Category Archives: Events

Articles, Events, General Archives, News and Events

Temple Hill Burial Ground appeal

Since 1860, Dublin Quakers have been laid to rest in the beautiful cemetery that lies between Blackrock and Monkstown.  Under the shade of ancient trees, the burial places are marked by uniform simple headstones, giving brief details of the life of the deceased.  A great effort goes into maintenance of the grounds so that mourners at the funerals and casual visitors alike can share the sense of peace and tranquility.  From time to time funding is a problem and an appeal was launched in the spring of 2012.  Contributions can be sent to The Office, Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Dublin 16.

The property situated between the villages of Blackrock and Monkstown, was purchased by Dublin Monthly Meeting from the owner Robert Gray in 1859.  A Minute of Sixth Month 1859 reads:  Report is made on behalf of the trustees appointed in 12th month last that the purchase of ground prepared for the new Burial Ground has been effected, and the sum of £1,000 has been paid for same…..

The Burial Ground was opened on the 6th day of Third Month 1860.  The first person to be interred was Hannah Chapman of 3 William Terrace Booterstown who had died on 3rd March 1860.  Sixty-three years later, in January 1923, Monthly Meeting was informed that there had been 959 interments, the Register was full and a new one provided.

Burials of Dublin Quakers had taken place in Cork Street since 1698 but that was rather a long way from the new Meeting House in Monkstown and a proposal was made in 1834 to open a new burial ground on the Friends’ property there.  This scheme was abandoned the following year and no further steps were taken until 1849 when a committee of thirty Friends was set up to find a suitable piece of land.  Four years later they reached an agreement to purchase a plot near Donnybrook – but this fell through at a very late stage.  It took five more years to conclude the search, with the acquisition of the plot between Blackrock and Monkstown.

At the end of 1858 plans were drawn up for the layout of the enclosure of the cemetery and a decision was taken to build a cottage for a caretaker.  In June the following year the need for a small meeting house was noted.  In the same month Friends agreed on the naming of the place as ‘Temple Hill Burial Ground’ and set a fund-raising scheme in motion.  By the end of 1861 the caretaker was in residence and, early in the following year, the meeting house had been built by Gustavus Hudson at a cost of £174 – 15 shillings.  Friends subscribed a total of £1,597 and the greater part of the balance was transferred from ‘Apprenticing funds’.

After the initial problems in finding a suitable piece of land, the matter seems to have proceeded smoothly and the greater part of the Monthly Meeting Minutes comprise annual reports which give details of the numbers of burials, the state of the finances and the appointment of committee members.  From time to time increasing costs led to agreement on increases in the fees.  Troubles were few – an exception was recorded in First Month 1925:

Some trouble has been experienced when opening graves by the finding of large masses of rock near the surface.  These have to be removed before the grave can be dug to a proper depth.  Before the war this was done by blasting, but now it has to be done by boring and splitting which takes more time.  In one case a second grave was opened and in another the funeral had to be postponed for a day.

The state of the caretaker’s cottage deteriorated over the years and a decision to rebuild rather than repair was taken in the 1930s.  The meeting house was enlarged by the addition of the porch in the 1920s.  Records over generations have seen frequent references to the devoted work of the care-takers and individual committee members who have kept Temple Hill in its state of beauty and tranquility.  The 21st century has seen a renewal of effort and continued improvements.

Christopher Moriarty
Friends Historical Library
June 2012

 

Archive, Events

Lecture on Liam Glynn

Leslie Matson will present the annual lecture of the Irish Quaker Historical Committee. The lecture will be given at Quaker House Dublin on Thursday 14th June at 8.0 p.m. From 7.30 a display of relevant material from the Archives will be open. After the lecture light refreshments will be provided.

Liam Glynn will have been known to many Friends throughout Ireland, and in particular in Belfast, Dublin, Cork and Waterford, where he lived at various times during his career as a teacher. He was a scholar of the Irish language amongst many other achievements. Leslie Matson joined the staff at NewtownSchool while Liam Glynn was headmaster and knew him over many years. He has studied Liam Glynn’s life and has published an article on the subject in Decies.

