This is an archive of articles published in Contact over the years.

May 2010

I have recently been reading a Bookmark.  It is not what I usually do but it was marking a place in a book which I picked up and thought might be interesting..  It was both interesting and amusing but in some respects the Bookmark was itself of even more interest.  It had a title – ‘Quaker Tapestry Bookmark’.  The illustrations on one side were a detail from ‘Peace Embassies Panel F16 of the Quaker Tapestry’.

The detail consisted of three pictures of two donkeys.  In the first picture the donkeys are tied together by a rope while they strained to pull in opposite directions.  The central picture shows the two donkeys still tied together but sitting facing each other; between them is a question mark.  The third picture reveals the answer to the question, with both donkeys as it were, reined to each other and pulling together in the same direction.  Under this triptych of illustrations is the legend which reads ‘Co-operation is better than conflict’.

It occurred to me that there might be a message here for politicians.  This issue of ‘Contact’ will appear as we are on the verge of a General Election.  We have been bombarded with talk of victories and defeats and the possibility of ‘a hung Parliament’, but seldom with any confidence in the ability and willingness of political parties to work together in the face of a national crisis.  Perhaps co-operation, if it were possible, would be a great deal better than conflict.  At least it is a thought worth thinking about.

Perhaps the Quakers have pointed the way to the virtues of co-operation.  In the 1920s the Quakers established the concept of Quaker Centres and such centres were established in Berlin, Paris and Geneva, later joined by centres in Delhi, Brussels and a number of other places.  Some were short-lived although many have continued over the years.  One positive outcome emerged in the 1970s with the foundation of a Department of Peace Studies in the University of Bradford as a result of co-operation between the University and British Quakers..  A wider example of positive co-operation was the creation of The Quaker Tapestry, consisting of 77 panels of imaginative embroidery.  Between 1981 and 1996 over 4000 people from 15 countries designed and produced The Quaker Tapestry as a celebration of the ideas and experiences of The Society of Friends (The Quakers) since it began in 1652.  Many older people today who remember one or both world wars will know of the invaluable and heroic service of the Friends Ambulance Units – pacifists who did not fight wars but who sought to give support, comfort and healing to the victims of conflict.

The Quaker Tapestry is exhibited between April and mid December in the Exhibition Centre and Tea Rooms at the Friends Meeting House in Kendal.

‘Co-operation is better than Conflict’ would be an aim worth pursuing for us all - including politicians.