, mainly as an inspector of schools: with people and their psychology. Eric had a successively in Darlington, the North Riding of keen interest and natural curiosity about events Yorkshire, Leeds (where the family attended Adel and people. He had an absolute ability to live in Meeting), and Sheffield (by which time Eric had the moment. Oddities delighted him, as shown risen to become Chief Adviser for the area). in his love of jokes, which naturally spring from plays on language and the incongruities of It was clear to anyone who knew him that Eric perspective. He was open to the world and all its would have made a particularly benign inspector foibles — tolerant even when ‘it did not meet and it was also a job that obviously gave him with his condition’. great pleasure, not least that of driving around the beautiful scenery of Teesdale, Swaledale, Eric was a member of Friends Education and Wensleydale. As usual, he turned every Council (1967–76), and was a meeting clerk event into a joyful one; having to attend three twice (Brighouse, 1957 and Adel, 1970–71). nativity plays in the same day, he quipped that He much enjoyed attending Leeds Area Quaker

56 Epistles & testimonies Meeting to take part in Quaker processes and Signed in and on behalf of Leeds Area to meet other Friends; and he represented Leeds Meeting, at Meeting for Sufferings from mid-1997 to held at Adel on 14 December 2014 mid-2001. He and Elizabeth attended Carlton Robert Keeble, Clerk Hill Meeting until 2006 when, on moving to Bedford Court, they became stalwarts of the Quaker community there. For Friends at Carlton Hill, Eric was central to the meeting Marjorie Jelfs and a constant and normative presence. His service and love for the meeting were expressed 11 iii 1922 – 22 i 2014 in the many roles that he undertook, which in Marjorie was born on 11th March 1922 to Hilda turn called on his different strengths: eldership; and Alex Harvey in Saltley, Birmingham, a sister doorkeeping; convener of finance and property; for her brother Stan, followed two years later by nominations; and clerk support. His other Jean. Hilda died of pneumonia when Marjorie contributions to meeting were wide-ranging and was ten and Alex, a small energetic man, was left extensive. He took part in various study groups, with three children to look after as well as being for instance, on the Bible and on the Quaker in charge of the Retort room at the gasworks tradition, and those who attended learnt much where he made the cheapest gas in Birmingham! from him. Friends who served on committees Sadly, his remarriage did not provide the happy or worked alongside Eric vividly recall how his home of former years. presence always helped. His minutes, bolstered by careful advance preparation, were invariably a Marjorie took a teaching certificate at model of precision, and his emphasis was always Birmingham University and then left home to on common sense and right ordering, leavened work with the Salvation Army at a hostel in by good humour. Nominations meetings, Worcester where she met Ted. They were married in particular, were more fun than any such after the war in 1947. They were both convinced meetings have a right to be. of the futility and inhumanity of war and she joined the Peace Pledge Union and Amnesty Solid, reliable, dependable, Eric behaved to all International, coming into contact with Quakers with the enduring benevolence of a kindly father, about this time. They both became members the fun-loving wittiness of a favourite uncle, and Marjorie throughout her life remained a and the engaged interest of a true friend. Every peace campaigner. She taught locally and they interaction with him was a positive one. Usually cultivated land in the Vale of Evesham, renting in the same spot at meeting with Elizabeth at strips of ground in large open fields owned by his side, Eric ministered rarely but with brevity the Squire, the Church and later the Council, and purpose. His ministry reflected a deep faith basically pre-enclosures agriculture which had that was grounded in the Bible and the Christian not changed greatly in a thousand years. roots of Quakerism. Some well-remembered words were “This is the way, walk ye in it, when After Marjorie had a traumatic stillbirth and ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to with little money they moved to where land was the left” (Isaiah 30:21) and “True silence is the cheap and bought a smallholding in south-west rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep Wales where Martin was born a few years later is to the body, nourishment and refreshment”. and where they lived for 12 years. Marjorie was (William Penn, 1699). unable to teach in Wales as all teachers had to speak Welsh but she went to evening classes to Our Friend Eric was truly one who embodied learn German not Welsh! She helped Ted with the injunction by George Fox to “walk cheerfully the smallholding and sold fruit and vegetables over the world, answering that of God in every from a large shed to people in the village who one”. called.

Epistles & testimonies 57 In 1962 the family moved back to of produce, Ted and Marjorie were shining Worcestershire to a house in Kempsey where examples of the testimony to simplicity. They they have lived for fifty-two years. At last had experienced poverty early in life and were Marjorie was able to teach and for over twenty- generous in giving away what exceeded their five years taught at the village primary school, own need. eventually becoming Deputy Head. She ran her Marjorie’s ninetieth birthday was a wonderful classes with great energy sometimes with over celebration and she looked radiant. Before forty children and no teaching assistants in those she needed the first hip replacement she had days! Her teacher’s voice was both loud and remained extremely fit. Latterly, with increasing formidable if any child incurred her displeasure, pain in her other hip, life became more difficult belying her small size. and a heart attack on returning from a holiday Throughout these years Marjorie, who always meant that she could not have the second seemed to be of a cheerful disposition, was a hip operation. She was spared the distress of faithful and much loved member of Worcester incapacity, dying suddenly walking home from a Meeting, never missing a meeting unless she was shopping trip on 22 January 2014. By Ted, with away. The first to arrive on Sunday mornings, whom she shared seventy years and Martin, and she set out the cups ready for tea afterwards. by the many Friends who knew her and many She served both as an elder and overseer and others she is greatly missed. We give thanks for was an enthusiastic taker of the children’s class. her full, active and faithful life. Her vocal ministry was simple and went to the Signed in and on behalf of Worcestershire & heart of the matter. At one time she was Clerk Shropshire Area Meeting, of Western General Meeting as well as, in her eighties, Clerk of Worcester Meeting, writing held at Telford on 26 July 2014 the minutes in her clear handwriting. Marjorie, Dave Rolfe, Clerk with her sister Jean, both actively participated at Canterbury Yearly Meeting Gathering in 2011. In her thirty years of retirement she did not Billy Johnstone rest. Ted and she were volunteers at a hostel for the homeless in Worcester for about twelve 13 iv 1951 – 9 vii 2013 years. She helped with the village library and Billy Johnstone came into contact with the looked after elderly relatives. From their days Society of Friends when he was considering how in Wales they were members of Servas when he might bring the whole of his life into unity foreign travellers for peace would visit and stay with his strong Christian belief. His work in with them and attend the Quaker meeting. retail was not enough for him and he decided to Marjorie learnt Esperanto and they kept up this make a plan, with his wife Gwen, to undertake a international connection through Servas for over four-year degree course to enable him to become forty years. She was also a regular blood donor a social worker. She would work to support him, and received a certificate when she had donated then he in turn would support her to do what 50 units of blood. was her choice. They had been true partners Every summer, she met the challenge of the since their early twenties, and when they made avalanche of soft fruit that Ted produced from a serious commitment to something important, their garden; turning it into jam she called this it was a commitment for life. Billy had made on more than one occasion “the tyranny of the such a commitment to Alcoholics Anonymous soft fruit”. For much of the year they lived on (AA), which he had joined when young, and the produce of the small garden in Kempsey. She to Loaves and Fishes, a small Glasgow charity brought gifts of fruit and tomatoes that were in which gave food and support to the homeless season to Worcester Meeting. For all this wealth in the city, becoming a strong core member in both organisations, and being willing always to

58 Epistles & testimonies respond to demands at any times in day or night Friends wrote, “feel truly blessed to have had the to do what was needed. privilege of having shared times together” and will miss “Billy’s lovely warm manner, his skill, Billy was also a member of the Scottish National his compassion and his dedication”. Party, and in taking his part in their work he met and talked to his Labour supporting neighbour Billy was born and brought up within the at the election in East Kilbride. She introduced Glasgow conurbation, a place very divided him to the local meeting for worship, which he socially in the ‘old days’. Efforts have been made soon joined. Although he had been an elder in by many people to encourage reconciliation the local Church of Scotland, he really believed within the city, and Billy was a key member of that “Thou shall not kill” meant exactly what it this movement, due to his contacts across all said and could no longer support the churches’ sections of society. This was demonstrated at his belief in the possibility of a ‘just war’. Billy funeral, a funeral being held at far too young an could not be part of anything without doing age. While Glasgow still holds the Fair Holiday his bit, and, through time, he was an overseer, in July, most Glaswegians who are able to, take clerk to overseers and often in charge of many a holiday in June, before the English school one-off jobs in the Society of Friends. East holidays start. Many F/friends were booked to be Kilbride Friends remember his organisation of away at the time of Billy’s funeral. In spite of this trips to Cumbria to visit the Quaker Tapestry the large Crematorium was full, with three or and Swarthmoor Hall, among other interesting four rows of people having to stand at the back. places, particularly the time Billy organised the Many were anxious to speak of what he had ‘Baillieston Dementia Bus’ one Saturday when meant to them and what he had done for and it was not needed elsewhere, to take us on an with them, and the meeting for worship there outing. When it broke down on the motorway was a profound experience. the police response to our call was remarkably Later, there were many requests for a further, swift. memorial meeting, so that absentees from the After Billy had qualified in his new career, and first could come. We had to hire a large hall to after Gwen had finished her degree, they went hold everyone. This was also filled with those to live and work in Argyll and had probably the who had known Billy well. Gwen had chosen happiest time in their lives there. Argyll Friends Billy’s favourite Beatles’ song to be played as we remember him as a much loved member of their left. The song was “All you Need is Love”. No- meeting, who would arrive at ‘Bring your own one moved, and it became part of the meeting, lunch’ meetings with an extra packed lunch encapsulating as it did the gift that Billy for anyone who had come without. They also personified for those who knew him. remember wonderful meetings with him in Signed in and on behalf of West Scotland various lovely places in Argyll. As always with Area Meeting, Billy, there are many individual reminiscences from the many who loved him and remembered held at Tarbert on 23 August 2014 him, including his clients, fellow members Michael J. Hutchinson, Clerk of AA, those who worked with him and were helped by him in Loaves and Fishes. His many friends from childhood and from Lloyd Kemp work, as well as Friends from all levels of the Society of Friends from local to national, have 7 vi 1914 – 12 iii 2013 expressed their sorrow at losing him, but more importantly, their joy of having known him. He In Lloyd’s long and distinguished life he held was, at different times, a key member of East two great visions. The first was in scientific Kilbride, then Glasgow, then Argyll and finally research, and the second was the spiritual Glasgow Meeting again, and we all, as Argyll journey.

