· Crynwyr Abertawe ·
In the Media
|
|
· Swansea Quakers · · Crynwyr Abertawe · In the Media |
|
| Quakers come from such diverse backgrounds and many have achieved things in their lives that the general pubic never get to learn about. As Quakers we believe that the grace of God is evidenced in people’s lives and we wish to give thanks for it. Here is a selection of articles that have already had some media exposure. Reproduced in case you missed it first time. |
| Michael Rowntree | ||
| Chairman of Oxfam, he
continued the good works of his famous Quaker family Michael Rowntree who has died aged
88 was the scion of two distinguished Quaker families (the Rowntrees and the Harveys) – and
married into another (the Crossfields). He continued the Rowntree tradition of the Society of
Friends’ good works that ranged far beyond the cocoa factory and its associated model village at
Earswick. For Michael, these included taking a leading role in Oxfam for 60 years, the Friends
Ambulance Unit, the liberal press, Oxford Area Heath Authority; the Friends Provident and Century Life
insurance company, and two of the three Rowntree grantmaking trusts. But in his heart of hearts
he was a bird lover, a rambler over his beloved Yorkshire moors and a family man.
He was educated at Bootham, the Quaker school in York, his home town, became the head boy (I was his deputy), and gained a scholarship to Queen's College, Oxford where he studied politics, philosophy and economics. After two years the second world war broke cut, and he ended his studies to help Paul Cadbury and others to re-establish the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU.). Michael and I were among those who prepared the first statement of what FAU members were prepared to do as conscientious objectors in wartime and under military command. Not all members were Quakers: some were not prepared to work with the military and took jobs in hospitals in the UK and liberated Europe. Michael was elected to several positions of leadership in the FAU, a highly democratic organisation. He was among the first to see action – in an ambulance convoy sent by the FAU in 1940 to help the Finnish wounded and refugees in the Russian invasion of Finland. Russian bombers hit there convoy but did no serious damage. He next joined an FAU unit in Cairo, attached to the Hadfield Spears hospital with the Free French. When the FAU unit leader was killed in action, Michael became the leader and remained with it all during the retreat after Tobruk and the advance from Alamein into Italy, where they took in wounded from the battles at Cassino and beyond. Later, he went to Germany to coordinate and represent all the FAU units there. Micahel’s first post war job was with the Northern Echo, Darlington, learning his craft in all departments. In the heavy winter of 1947, as a member of the circulation department he used his skiing skills to deliver papers to an isolated village. In 1950 he became assistant general manager and then general manager of the Oxford Mail and Oxford Times. He left the newspapers “with a healthy legacy” in 1967 to devote more time to other interests. The chief of these was Oxfam, founded by Quakers and others in 1942, with which he started in 1947, became a committee member of it in 1951, a trustee in 1952 and chairman from 1971 to 1977. His speeches from the chair reveal his splendid combination of detailed examination of issues and general humanitarian concern. He believed Oxfam workers should not seek to do too much themselves in the developing world, but always encourage local initiative, above all in agriculture. In his several visits to Africa he noticed the extraordinary human capacity for caring even in the depths of despair. He was well ahead of his time for both recommending recycling and warning of the undoubted effects of climate change in African famines. After he retired he became one of only two |
Oxfam chairs
emeritus, known as a “giant and gentle presence”, skilled in committee work and diplomacy
in dealing with some quite turbulent and dissident staff members. After chairing Oxfam, Michael
became vice–chairman of the Oxford Area Health Authority, where his wise advice and generosity
with his time were greatly appreciated in the crucial development of the John Radcliffe hospital in
Cowley. He was a director of the Friends Provident and Century Life insurance company from 1956
to 1973 and then of the Friends Provident Life Offices from 1973 to 1975. It was a difficult
time for the company which had recently divided of its general insurance business to specialise in
pensions and life insurance, and was ending its close association with the Society of Friends, who
had founded it in Yorkshire in the 1820's. He resigned with two other Quaker members in 1975
when the statutory number of Friends on the board was reduced. Over many, years he was a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust, now the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, where his wisdom and thoughtfulness were appreciated by all. At his home in the Yorkshire moors, he enjoyed walking and the bird life, though he suffered from declining health. He leaves his wife Anna and three children, Jenni, Scillla and Hugh. Michael Barratt Brown Grigor McClelland writes: I first met Michael near Alexandria in 1942. New to the Middle East, I accidentally cracked a carboy of wine. A sea of red began spreading over the floor of his Bedford truck. He gave instructions for clearing up without the slightest sign of annoyance or hint of remonstrance. This was typical of his leadership – unruffled, realistic, practical. I saw it from Tobruk to Alsace in the Hadfield Spears mobile hospital, a bizarre Anglo-French outfit reflecting different attitudes to decolonisation in the Levant, and to carrying rifles in trucks displaying the Red Cross. It showed again in 1945–46 in Germany, when Mike represented and directed all Friends Ambulance Unit sections, dealing first with the welfare of displaced persons and later with the civilian population in devastated cities. It also showed in his long service as a Joseph Rowntree charitable trustee. At our quarterly meetings, with a fat set of agenda papers, he had sifted the evidence and come to his conclusions. In many cases the pros and cons were finely balanced and it was tempting to seek the best of both worlds. It was Michael”s brief but measured interventions were then decisive. His lifelong interest in birds once saved his life. Driving to Bir Hakeim, Libya, he stopped to observe a mourning wheatear. On arrival he found that the slit–trench in which he would have been consulting had been obliterated by shellfire. It was a story he loved wryly to tell. In recent years, as his dependence on Anna grew, the love between them, even when shown simply through jokes and apologies, seemed ever deeper. Michael Rowntree, journalist and leader of good causes, born February 16 1919; died September 23 2007 This article first appeared in The Guardian on Tuesday 30 October 2007 and is reproduced here with their kind permission. © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007. |
|
| Lawrence Thackray | ||
| My father, Ernest Lawrence Thackray who has
died aged 95, was born in Huddersfield and
brought up in Manchester, one of five children in a Unitarian parsonage. Educated at Stand grammar
school, he graduated in law from Manchester University and joined the Lord Chancellor's Department.