 

Events, News and Events

Book Launch Quaker House Dublin – 20th October 2011

Bill Jackson book flyer

The Friends Historical Library, together with the publishers, the Ulster Historical Foundation, are very happy to invite you and your guests to the launch in Ireland of Them Wild Woods – The Greeves, O’Brien and Sinton Letters – The Transatlantic Letters of an Irish Quaker Family 1818-1877, edited by Bill Jackson.

The launch will be held at the Library, Quaker House, at 7.30 for 8 p.m. on Thursday 20th October.

Events, News and Events, Quarterly Meetings

Munster Quarterly Quaker Meeting 19th June

  • At Quarterly Meeting at Limerick Meeting House, the topic for discussion will be Working with traumatised children in Gaza.
  • AGENDA
    11:00   Meeting for Worship
    12:00   Coffee
    12:15   Working with traumatised children in Gaza. 
    Presentation by Richard Kimball & Joe Fenwick

13:15   Lunch
14:15   Business Session

Business may include:
MQM Education Committee
Patron Minute of Record
IYM Coordinators Group
MQM Nominations Committee

 Lord, lead me where You would have me go.  Grant me strength to follow.
And grace to follow gladly. 
Lord, show me the work You would have me do.
Grant me the will to undertake it and the skill to accomplish it.
A prayer by Jo Philips

  • 
Events

Quaker Quest Belfast ’09

A Spiritual Path for Our Time

Four consecutive Wednesday evenings

From 30th Sept 2009

Quaker Quest Explores the Quaker way

It has actually happened!

We shared our individual and common insights through presentations, discussions, questions and an experience of Quaker worship.

Quaker Quest, an outreach programme tried and tested in the Britain Yearly Meeting ,took place in South Belfast Meeting this autumn.

Each evening the host or hostess introduces 3 speakers for the evening. Each speaker speaks on the chosen topic for up to 6 minutes and then the meeting breaks into small discussion groups. Following the discussion groups, each speaker gives another short talk on a more personal level on the same topic. There is an opportunity for questions and finally a Meeting for Worship lasting about 25minutes.

The topics covered were :

  • Quakers and the Spiritual Path
  • Quakers and Worship
  • Quaker Faith in Action
  • Quaker Values

Quaker Quest was jointly organised by South Belfast and Frederick St Meetings with support from Lisburn Meeting. Speakers, group facilitators, hosts, welcomers and caterers were drawn from these Meetings. A big effort went into publicity, from a leaflet drop in the local area, to posters and radio interviews and new road signage provided by the City Council.

After a lot of planning and effort we wondered if anyone would come to find out about the best kept spiritual secret! We need not have worried attendance was large the Meeting House buzzed with conversation, the hospitality was generous and the welcome warm. On the first night there were 90 people and on succeeding evenings 70 or so. Each evening there were between 35 and 45 visitors or Questors.

The Speakers were chosen to reflect the diversity of views within our Society, questions posed by Questors ranged from, What Quakers believe about original sin to how to join our Society?

Considering that many present had never attended a Meeting for Worship, it was striking that the time of Worship was settled and reverent. The presence of God was evident.

Prior to the 4 evening sessions, 2 Friends from BYM came to train us in the process, this was open to all and even sceptical Friends became enthused and committed.

Successful or not?

Judging by attendance and appreciation expressed yes. At a deeper level, we may never know the extent to which people were encouraged and challenged spiritually. More recent members and attenders of our Meetings found it very helpful and since QQ there have been a small number of new attenders.

www.quakerquest.org

Events

Southern Schools’ Quaker Pilgrimage 2009

In late September, Jane Chittick, Katherine Mills and Tory Lawson, from Friends’ School Lisburn ventured to England to take part in a Quaker Pilgrimage called ‘The Foxtrot’. Four other Quaker schools; Sibford, Sidcot, Leighton Park and Friends’ School Saffron Walden, also participated. Tory Lawson gives her account of the expedition ….