Epistles & testimonies 59 He gained a first class degree in physics yet it is thief proof, from Kings College London, followed by a and needs no protection. Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the Institute of Education. In 1938 he met his Minted freely, beloved wife Mary, and holding deep Christian It creates no fear of inflation – convictions, he joined the Peace Pledge Union, in fact, it reverses all the usual rules. whilst extending his study of music at the same Thus, unless it is counterfeit, time. its investment seeks no return; and income actually increases When World War II broke out his commitment with expenditure. as a conscientious objector barred him from Its nature is always to be a gift: continuing to work for the General Electric it cannot therefore be earned, Company who had moved over to war work, and or claimed as any kind of recompense or reward; he became a teacher, first at Bristol Grammar and, when returned, School, and then Bradford Grammar School. it needs to be immediately re-invested, In 1944, having been fired up with fresh for any attempt to hoard it enthusiasm for scientific research, he joined leads to bankruptcy. the London Hospital in Whitechapel as a It defies drawing up a balance sheet, radiotherapist, publishing the first of 43 for it cannot be enumerated; scientific papers on “Linear radium source dose and any attempt to put a price on it calculators”. Eventually he received the Roentgen renders it worthless. Award in 1953, for correcting a major error in It is always available on demand, unit dosage of radiation for patients. His next and requires no security; step in scientific research was to the National indeed, Physics Laboratory as Head of the Medium and it may take the form Low Energy Dosimetry. He was acclaimed by of a blank cheque, his fellow scientists as “one of the outstanding with the consequences willingly accepted – medical physicists of the twentieth century”. for counting the cost is foreign to it. Sadly in 1968 his wife Mary suffered her first It is exchangeable stroke, which greatly affected Lloyd, and which the world over, found expression in his deep emotional poetry. but such exchange In 1978, at the suggestion of their younger son must always be Roger, they moved to Bath. They were very person to person: happy in Bath, but tragedy struck when Mary no broker died in 1988 and then Roger died suddenly. can have dealings in it Lloyd joined the Religious Society of Friends to achieve a cheap gain. and soon became a deeply valued member of It can be taxed Bath Meeting, serving as an elder and loving to the limit, counsellor to all who knew him. yet emerge These events stimulated Lloyd’s search for with enhanced reserves. spiritual peace, which he found in his music, It is the only currency and painting, but largely in his poetry. This adequate to meet the cost of living. was expressed most fully in his poem written in Although a great scientist, Lloyd became 1987, and called ‘The Currency of Love’. increasingly aware that “science isn’t everything”, Love has a currency all its own: and indeed wrote a book with that title on its smallest denomination the subject, identifying with great many of is of inestimable worth – today’s scientists, that there is a limit to what

60 Epistles & testimonies we might learn from pure scientific research, Michael became a farmer, feeling that the land and that the spiritual dimension in life is by far held the key to a more peaceful existence. They the most important. At the end of his book he farmed in the North Yorks moors, where they recommends Advices & queries 41 as a creed to were members of the small meeting at Whitby. live by. Joanna made a happy and secure home, on very little money. It was not, perhaps, an ideal Lloyd Kemp will be greatly missed by his family way of life for her. She was by inclination and friends, and all who knew him in Quaker interested in the things of the spirit, and in meetings, for he was truly a man who sought the history, psychology and philosophy, but became truth in everything, and the Christian Way in his a proficient farmer’s wife, baking bread, bottling life. fruit, and making ends meet. Signed in and on behalf of West Wiltshire & By now with five small children, the farm could East Somerset Area Meeting, not support them. Michael moved into the held at Devizes on 1 June 2014 museum world, and the family moved to York Jean Thomson, Clerk this time in 1954. Here, Joanna found a large and active Quaker meeting, which met her needs, and she made many friends. In 1959, the family again Joanna Rodwell Kirkby moved, to Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire. Here there was a growing small meeting, and Joanna 25 xi 1919 – 23 i 2012 began to take on roles within it. She also found work as a teacher of English and history at a Joanna Rodwell was born in China to parents local Grammar School, and discovered an innate from long-standing Quaker families. John ability for communicating with young people, Rodwell, her father, and Dorothy Holmes and helping their learning. She particularly Rodwell her mother were working for the enjoyed the challenge of working with day- Friends Foreign Mission in Chengdu, West release apprentices from the steel works, who China. Joanna had a fairly typical colonial life, were taught civics by her, despite their initial with a Chinese nanny, becoming a boarder at the reluctance. In 1971, there was a further move Canadian mission school at the age of six. to Barnard Castle, and the little meeting at The family left China in 1926, when there was Cotherstone became her spiritual home. a rebellion and all foreign missionaries were Michael died suddenly in 1978, after a difficult expelled. Her last memory of China was of period in their marriage. Joanna moved to bullets hitting the side of the gunboat in which Durham, and became part of the area meeting, they were taken down the Yangtze River. serving in many capacities over the following ten British Friends helped John Rodwell to set up years. During this period, she withheld a small in business in Derby on his return. He had four amount of tax from the revenue as a Peace Tax children, and threw himself into the running protest. This gained her and the cause a good of a laundry, about which he knew nothing. At deal of publicity, until it was distrained from first, Joanna knew no English, and had to learn her bank account, as it had been for her Quaker quickly. Unfortunately, it was at the cost of ancestors, three hundred years before. losing the Chinese language. Becoming increasingly interested in research and Joanna went to Westfield College, and then writing, she moved to Oak Tree House, sheltered registered, it being wartime, as a conscientious accommodation near Woodbrooke. There, she objector. She worked in nurseries in the East went to numerous courses, did the flowers, and End of London, and with evacuated children was inspired by the Appleseed programme to in the country. During this period, she met start painting, with great pleasure, and some Michael Kirkby, a member of the FAU, They proficiency. Out of this period arose her book, married in 1942 at Friends House.

Epistles & testimonies 61 The two oceans, which was prompted by her wish a move that inspired in her a life-long love of to explore the darkness of spirit which leads to the countryside. Returning to London towards evil being done, and to which she felt Friends the end of the war to seek employment, she did not pay enough attention. In it, she explores trained as a shorthand typist, eventually getting historical instances of dealing with the dark side, a job at Waitrose. Subsequently Audrey’s mother mainly drawn from her own family, and the encouraged her to take up a scholarship at second half is a more personal look at her own Central St Martin’s School of Art, London with responses. a view to becoming a teacher. Joanna befriended many people, of all ages, and Audrey first encountered Quakers when she shared with them her own wisdom and loving took a post at Sibford School and she met her heart. husband, Michael, when he joined the staff a year later. The couple moved to Brierfield, She acted on her belief that there was that of Lancashire, for Michael’s next teaching post, God in everyone, though she had a sense too, living in a small terraced house with a view of that everyone is capable of wrong. Pendle Hill. It was here that she attended her She was a life-long supporter of pacifism, and first Quaker Meeting at Marsden. Their son had a commitment to political awareness. She Stephen was born while they were in Lancashire, supported peace and justice movements quietly. with a second son, Jeremy, being born when they had moved to Swindon. Towards the end Joanna believed in speaking truth to power, but of their time there, they were called to work also that an individual can only do what they for the Friends Church in Madagascar, where can – so she worked for CAB and the Samaritans Michael was to be in charge of an all-age school. whilst in Durham. The year’s training took place at Woodbrooke. She had a deep interest in the psychology It was in Madagascar that Audrey’s great gift for of human behaviour, and she spent her life domestic arrangements came to the fore – she exploring ideas in philosophy and the spiritual helped to oversee the building of a new boarding life, as well as history and literature. block for girls, which she ran with the Pastor’s wife. She taught the girls art and domestic crafts Above all, she believed in a loving God, and in and was constantly struggling to improve their the power of prayer, which she practised on a diets. As well as this full-time work for Friends, daily basis. In all of this, she was supported by she took the main role in teaching Stephen and her membership of the Society of Friends. Jeremy, dealing with much of their education up Signed in and on behalf of Central England to primary level. Area Meeting, Back in England, Audrey developed her career at held at Bull Street on 6 January 2015 Archbishop Williams School, a Catholic School Claire Bowman, Clerk in Tile Cross, an outer suburb of Birmingham, as Head of Art, subsequently taking on the additional role of teacher in charge of the Lower Audrey Doris Langford School, a post in which her clear, quite direct but caring approach proved to be very successful. 4 ix 1926 – 29 xi 2013 It was at this time that she and Michael first started attending Hall Green Meeting, attracted Audrey Langford was born in 1926 to a by a thriving children’s class. Audrey served working-class family in Putney, south-west Hall Green faithfully for the next forty years as London. She was brought up by her mother as a convenor of overseers, elder and member of her father left the family home when she was the children’s committee, as well as a number of quite young. At the beginning of World War II, other posts. For the monthly meeting, she served she was evacuated to a village near Chichester, on nominations committee and took a special

62 Epistles & testimonies interest in housing matters. At Hall Green, she in business he was John, began and ended in his took delight in the social side of the meeting, beloved Wensleydale. the shared lunches and house groups – providing He was born in Bainbridge to Quaker parents beautiful home-cooked cakes and pies. Although who had for generations run Bainbridge general she did not minister very often, when she did store. His father had been in the Friends’ so, it was always worth listening to, being clear Ambulance Unit in World War I serving in and thoughtful and certainly arising from her France. At the age of ten John was sent off to own experience. She continued to work for the Ackworth School, on the 60-mile journey on the Friends Service Committee, helping to place train alone. young women from Madagascar for further training in the UK. At 16 he went to London to be apprenticed to a Quaker friend of his father, Robert Marsh, Audrey took early retirement just before her a chartered accountant. As a conscientious sixtieth birthday when a new chapter opened objector, aged 19, he trained and then served up in her life as she supported Michael in his with the Friends Ambulance Unit in London work with the New Foundation Fellowship during the Blitz and then joined the ‘China and editing the New Foundation Papers. She Convoy’ as it became known, which had been set enjoyed travelling, whether it be to pursue her up to supplement the work of the International interest in Archaeology and ancient civilisations, Relief Commission, then based in Ginyang. or to accompany Michael as he travelled in the Ministry, both in this country, and also in After lessons in Chinese, mechanics and first aid, Australia, New Zealand and North America. Peter and about 40 others headed for Burma late in 1941. Following the fall of Rangoon to As she became older, she was conscious of the Japanese, he took the long road to northwest the way her body was letting her down but China up the Burma Road to Kunming in she coped with her illness with courage and a Yunnan province. Proper financial management determination not to give up. She continued to was essential; therefore Peter, as the Unit’s take a great interest in others, particularly her accountant, for much of the time had his head sons and the development of her granddaughter, down doing the books for their American Catrin, now embarking on a career in nursing. Quaker funders. Audrey will be remembered as someone who was very faithful to Hall Green Meeting, where Despite that, he used gleefully to tell stories her friendship was much valued, a real support of spending days blackened from head to foot for Michael and one with a great talent for by the charcoal burning as he helped keep homemaking. the lorries on the road. The Convoy had had to be particularly resourceful at recycling and Signed in and on behalf of Central England cannibalising equipment, most notably at Area Meeting, adapting their vehicles to run on charcoal as held at Edgbaston on 6 September 2014 petrol and diesel supplies became negligible. Claire Bowman, Clerk The years after the war were tragic for him. He came home in 1945, three years after his father had died, having been unable to get home for John Graham (Peter) the funeral. His brother Derrik had also died Leyland suddenly, and he had lost his greatest friend to typhus in Burma. 2 i 1920 – 13 vi 2010 A few years later his wife Barbara Russell died The unusual life of this quiet man, John Graham of an asthma attack after only five years of Leyland, known as Peter to family and in the marriage. Peter then had a baby and a toddler dale, but throughout his life at Ackworth and to care for alone. This was done with the aid of

