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Discover the Contemporary Quaker

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Discover the Contemporary Quaker 16 May 2014 £1.70 the DISCOVER THE CONTEMPORARYFriend QUAKER WAY the Friend INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843 CONTENTS VOL 172 NO 20 3 Thought for the Week: Not knowing Jane Pearn 4-5 News 6 ‘The Peace Testimony is a tough demand’ John Lampen 7 Europe is where we belong Andrew Jameson 8-9 Letters 10-13 The Fox Report: Squalor in London Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi Photo: Adams. John 14-15 Conscription and conscience ‘Reflections’, a sculpture in the garden at Mansfield Meeting House, has a David Boulton base in quarters of shiny stainless 16 q-eye: a look at the Quaker world steel topped with four photo-etched, multilayered ‘filigree’ wings with both a 17 Friends & Meetings positive and negative female form in the centre. It is the result of a collaboration Cover image: between award-winning metalsmith, Memorial to conscientious objectors around the world in Alison Counsell, who works in photo- Tavistock Square, London etched stainless steel and sculptor, Vivien Photo: Trish Carn. See pages 14-15. Whitaker, who directly carves the last of the English alabaster. (See page 5) Correction: The Fox Report In our appeal letter last week, we inadvertently added The Fox Report is the investigative arm of the an extra zero. There are 5,000 pages in the 1914-1918 Friend. It is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Digital Archive not 50,000. Charitable Trust and co-edited by Judy Kirby and Please accept our apologies. Ian Kirk-Smith. The Friend Subscriptions Advertising Editorial UK £76 per year by all payment Advertisement manager: Editor: types including annual direct debit; George Penaluna Ian Kirk-Smith monthly payment by direct debit [email protected] £6.50; online only £48 per year. Articles, images, correspondence For details of other rates, Tel/fax 01535 630230 should be emailed to contact Penny Dunn on 54a Main Street, Cononley [email protected] 020 7663 1178 or [email protected] Keighley BD20 8LL or sent to the address below. the Friend 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ Tel: 020 7663 1010 Fax: 020 7663 1182 www.thefriend.org Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected] • Sub-editor: Trish Carn [email protected] • Production and office manager: Elinor Smallman [email protected] • Arts editor: Rowena Loverance [email protected] • Environment editor: Laurie Michaelis [email protected] • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn [email protected] Tel: 020 7663 1178 • Advertisement manager: George Penaluna, Ad department, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Tel: 01535 630230 [email protected] • Clerk of the trustees: Nicholas Sims • ISSN: 0016-1268 The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Headley Bros Ltd, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH 2 the Friend, 16 May 2014 Thought for the Week Not knowing n the light of recent discussions I find myself perplexed: am I a theist or a nontheist? It all depends on what you mean by ‘_ist’. I take an _ist to be someone who has come to a conclusion: in this case, about the nature of ultimate reality. For them there is, Ior there is not, a dimension called God, and they view all the complexities of existence through this lens. But supposing I’m not an _ist? Suppose that when I’m offered an either/or choice, I find myself to be a ‘sometimes this/sometimes that’ person, or even a ‘both at once’ person? My God-image is not of any agent or actor external to me; but it is a place – the place of unity and truth. I find it within me. The truth about myself, about my relationship to other people and to the world; the indivisible unity of all beings. I try (and fail rather too often) to live in this awareness. It’s a place I choose to approach whenever I can (of course I can’t be fully there – it’s absolute, I’m a mere human): in times of quiet reflection; during Meeting for Worship; with others; or on my own. In prayer, too. And then, because it comes more naturally, I speak to this ‘Being-that-isn’t-a-being’. I voice my thoughts, doubts and joys in words, though seldom aloud. I hold myself, and those I care for, in God’s light. When in difficulty, I call upon God’s help. Do I believe I have a listener? Or am I myself the listener, ‘deep calling to deep’? I honestly don’t know. Does it matter that I don’t know? I’m not sure that it does. And here’s the mystery. I don’t recognise the God of my childhood – the God with supra-human attributes, the God who intervenes in our affairs or responds to our pleas. But I have had direct encounter, three times, with something that might