When I was invited along with Jane Chittick and Katherine Mills to participate in a ‘pilgrimage’, particularly one called the ‘foxtrot’ I wondered what it was all about. ‘Pilgrimage’ has associations of pious holiness, hooded monks winding their way up hills and so on….and this is certainly (to my relief) not what happened! We learnt about the extraordinary and turbulent events which led to George Fox founding the Early Quaker movement in 1652. ‘Foxtrot’ is just a nickname for the ‘Pilgrimage’ based upon our travelling around the region of the Northwest of England ‘in the footsteps’ of George Fox. We visited significant places and buildings such as Pendle Hill, Firbank Fell and Swarthmoor Meeting House. At these places historical events involving George Fox took place and have subsequently inspired successive generations of Friends from all over the world.

On the trip we met up with 16 other students representing all southern Quaker schools. For four days we travelled together, shared the cooking, mealtimes, duties, free time, walks, talks and meetings of worship. Throughout the trip a great sense of fellowship was generated and many happy memories were brought back. Friends were quickly made and we have already made plans to meet up again! All of us had a fascinating and moving experience and will never ever forget it.

Events

Special Meeting for Worship in former Friends Meeting House in Tramore

Twenty Nine Friends and others attended a special Meeting for Worship in the former Friends Meeting House in Tramore, Co. Waterford on 16th August 2009.

Regular Meetings for Worship ceased about ten years ago. Among the 29 were Friends who had attended Tramore meeting as children many years ago.

The building has since been substantially renovated and is now used by the Tramore Development Trust for the education of children.





Events

Ireland Yearly Meeting Epistle 2009

To Friends everywhere, Greetings!

Irish Friends have met from 22nd-26th July in 2009, rather than at our customary Spring-time. It has been a residential Yearly Meeting, in the Kings Hospital School where the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Triennial was held two years ago, and in similarly wet weather.

We have welcomed Friends from other Yearly Meetings including USA, Britain, Germany and Netherlands and Quaker international agencies, also particularly two Friends from Kenya and Georgia who have spoken eloquently of life in their country and their work as Quakers.

The Theme of Ireland Yearly Meeting was from Galatians 5, vv 22 & 23: ‘The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control’. Our morning worship each day began with a meditation on one or two of these ‘fruits’, and it was inspiring to see how frequently throughout the Meeting the words of Friends on various topics related back to the guiding Theme.

The public lecture was given by John Dunston, Headmaster of Leighton Park, the Quaker School in Reading, UK. The title was ‘The Stranger who lives within thy gates’ and the speaker drew on particular insights from his Jewish background as well as his understanding of the practical application of Quaker testimonies.

There was evidence of the guidance of these testimonies in the eighteen Epistles received from Yearly Meetings world-wide. Likewise, much of the work being undertaken by Irish Friends at the present time shows the palpable inspiration of one or more Testimony, in particular the overseas work of Irish Quaker Faith and Action, the Peace Committee, the aims and ideals of the newly-formed EcoQuaker Ireland committee, and the beautiful handworked quilt which is but one outcome of the continuing cross-community work of Quaker House Belfast.

Regarding the ‘Why Violence’ campaign, we can report that the initial concern of a small number of Friends has become a catalyst for a much bigger Irish movement against violence, involving other churches and peace organisations.

During Yearly Meeting there have been nine well-attended special interest groups, healing group meetings, bible study and worship sharing, swimming and guided relaxation sessions. Excursions to places of interest filled a free afternoon and we enjoyed an evening performance of the thought-provoking Quaker play about John Woolman ‘On Human Folly’.

Before Yearly Meeting began we sang together the Quaker poet John Whittier’s beautiful hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’. We take our leave from you, dear Friends, with his words :

‘Take from our souls the strain and stress,

and let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy Peace’.

Signed on behalf of Ireland Yearly Meeting on 26 July 2009

Alan C Pim – Clerk

Articles, Events

Putting Faith in Action: Quaker Bolivia Link tour to South America

In 2006 Alan and Sue Pim travelled to Bolivia and Peru as part of the Quaker Bolivia Link Project team that visits Bolivia once every two or three years, to discuss the merits of projects that are proposed to the UK and USA Boards of QBL; and other responsibilities might include summarizing projects for the Boards, writing reports after visiting projects, working with the project database and discussing strategy and implementation.