Epistles & testimonies 63 both grandmothers although eventually Lois and among their other interests they enjoyed Kaye, a Friend, came as housekeeper and carer restoring the historic family village house in for the girls, staying until they were almost Askrigg and researched Leyland family history. grown up. From then until his death in 2010 he was almost Lois, Peter and the girls were active members of always at meeting on Sunday morning sitting Wellingborough Quaker Meeting where Peter in the same place at the end of the row nearest served as clerk. A devoted father, he enjoyed the elders’ bench. He is still there for those of building pet houses, a tree house, a dinghy, a us who knew him, his still presence now as then camping trailer and a log cabin. echoing that of his mother who was the only person to go to meeting every Sunday morning His accountancy training was completed in throughout the war to keep Bainbridge Meeting the City but he later said “I soon wearied of going. auditing company accounts and helping already rich individuals avoid income tax. I think I was Peter rarely ministered vocally except to remind nostalgically looking for a working community us of some Friend who had died or visited, but not dissimilar to the FAU in China where we his ministry through his presence was palpable were completely autonomous and democratic – as the rest of his integrated life shows. His life and appointed our ‘officers’ at our AGM to run spoke in the quietest of voices: just occasionally the Unit for the next year”. a vivid flash entertained and fortified us all – the red spotted neckerchief on Easter Day, After responding to an advertisement in and the grey Chinese silk gown at parties; the The Friend, Peter (as John) was appointed ‘folly’ he built in the Askrigg garden startling as Company Secretary of the Scott Bader the neighbours with its towers and turrets and Commonwealth and subsequently became banners. Finance Director. The vision of its founder Ernest Bader was one of a democratic working He was an accountant through and through as community aiming for the minimum growth much as a Quaker and a father and a husband compatible with the expression of Christian and a friend. All his life, from when he first social values and economic survival. By the went as a pupil to Ackworth School in 1938, he standards of other such ventures the Scott Bader remained involved and active with the school agenda was particularly challenging, with its and its management, serving for 25 years as aspiration to replace commercial values with Honorary Treasurer. When Peter was working Christian ones, its commitment to pacifism, and with the new administrator for Bainside Arts in to high levels of charitable giving. 2002, at the time when computerised accounts were just becoming available to all, he explained A member of Scott Bader said of him: how he as treasurer would like the figures His concern for the truth of a situation presented, and then said, with a dreamy look in was deep and clarifyingly perceptive, often his eyes, “You know, double entry book keeping salutary, but always expressed helpfully… the was one of the most valuable and interesting same qualities… undoubtedly were behind his things ever invented.” He truly loved it and it clearly heroic work in the Friends Ambulance was his ministry. Unit in China – or possibly they were His other interests would surprise those who nurtured there in those tough and exposed think lazily of accountants as dull and hide- days in the inhospitable mountain fastnesses. bound: local history, the produce association, He retired at the age of 60 and returned to alternative energy generation, the Dales Wensleydale to become a local dalesman again. Countryside Museum as well as his share of all In 1982 he married artist Janet Rawlins of the Quakerly roles as clerk, elder, or treasurer of Bainbridge, widow of Kenneth Parfitt. A new the Wensleydale and Swaledale Quaker Trusts. rich and varied life began again for both of them, Whatever the business, however frequent the

64 Epistles & testimonies meetings, he was always there, always ready with it. Secondly, Arthur owned a car, which he a relevant comment or quiet intervention; always willingly used to transport other young Friends utterly reliable; always calm and friendly. His on outings. This was much appreciated by the influence was one of the most powerful; yet what young Friends, who tended not to have cars. A did his voice sound like? true bachelor’s car, the interior was never tidy but did contain an amazing number of useful His family said: things. His life was full of enjoyment, integrity and Arthur never married and lived alone from patience. his arrival in Peterborough until the last few Peter never asked anything of anybody. years of his life which he spent in a residential home. However, he was always close to his He never took time off work. extended family and kept in touch with, and He lived Quakerism. regularly visited, his relations until he had to give up driving. His busy, active life included Signed in and on behalf of Wensleydale & much service to the community at large and Swaledale Area Meeting, to the Religious Society of Friends. He was held at Leyburn on 14 September 2014 very active in the Peterborough branch of Judith Nicholls, Clerk International Voluntary Service and gave much time to decorating the homes and working in the gardens of Peterborough residents who were Arthur (William) Marsh too ill, too elderly, or for other reasons unable to do these things themselves. Many Christmases 1 iii 1926 – 2 vi 2014 saw Arthur working with charities helping homeless people in London. He supported and Born in Brighton on 1st March 1926 (William) was practically involved with the charity Tools Arthur Marsh was the son of William and for Self Reliance. He collected and refurbished Maggie Marsh. Arthur, as he preferred to be all kinds of tools and then delivered them to a known, was a birthright Friend, descended from collection point for shipping abroad. a long line of Quakers (amongst his papers is a copy of the certificate of the Quaker marriage Arthur was the clerk of Peterborough Meeting of a member of the Marsh family, dated 1695). for a number of years, served as an overseer and Arthur was educated at Sidcot School and then gave a great deal of practical help in maintaining at Bootham School. He subsequently trained as the meeting house and garden. Often the first an engineer. He undertook his National Service anyone knew of an attempted break-in was in the army as a vehicle mechanic. Around Arthur’s casual remark that he had found a 1950 Arthur moved to Peterborough to work broken pane of glass and had now replaced it. at Perkins Engines. At the time Arthur viewed In the wider Society he served on Meeting for his transfer to Perkins and to Peterborough as a Sufferings and attended many Quaker Camps short term arrangement. However, he continued and Work Camps, here and abroad. He is still to work at Perkins until he retired and lived out remembered as the Friend who was good at the rest of his life in Peterborough. mending things – a particular delight to young lads attending the camps. From the moment he arrived at Peterborough Meeting he stood out as different for two Arthur was interested in many things and reasons. Firstly he worked for Perkins Engines supported many causes. He travelled all over whereas most of the other members worked for Britain and Europe, camping, walking and Baker Perkins, a Quaker owned firm which had cycling. He recycled before it was fashionable moved from London in the nineteen thirties, and devised machines such as his own solar bringing many of its Quaker employees with powered lawn mower. He was a dedicated

Epistles & testimonies 65 gardener and his large garden produced fruit in Anna Pearce abundance. He possessed a wonderful ancient apple juicer, which featured at Peterborough 2 i 1923 – 3 v 2013 Meeting’s apple picking days and was a great delight to the children. Our Friend Anna Pearce responded with enthusiasm to the words of the prophet Micah Arthur was deeply imbued with Quakerism and in the Old Testament, who asked, “What does his approach to life had a directness, simplicity the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and humility, which belong to another time. We and to walk humbly with God”. often felt he would have fitted in well amongst 17th-century Friends. He never seemed to Anna was born in South Africa, and as a young worry about anything and clearly trusted that adult studied art in Cape Town. She came to all would be well – he never subscribed to a car England in 1941 to enlist for war service, and breakdown service until, in the latter years of his was drafted into intelligence work. She returned life, the car he was driving broke down and for to South Africa in 1956 with her husband, the first time in his life he needed help to fix it. Sandy, and their four children. If asked if he was ‘alright’, Arthur would reply She soon became a member of the Black Sash, he was ‘half left’. The enquiry, “How are you, the white women’s civil rights group, and became Arthur?” was likely to elicit the response “Oh I drawn to the Religious Society of Friends partly never think about that”; this despite being an through her interaction with Quaker colleagues insulin-dependent diabetic. Arthur had roots in that organisation. in the past but lived very much in the present. A very independent man, he was truly happy Anna was a member of the Wellington branch to follow where the Spirit led him, which made of the Sash, in the fruit-picking and processing him both gentle and strong. He talked little of region of the Cape. So she was present in the himself and what he did, so much of what we area during the Paarl riot of 1962, and was aware know of him and his many activities was learned of the exploitation of workers, their insanitary from passing comments and there must be much living conditions and unjust treatment which about Arthur, what he did and whom he helped, had sparked the unrest. She became the first that we do not know. witness at a parliamentary inquiry into the causes of the riot, and she later compiled a report We remember our Friend with great fondness. on the situation, on behalf of the SA Institute for We loved his humour, his active compassion Race Relations. and willingness to help people. We admired his straightforward, trusting faith. He was a In 1960s South Africa few black families had Universalist but rarely discussed his spiritual access to electricity, which was not available in life – he was too busy living it. Arthur did the townships nor in most rural areas. People indeed “walk cheerfully over the world” and we cooked with expensive fuels such as coal and are grateful that it was Peterborough Meeting’s kerosene, both of which are dangerous to use in privilege to have Arthur amongst us for so many a confined space with small children about. To years. help reduce the amount of fuel people needed to use for cooking, Anna devised the ‘wonderbox’ Signed in and on behalf of Cambridgeshire – a modern version of a haybox, made with Area Meeting, polystyrene bubbles inside two cushions, held at Peterborough on 20 September 2014 held in a cardboard box. Wonderboxes work Jane Wheatley, Clerk particularly well with foods which require slow cooking – such as soyabeans, not at that time a familiar foodstuff in South Africa, but one which Anna promoted vigorously as it was cheap and protein-rich.