be named as ‘God’. An all-encompassing Presence, more overwhelming, more intense than I have words for; as limitless as space and as tiny as a molecule; with a direct, personal relationship to me; a void – and yet – a voice. Each time, it was not comforting but terrifying. I neither believe nor disbelieve: these have been my experiences. Words are words, thoughts are thoughts, notions are notions: they are not the thing itself. Dear Friends, a binary choice is too limiting for me. I’m content to live with not knowing; with the understanding that whatever I think, it’s entirely possible – even probable – that I may be mistaken. And in case it closes a door, some of us don’t wish to be any kind of _ist. Jane Pearn Kelso Meeting the Friend, 16 May 2014 3 News Adam Clarke is new Leaveners’ director He was the co-founder of the events such as The Gates of Cheltenham Film Festival, which Greenham, first performed in the he ran for three years as the Royal Festival Hall, and the recent managing and creative director. performance of The Nayler Passion He said: ‘I’m very excited to at the Birmingham Conservatoire. be taking on this role, and look With the help of a team of forward to building on the past volunteers, the Leaveners run Photo courtesy of The Leaveners. The Photo courtesy of successes of The Leaveners. workshops and residential projects Adam Clarke is the new I very much look forward to ranging from music making director of The Leaveners, the continuing the organisation’s and creative arts to theatre and Quaker community arts project work, while exploring new ways performance, raising the creative founded in 1978. to further engage with the Quaker spirit for people of ages, both Adam has extensive experience community and beyond; creating a Quaker and non-Quaker, but with in the arts. He has worked as a dynamic programme of workshops a particular emphasis on working practicing contemporary artist and events that encourage a with young people across the UK. throughout the UK, specialising in meaningful engagement with The Leaveners is funded through arts and ecology, while continuing the creative arts, that can both donations from Meetings and to nurture a career in projects/ enrich and inspire through shared individuals, and by grants from events management and creative experiences.’ a number of trusts, especially the writing. The Leaveners’ work includes Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Blue plaque for John Henry Barlow Death of Quaker poet BirmingHAM CITY COUncil will be erecting THE distinguished Quaker poet Gerard Benson a blue plaque to the memory of John Henry Barlow has died at the age of 83. Gerard was well-known as on 17 June. a driving force behind the popular ‘Poems on the John is being commemorated for his Underground’ scheme, which was set up in London contribution to peace, his work with the Friends twenty-eight years ago. Ambulance Unit, and as a pioneer of social Gerard, who lived in Bradford with his wife Cathy, housing. was made poet laureate of the town, which was his He was the first manager of the Bournville Village adopted home, in 2008. He contributed to the civic Trust, which was set up to provide decent housing life of the city, including working with children in for industrial workers in Birmingham and to libraries and schools to help them get the most out of develop the village and its surroundings. poetry. He was also one of the Barrow Poets. The plaque is being erected on the house that Gerard recently made recordings in London for the George Cadbury built for the Barlow family, world-famous online Poetry Archive. A Quaker, poet ‘Sunnybrae’, near the Woodbrooke Quaker Study and teacher, he served as an intelligence decoder in Centre in Birmingham. Britain and also worked as a theatre actor. Antony Barlow, a grandson of John Henry Barlow, The Poems on the Underground anthology was said that the unveiling ceremony at the house on 17 compiled by Gerard and two other poets, London- June is to be followed by a reception at Woodbrooke. based American Judith Chernaik and Oxford resident Antony adds: ‘June 17 would also have been my Cicely Herbert. Gerard’s work included verses mother’s one hundredth birthday, so it makes a for major events, including the Bradford City fire happy coincidence.’ disaster memorial services, civic services, the Lord John Henry Barlow was clerk of London Yearly Mayor’s installation service and Holocaust Memorial Meeting (now Britain Yearly Meeting) between 1913 Day. and 1919 and played an important role in getting Gerard’s Memoir of A Jobbing Poet will be printed a conscientious objection clause included in the this year and there are plans to publish a book of his Military Service Act of 1916.
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