We hear that the stag which gracefully guarded the Bernhard Baron Cottage Homes in Polegate, Sussex, has been the victim of a road traffic accident. Eye animal lovers can relax – the stag was a 100 year old statue. After an unfortunate confrontation with a delivery van the stag is now in pieces, but, we understand, renovation plans are already being hatched. You may remember that these homes came into Quaker care in 1945. Strangely, the Hartrigg Oaks retirement community in York is also 'guarded' by a stag – but this one might leave any contestant the worse for wear – it's bronze!

Never underestimate a valuation official. They can have a spiritual dimension too, as Ralph Hill of Bexhill Meeting points out. He has sent us a remarkable 'Quakerly' leaflet produced around the beginning of WWII, by staff members of London County Council Valuation, Estates and Housing Department for their tenants on council estates.

'It deals with love, truth and the leadings of God and seems straight from the first Advice', says Ralph. In mid-1940 the German army had overwhelmed France and there was a fear of invasion. The leaflet was headed Morale – How to Play Your Part.
Forget yourself in helping your neighbours, it advised, don't spread rumours, keep the moral standards of the nation high, and then – 'the secret of steadiness and inner strength is to listen to God and do what He says. God speaks to the heart of every man and woman prepared to listen and obey. Write down the thoughts He gives you. His voice can be heard wherever you are – in the home, in the factory, in the air-raid shelter, in the first-aid post.'

It quoted a British general: 'telephone wires may be cut, wireless stations be destroyed, but no bombardment can stop messages from God coming through if we are willing to receive them.'

Ralph wonders who these scribes were and if any readers know? 'I think that some of those valiant members of the LCC staff who composed this leaflet must have been Quakers.'

John Betjeman would have demurred (being the staunch protector of Victoriana/Edwardiana that he was) but our nostalgic relationship with elderly Quaker buildings might be undergoing a modernising influence.

Friends Hall in Walthamstow has just been sold by its owners, London & Middlesex Quaker Service Trust, for near on £1m. It was acquired 103 years ago for community projects in the (then) new suburb of Walthamstow. The Bedford Institute Association (now Quaker Social Action) carried the work forward, developing the ideas of the Adult School movement. One of the Hall's wardens was the distinguished pioneer of adult education, Ray Lamb, who was a Quaker. Ray's enthusiasm for adult life-long learning made the Walthamstow centre known throughout Europe.

Walthamstow Friends met in the hall from the start until they bought their own Meeting house in 1998, but the Quaker role in adult education ceased in 1972, when the local authority took over and ran services from there. Now Waltham Forest has centralised services for adults and Friends Hall has been empty for a year. The hall's new owner is the Emanuel Christian Church, a vigorously growing local church which wants to expand its community activities.

Rod Harper, the London & Middlesex Quaker Service Trust clerk, tells us 'another Quaker building has gone but it frees us up to do other things with the money. It may be a good thing to lose some of our 19th century defunct buildings.'

As you know, Eye is something of a fan of the internet and has even made forays into the world of blogging. We always try to keep it tame and have never ventured into the sort of questionable material to be found on certain other Quaker websites (we're looking at you, Quaker-B) so we felt rather hurt to discover that The Friend was being blocked by one of the biggest online filter providers in the world, apparently for being an 'occult' site!
Our office web wizard was soon hot on the trail to get us unblocked ('we're a member of CTBI, I’ll have you know', she was heard to shout, peacefully) and much time was spent speculating what we could have written recently to get us lumped in with the Satanists and cult recovery sites. Was it Alan Sealy's fault, we wondered?
We’ve been assured by Synetrix, who provide most of the services for the country’s educational establishments, that we will have our category changed to something more respectable. We also found that schools and libraries can take the block off themselves, so if you find us being blocked again, do go and tell the IT people at the helpdesk that we’re not as dangerous as all that. Consider it your bit for outreach.

Should we Quakers get discounted porridge? Ronald Watts of Abergavenny Meeting has been reading an article in the bi-monthly magazine of the Friends United Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. The writer of this article appears to be a Quaker girl racer calling herself a motorcycling Quaker preacher, who pulls in at a truck stop cafe and engages in conversation with the – as we would call them – lorry drivers. The conversation is rather bizarre and revolves around the motorcyclist telling the diners that Quakers don’t look like the 'Quaker Oats guy any more' and maybe they should get a discount from the oats firm. All this reminded Ronald of the time he worked in South Africa. 'The Yearly Meeting did a little study of what first attracted attenders to come to a Meeting for Worship. I was astonished to read that a significant number said they first knew of Quakers because in their childhood they were given Quaker Oats porridge or saw the "Quaker man" on a cereal packet.' Perhaps we should be paying the company 'for a century more of publicity' says Ronald. In the meantime, the editor is now worrying that The Friend might not be catering for Quaker racers this side of the Atlantic. Just how many are there?

A lot of readers responded to Eye's call to knit teddies for Teddies for Tragedies late last year and many of them have now made it to their new homes with children, as Bernice Taylor tells us:

Once again this summer many bears have travelled via Gainsborough to befriend sick and underprivileged children in Eastern Europe.

In April eight volunteers travelled to India as part of a short term Transform Team to help on a voluntary basis at a Christian Hospital in Herbtpur. The project was organised by Tearfund in the UK in partnership with the Emmanuel Hospitals Association in India. They spent two weeks at the hospital and took with them 200 teddies. Some were given to local children in the village, some to the hospital and some to a smaller clinic in a remote rural area. They were so gratefully received. The paediatrician at the hospital was so delighted as often a child will arrive at the hospital very distressed and inconsolable. The volunteers had occasion to visit the children's ward at just such a moment and it was such a joy and pleasure to see the delight on the child's face to receive something just for them which they could hug and hold and see the tears and anguish subside.

Another occasion they were visiting a maternity ward. They gave a teddy to a mother who had just had her stillborn baby taken from her. She just held on tight to the teddy and cried and cried. It was so sad to witness her pain but the teddy enabled her to release her tears and provided some comfort in her grief.

The children of the village had very little in the way of possessions. One family of bricklayers were working on a building at the hospital grounds and would give the children each day something salvaged from the building site to play with, such as an empty paint pot, a strip of plastic or a metal bin. When the children were given teddies, balloons and sweets they were overjoyed. One little boy just kept running back and forth to his father grinning from ear to ear showing him his new found friend.

Teddies, puppets and bags are now being gathered for the next journeys, for more information The Friend can pass your details onto Bernice.

Were you a part of the Greenham Common peace camp? The Borderlines Film Festival in Hereford will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of 'Embrace the Base' with a special season of films next year. Screenings will include The War Game, Dr Strangelove and Carry Greenham Home. The festival will run from 23 March to 1 April. A reunion day will be held on 31 March and the organisers are keen for peace women from the west country and Wales to be there.
Festival: www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk
Reunion: www.courtyard.org.uk

We are amused by the cookery book produced by St. Albans PM to boost their building development fund. Members and attenders at Luton and Leighton MM weighed in with recipes from their own kitchen stores and those of their relatives. The book has a snazzy title – What Canst Thou Cook? and recipes are annotated with comments adapted from Advices and Queries and also Quaker faith & practice.

A & Q: are you working to bring about a just and compassionate society which allows everyone to develop their capacities and fosters in men a desire to cook?

We should add hastily that the recipes are weighted towards vegetarian dishes, and cakes and biscuits, following true Quaker leanings.