66 Epistles & testimonies Anna worked initially through the Quaker Anna was in the vanguard of the movement for Service Fund in the Western Cape, then in environmentalism and sustainability, but her 1969 she set up a separate non-governmental primary motivation was not to save the earth, organisation, Compassion, with a slogan “Live but to improve the quality of life for ordinary simply that others may simply live”. At a time people, using simple, sustainable technologies, when it was illegal for a white person without a and equipment which could easily be made in permit to visit the townships, for more than a the local community. There are still small local decade Anna travelled throughout South Africa non-governmental organisations in South Africa to demonstrate the uses of the wonderboxes and which produce and distribute wonderboxes, the wonders of soya beans. She also encouraged incidentally providing an income for the women many small self-help organisations, and the who make them. Compassion offices provided a shop front for As a Friend Anna truly lived Fox’s injunction community craftwork. to respond to that of God in other people. She During the dark days of the 1980s, when also believed that God has no hands but ours, apartheid South Africa was studded with and by ‘ours’ she understood to mean not just violence, Anna and Sandy retired to England, her hands, but those of Friends, friends and and settled in Saffron Walden. Anna continued acquaintances. with her concern for cheap, sustainable cooking This meant that she was an often exasperating solutions for people in poor communities, and always challenging member of a Quaker and in 1986 she set up “Boxaid SSS” (Simple meeting, as she innocently assumed that Sustainable Solutions). She later developed the everyone else felt as she did, and that once she ‘Anahat’ – a shiny metal inverted cone, which had, so clearly, identified a need, Friends and could use solar power or a candle to cook, and strangers would, of course, feel moved to help also to purify water. A travelling fellowship too. from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust supported one of the several trips she made to Anna understood at a very deep level that the developing countries such as Brazil, Bangladesh, Kingdom of God is all around us; but had little India, Vietnam and the Yemen. In 1989 she understanding of social status, except perhaps in wrote and self published Simply living: the story that it endowed people with the powers to help of Compassion and the wonderbox; and in 2000 Anna’s concerns to come to fruition. The author she followed this with Make all things new, Mary Renault, the British ex-Prime Minister bringing her story up to date. Ted Heath, the wife of P. W. Botha the apartheid president, and the Black Consciousness activist The director of an international non- Steve Biko were just some of the otherwise- governmental organisation, World Vision, wrote incompatible individuals who she came in the introduction to Anna’s first book some into contact with and who were then drawn words which serve as a celebratory memorial to inexorably into her work. Anna responded Anna and her work: directly and immediately to that of God in the The ideas in this book did not always work. people she met, though she did occasionally People let one another down; some were weak, muse that perhaps an especially-helpful official even venal. Some could not take the strain. of the apartheid government might be a security It does not all end in glorious success. For police spy. But then again he might not be, and those of us at the sharp end of development, she chose to presume that the official really was especially under a malevolent regime, this is just keen on wonderboxes. the hard reality. It is hard, it is heartbreaking. Saffron Walden Quakers had a sympathetic It is a case of two steps up and only one back fellow-feeling for the naval commander to whom if you are lucky. For of such is the Kingdom of Anna explained that the British Navy’s time Heaven. in South African ports would be best used by

Epistles & testimonies 67 teaching chess to township children – and for at these meetings, conveying with humour the the sailors, who meekly complied. Or was this less comprehensible aspects of Quaker process. just an all-too-likely apocryphal Anna-story? We She was also a keen supporter of the Zimbabwe are pretty sure that we remember Anna’s ministry Bursary Fund and made contacts with students on this topic. who had been helped by Kingston Meeting. Willingly and less willingly Saffron Walden Yet if this gives the impression of a ‘weighty Friends were drawn in to Anna’s good works. Friend’ she was a very unusual one. The last of the projects in which she involved Sally came from a working class family in the meeting was in helping, for several years, to Manchester. Her mother and stepmother both support the work of a young Kenyan man she died while she was young, and as an only child had met, who had a concern to care for Nairobi she cared for her father during a long illness until street children. he died when she was 19 or 20. During World Although in her last years she was often War II as a nursing auxiliary she met a wounded prevented from attending meeting for worship, soldier, Arthur. They married and moved to the her ministry when she did attend was thought- Kingston area where they raised six children in a provoking and deeply felt. small council house. With her children grown up Sally went to Hillcroft College, which provided Anna was a generous host, who enjoyed music educational opportunities to change lives for and the arts and the company of her close family adult women who had missed out on education and wide circle of friends. earlier. This enabled her to become a Religious We give thanks for the Grace of God as shown Education teacher at a boys’ secondary school in in the life of our Friend, Anna Pearce. the rougher end of Chelsea. Some years later she gained an Open University degree at the same Signed in and on behalf of Thaxted Area time as her eldest daughter. Meeting, held at Bardfield on 23 March 2014 Sally had been brought up in the Methodist John Capper, Clerk Church, and later joined the nearby Congregational Church. She had had several points of contact with Quakers and, dissatisfied with the ‘busyness’ at church, tried out the Sally (Lillian) Peart Quaker meeting in Kingston, felt herself at home and was rapidly absorbed in its activities. 8 iii 1920 – 10 vi 2013 Sally was an ebullient Friend who could talk the Lillian Peart, always known as Sally, who died hind legs off a donkey and had no hesitation in June 2013 aged 93, became a member of in telling us that Quakers were too middle Kingston & Wandsworth Monthly Meeting class and intellectual. No one could put on airs in October 1975. She served Kingston Local with Sally and get away with it. She was lively, Meeting for many years, as an elder and overseer, cheerful, funny, outspoken and especially caring. running sessions for newcomers, representing Her home was always open to all; like Waterloo the meeting on Kingston SACRE (Standing Station she once said. A typical story was told at Advisory Committee on Religious Education) her funeral by one of her sons’ friends. He used and above all in running discussion groups to spend parts of his school holidays staying with for the older children. She was on the Friends her family. The day after he left school at 16 he Education Council 1976–8 and represented bought a motor bike and went to Sally’s house to Kingston and Wandsworth Monthly Meeting stay. After some six weeks she asked him when on Meeting for Sufferings from 1988 to 1994. he thought of going home, to which he replied Sally always reported to Friends locally on that he hadn’t thought of it at all. The next day anything which had made an impact on her Sally went out and bought an extra bed. He

68 Epistles & testimonies stayed two years and then visited most weekends. first they alternated between attending Cradley Later she shared her home with a grandson and Methodist Church and Dudley Quaker Meeting, his family. but Linda gradually drew closer to Quakerism, becoming a member of Warwickshire Monthly Sally enjoyed life, especially the arts and lively Meeting in the 1970s. Linda and Tony had two discussion on religion or politics, and cherished children, Rachel (1976) and Mark (1978). her family and friends. The Labour Party was an important part of her life. She regularly stood Linda and Tony were members of the Fellowship for election to the local Council in a strongly of Friends of Truth, a multifaith organisation Conservative area. Sally was never put off by based on Gandhian principles but worshipping failure and gained a considerable personal in the Quaker manner. They regarded this as an following. essential extension of Quakerism until both were agreed that British Quakers had caught up! In retirement she arranged visits to London theatres and art galleries for local Friends, Linda served the Society of Friends at and took up painting with a University of the many levels – as elder, overseer, clerk, area Third Age group until her later years were sadly meeting assistant clerk, member of Meeting affected by Alzheimer’s. for Sufferings, as well as on a number of representative bodies. Her funeral meeting was a joyous Quaker celebration of her life attended by 37 She was a member of her monthly meeting’s descendants, including the newest of her great Peace Action Group during the late Cold grandchildren. War period of the 1980s. Fellow members of the group remember her calm and visionary Signed in and on behalf of Kingston & presence. She was always ready to take part not Wandsworth Area Meeting, only in the intellectual and spiritual aspects of held at Kingston on 19 January 2014 its work, but equally in the tedious aspects of Gillian Ashmore, Clerk campaigning such as stuffing envelopes, which she helped to transform into a community- building activity. Linda Margaret Pegler In the late 1980s she became part of a group of Quakers increasingly concerned about what was 15 vi 1948 – 11 v 2013 then dubbed the Secret State. Typically, this grew Linda was born into a Methodist family in out of her support for a friend who had written Northumberland. She was particularly close to to the press in support of nuclear disarmament, her father, a lay preacher for all of his adult life. and, as a result, come under covert surveillance Her earliest knowledge of Quakers probably by Special Branch. Undeterred by that fact that came from doing a school project when she she herself attracted similar attention by her was 14. She graduated in theology in 1969 actions, Linda drew this matter to the notice of from Kings College, London, followed by a other local Friends, who supported her in her Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Bristol concern. In 1990, following the adoption by University where she was taught the history of Yearly Meeting of the Concern for Truth and religion by Roger Wilson. Integrity in Public Affairs (TIPA), Linda spent three years as a part time research worker for that After university she moved to a teaching post in Concern, and was a key member of its steering Birmingham. She went on to spend the larger group. She was also active in visiting meetings part of her working life as a teacher. She met around the country to share the concern, and her husband Tony, a Quaker, at an international in organising several conferences. During the friendship society in Birmingham. Linda and next few years this concern became a central part Tony were married in the Methodist church; at

