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Dover, New Hampshire, Friends have created a Quaker Meetinghouse dollhouse called the “Dover Dollhouse Friends Meeting”. They use it in their First Day School to teach Young Friends about Quakerism. The dollhouse was constructed of cardboard boxes purchased at Staples, measuring 24” x 16” x 10”, while the dolls came from Habe Toy’s Happy Family sets. The children decided how to furnish the dollhouse, choosing first to create benches for the worship room, then a coffee hour table and pictures for the social space. They made food out of Sculpy. After discussion about the Quaker Meetinghouse dollhouse, the children wrote a traveling minute to Holguín Friends Church in Cuba, which was translated into Spanish and taken by a Friend who planned to visit there. Two dolls, a minister and a companion, went with the Friend. Through further discussion, they decided to send love and greetings to a Friend in the hospital. A Friend carried a doll, who delivered the message.

Additional Meetinghouse dollhouses exist. A c. 1870 Meetinghouse, painted to look like brick, with original glass, was found in the attic of the Bell family in Bellmawr, New Jersey. A Salem, Massachusetts, Meetinghouse, with a dog, tree, pumpkins and other harvest displayed around it, was created out of Legos by Jeff Chapman. Kelso Meetinghouse in Scotland was constructed out of Scale Scenes products by Chris Schuetz. Finally, an unattributed 19th century Meetinghouse is to be found on Pinterest.

All the Meetinghouse dollhouses are charming. The 19th century Meetinghouse is particularly exquisite.

Gary Sandman

(Below, in turn, are the Dover, Salem and 19th century Meetinghouses).

January 2026

Ian Serraillier (1912-1994) was a British novelist, poet, critic and teacher.  He was best-known for his children’s books, including the classic The Silver Sword.  He also re-told mythological legends from Greece, Rome and England in a modern idiom, often in verse.  His criticism included Chaucer and his World, a biography.  With his wife, he was an editor of the New Windmill Series for Heineman Educational Books, providing inexpensive editions for young people.  Serraillier was a teacher at Dudley Boys Grammar School, Midhurst Grammar School and Wycliffe College.  He was a nominee for the Carnegie Medal for Writing and a speaker for the Puffin Book Club at several Children’s Literature Summer Camps.

Serrraillier joined the Religious Society of Friends in 1939.  During the Second World War he became a conscientious objector, serving as an air warden in London in the Blitz and in the West Midlands.  He was also a longtime member of the Peace Pledge Union. In 1946 Serraillier became a member of Chichester (BrYM) Meeting.  The Silver Sword was inspired by reports in The Friend about the Friends Relief Service efforts with refugee children in the Second World War.

Ian Serraillier created remarkable works for young people, introducing them to difficult themes like war and acquainting them with traditional stories from history.

Gary Sandman

December 2025

Jane Lapotaire (b. 1944) is a British actor and author. She has appeared extensively on stage (Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The Merchant of Venice, Oedipus, Piaf, et. al.) as well as in film (Edward the King, Marie Curie, Surviving Picasso, Downtown Abbey, et. al.) Among the books she has written are Grace and Favour, Out of Order and Time Out of Mind. Her honors include a Variety Club of Great Britain Award, a Tony Award and an honorary doctorate from Bristol University.

Lapotaire participated in a Quaker retreat after she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2000.  Feeling she had found a place to heal, she began to attend Friends Meeting.  Her Quaker community also became a source of new friends and a quieter life.  Lapotaire has said that she would like everyone to learn how to sit and be silent for an hour every day. She added that the trait she most admires is serenity.

Jane Lapotaire is one of the foremost actors of her generation. As Princess Alice, Prince Phillip’s mother, in the “Bubbiekins” episode of The Crown, she gave a magnificent performance. She is a remarkable artist.

Gary Sandman

November 2025

Peaky Blinders is a BBC television series about a gang in Birmingham (UK) in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Based on a real criminal organization, it tells the fictional story of the Shelbys, a gypsy family. Communists, Fascists and the American mafia as well as historical figures, like Winston Churchill and Oswald Mosley, also appear. A large ensemble cast, including Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson and Helen McCrory, depict the Shelbys. Tom Hardy, Sam Neill and Adrien Brody are also featured. Steven Knight created and wrote much of the show while “The Red Right Hand”, the series’ theme, was composed by Nick Cave. Nominated for several honors, the show won British Academy Television Awards and National Television Awards.