This is their report:

Barbara Flynn, our leader was there to meet us as we flew into La Paz, the capital of Bolivia at 07.00 on a beautiful clear sunny morning. Seventeen of us had met in Miami to fly the last leg of our journey together, we had come from different parts of the US, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain and of course Ireland. La Paz (the airport) is well outside the city on a high, flat plateau at about 13,000ft. Surrounding us were the beautiful snow covered peaks of the Andes over 21,500ft. We sat quietly in a café at the airport to rest a while to begin to get used to the thin atmosphere (only 80% of normal oxygen levels here). To help with fighting the thin air we all had our first cup of “matte de coca”. The American government wants to stop the Bolivian people growing coca but it is part of the Bolivian culture and certainly a cup of coca tea is far less addictive than ordinary tea or coffee and is actually good for you.

Our luggage along with that of two of the Americans failed to turn up and we were travelling at the time when hand luggage was VERY restricted! I had believed the BA captain when he said there was no need to collect our luggage at Miami and check it in again, a process that has been insisted on by the Americans since 9/11. In some ways it was liberating not having luggage but it was rather miserable to have to wear the same clothes we had travelled in when we got up the next day! The luggage that had arrived was tied on top of the two minibuses that took us to Sorata, a picturesque town in a valley surrounded by the Andes.

Sorata is lower than La Paz and we stayed there a few days to get used to the altitude. While there we visited many Quaker Bolivian Link projects high up in the mountains. Mostly water projects bringing water from the melting snow along pipes to the villages. Some villages would just have taps; others would have showers and toilets as well as taps. There is a huge increase in the number of girls attending primary school when a village gets water, as it was the girls’ job to collect water. We also saw irrigation projects and agricultural projects.

Quaker Bolivian Link funds projects that the local communities have asked for. The community will have to do a feasibility study into their project and also be willing to help to do the work in carrying it out. QBL have a lot of requests for funding but they only fund those projects that will help to better the community. They employ four agricultural advisers who come from the local Indian Aymarian community and have been to university and are able to converse in Aymarian and Spanish. We were very impressed with them and their knowledge of agriculture and horticulture and the way they carried on their jobs. There was also a part time accountant who looked after the money end in Bolivia. It is very important to have these people with local knowledge overseeing the projects and visiting regularly to see that everything is working as it should.

To get to these projects we all piled into the back of an open truck, one or maybe two could fit in the cab beside the driver, but it was far more exciting standing up in the back, getting scared by the sheer drops on the sides of the road, as we wound our way upwards on tiny dirt roads as far as we could go. We then had to climb further up the mountain on tiny steep paths until we reached our destination, these walks would often be over an hour.

We would bring bread and fruit towards a shared lunch, luxury items as far as the villagers were concerned. These people were some of the poorest in Bolivia, which is the poorest country in South America. They produce over 600 different types of potatoes; even someone coming from Ireland was amazed at the different varieties! They also had cooked dishes with corn and quinoa with vegetables that were lovely.

While in Sorata we attended the dedication of the Internado (the hostel for children from these high up villages who are attending secondary school in Sorata, which we are so keen to raise money for). Alan and I arrived early and I helped with the food preparations cutting up lettuce and tomatoes. That was alright but then I had to cut onions very thinly and I wasn’t doing it thinly enough, I don’t understand Spanish but I knew that one of the boys from the internado was telling the house mother that I was doing a bad job! Finally the celebrations started; there were lots of speeches, all in Spanish, from local dignitaries and Quakers. Afterwards we had the usual shared lunch. That afternoon when we had free time some of us went with the manager of the hotel on a walk to some caves. The walk was meant to be downhill all the way but we found that a lot was definitely uphill! It was a lovely walk but when we got to the caves we found them pretty boring, not as good as the ones we have here.

