Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, Quaker meeting opens community Peace Garden

Friends at Nailsworth Quaker Meeting began discussing in 2013 whether the courtyard garden in front of their meeting house could become a Peace Garden. According to Rebecca Stapleford, the Meeting’s Warden, such gardens bring together natural life, spiritual nourishment, and space for contemplation and the promotion of peace. They also prompt the question of what peace means to each person.

Friends had long been active on peace issues, and the project grew steadily. Over five years, a Working Group led the gradual transformation of the front courtyard into a place for reflection and community.

The Peace Garden was officially launched on United Nations Day of Peace, Friday 21 September 2018, for use by the community, Friends and visitors. The Nailsworth Community Choir sang and the Nailsworth Recorder group played. Readings included poems written by people affected by war and accounts of conscientious objectors from Gloucestershire. More than 50 people attended and were encouraged to use the space and help spread the message of peace. Members of the Town Council, Churches Together, Gloucester Area Meeting and local community groups were also present.

Local individuals, businesses and groups contributed to the garden. Jim Pentney carved a stone plaque, and Christoph Rubach carved a birdbath and loaned sculptures. The Nailsworth Community Workshop’s Men’s Shed made a bench. The Meeting thanked Val Kirby for drawing up detailed designs for the planting scheme, and the family of Lionel Ayliff, whose bequest funded the project.

The Meeting said it had considered its ministry and its meeting house. In its view, the building offers an atmosphere of peaceful contemplation that attracts and is appreciated by many visitors, and it serves as a witness to Quaker values. Nailsworth Meeting said it wished to communicate this more strongly through outreach and engagement in the local community, welcoming people of all ages and cultures.

The Meeting formally dedicated the front garden to furthering the Quaker Peace Testimony. The garden already served several purposes: it is the way to the meeting house and its cottages, it contains a cemetery, weddings and other events spill out from the meeting house into it, and Friends of all ages sit there. The dedication, the Meeting said, adds to those roles, reflecting a commitment to peacemaking in ordinary life (Matthew 5:9).

The Meeting hopes the Peace Garden will be a place where people from across the community can sit in peaceful contemplation, alone or with others, and a setting for events, ceremonies and exhibitions that promote and celebrate peace. It also wants children and young people to feel that the space belongs to them. The Meeting described the Peace Garden as a living project that will continue to evolve.

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