In London, Ernest reinvented himself as Lawrence and took up a pipe, a bike and folk dancing at Cecil Sharp House. When the second world war began, he declared himself a conscientious objector and served six months in Winchester prison. He emerged after writing An introduction to Law for Social Workers and devoted his legal knowledge to the Peace Pledge Union and to establishing free legal aid centres across London. Drawn back by his love of the Pennines, he settled with his wife, Catherine Sharp, in Huddersfield. They raised Simon, Richard and myself in a bookish bohemia and became Labour councillors, active in Huddersfield CND. Lawrence organised rallies and invited speakers such as Julie Christie: he took her to dine in a cafe on a sandwich. |
The Thackray marriage of 48 years was more than a union of
hearts, it was a complement of moral principles. Lawrence supported Catherine's protest at
Greenham Common although it meant her resignation as a magistrate; he was in tune with her needs as her
health declined. As a Quaker, he was committed to the Northern Friends Peace Board and envied those he felt had “a hotline to God”; he did not see how profoundly spiritual was his appreciation of nature. He never felt more fulfilled than in his walking boots or more blessed than when frogs reappeared in his pond each spring. Fond memories remain of his waistcoats, his headstands, his listening ear and his sweet tooth, although his harmonica renditions were best enjoyed by himself. Rebecca Thackray This article first appeared in The Guardian on Thursday 17 January 2008 and is reproduced here with their kind permission. © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007. |
|
| Margaret Meade | ||
| Margaret Meade, who has died aged 99, was born Elizabeth Margaret
Wilson into a Quaker family of prominent pacifists in Hoylake, Cheshire. One of my mother’s first memories
was being told, during the first world war, to stand away from the windows in case the house was stoned by those who
considered pacifism unpatriotic. Her early life revolved around Quaker activities, particularly her father’s
work helping conscientious objectors released from prison.
At the age of 16, she was enchanted when her class was taken to the meadows around Withington girls’ school, Manchester, to observe the grasses, flowers, insects and birds and to learn why they were there. When she told her parents and three brothers about this exciting new subject - her teacher called it “ecology” – they scoffed. But the experience gave Margaret a lifelong interest in nature, and she became an accomplished birdwatcher and gardener, winning countless prizes in garden shows and writing the Nature Notes column for Cambridge newspapers. After Bedford College, London, she became secretary to the League of Nations Union in Oxford, and there met the future Nobel–prizewinning economist James Meade, whom she married in 1933. The couple moved to |
Geneva, which Margaret knew from holidays when her parents were wardens of the
Quaker hostel in the 1920s. She retained a special love for Switzerland, making annual visits until she was
96. The family fled from Geneva in May 1940 and there followed two unhappy years in the US, while James remained in
London helping the economic effort of the war at the war cabinet secretariat.
Back in England, once all four children were in school, Margaret added a social administration diploma to her sociology degree. She taught at the London School of Economics and supervised students in Cambridge. During the next so years, she became known and loved by young Cambridge economists for her hospitality to James’s students and colleagues. She helped set up and, for many years, chaired a Quaker residential community for young delinquents. James died in1995. She is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and 14 great–grandchildren. Bridget Dommen-Meade This article first appeared in The Guardian and is reproduced here with their kind permission. © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007. |
|
| Navigating this web site ? This site contains nine pages including this one. From each page you can access any of the other pages. Some pages contain small pop up pages that do not have links to other pages. |
Links to the other pages:
Welcome PageAbout Quakers Children’s Meeting Diary Dates Find Us Hiring a Room In the Media Money for Madagascar Website Neath Meeting Website Other Lives Quaker Quest |