Epistles & testimonies 69 of her life. Although she subsequently worked wicked sense of humour, and always fun to be for a number of charitable organisations, her with. continuing concern for truth and integrity at When she learned that she had terminal cancer all levels from the personal to worldwide issues it came as a huge shock, but did not disturb culminated in the publication of her book Truth her inner calm, or diminish her interest in and integrity in 2004. others. Only the day before she died she showed For seven years Linda was Manager of the West a loving concern for a fellow member of the Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project. She meeting who visited her in hospital. was deeply involved in the day-to-day work Hers was a down to earth spirituality. As a of the Project at all levels; even though the Quaker her presence alone in any meeting administrative work load was considerable, she encouraged raised ethical standards. She offered was quite likely to be found sitting on the floor ministry sparingly, speaking briefly, relevantly listening intently to a five year old. and from the heart. Many have been enabled to Linda served on several interfaith bodies, grow in the light as a result of her guidance. We including the Quaker Committee for may mourn her loss as a friend and mentor but Christian and Interfaith Relations, where her influence will always be with us. she is remembered for her discernment Signed in and on behalf of Central England in distinguishing the essential from the Area Meeting, inconsequential and transient, and an economy of words which ensured that whatever she did held at Warwick on 12 June 2014 say deserved serious attention. She spoke of the Claire Bowman, Clerk importance of listening to where words come from, and was always ready to support, but was never judgemental. In recent years, she became a Margaretta Playfair member of her Area Meeting Community Justice Group, being particularly involved in Circles of 28 vii 1913 – 6 vii 2014 Support and Accountability for sex offenders. In this role she was trained by the Lucy Faithfull Margaretta was born in the small Yorkshire town Foundation to join with four other volunteers of Driffield on 28th July 1913, the daughter of to meet with a ‘core’ member (i.e. a man who a lawyer and a nurse. She and her brother had a had served time in prison for a sex offence) happy childhood: Margaretta attended a dame in order to befriend him, thus assisting in his school before going to the Ackworth School resettlement back into the community. As with at the age of 12 years. The influence of her so many of her activities Linda went the second Quaker schooling was significant in Margaretta’s mile by being available on the end of a mobile choosing to join the Religious Society of Friends phone and often helped her core member with in adult life. shopping and welfare issues with his son. Margaretta moved to London to train as a nurse Linda’s gentle, quiet, unassuming nature belied at the Middlesex Hospital and it was through her strong and determined character; if she nursing that she met her husband, to whom she wanted to achieve something it would be done. was married for fifty five years, then a doctor at She was a person of wide interests, active in her Bart’s Hospital. Sacha, who was half Russian, local community, involved in the University was overseas during much of the War as he was of the Third Age, an avid reader, a regular a medical officer in the Royal Navy. After the badminton player, a keen walker as long as her War in 1947, they moved to the medical practice health permitted – and a fearsome opponent with accommodation ‘above the shop’ in Mill in board games. She was good company, well Road, Cambridge. Margaretta took on the role known for what has been described as her of what is now practice nurse, and it was then that their three sons and one daughter were

70 Epistles & testimonies born...a very busy time for Margaretta, and it presence are much missed by all who knew her. was not surprising that they needed more space Her life is an outstanding testament to the Grace and moved to a house with generous spaces of God. inside and outside in the garden at 20 Long Road. Signed in and on behalf of Cambridgeshire Area Meeting, Long Road became a social and cultural centre as spare bedrooms were let to lodgers whose held at Peterborough on 20 September 2014 presence enriched the life of the family, and the Jane Wheatley, Clerk large garden was loaned out regularly for charity functions. A keen amateur singer and pianist, Margaretta took up the viola in her 50s and this William K. Sessions prompted her to start a chamber music group that met every Tuesday at Long Road. This 10 viii 1915 – 25 iv 2013 group, now numbering twenty-eight members, continues to meet at Hartington Grove Meeting William (Bill) Sessions was, in a sense unusual in House. When Sacha ran classes in photography our times, a York Quaker. He did not assume the for the University of the Third Age he ran them right to be called a Quaker through his family, at home; photography was a shared interest, but applied for membership in the usual way, Margaretta qualifying as a member of the Royal as his family recommended. He was born, and Photographic Society. Margaretta’s oversight lived throughout his life, excepting only his years groups were invited for meals at the long table at University and of alternative service during in the big kitchen. Margaretta remembered the war, in the City of York, where his family regularly cooking for eleven or more. Many business, the Ebor Press, had been founded by a received her warmth and generosity and Quaker, William Alexander, in 1811, bought by calmness in this house. Bill’s grandfather in 1865, and still continues to this day. Most of his public service was done in She was skilled in sewing and embroidery and York and he died in his own home, in Rawcliffe had not long finished an embroidered panel that Grove at the age of 97. depicted the story of her family when she read in the Friend an appeal from Anne Wynne Wilson The three children, Mary, ‘Billy’ and Anne, were for support in telling the story of Quakerism all pupils at The Mount Junior School, from the through embroidered panels. She knew at once age of 4 or 5, moving on to Ackworth before that this was a project that spoke to her! The returning to senior school at The Mount or Swarthmoor Hall panel was the first and the Bootham (both then single sex schools, and fully Conscientious Objection panel, a copy of which boarding) at the age of 13. Among Bill’s closest now hangs in the foyer of Hartington Grove friends at Bootham were Martin Lidbetter Meeting House, was the second she completed (London) and Alfred Bewley (Dublin) – and together with seven other Friends. The third both became, in later years, his brothers-in- panel, Health Care, was a peripatetic project in law when sister Mary married Alfred Bewley, which many meetings throughout East Anglia and Bill married Margot Lidbetter, the sister of were involved. Martin. Margaretta moved to a smaller home in Highsett In his sixth form years Bill studied English, after 42 years of life at Long Road. Her last three French and History, adding a new subject, years were spent quietly in Brownsfield House in Economics, and did well enough to be offered Cambridge. She died on 6th July 2014. a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, to read Economics. In his “three very happy and Margaretta’s four children, nine grandchildren fulfilling years” there, he also took part in various and nine great grandchildren survive her. sports (tennis and football among them) and Her warm smile and her serene and wise played cello in a university orchestra.

Epistles & testimonies 71 Cambridge was followed by a year in London, January 1946 that the family, now increased by at the London School of Printing (1936–7) to Mark (1944), returned to York, where four years add to the experience he had gained already by later Michael was born, to complete the family. working and learning at the Ebor Press, with The following year the family moved to 6 his father, near New Earswick. Then followed Rawcliffe Grove, which remained their home a hectic and varied term in the United States during Margot’s lifetime (she died in 1994) and where he visited 80 printing factories, and a visit until Bill’s death in 2013. It is still the home of to Paris, still to learn about printing methods. his second wife, Eva (Lidbetter) Sessions, widow Margot Lidbetter joined him there at Easter of Margot’s brother. Bill continued to work 1938, and it was “part-way up the Eiffel Tower” in the family business, becoming Managing that he asked her to marry him. They were Director in 1946. His elder son took over this married the next year, in March 1939, in the role in 1980, with Bill continuing to serve historic Quaker Meeting House in Jordans. as Chairman. He still drove each morning to But in September 1939, after he had served the Ebor Press until he was 94, editing and at the Ebor Press for only eighteen months as publishing many Quaker books, a number Buyer and Office Manager, the outbreak of war helped by the Sessions Book Trust, set up by brought sudden new challenges and needs. The Margot and Bill with his sister Anne in the new Friends Peace Committee set up a centre, sixties. jointly with Devon and Cornwall Quarterly Bill Sessions has given notable service to the city Meeting, to train young men in practical skills of York, as well as to residents of New Earswick, which might be needed in the course of the war. through his work as a Trustee of the Joseph Bill joined this new training centre, Spiceland, Rowntree Village Trust (now the Foundation) in May 1940, whilst Margot was allowed to from 1947 to 1990 and of the New Earswick come as assistant cook. After the very varied Management Committee for more than 40 and practical three-month course both Bill years. His special interest in wildlife and nature and Margot were invited to join the staff: one conservancy led to the creation of the New of Bill’s jobs was to find placements for the Earswick Nature Reserve and of the nearby conscientious objectors who had finished the Sessions Nature Reserve. He loved and cared for training, and this led to both Bill and Margot these, and for the trees and open spaces of the moving to Friends House in London (January village. Among many other bodies he gave long 1941) firstly to set up evacuation centres for service also to Quakers Uniting in Publication, bombed-out mothers and children from the East the British Printing Industries Federation (he End of London, then to undertake other tasks was President in 1965), the York Civic Trust, and as needed, under the leadership of the newly- the York Company of Merchant Adventurers. formed Friends Relief Service (FRS). In all these He served as Treasurer of the former York situations Bill’s gentle and persistent skills as a Quarterly Meeting from 1946 to 1960, and later negotiator and facilitator, often in very difficult as clerk to the lands and buildings committee and unforeseen circumstances, were invaluable. of the then York Monthly Meeting. In Clifford Despite his passion for detail he never lost sight Street Meeting (later Friargate) his ministry was, of the human needs of those whom Friends were though not frequent, always welcome, drawing working to help. on his strong convictions and life experience. A welcome invitation to some of the overworked The last such occasion was when, very bent, and and stressed FRS teams came from Woodbrooke, walking with difficulty, he had been helped to to come and spend two weeks there, to pause, reach his favourite seat by two members of his think, recharge their batteries and prepare for an close family. unknown post-war future. By this time Margot As a man, he was warm, courteous, enthusiastic was nursing their first child Sallie (born 1942) and extremely knowledgeable on a wide variety but Bill gratefully accepted the offer. It was in

72 Epistles & testimonies of subjects. He delighted in his family, which Although Dell had within him a deep at his death included ten grandchildren and ten spirituality, he was very much down to earth great-grandchildren. Bill’s abiding loves were when necessary. He was always understanding always his family, his profession, his Quaker and Friends valued his contributions in meeting, his city, poetry and the natural world. discussions and at meetings for business. Dell His life and example have been an inspiration never gave ministry in meetings for worship not only to his family but also to generations of and only occasionally would read from Advices York Quakers and citizens. and Queries or Quaker faith & practice, but his presence was felt in meeting. Signed in and on behalf of York Area Meeting, Latterly, Dell felt himself at odds with some of held at Friargate on 8 November 2014 the stances and changes in the Society of Friends Alison Clarke & John Guest, Co-Clerks but always tried to think reasonably and see the other point of view. His wisdom was often appreciated in Quaker committees and in the many organisations in Whitby with which he Edward Dell Sewell was associated. 16 i 1921 – 6 xii 2013 The biggest debt to Dell is owed by the Society of Friends, both in Whitby and further afield, Edward Dell Sewell was born in Whitby on 16 where he gave unstinted service. One of his January 1921 into a family of wholesale grocers. strengths was his determination to see that He was one of four children who were brought things were done in right ordering. up into a strict but loving family of Quakers who had served the Whitby Quaker community Dell was an enthusiastic and energetic man with for generations. a keenness for music, dancing, bowls and good wine, a keenness which he maintained well into After being educated locally, Dell went to ‘young’ old age. Ackworth School from 1932 until 1937. Dell’s elder brother, Joseph, and his sisters, Greta and When Dell passed away on 6 December 2013 in Stella, were also pupils there, Dell being the his 93rd year, all who had been touched by him last surviving sibling. Dell retained a love of felt the loss of a good man, a loving husband and Ackworth School throughout his life and served father, grandfather and great grandfather. He was the East Coast Guild in many capacities. a good example of Quaker ethics and integrity to Friends (and friends) and to a wide community. Dell had various jobs in France with the Quaker Relief Service during World War II and after Dell leaves a widow (his second wife the war he met his first wife, Denise. They Margaret), two sons (Denis and Michael), two were married soon after. Due to his father’s grandchildren and one great grandchild. illness, Dell returned to the family business and We give thanks for Dell Sewell’s life. remained in Whitby for the rest of his life. Signed in and on behalf of Pickering & Hull Like his parents and grandparents, Dell became Area Meeting, an indispensable part of Quaker life and activity held at Hull on 9 March 2014 in Whitby and, during difficult times of falling Christine Fellows, Clerk membership and the increasing cost of a large old meeting house, Dell, Stella and their mother kept the meeting afloat, Dell serving as clerk for over 30 years and continuing, almost, singlehandedly, after his mother’s death and Stella’s illness.