Linda Shelby is the wife of Arthur Shelby, one of the Shelby brothers. She is a Quaker, though not identified as such until later in the series. She attempts to rescue the troubled, addicted Arthur from himself, using her religious faith. In Season Three, Episode One, Arthur finds her sitting silently in worship in a chapel. In Season Four, Episode Four, Linda inspires the other Shelby women to join a women’s strike. When asked what led them to do this, one of the Shelby men notes, “Quakers (Linda) put ‘em up to it….” Linda, however, is drawn into the violence and drug use of the Shelby family and finally flees the Shelbys. In the Season Five, “Strategy” episode, Linda speaks with a male Friend at the local Bournville Meeting about Arthur. Arthur confronts the Friend, beating him and slashing his face savagely. Ultimately, Linda is bribed to return to Arthur after being offered a huge donation for her mission work.

Linda Shelby’s story arc in Peaky Blinders contrasts her Quaker faith with the Shelby evil. It is troubling that she ends up losing her way. Peaky Blinders is, by the way, an extraordinary television series. Though extremely violent and displaying sexual and drug scenes, it is a riveting show. It is available on Netflix.

(Above is Kate Phillips as Linda Shelby).

Gary Sandman

October 2025

Hannah Griffitts (1727-1817) was an American poet and revolutionary. A member of a prominent Philadelphia family, she vigorously advocated for independence from Britain. She was active in the Daughters of Liberty, who supported boycotts against the British. When the American revolutionary movement became violent, she continued to support a negotiated settlement. Griffitts wrote prolifically about resistance to the British, including The Female Patriots and the Battle of Long Island, as well as on peace and women’s rights. She also composed elegies for parents who had lost their children. During her lifetime, with a few exceptions, her verse was unpublished and shared only with her women friends. About 60 of her poems were preserved in Milcah Martha Moore’s commonplace book, under the pen name “Fidelia”.

Griffitts came from an old Quaker family, her grandfather the well-known Friend Isaac Norris. Due to her Quakerism, she supported peace, and she was raised to believe women were the equals of men. As a child of 10, she dedicated herself to poetry, vowing to God that she would write about “no trifling themes”. Several of her poems were addressed to Quaker friends.

Hannah Griffitts was a good poet, writing at a time when Quakers opposed poetry.

From The Battle of Long Island:

“Oh! Speak contending brethren into Peace,
Bid the sweet Cherub bless our weeping Shores,
And friends again in her soft Bands unite.”

Gary Sandman

September 2025

Kirsten Hills (b. 1977) is a British/Italian videographer based in Florence, Italy.  A former BBC journalist, she works now as a solo filmmaker.  Her work includes documentaries (Uffizi Galleries, Public Broadcasting Service), and promotional films and event coverage for clients (the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Region of Tuscany, Clarks, Carvela and Avava).  Her main project is “Souls of Italy”, a blog and films about Italian culture.

Hills was raised a Friend in Canterbury Meeting.  She attended summer sessions at Saffron Walden Friends School as well as the Geneva Quaker United Nations Office School.  She worships now with the small Florence Worship Group.  Hills has created several Quaker videos, (Bethesda Joyland Centre, Woodbrooke Centre and Ramallah School).  She has also made videos about Quakers in Italy (https://quaccheriinitalia.wordpress.com/chi-siamo/video-interviste/).  With her work, she hopes that she reflects Quaker values: seeing the good in people and letting their stories speak for themselves.  She would like to film British Friends Meetinghouses and interview American Quakers in the future.

Kirsten Hills’s videos are gorgeous and lively.  They tell heartfelt stories.  I especially enjoyed the one about “Porcellino’s New Nose”.  She is a gifted artist! Please check out her website at https://www.kirstenhills.com for her wonderful videos.

Gary Sandman

August 2025

An ink drawing of minister and abolitionist John Woolman appeared as the frontispiece of the 1970 Gehenna Press edition of John Woolman’s Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes. It depicts a gaunt, intense figure. Painter and sculptor Leonard Baskin created it. In addition, he illustrated the cover of John Woolman’s Dream of the Fox and the Cat.

The portrait of Woolman, attributed to Robert Smith III, was Baskin’s inspiration. The Smith picture, however, most likely does not show Woolman. Instead, his sketch may have portrayed Friend Anthony Benezet.

The John Woolman drawing is haunting. Though it is probably not based on what Woolman looked like, it does capture his ethereal spirit.

