Quakevine News, Views, Venues, Dates for Quakers around York

York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
Acomb-Friargate-Harrogate-New Earswick-Thirsk
Quakevine
News, Views, Venues, Dates for Quakers around York
Issue 125
October 2014
New ceiling for Friends House Large Meeting. Next came
stripping the room back to brickwork, inserting new steel work &
floor. Now all the wooden panels and seats are being restored.
Contents
A New Study Venture
Reality of the Numinous
Why do I wear a silver Q?
Quaker phrases clarified by…Backbencher
Quaker faith & practice: extract of the month
Area Meeting Miscellany
The Swap – a story
Friargate miscellany
Meetings for Worship in York Area Meeting
Quakevine contact information
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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A New Study Venture from York Quaker Quest team
I
nstead of the usual editorial, here is an offer from all of us on the York Quaker
Quest team for evening workshops in 2015. We know distance is a problem, but
please tell us, Harrogate & Thirsk, if you would like to join in. Here goes:
At our April Quaker Quest Day we offered three workshops on different themes.
Following on from this, we should like to see what interest there is in our developing
a themed programme for all in our Meetings. The idea is as follows:
We want to offer six themed monthly evening workshops lasting about 2 - 2.5 hours
each, beginning in the New Year, rotating between the three Meeting Houses at
Friargate, Acomb and New Earswick. Themes and facilitators for particular workshops
are completely open. Subjects suggested so far include: The Desert Fathers, Quaker
Women, Shamanism, God and Prayer, Julian of Norwich, Taizé singing, Quaker
Songbook singing, Meister Eckhart, Quakers and Slavery, Favourite Biblical Passages,
Introduction to the Qu’ran, Spirituality and Creativity, Quaker Testimonies, Favourite
passages from Quaker Faith and Practice. As you can see, a theme could be anything
about which any of us would like to offer some teaching/discussion or of which we
would like to learn more. There is a wealth of information and interest in our local
meetings - we can all benefit from sharing and tapping into it.
If you are interested in any of these subjects, would like to offer something on one of
them or suggest topics not listed, please do get in touch with a member of the Quest
team. We will then put a programme together. If successful, we could continue
beyond the initial six sessions. We envisage an eclectic mix of presentational styles
and an interactive approach. Do get in touch.
John Batchelor, Sally Bourton, Edith Jayne, Joan Patton, Barbara Webb, Barbara Windle
‘Reality of the Numinous’
‘Jung and the Quaker Way’ by Jack Wallis – a review
Even for me, knowing little about Jung’s thought, this was an extremely helpful and
clear exposition. Though not an easy read, it was well worth the effort.
Jung rejected what he considered the duality of traditional Christian teaching
(God/Devil: opposites/foes). Instead he taught that ‘God’ incorporates all (darkness &
light), communicating with us through what Jung termed the collective unconscious
and imagination. For me the truly hopeful thing to emerge from this is that we need
not be afraid of our shadow side, dreams, the uncomfortable which emerges from our
subconscious – in fact we need these things in order to grow, to become self-aware
and empathetic towards others.
Jung’s striking insight is that opposites are complementary, equally valid, and not - as
we tend to view them - alternatives. True growth and harmony (not sameness) come
from their creative interaction. This union leads to unconditional acceptance and
makes for wholeness and a ‘reasonable faith’. (As a mother described her son to the
magistrate: ‘he’s a good boy, bar what he does’!)
Lest semantics hinder our search for wholeness, Jung said: ‘The living spirit grows and
even outgrows its earlier forms of expression...Measured against it, the names and
forms which [we] have given it mean little enough’.
As the author of this powerful book concludes, whether we use phrases like ‘living
spirit’ or ‘presence of God’, “none of these and similar names denies the experience
of transcendence and the power of myth and symbol or the reality of the numinous
and the awesome effect of its presence.”
Nicky Metcalfe [Harrogate]
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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Why do I wear a silver Q?
Has anyone noticed the silver Q I’ve been wearing recently, on a chain together with
a (copy of) a fifth century silver Byzantine cross? When at Yearly Meeting Gathering in
Bath I spotted something similar being worn and it was a good talking point; the
wearer said it was an opener to many interesting conversations with Quakers and
strangers alike about belief and practice. This got me thinking. Although Quakers
don’t, on the whole, wear religious symbols, the recent badge, ‘I’m a Quaker – ask me
why’ has been a good starting point for engagement and chat.
