A missed opportunity - the Pales Annual Lecture 2019

The opportunity was not missed by all, but unfortunately the audience for this the second of the Annual Lectures at the Pales was tiny; but amazingly well informed and entertained by our energetic and dedicated speaker.

Ruth had retired from her career as a music teacher, a role which utilised her constant desire to sing, but exhaustion had led her to stop singing. Her recovery involved a spiritual search for repair and re-energising, which led her to explore “the peculiar people called Quakers”. Finding Quakers and their understanding of the God within, the presence of the Spirit in silence, and the leading of that Spirit that would not be ignored, restored her to singing. As with so many people who had found their way to Quakers, Ruth felt that she had “come home”.

“Nid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus” the first line of the famous Welsh hymn Calon Lan was a call to the entirety of Ruth's audience at the Lecture, to join her in singing out the first element of her explanation. With a pure and happy heart one can sing all day and sing all night. Ruth had found her way back to singing.

As a religious Society whose initial inspiration goes back to the 16^th century Friends, as they are known, have retained some archaic language and references. Ruth has developed a very funny stand up routine to make gentle fun of the “peculiar” elements of language used by what is, otherwise, a dynamic and changing form of religion, which modern Quakers find as a refreshing dose of laughing at ourselves.

Ruth's main narrative was to talk about her experience as a Quaker Prison Chaplain at Berwyn, the new, huge, prison outside Wrexham. She had been able to set up, with the help of a circle of support of Quakers from North East Wales and Cheshire, and the men themselves, a weekly period of worship based on Quaker silence. Ruth was able to continue this work for two years, during which time the weekly meetings became very important and helpful to a number of men. Ruth is now continuing to work to find ways in which the meeting can continue.

A hurdy gurdy, a Celtic harp and a piano keyboard were the instruments that Ruth had brought, and the first two of these were used to punctuate her talk and to ease the emotion of her story. After a tea break the piano, with lyric books that Ruth had also brought, were employed for a loud, fun end to the afternoon. We explored “Dancing Queen”, “Bring me Sunshine” “I'm the King of the Swingers” and several other songs that would not usually be heard in a Quaker Meeting House.

Ruth had given a huge amount of herself, her talent and her experience in what was an amazing occasion, it was such a shame that only a few of us were privileged to experience it.