On our last day in Sorata, a Sunday, we went to the Quaker church where we got our travelling minute signed and attended the programmed service for about an hour. We then had to leave for La Paz. While in Sorata we had a short Meeting for Worship each evening, which was very special, but it was harder to have it in the hotel in La Paz. When we were staying in a hotel beside Lake Titicaca we had arranged a circle of chairs for our Meeting and a family had sat down in our circle to play cards but we started our meeting despite the card playing. It was amazing how quickly they sensed something was going on and they quietly left us. It was a pity they couldn’t have stayed and worshiped with us.

On our way to La Paz we stopped at the home of one of our minibus drivers and we were all given food and matte de coca or soft drinks. Our minibus drivers were so good to us and looked after us very well, and drove so well over the awful roads. In La Paz we visited more projects. The best had to be the Gregorias project where we visited a group of wonderful ladies and bought some of their beautiful fine quality alpaca products which they had knitted or woven. They gave us an excellent lunch too! We went to a school for children who are mentally and physically challenged – the deaf and mute were there in the afternoon. We were impressed by the staff and the children who were so friendly and gave us big hugs when we left. The school was a catholic school but QBL had funded a booklet for parents of these children with helpful information about their various needs.

One day we set out in the two minibuses for the altiplano (La Paz was first built up there by the Spanish but was quickly abandoned and rebuilt in the valley). A huge flat area, thousands of square miles, very dry, bare, windswept place with few trees. The altitude here is about 13,000 feet, higher than The Alps; although it is in the Tropics it is cold, especially at night where there is a frost 200 nights a year. We went to visit water pumps and various plastic greenhouses which help the villagers to grow all sorts of vegetables which improves their diet especially the children’s, again we had a wonderful meal at a place where the women of the community had got together to organise the viability of their project, unfortunately we had just eaten and weren’t able to do the meal justice! We had spent the morning looking at some pre Inca ruins at Tiwanaka, which was fascinating. The place is a World Heritage Site.

One day the whole of La Paz was blockaded by a transport strike so we couldn’t go to any projects instead we went shopping and sightseeing and got our shoes cleaned; the shoes looked great, almost new again! We had a wonderful meal in a vegetarian café, you could eat as much as you liked for next to nothing in our money. Even though there were heavily armed police around the main streets we never felt threatened by anyone.

We then said good-bye to La Paz and headed to Lake Titicaca, which we had seen in the distance on our way to and from Sorata. It was lovely to finally see this lake that we had first heard about so many years ago in Geography class! It was so beautiful and the colour always seemed to change from day to day. We met one of the boat builders who had been flown to Chad in Africa by Thor Heyerdahl to help build the Ra II. We had a posh lunch in a posh restaurant, very nice. We then left for the Amacari Medical Centre which Irish Friends helped fund. We felt proud when we saw the plaque with “amegos de irlanda” on it. We had to board a boat to cross the straits of Tiquina to the other side of the lake while our minibuses were hauled across on barges. We were very impressed by the centre which has made such a difference to the health of the local people who live in a very isolated part of Bolivia.

As Copacabana was blockaded we couldn’t stay there and had to spend two nights on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We tried to visit a project nearby which had funded the growing of alfalfa and better quality cattle but everybody was at a local rally where the president Evo was speaking. When we got back to the hotel we decided we’d go too! We must have been the only gringos in amongst thousands of locals. The speeches were over and there were various dances going on with wonderfully colourful costumes. Evo is a president of the people and we hope he survives but Bush doesn’t like him! We were glad to be there and see him, in the distance and wave to him when he left by helicopter.

The next day was an early start, as we had to go all the way around the southern coast of the lake to get to Peru, because of the blockade. We said a sad farewell to Barbara and met Malku our guide for Peru who is very knowledgeable about Inca ruins and has written many books on the subject. We visited many Inca and pre Inca sites culminating in Machu Picchu. We visited the floating islands on Lake Titicaca as well as going in a reed boat. We found Peru very touristy compared to Bolivia and we felt we were hustled by the locals to buy goods. On the other hand the roads, accommodation and food were better, but more expensive!

We have started Spanish lessons since coming home in the hope that we can go back to Bolivia and/or to other parts of South America.