Page 4 - NewsandViews 2023 whole publication

Quiet Garden session led by Len and Pat, August 2023—a commentary Elisabetta Noto

The transformation of Friends’ Meeting House
We gathered for an enchanting, enchanted afternoon at Friends’ Meeting House in late August. Pat and
Len had transformed the building into a mediaeval-style temple. As we processed slowly around the halls,
the rooms and the garden, we were led from the laboratorium, through the oratorium, to the scriptorium,
via many other places and walkways each of which had been turned into a contemplative space dedicated
to Silence and Light. The invitation was for quiet reflection, through a gentle mini-pilgrimage, to give way
to a multisensory-led inspiration of the soul, a sort of Lectio Mystica which would in turn stir us to create
something thoughtful and artful with our hands. George Fox hall had become a repository of illuminated
manuscripts; the garden was now accommodating a flowers-and-grasses-strewn replica of a sacred
labyrinth, which, if thoughtfully walked, would lead to the destination of Salisbury Cathedral.

The work
Most of us in the laboratorium, some of us in the scriptorium and many still in the mystical garden – and
indeed other rooms and areas – got to work. Pat explained that we were to be led by the heart, not the
mind, and let the materials, scraps, foliage etc in our hands take the lead and guide us gently to what
wished to come into being. Perfectionism was banned; the more spontaneous the work, the better. To
conjure artworks of the soul was the aim; we gratefully obeyed. In industrious silence, many hands -
armed with newspaper clippings, scissors, paper, glue, scraps of soft materials, paints and paintbrushes,
and oh!, plenty of colourful play-doh, as well as flowers, leaves, greenery - produced a number of artful
items, colourful, mournful, playful, poetic… all arising from the stirrings of our now-cracked-open tender
hearts. In the scriptorium, plenty of us also copied manuscripts, thus producing a second piece of soulful
art, in the form of calligraphic replicas of poetic sayings, quotes and gems that Len and Pat had lovingly
selected and placed at our disposal.

The sharing
We broke the silence, after nearly two hours’ felicitous industry, to display and share our newly-sprung-
from-the-soul objects, with a much merited cup of tea and plenty of cake. We talked about our art
pieces, what emotional journeys had prompted and guided them, and gave each other comments and
praise; all were dazzled and moved by each other’s undertakings. We clapped at the end, and held each
other by the hand in sacred circle in silence; full of gratitude and renewed energy.

This was a luminous afternoon. Thank you, thank you; thank you, dear Len and Pat.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

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Quiet Garden with a Difference – 18 August 1923 Libby Saunders

At our Quiet Garden in July, Len Wigg informed us that he would be leading the next and it was to differ
from what we had become used to in as much as it would have a hands-on Craft basis. My original
reaction – which I am ashamed of now – was to say that I wouldn’t be coming as ‘I didn’t do Crafts’. As the
date got nearer, I became aware of how much Len was putting into preparing this afternoon – as he
always does when he ‘takes something on’ – so I was shamed into thinking that perhaps I should attend.

On the day Len was ably supported by Pat Yates and between them our Social Room looked like a Craft
Centre – Play Doh, crayons & pens, glittery bits, ribbons, glues, sheets of coloured paper, picture
magazines for cut-outs as well as many reference and reading books all laid out on work tables in various
rooms. Len gave us an outline of what he was hoping we could produce, advising the fourteen of us, that
there was no theme – we were to use our imagination and be led by our feelings.

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