I dug out my cross and approached the maker of the silver Q, Mary Stone, a Quaker
who lives in Grange over Sands, to ask her to make me one, too. She makes various
silver items, including different Q designs, which she sells at cost. Any profit goes to
The Double Joy Farm, a school and orphanage in Kenya, run by a friend of hers. Mary
aims to raise a regular monthly sum for this project through her silver jewellerymaking. Mary would be pleased to be approached by anyone wanting one of her
designs. Her telephone number is 015395 34443
Teresa Rose
Quaker phrases clarified by…
The Peace testimony
Backbencher
One of our most widely familiar core values, our Peace Testimony is sometimes
regarded as simply a refusal to bear arms in times of war. But the testimony goes far
beyond that. We believe it should inform our lives and witness at all times. George
Fox expressed it as an outcome of being "in the virtue of that life and power that
takes away the occasion of all wars".
Each month, a small number of York Quakers faithfully bear public witness to our
testimony in a silent vigil in front of St Michael le Belfrey. It's seen as a vigil for both
justice and peace, which we see as inextricably linked.
Historically, this duality has informed our corporate actions as a religious society, and
can seem puzzling to some. It means that Quakers can be involved both in a
Kindertransport in the 1930s and today endorse a boycott of goods from the occupied
territories of the West Bank in support of Palestinian human rights. Both decisions are
motivated by the same witness to justice and peace.
Our peace testimony is an expression of that hope we share with the Old Testament
prophet Amos: "let justice flow down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream."
Quaker faith & practice: extract of the month
Does punctuality matter? It is not merely a question of disturbing the peace and quiet
of those already assembled... What is on my mind is more than that. If we were
coming together to worship individually, each to enter into his or her own private
meditation, then it wouldn’t much matter whether all arrived by the appointed time.
In private meditation the worshippers could each ‘settle’ separately, training
themselves not to be disturbed by latecomers. But if our goal is to achieve a group
mystical experience, deepening and enriching our individual experience, then, it
seems to me, we need to start the process at the same time.
A ‘gathered’ Quaker meeting is something more than a number of individuals sitting
down together but meditating individually. So long as each sits in meditation in the
way one does when worshipping alone, the worship will seldom reach that greater
depth which a Quaker meeting at its best achieves. The goal of a truly ‘gathered’
meeting is to become fused into something bigger than the sum of the parts...
Thomas Bodine 1980 [Qf&p part of section 2.47]
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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Area Meeting Miscellany
Quaker Quest open event for newcomers & attenders
On the first day of National Quaker Week, Saturday 4th October, Quaker Quest will
host a morning at Friargate entitled ‘What it means to be a Quaker today.’ It will be
an interactive opportunity to learn about and to discuss Quaker testimony, worship
and experience. Speakers Mary Meeks (Harrogate) and Stephen Pittam (New
Earswick) will share something of their own thoughts and experience and there will be
many opportunities to question them and other members of the Quaker Quest team.
The event will conclude with lunch and information about how participants can follow
up their interest at any of our Local Meetings.
Statistics indicate that word of mouth is by far the most effective advertising tool
that Quakers possess. Please tell your friends about this event and encourage them to
come along. We look forward to introducing them to Quaker thinking and witness.
Talking of Peace 2014
York Quaker Peace Talks are at Friargate on alternate Thursdays in October and
November with an exciting programme. Please come along with a friend or two.
2/10 “Love the soldier, hate the war? Exploring the militarisation of society”
David Gee of ForcesWatch & ex-Director of the Alternatives to Violence Project
16/10 “Human Rights: help or hindrance to peace and peacemaking?”
Paul Gready, Prof. & founding Director, Centre of Applied Human Rights, York
30/10 “Ending the Business of War: the roles of corporations in violent conflict”
Rafeef Ziadah, Campaigns Officer-War on Want; human rights activist, performance poet
13/11 “Sustaining Activism: Never Easy!”
Lindis Percy, Peace Activist since 1980 & co-founder of the CAAB
An Appeal from Friargate’s WW1 Exhibition Group
We were very moved and impressed by Thirsk’s summer exhibition and events and
have been fortunate enough to borrow some Thirsk material for this York exhibition.
You will already have seen our loose-leaf insert in this Quakevine asking for your help
in the occasional stewarding of the exhibition which we are preparing and which will
be displayed in the Castle Museum York from November 4th to January 3rd.
We [Friargate WW1 planning/ organising group] would really appreciate your support
for the forthcoming venture, both emotional and practical, in the following areas
 stewarding; stewards will greatly enhance the value of exhibits by offering
explanations and encouraging children to feel involved, or by introducing the
York Friends featured in the little film being played in the room.