Epistles & testimonies 73 Griselda Margaret Spence in Griselda’s garden where they were all made welcome. 18 v 1914 – 3 x 2013 Griselda was very shy. Whilst happy in the Griselda, Ma to her family and Gammer to her company of her friends at meeting, she found grandchildren, was born at Bideford, Devon socialising rather difficult, some asked if she in 1914 and died at Harrow in October 2013. was rather ‘aloof’. She was not. She was very Her father died when she was young and intelligent, gifted in languages and history of her early years included boarding school at art, but inherently shy and felt uncomfortable Bath for the children of officers and visits to in a crowd, or if and when she was the centre Adelaide to stay with her family there. In 1935 of attention. When Newcastle needed a new she returned to England to study the History meeting place and left their ancient premises of Art at the Courtauld Institute. She then in Pilgrim Street, Charles designed the new met Charles Spence, an architect, gave up her meeting house in Jesmond. Griselda chose the study of Art History and they married in 1939. fabric and had the curtains made and also the Griselda joined the Society of Friends before covers for the long cushions on the benches. her marriage, but Charles joined the army and Now in Newcastle’s next new meeting house in served in Ceylon and the North West Frontier. Gosforth, there are still benches with cushions During the war Griselda lived with her own whose fabric she chose. mother in Devon, bringing up her son and After almost 30 years, in 1974 Griselda and daughter. Charles moved to Alnmouth; Hallsteads was After the war Griselda and Charles moved to a large house where their family could stay Newcastle upon Tyne where Griselda, now and feel at home and had their own quarters, mother of one daughter and three sons was bringing their own children. Outdoor activities a stalwart member of the meeting. She was a had always been a central part of family life and remarkable person who dedicated her life to her this was a great place to be for them. Griselda family and could not have done more for them. was a wonderful mother-in-law who welcomed When her eldest son and his wife and eight- and accepted her daughters-in-law into the month old daughter moved to Jesmond, they family. She took great delight in the children, lived with Charles and Griselda for six months as avidly following their growth, achievements and they completed their own house nearby. various pursuits, always supportive in a non- It was a wonderful time and their daughter–in- judgemental manner. She had a quiet presence law felt warmly embraced and got to know, love about her and a dignified, peaceful demeanour, and appreciate them very, very much. Griselda with something extra, her inner strength and was an excellent cook and mother, quiet, gently spirituality – the Grace of God within her. When spoken but very much in control in her own two of her sons died, then Charles, followed kitchen, a woman who must be incredibly by her youngest son, she was so very strong patient. There was sawdust and shavings on the and she and her daughter and wider family, hall and staircase, trodden out of what should supported each other. To live the courageous life have been the house dining room, on the ground that Griselda did with all these tragic deaths in floor at the bottom of the stairs, which was made her family, showed us a person who was deeply over to Charles’s workshop because there was grounded in belief and the guiding light of God. no other space. Griselda’s motherliness extended It was so very hard for her, a devastating period outwards and many Friends were grateful for in her family life. “It was a certain privilege to her support, especially when they were new to know someone like her who endured her losses meeting and bringing up their own children. with such dignity. It seemed to me a Big Faith The Newcastle Quaker youth including all the which she did not need to discuss, I found being Spences were frequently to be found having fun close to that comforting.”

74 Epistles & testimonies On 13th May 1984 the first of many meetings Sylvia Stanyer for worship over the years was held at Hallsteads. This brought together folk from a wide area 11 iii 1928 – 7 xii 2012 and was supported by Newcastle Friends. The meetings moved around Friend’s homes until Sylvia Stanyer (nee Webb Fowler) was born in eventually they settled into a formal local Wolverhampton. A birthright Friend, born into meeting at Alnwick in 1997. While living at a Quaker family, she attended Wolverhampton Alnmouth Griselda’s home was always open Meeting all her life. As a child Sylvia, along to Friends. Her openness to hospitality was with her sister and parents, would walk from a lasting joy to our meeting every Christmas their home in Old Fallings to Horsman Street season, when Friends took over the kitchen and Meeting House for meeting for worship. organisation, then all sat round the large dining Sylvia won a scholarship to study at table together, before moving on to the lounge Wolverhampton School of Art, where she gained for their entertainment, Griselda herself often a National Diploma in Art and Design. This reading poetry. For these evenings they are very was followed by an Art Teaching Diploma at grateful. Birmingham College of Art and Design in 1951. Her large garden with shrubs, trees, flowers and She became skilled in a wide variety of crafts. It veg patch was often explored by the meeting. was while at Art College that she met her future Griselda was generous with all the produce husband Neville, who was also training to be and they always were invited to pick apples. In an art teacher. Sylvia was a very creative person the large porch leading into the house, there and her lifelong love of arts and crafts played was always a basket of apples in season, or an essential part in her career as a teacher and any surplus produce, for anyone in the village Head of Department at Wolverhampton Girls to come and help themselves, nothing was High School. It also led to a particular love for wasted. She was sensitive to the needs of those calligraphy and embroidery. around her, always offering appropriate practical In 1958 Neville and Sylvia were married. With support. Neville a practising Anglican and Sylvia a In 2004 Griselda left Alnmouth to live initially birthright Quaker, they took the decision that with and later close by her daughter at Harrow. they would retain their different beliefs but also She remained quiet, strong, dignified and regularly share worship together at each other’s resolute until the end. place of worship. Their marriage was solemnised in both places. Family life was content and “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, important for both Sylvia and Neville. Their two patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness, daughters, Chris and Jenni, attended children’s gentleness and self-control”. (Galatians 5:22) classes at Wolverhampton Meeting and the Griselda was blessed in abundance with all these whole family was eventually involved in the fruits. She was sorely tested many times in her activities of Midlands Junior Young Friends. life, most specially in her middle to later life Sylvia and Neville both played a role leading when she suffered the loss of all three of her sons activities at weekends and holidays in meeting and husband Charles too. On each occasion, houses or residential centres, where they all when she must have struggled so much herself to made new and valued friendships. For Chris and reconcile her grief, her amazing, courageous and Jenni, Sylvia was an inspiring role model from generous Spirit shone through as she upheld us whom they learnt much, including the belief all. She was a truly wonderful and gifted person. that women were just as capable as men and the importance of loving, caring relationships within Signed in and on behalf of Northumbria Area the family. Meeting, Meeting for worship was central to Sylvia’s held at Newcastle on 7 December 2014 life. Her attendance was steadfast and she Susan Bennet, Clerk

Epistles & testimonies 75 always showed great concern for the welfare the addition of the Paddock sheltered flats, and of the meeting. Sylvia served Wolverhampton of the Spinney dementia unit many years later. Meeting diligently in many capacities, as clerk, Underlying this service was a firm belief in the elder, overseer and on nominations committee. value of the lives of older people. Right until her She made a valued contribution to children’s final illness she visited the Woodlands regularly. activities, as convenor of children’s committee She spent time with individual residents, helped and in taking classes on Sundays. Her work as with weekly craft classes and presented sessions clerk was appreciated for judgement she showed. listening to classical music. Many learnt from Sylvia an understanding of By nature Sylvia was kind and compassionate, service and commitment to the Society’s witness. noticing when members or attenders needed a Sylvia had been unwell for many years and helping hand or a sympathetic ear. She would latterly she suffered chronic health problems keep in touch with those who were no longer but she refused to let that get in the way of her able to attend meeting through illness or Quaker witness and was an elder at the time of disability, contacting them regularly. She would her death. always make time for children and young people Sylvia’s Quaker beliefs were applied both in her attending meeting and to them she would give work and in her choice of leisure activities. She a special welcome. Sylvia tried to live her life demonstrated a great commitment to the simple, with modesty and simplicity. Underlying her mundane tasks of life as well as to more elaborate quiet and gentle approach was great strength of artistic projects. As a teacher she nurtured the character and deep commitment to her Quaker life of her pupils. She was known, and is still beliefs. This was shown in the inspiring patience remembered, for her personal understanding of and fortitude with which she bore her final the girls she taught, and this gave her teaching illness. an added richness. For a number of years after Wolverhampton Friends will continue to miss she retired she would return to the school to her presence and her example. give talks about Quakerism to the students. This often involved the children visiting the meeting Signed in and on behalf of Staffordshire Area house and, in later years, other local schools took Meeting, part in these activities. held at Leek on 12 April 2014 Sylvia was an enthusiastic supporter of the Peter Holland, Clerk Quaker Tapestry project. She was able to put her embroidery skills to good use when she contributed to the production of one of the Ann Strauss panels. She embroidered the tall trees gracing the Lebanese Meeting House on the panel 31 iii 1931 – 4 xii 2013 celebrating ‘Meeting Houses Overseas’. She was unstinting in her support for the Tapestry, As we look back over the life of Ann Strauss wanting others to share in its outreach and we are reminded of some of the qualities appreciate the quality of craftsmanship it evinced by women Friends in the early days of displayed. She worked hard to raise funds for Quakerism: grace, gentleness, faithfulness, quiet the care of the tapestry and for its display in its commitment, and a loving helpmeet of her Kendal home. husband. Sylvia also cared deeply for older people in Her parents came from Yorkshire and were society. For many years she served on the birthright Friends. Her father was one of Management Committee of the Woodlands the Balby Meeting Clarks and her mother a Quaker Home, including some years as Chair. Yeomans. Thomas Shillitoe (1754–1836), an She was involved in major projects there, such as ancestor on her mother’s side, is well known to Quaker historians. Both Ann’s parents went