Gary Sandman

July 2025

A caricature of politician John Bright appeared in the magazine Vanity Fair in February 1869 as “Statesmen No. 3” with the caption, “Will the sentimental orator be lost in the practical Minister, or will both be extinguished?”. It shows a portly, venerable man, dressed in Victorian garb. The caption refers to Bright’s conflict between idealism and practicality in politics. Under the pseudonym of “Ape”, the artist was Carlo Pelligrini, a popular Italian-British artist.

John Bright (1811-1889) was a Liberal Party politician and a legendary British orator. He sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889, supporting free trade, electoral reform and religious freedom. Bright was a spokesman for the poor and the middle class. Almost alone, he opposed the Crimean War, delivering the famous “Angel of Death” speech in denunciation. He led the opposition to British intervention on the side of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Bright came for a long line of Quakers. He was educated at the Friends Schools Ackworth and Bootham. He first became interested in politics because, among other issues, he opposed mandatory tithes. After Quakers were allowed to affirm their allegiance to the Crown, rather than take an oath, Bright entered Parliament. He is buried in the Friends Burial Ground at Rochdale Meetinghouse.

The John Bright caricature is charming, a celebration of a valued Friend.

Gary Sandman

June 2025

A Benjamin Banneker stamp was issued by the United States Post Office in February 1980.  It depicts a distinguished-looking older man, a smaller figure with surveying equipment in the foreground.  Part of the Black Heritage series, it was designed by Jerry Pinkney and cost 15 cents.  Additionally, several other images of Banneker exist, among them another stamp from the Turk and Caicos Islands; a mural in the Washington D.C. Recorder of Deeds Building by Maxine Merlino; a cartoon by Charles Alston; and a woodcut frontispiece on Benjamin Banneker’s Almanac.  A statue also stands in the National African American History Museum, and a poem was composed by Rita Dove.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) was a writer, astronomer, surveyor, mathematician and farmer.  During his life, he was most famous as the author of a series of 11 almanacs, some of its material based on his astronomical work.  He also included political writings in his Almanac, including peace and anti-slavery pieces.  Banneker assisted in the original survey of Washington DC’s boundaries and built the first clock in America.  He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson regarding justice for African Americans.

Banneker had a long association with Friends.  As a child, he attended a Quaker school run by Friend Peter Heinrich.  He was also close to the Quaker Ellicott family, whose son George lent him books to study astronomy.  His almanacs included an extract from Quaker poet Thomas Wilkinson’s “An Appeal to England, On Behalf of the Abused Africans; A Poem” as well as the schedules for Friends Yearly Meetings.  Banneker worshipped at Elkridge Meeting.  However, it is unknown whether he was a member of the Religious Society of Friends or if he was denied membership as were many African Americans in those times.  He dressed in Quaker plain clothes, including a broadbrim hat. 

A quote from Tyson Ellicott in his “A Sketch of the Life of Benjamin Banneker, from notes taken in 1836″

“Although he made no profession of religion, he loved the doctrines and mode of worship of the Society of Friends, and was frequently at their meetings. We have seen Banneker in Elkridge Meeting house, where he always sat on the form nearest the door, his head uncovered. His ample forehead, white hair, and reverent deportment, gave him a very venerable appearance, as he leaned on the long staff (which he always carried with him) in quiet contemplation.”

The Benjamin Banneker stamp is a fine remembrance of a gifted man.

Gary Sandman

May 2025

Ferdinand Barlow (1881-1951) was a French classical musician.  Originally an engineer, he studied music with Jean Huré and Charles Koechlin.  He composed in an Impressionist style, writing sonatas, symphonies, operas and ballets.  Among Barlow’s works are Sylvie ou Le Double Amour, La Grande Jatte, Ave Maria and Sinfonietta des Saisons.  His operetta Mam’zelle Prud’homme was presented at the Monte Carlo Opera.

Barlow became a Friend in 1926.  He helped found the Paris Quaker Centre, which organized peace activities, penal reform and conscientious objection support.  Barlow and his wife Ella led the Centre’s International Youth Circle, bringing French and foreign young people together to build friendships.  In 1930 the IYC sent a petition about disarmament to the London Naval Conference.

Ferdinand Barlow created grave, deeply felt music.  Sadly, he is for the most part unknown today.  Below is a link to three pieces of his music, “La Fleur Merveilleuse” “Droite dans la Candeur” and “When-Chûn”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caB7PZbbviU

                                                                                      Gary Sandman

April 2025