Please fill in the loose-leaf form if you could help.
 Visiting the exhibition with your friends, and telling people about it. There
will be a flyer, available soon at Friargate, for you to distribute, for example
during Quaker Week, at the October Peace lectures and at all Local Meetings.
 Contributions of letters, photos and other memorabilia for a locked display
case (if one is provided) or to photocopy for displays.
Anna Baldwin, Ros Batchelor, Brenda Tyler, Roger Pierce
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
The Swap
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a story
What happened that summer day at Alan Chandler’s house? And does it matter that all
these years later I alternate between thinking that nothing much happened whilst also
thinking that more happened than I could ever explain?
I was there to swap stamps. He was living with his mother in a semi-detached council
house in Pinner Hill a short distance from our house at Pinner Green. It was 1964 and
we were both 14. We had been at the same primary school where I knew him as a lad
who sometimes joined our gang. Despite our moving to different secondary schools,
our friendship continued especially at weekends and holidays. Unlike me Alan was not
very athletic. Despite being tall he was often one of the last picked for playground
games. This was not a problem I had as I was nearly always doing the picking. Alan
suffered bad health and seemed to have a perennially runny red nose: but he was very
kindly and likeable. I felt he was spoilt by his mother, who always had tangy orange
drinks and Wagon Wheels chocolate biscuits in the larder. As an only child he did not
have that brother and sister rivalry over food that we had in our family. The fact that
there were biscuits and orangeade galore at his house was not the primary reason I
befriended him. But at my house it was impossible for us to meet. I can hear my mum
saying: ‘If all you kids were to bring someone home we would not be able to move.’
So it was always his place, especially while his mother was at work. Alan had no
father. This topic was never broached: not a single word was ever said about it. I
remember thinking (even when I was in the dog-house at home) that I did have a dad
and he was not available for swaps.
So I was there that day for the purpose of ‘swapsies.’ Alan and I were both collectors:
stamps, cigarette cards (and in my case) football pictures. His mum bought him loads
of stuff and the Reynolds News each Sunday with its photograph and feature on a top
team of the day. So it was always worth a trip to his house to barter. Summer
holidays, bad weather days and days when there was no-one to play football or
cricket with were great days to head to Alan’s.
This particular day I took some First Day Covers. My father and mother had been in
South East Asia Command and the war against the Japanese. We still had Chinese and
Malay friends who sent letters and stamps and presents to us children from Singapore.
So, just like all the other days, Alan and I got into preliminary pleasantries. He had his
usual runny nose but, more importantly, a spare set of the Russian space stamps that
he knew I wanted. I had an absolutely beautiful first day cover of the Malaysian wild
orchid stamp issue that I was keen to put on the table. Despite such pressing thngs to
consider Alan went upstairs for a while then came down – dressed as his mother.
Nothing was said about this. He sat down and we carried on looking at stamps and
First Day Covers.
But my mind was racing: I was thinking: ‘Oh my god when’s his mother back?’ but was
saying ‘These Yuri Gagarin stamps are out of this world.’ I was thinking: ‘What will
she say?’ but was saying ‘Wow, I had no idea there had been a Russian space probe to
Venus.’ I was thinking: ‘They fit him – there’s no way my mum’s would fit me!’ but
was saying ‘I like the one with the rocket going around the globe.’ I was also thinking
that I would never have had time or opportunity to do this sort of thing at home. Yes I
admit that once I dressed as a girl for a cub gang show - I seem to remember Alan and
his mum in the front row. But so were Ian and his mum and Les the Park Keeper. Did
Alan think that I had some previous? A thought flashed through my mind: ‘Concentrate
on the stamps: this could be a cover to flummox me and get a better deal on his
part’. It all felt so, so, so…. I didn’t know what… until later my grammar school
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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teacher used the word – transgressive – to explain cross-dressing in Shakespeare. ‘It
was different in Elizabethan days’ Miss Williams said, ‘Women were not permitted on
the stage; transgressive revelry was a safety valve to permit criticism of the Body
Politic before order inevitably returned. The audience would enjoy seeing young boys
dressed up and acting the part of women’. Crikey! And I had merely thought it was
because we had no girls in the Cub Scouts and my voice had not yet broken.