76 Epistles & testimonies to Ackworth School, after which her mother Kurt decided for a number of reasons to transfer trained as a nurse, and towards the end of World their membership to Wimbledon Meeting War 1 worked in the Quaker-run maternity unit although this was in a different Area Meeting. in Châlons-sur-Marne, which is shown on one Their children had grown up and left home, the of the panels of the Quaker Tapestry. meeting was in their own administrative area and electoral constituency, and it was much closer Ann’s father went to Ceylon as a tea planter and geographically. They were valued members there came home to marry her mother, after which they for ten years until in 2006 they decided with an both returned to Ceylon where Ann was born in eye to the future to move into Hartrigg Oaks, a 1931. Her mother did not take to colonial life continuing care retirement community built and and she herself taught Ann reading, writing and run by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust in arithmetic. With World War II threatening, the New Earswick, York. family came back to live in Winscombe, close to Sidcot, the Quaker boarding school in Somerset, Sutton Friends remember with thankfulness the where Ann, by then aged eight, was one of service of Ann and Kurt during the many years the first pupils in the newly formed 2nd form, when they were at the heart of the meeting. They created to take in children evacuated from the came to Sutton shortly after the tragic death of cities at the onset of war. their young daughter and were quickly enfolded by the meeting. Other Friends have spoken of A couple of years later another evacuated child the support which they in turn received from arrived at Sidcot, Kurt Strauss. He and his Ann Strauss at times of personal difficulty. Ann parents had escaped from Jewish persecution served as preparative meeting clerk from 1979 in Germany with the help of the Quakers, and as convenor of overseers from 1988. Kurt and Kurt and Ann went through the school and Ann gave devoted service to Purley & Sutton together until 1948, when he left to begin an Monthly Meeting and for some years Ann was apprenticeship and she went on to university to the registering officer for Quaker marriages. study German. It was only after leaving Sidcot She took a strong interest in the children of the that they began to take a serious interest in each meeting and when in 1970 the meeting moved to other, and it was another eight years before they new premises it was Ann who took responsibility were married. Both Ann and her father had by for the design and care of the garden. then resigned their membership of the Religious Society of Friends, he having been attracted by Kurt and Ann continued to give devoted service Christian Science, but the marriage was allowed after moving to Wimbledon Meeting. Ann again to take place according to the manner of Friends served as preparative meeting clerk and also in Jordans Meeting House. Ann’s parents by then for a time as clerk of Kingston & Wandsworth were wardens of the Jordans Quaker Hostel and Monthly Meeting. She was a joint elder and the reception was held in the Mayflower Barn. overseer and from time to time gave clear and sincere ministry in meeting for worship. The Not long after their first child was born, Ann peace testimony meant a great deal to Ann and Kurt felt it was time to find a spiritual base and Kurt and they were strong supporters of on which to bring up their growing family. local CND group activities. They took part in They applied for membership of the Religious weekly peace vigils and for ten years Ann was Society of Friends, and were accepted into the minute secretary of Wimbledon Campaign Uxbridge Meeting. Kurt’s work took them for Nuclear Disarmament. They also took a to live in Brussels for four years and on their leading role in Merton Asylum Welcome which return to this country they found a house in held a drop-in centre in a Baptist Church every Wimbledon. There was no children’s meeting in Wednesday, providing lunch and refreshments Wimbledon at that time, but Sutton Meeting for up to a hundred people. Ann’s smiling had a thriving one and that is where the family welcome contributed to the success of this worshipped for over 30 years. In 1996 Ann and project. She also befriended individuals who

Epistles & testimonies 77 were quite alone and vulnerable. One of her with loving care and great success, growing both fellow-volunteers highlighted some of Ann’s vegetables and flowers. Birds were a great delight other qualities: to her and she was keen to share with others her skill in their identification. There was something that I felt was part of Ann’s essence. She had what I can only The life of Ann Strauss has demonstrated the describe as a ‘moral strength’, a deeply felt essential features of true Quaker living. They sense of injustice and of compassion. What encompass integrity, caring for others, service was so remarkable was her way of living these to the disadvantaged, concern for peace, in all the campaigns, activities and voluntary commitment to her Quaker meeting. Her life work in which she played her part. Certainly has touched many others and we recall her life she was a woman who became involved to try with thankfulness. and change things for the better. But it was Signed in and on behalf of York Area the way she did this that was so impressive. Meeting, She did it with quietness, stillness and dignity; yet she spoke out so cogently when it was held at Acomb on 16 July 2014 necessary. She had the gift of marrying silence John Guest, Co-Clerk with action. Ann was one of those special people you meet in life, who you know for a short time but carry with you for the rest of Elizabeth Margaret Sullivan your own life. The last seven years of Ann’s life are remembered 12 i 1920 – 23 x 2013 by Friends of New Earswick Meeting and the Elizabeth Sullivan was born Elizabeth Bayley. Quaker community at Hartrigg Oaks, where She married Matthew Sullivan in 1947, then she grappled cheerfully with increasing infirmity known as Barry. They moved to Jordans to begin while still managing to keep herself up to date a family and lived at Nine Elms in Jordans Way and involved with Quaker work and witness. for the rest of their lives. She regularly supported the Tuesday morning half-hour worship in Hartrigg Oaks and also The Together they worshipped in Jordans Meeting Retreat’s Thursday morning meeting for worship. since the time that their six children were small. She greatly valued our world family of Friends All of them attended the Children’s Class on and earlier attended European Yearly Meetings Sundays – Mark, Justin, Sean, Hugh, Miranda, with Kurt. She attended the local Churches and Francesca, together with their cousin John Together meetings where her contributions were whom Elizabeth and Matthew brought up from remembered with great warmth. With Kurt, she an early age. was one of the volunteers working for Refugee Matthew pursued a career in creative writing in Action York (RAY) and also a founder member the BBC and making links with other creative of New Earswick Experiment with Light group, writers. He produced many of the Christmas which she continued to attend until she died. plays which were performed by the children Her quiet strength upheld the meeting. of Jordans Meeting for the people of Jordans Although she had moved to a much smaller Village and staged in the village hall. He often garden her interest in plants and flowers ministered in meetings for worship. He was continued and many residents appreciated her passionate about William Penn. For a period knowledge and skills. Throughout her life Ann Elizabeth served as an overseer. had a natural feeling for the environment. She Elizabeth was committed to bringing up her was passionate about plants and gardening. It large family and providing home support for was said that all ten of Ann’s fingers were green them while they attended a variety of schools. and she gardened needless to say organically She was committed to work for a wide variety

78 Epistles & testimonies of charities from 1945 onwards when she Margaret Waterfall supported German relief work. After the family had left home she worked 1926–2013 as a professional social worker for the Child In 1975, 49 year old Margaret Waterfall became Guidance Clinic in Slough, and when she the youngest person in Bridport Meeting. retired she worked as a volunteer for the Medical Margaret was married to Malcolm Waterfall, Foundation for the Victims of Torture (now of the Bridport Quaker family, so for them renamed as Freedom from Torture) and was and their two adopted children, the move was especially concerned to support those who had a natural one. Just after Margaret’s death, her come to this country at times of difficulties in daughter Sarah wrote “I found these words on order to make a new life for themselves. a card in Mum’s handbag, she had obviously From time to time we heard about the various kept it with her for many years, as it was a bit career choices that her children had made – ragged:” Justin had become a rock singer, and Francesca Oh Heavenly Father, in whom we live & move a belly dancer in Abu Dhabi. Mark is a Green and have our being, we humbly pray thee so consultant, John works in advertising, Hugh is a to guide and govern us by thy holy spirit that solicitor, Miranda an artist and a carer, and Sean in all the cares & occupations of our daily life a builder. we may never forget thee, but remember that Matthew and Elizabeth introduced us to Subud, we are ever walking in thy sight. the spiritual organisation which brings together For Sarah, and all those who knew her, these people of varying faiths seeking direct personal words very much show how Margaret tried to experience and connection with the highest live her life. She did not dwell on theology: universal power, something every human being rather she lived it, and this was evident in her has the capacity to feel and experience. Matthew work as clerk. and Elizabeth supported this organisation while continuing to attend Quaker meetings. Margaret, a very clever girl, had won a place at Oxford to read history. However, it was wartime Elizabeth spent the last period of her life in a and Margaret felt her duty was elsewhere, nursing home. She died there peacefully on 23 and became a nurse, and this remained her October 2013, with members of her family at profession. She never did study history formally, her bedside. Many people attended Elizabeth’s but it was a lifetime interest, especially local and funeral in a meeting for worship in Jordans Quaker history. Her knowledge has been vital Meeting House on 1 November 2013, during in creating the records we have today. She had which her body was buried in the Burial wonderful intelligence a quick but gentle and Ground in the grave shared with her husband perceptive wit, a marvellous sense of timing and Matthew. Many Friends spoke about the direct a talent for organising. “I’m naturally bossy: practical and personal support that they had you have to do something with it”, she said. received from Elizabeth at times of difficulties These gifts that she always held lightly Margaret in their lives, which made a real difference for had already brought to Jordans Meeting in them. Elizabeth was a high spirited, energetic Buckinghamshire, where she had become Friend, who always had a lively sense of fun and monthly meeting clerk. Bridport Meeting much laughter, and we will miss her. We give thanks needed both the talents and experience that for the grace of God in her life. Margaret brought and she became a keystone Signed in and on behalf of Chilterns Area of its growth and development, leaving a legacy Meeting, that still subtly informs the spirit of Bridport Meeting. As well as being indispensable to held at Aylesbury on 12 January 2014 Bridport, her combination of gifts led Margaret Tim Newell, Clerk to become local meeting and area meeting clerk.

