We Come, We Go

I chanced upon an old acquaintance from the Golden Era of Bethesda's bohemian period in the 1980s, this afternoon. He didn't remember my name, which is quite fine by me: much water has passed under the bridge and much grey hair grown - and lost - in the interim, and ego and self-importance are concepts best avoided. He is a Quaker. I have Quakers in my family tree. I would like to learn more about them, and how that line turned to more mainstream religion and why. As I age, this lost knowledge has taken on a greater importance for me. I started the family genealogy journey focussing on the line that my dad had begun in the 1980s and 90s: his mother's, and her connections with North Wales, Staffordshire and Australia. Since my first, tentative overtures I have dug deep into both sides of my immediate family's history and turned up some pretty interesting stuff across the piece. One strand of interest to me was the sudden [to me] appearance of Quakerism on the Southall side of the family [my mother's father's side], records for which go back well into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Whilst my acquaintance Martin was unable to proffer specific contacts to assist in my quest, his response to my enquiries was of a gentler nature, proffering an open invitation to their weekly meetings in Bangor. What I understand of Quakerism aligns pretty nicely [in the old sense of the word 'nice'] with my self-avowed and very personal take on Zen Buddhism. Whether I take up the offer of joining the Circle of Silence at any time remains to be seen. Who knows? It might be nicely circular if I did...