Seeing Alan dressed like this was a bolt from the blue. I had seen nothing in his room
remotely like the nonsense my sister had in hers. I could not help glancing at photos
on the mantelpiece. All showed him in trousers proudly with his mum. After a neverending hour in which the ticking of the clock seemed to have the same thump thump
beat as my heart, Alan went back upstairs and returned as the boy I knew. Phew! I
was so relieved that his mother was not yet home. Alan said, ‘Mum’s back about four.
Would you like orangeade and a chocolate biscuit before we call it a day?’ Nothing,
not even Alan dressed as the Queen Mother would have prevented me from grabbing a
chance to supplement the meagre rations (split six growing ways) that were served at
home. So we had our snack… but the whole time I was consumed with the nagging
thought that my mother could spot a single breadcrumb out of place in our house. I
desperately wanted to ask if Alan had ensured all was back exactly as before and why
had he switched into his mother’s clothes and where his father was. Instead we got
into the cut and thrust of our own switching. He eventually agreed to exchange the
stamps I wanted and to throw in a picture of Hartlepool United. Just before four, the
clock still beating in unison with my heart, Mrs Chandler came up the path with her
customary welcoming smile. As I looked at her, I swear that in my mind’s eye she was
momentarily transformed into Alan grown-up and in a man’s suit. ‘Did you enjoy your
swaps, boys?’ she asked, a lilt in her voice. Polite replies of ‘Yes, mum’ and ‘Yes, Mrs
Chandler’ broke out together. Back home, mum asked me the same question. And I
gave her the same short and polite answer that Alan had given to his mum.
I continued to visit Alan occasionally for the remainder of that summer. But somehow
my heart was no longer in stamps, cigarette cards, boy scouts or pictures of football
teams. I felt drawn towards the exciting sounds of The Kinks, The Mojos and The
Pretty Things, towards pop-music gigs at the Mecca rather than gang shows at the
Church Hall. I even felt drawn towards my sister’s school-friends who suddenly began
to look worth getting to know after all. So it was that over the years I completely lost
touch with Alan and my boyhood world. Many years later I found Alan on Friends
Reunited, still living near my mum, but there was no information to shed light on the
whereabouts of his mum or the mystery of his absent father. I wanted to write to tell
him that I still remembered every second of that extraordinary day when we swapped
stamps as he sat in his mother’s clothes. I wanted to tell him that my adult-self dated
that very moment as the moment that I grew away from being a child. I wanted to tell
him that I had never written down that story until now.
Alan, if you are reading this now, will you consider a straightforward swap of your
version of what happened that day with this version? If it is not too painful, could I
ask you whether your mum found out and was cross about you dressing up? You can
contact me (via my elderly mum) at the same address as on the Malayan wild orchid
envelope. I also wanted to let you know that in my mind our 14 year old selves are
still friends (even if we are not reunited 60 year old friends on the internet). I also
wanted you to know that I no longer have any collecting interests (although we do
have a couple of stamp albums abandoned by the kids when they left home). And I
wanted to tell you that I can still hear your front room clock ticking.
Terry Kay
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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Friargate Miscellany
Friargate Local Meeting for Business in October
This will include news from Resources Committee about building matters and plans for
2015. We shall hear about the next Friargate Spiritual Review and introduce
preliminary thinking concerning the forthcoming Framework for Action.
Margaret Bryan & Elspeth Nicholson
New Study Group: Finding out about Friends
These open discussion sessions will take place monthly after meeting on the
second Sunday of the month. They are for anyone who wants to know more
about Quakerism, whether new to Meeting or very familiar with it. We shall use
material in ‘Becoming Friends’ to focus our discussions. This wide ranging and
very flexible way into Quakers (it is not a membership course) is welcoming to
everyone. We shall finish just before 1 pm. Do let me know if you’d like more
information and/or you’d like to come on October 9th for a taster.
Barbara Windle 01904 481977 bwindle@waitrose.com
Bring a friend to worship – 19th October
While we welcome newcomers to meeting every Sunday, elders are asking
everyone at Friargate to make an effort to persuade a personal friend,
acquaintance or colleague to come with them to meeting on October 19 th. The
‘official’ Quaker Week takes place at the start of October, but all meetings are
encouraged to choose dates that work for them. Elders felt they would prefer
to choose a Sunday that did not clash with Local Meeting for Business, or with
the start of the new Sunday study group. Hence our choice of the third Sunday
in the month.
Do try to bring someone. We all know how often people ‘find’ us and express
amazement and regret that they have not done so years sooner. By a simple
invitation and welcome, you could be helping someone to avoid those regrets.