Epistles & testimonies 79 Every Bridport Clerk today who knew her The capacity for laughter and not taking herself admits that they learned the craft from Margaret, at all seriously informed Margaret’s remarkable but it was more than craft. Her minute making gifts and spirituality, greatly deepening them was extraordinary; she had an uncanny ability and enabling her to communicate so well. She to give words to the true spirit of any meeting. took these gifts out to the wider community She could capture precisely a meeting’s sense of in Bridport and served as secretary to both concern, bringing in new energy, and transform Churches Together and Women’s World Day even administrative drudgery into inspiration. of Prayer for several years. She did much for Although Margaret was incisively logical, the Quaker outreach in the town and it was always means by which she achieved this went a long Margaret who was asked to speak at meetings way beyond logic. In particular, should division if anyone wanted to know about Quakers. Her or intransigence create conflict, hers was a advice to Friends giving talks to groups was, genuinely peace-making gift. Margaret was “Don’t stand behind a table, stand with your always capable of communicating a very deep back to it, speak up and always wear lipstick so awareness of gathered silence and love. She they don’t think you are a fuddy-duddy.” could uphold a meeting before it upheld her and Right to the end of her long life, she retained enable it to become genuinely gathered, often both her wit and her intelligence, a much loved transforming the outlook of those present. To friend of many of us in Meeting. Her daughter attend a Quaker business meeting with Margaret wrote “I miss her more than I can say”, an as clerk was to be taken into the spirit of worship emotion much shared, but tempered by the alongside her. Her influence and her teaching of spiritual and practical heritage she has left to us the spiritual practice behind successful Quaker in Bridport. clerking cannot be underestimated within Bridport Meeting. Signed in and on behalf of Dorset & South Wiltshire Area Meeting, Margaret loved her family and friends. Within meeting the three “Waterfall Wives” were both held at Salisbury on 16 November 2014 notable and not a little notorious for letting Mal Derricott, Clerk their hair down (in Margaret’s case a wonderful arrangement of very long iron grey plaits which she wore coiled into earphones). Margaret, Ella Anthea Webb and Joan called themselves ‘The Outlaws’ after an occasion when, left at the sink again with all 10 vi 1930 – 13 xii 2013 the washing up after a family gathering, they decided to rebel and climbed out of the window Anthea spent her childhood in London where and went for a walk on the cliffs. Over the years her father worked in the City. During the war they went on many outings together and it was the family moved to Cookham where, in order at Montacute that Margaret and Ella, both ladies to make ends meet, her mother ran a school at of stature and not in perfect health, decided home. Later Anthea attended Sidcot Quaker to climb the stairs to see the picture gallery. School; her time there was important, it was a Going up was achieved but coming down was place where she made many lasting friendships problematic. They solved this by sitting on the and had an opportunity to nurture her musical stairs and bumping down. On arrival at the talent. She went back regularly to the Old bottom they recovered on a deep window seat Scholars event and spoke often about her school with their inhaler in their hand and in fits of days with affection. giggles. It was memorable. They were all great After leaving school Anthea had some thoughts friends who worked very hard on behalf of about becoming an actress, but she started meeting and people who shared an impish sense working as a copy editor. She also enjoyed of fun which would effervesce into occasional writing and she published a children’s book anarchy.

80 Epistles & testimonies called Jasper’s Jump. In her thirties she decided have her own but she was close to her nieces to train as a music teacher. She had a fulfilling and nephews. She built lasting friendships with working life involving her two loves: children the children in the meeting and also in her and music. She went to teach in Cirencester neighbourhood. where she met her husband Lyn through their When Anthea met Lyn she began to share shared interest in music. When Lyn retired they his deep interest in nature and particularly moved to Suffolk and Anthea continued to work in birds, and she engaged in this, as in all her as a peripatetic cello teacher, travelling along acquired interests, with total commitment. By north Suffolk’s winding roads. ringing birds Anthea and Lyn got to know the Anthea was a birthright Friend. Her mother was east Suffolk countryside and the surrounding an active Friend and a gifted speaker. Anthea areas well. Together they often gained access used to recount how throughout her earlier life to beautiful areas that are not accessible to the she attended her large London meeting, and public. helped with children there, but didn’t feel fully Anthea’s great love was music. She herself played involved and went the meeting only if “nothing the cello, although she said it wasn’t an ideal more exciting turned up”. After moving to a instrument for her. In an address to Sidcot Old smaller meeting in Cirencester, she became more Scholars Association in 2002 she describes her active in the life of the meeting. The more she spiritual awakening when she was at a rehearsal learned about the Quaker ways the more ‘the with the school orchestra at Sidcot: Quaker in her’ began to thrive, and she felt she became a convinced Friend. Getting married to At this first rehearsal of Bach’s Fifth her beloved husband Lyn in the meeting house, Brandenburg Concerto I realised, with and putting on concerts there with him, helped mounting excitement, that I was experiencing her to strengthen her bonds with the Cirencester something inexplicable: this is what the music Meeting. was about; what life was all about; possibly, even, what God was all about; this wonderful Anthea used to say that she wasn’t of a mystical conjoining of people and instruments, this temperament but responded to the love and pattern and purpose and satisfaction of sound, communion in the meeting. She cared for the this ‘equal music’ that is unequalled – that is meeting as a whole as well as the individuals in Bach. it. She enjoyed people, and was always interested in each member of the meeting; she had a gift Anthea was a practical and down-to-earth for making attenders and visitors feel welcome person. She faced Lyn’s death and her increasing and an amazing way of finding out about people health problems with courage and acceptance. and their lives and families. Her warm interest She made sensible changes in her life by moving extended to the whole area meeting. to smaller, more appropriate homes, and making new friends in her new surroundings. Anthea had a deep knowledge of Quaker ways and made sure that everything in local Sadly, her last few months, when she could no meeting and area meeting was in right ordering. longer be independent, were a struggle for her, Although Friends sometimes found her plain but she kept her interest in Friends almost to the speaking and attention to detail in practical end, having area meeting list of members and matters frustrating, these qualities enabled her attenders by her and updating it when necessary. to clerk business meetings conscientiously and Signed in and on behalf of Ipswich and Diss wisely. Underneath her practical down-to-earth Area Meeting, attitude was a warm-hearted, caring person and Friends could always turn to Anthea for held at Felixstowe on 26 July2014 generously given advice. Jen Larner, Clerk Anthea loved children. She married too late to

Epistles & testimonies 81 Anna Wing of a pithy, unexpected, but pertinent comment was when one Friend (whom she knew well) was 30 x 1914 – 7 vii 2013 telling her about separating from his partner, her response was “Darling – what are you going to The Hampstead area of North West London do about sex?” has long had a reputation as a desirable place, particularly for those of an artistic temperament. Rather to her surprise a very much more It is not surprising then that Hampstead conventional Friend encouraged her to apply for Meeting has had from time to time well-known membership. In Anna’s words, “I didn’t think people from the theatre and television amongst they’d have me darling, you know I was rather its congregation. frisky.” When this brought forward the response “Well, I suppose many of us were rather frisky Anna Wing could not be counted amongst when young” a quick response came “And I still the best known of actors, but it could surprise am, darling.” those who knew her personally or at meeting for worship, how often she could be recognised in Her occasional levity and joie de vivre didn’t a film or on television, usually taking a small or disguise a serious and spiritual side to her nature; medium part, playing with great skill a hugely her occasional spoken ministry was deeply felt, diverse range of different characters. beautifully articulated and invariably found resonance with the meeting. Her concern for When Anna died in 2013 she had been a others reflected sincerely-held Quaker values. member of the meeting longer than anyone else. She joined the Society in 1962, and was a Over the 50 years or so that Anna was known regular if not frequent attender at meeting until to Hampstead Friends, there was seldom a time she moved to residential care in Enfield a few when she was not involved in assisting someone years before her death. She liked to recall that or something. An elderly aunt had come to live on entering a meeting house for the first time with her, someone needed money, someone was she was greeted with the unexpected and deeply homeless and had moved in. Sometimes, Friends appreciated words “Welcome Friend”. learning of the burden she was carrying felt that her generous nature was being exploited. As Perhaps because of the unpredictable nature of well as taking on some major commitments, she her profession, Anna was not specially involved was ready to give help in small ways. She was with the structures whereby the Society is especially concerned to help those beginning maintained, but could always be relied upon to their careers in acting, in films or television. An respond to requests which exercised her talents example being willing to appear, without pay, in – for example at meeting house parties. Any a film being made by a young director connected outreach project could be sure of her support if with Hampstead Meeting. needed. Anna is sufficiently well known to have had Much to the delight of local members, Anna obituaries written about her in the national could not be described as a typical Quaker. For press. Entering her name on the internet brings a start, she adopted with gusto her profession’s forth a plethora of articles. supposed propensity to address all and sundry as “darling”. In her rich resonant actor’s voice Anna Eva Lydia Catherine Wing was born in embracing her listeners, she would recount Hackney on 30 October 1914, the daughter of an experience, often of a personal or intimate a greengrocer. She decided as early as 11 that nature, which recounted by anyone else might she wanted to be an actor. She gained a place at well have raised an eyebrow but inevitably, with the Croydon School of Acting and then worked Anna, it became a story one would take away extensively in repertory theatre. In between jobs and share with others. Always demonstrating she had to earn money by being an artists’ model a warm interest and care for others an example – as she said “I had a very attractive body – a

82 Epistles & testimonies Renoir, and they were mad about it”. disadvantages brought forth the response “Oh I’m alright, darling, you don’t need to worry Anna was a life-long pacifist and supporter of about me”. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. During World War II, she worked as a nurse for the Red When speaking of the Society of Friends, Anna Cross, afterwards returning to acting, where mentioned that apart from the spiritual benefits she met her first husband Peter Davey. They she felt it conferred, she loved the tolerance, had a son, Mark. The marriage ended in 1947 acceptance and friendliness she experienced after only three years. Her second partnership at meetings. Her lifelong support for CND was with the surrealist poet Philip O’Connor, resonated with the peace testimony. Friendliness with whom she had a second son, John. Again and tolerance were qualities that could be found the relationship was not long-lasting. She once in abundance with Anna Wing. Her instinct was lamented that she had nothing to remember him to think well of people – she had the great gift of by but a scribbled farewell note which read “I seeking and finding God in everyone. love you, the gist of it is, I’ve been unfaithful. Signed in and on behalf of North West Have packed and gone.” She has said, “I pined London Area Meeting, for him for 15 years”. held at Muswell Hill on 16 July 2014 Meanwhile Anna continued to appear on Susan Seymour, Clerk television and the stage. In 2007 she counted 50 plays she had been in in 68 years. She had roles in Billy Liar, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Play for Today and EastEnders – perhaps her biggest part as Lou Beale, which she took on at the age of 70. The show’s producers worried whether she was up to EastEnders’ tough filming schedules. After four years and becoming a household name, she felt she had had enough and asked to be written out, saying “We had 31 million viewers – it was shown all over the world. I suddenly thought, should I be in this?...I had a crisis of conscience.” She felt unhappy with the direction the series was taking. Anna never lost her enthusiasm for acting and continued to take small parts until the end of her life. A neighbour reported “Right up until she was 95 Anna could be seen waiting on her steps for a car to take her to a job. ‘Just a small role’ or ‘only a little advert, but it’s all work!’ and off she’d go, happy as a cricket”. Although born in the East End, Anna spent much of her life further west. She had a flat near Broadcasting House and Oxford Street and became well known in local cafes. It was a sadness to her to move to residential care in Enfield, but she demonstrated her customary fortitude and good humour. Her response to the suggestion that her small room had its

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