Experiment with Light – try it out
We're offering a meeting to introduce the Experiment with Light approach to
Friargate and other F/friends on Monday 6 October at 7pm in the main Meeting
Room at Friargate. This is a group approach to silent reflection based on early
Quaker practice and the work of Rex Ambler. Please let Alison Forrester
(alison.forrester@york.nhs.uk) know if you would like to come.
North Carolina YM speaks out on Simplicity
The testimony of outward simplicity began as a protest against the
extravagance and snobbery which marked English society in the 1600s.
In whatever forms this protest is maintained today, it must still be seen as a
testimony against involvement with things which tend to dilute our energies
and scatter our thoughts, reducing us to lives of triviality and mediocrity.
Simplicity does not mean drabness or narrowness but is essentially positive,
being the capacity for selectivity in one who holds attention on the goal. Thus
simplicity is an appreciation of all that is helpful towards living as children of
the Living God.
North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), 1983
October 2014
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York Area Quakers: www.yorkquakers.org.uk
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Friargate October Diary
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2
3
Wed
Thu
Fri
4
Sat
5
12
14
15
Sun
Sun
Tue
Thu
Retired Friends Coffee1st Wed of month Friargate
York Quaker Peace Talks see p 4
Friargate
Bishophill Group: ch. 5 ‘The Quakers’
Hartrigg Oaks
(Ecumenism) Ben P Dandelion
Centre
Open invitation to newcomers &
Friargate
attenders to half day event & lunch
See page 4
Local Meeting at all meetings
After worship
‘Becoming Friends’ part 1 see p 7
Friargate
Friargate
Poetry Group: Yeats (Anna Baldwin)
Knavesmire Group: Andrew Jones talks
about an aspect of archaeology
13 Belle Vue Terrace
(Julia & Humphrey T)
10.30 am
7.30 pm
Lunch together in
the Centre
9.30 hot drinks
10 am start
12 – 12.55
7.30 for 7.45 start
7.30 pm
York Quaker Peace Talks see p 4
Friargate
7.30 pm
Quakers in Yorkshire
The Mount School
10.30 – 4 pm
‘Bring a friend to meeting’ see p 7
Friargate
10.30 worship
Friargate
Soup and rolls
12 noon
Justice & Peace Vigil
St Michael le B
11 - 12 noon
Attenders Group
Friargate
12 – 12.45
York Quaker Peace Talks see p 4
Friargate
7.30 pm
st
10.30 Notices: LM clerks will give notices on the 1 Sunday of each month. Send items to Elspeth
Nicholson 703349 nicholson_elspeth@yahoo.co.uk & Margaret Bryan 481977 mgtbryan@gmail.com
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18
19
19
25
26
30
Thu
Sat
Sun
Sun
Sat
Sun
Thu
Remaining Sundays: send notices to Ann Christie ann@christiepb.fsnet.co.uk 01904 422564
Breakfast Meeting Notices to: David & Margaret Laverick 01904 798 050 or hobgate39@gmail.com
Collections: 5, 12 Prison Phoenix Trust: 19, 26 Quaker Voluntary Action
Sunday Worship in York Area Meeting
Time
10.30-11.30
9.15 - 10
10.30-11
11-11.30
10.30-11.30
8 pm
Location
Acomb, Friargate, Harrogate, New Earswick, Thirsk
Friargate worship is preceded by breakfast at 8.30
Lamel Beeches
The Oaks
Knaresborough
Eastern Villages:
Frequency
Weekly
2nd & 4th Sunday
3rd Sunday
Weekly
2nd Sunday monthly
3rd Sunday
Weekday Worship in York Area Meeting
Tues
Wed
Wed
Thu
Thu
11.45
12 noon
1.15
9.30
11.30
Hartrigg Oaks
Quiet Place, Heslington West all York Friends welcome
Friargate preceded by lunch at 12.45 (bring your own)
The Retreat
Acomb
Contact details for all Local Meetings
Acomb
The Green, Acomb
Friargate
Friargate, York
Harrogate 12a Queen Parade, Harrogate
New Earswick
Top of Folk Hall car park
Thirsk
Kirkgate, Thirsk
Weekly
Termtime only
Weekly
Weekly
Weekly
www.yorkquakers.org.uk
01904 795595
01904 624065
01423 563391
01904 763248
01845 523491
Deadline for November’s Quakevine – Sunday 19 October
Send to: Barbara Windle (bwindle@waitrose.com 01904 481977.
Eagle Cottage, 13a York Street, Dunnington, York YO19 5PN
October 2014
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