{"id":4811,"date":"2023-06-22T19:52:49","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T18:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=4811"},"modified":"2023-06-22T20:10:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T19:10:31","slug":"quaker-question-and-answer-val-ferguson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/july-2023\/quaker-question-and-answer-val-ferguson\/","title":{"rendered":"Quaker Question and Answer \u2013 Val Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who, when, where, and why \u2013 are you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I am Val Ferguson, born and bred in Scone, Scotland in 1943. I went to a Catholic Convent, but my father died when I was four and my mother couldn\u2019t afford to keep me in the school, and so I joined the local school. After university I went to Ghana to do Voluntary Service Abroad and first encountered Quakers, I stayed for two years and decided I wanted to work in the internal church. I ended up working with the Friends World Committee of Consultation and organised several world meetings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have a memory that brings you comfort in times of hardship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. I had a terrible time going to the Catholic school and was horribly bullied. Once I started going to my local village school, I had a perfectly normal and happy life, much to my relief!<\/em><\/p>\n

How long, if you are, have you been a Quaker (or attender)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I joined on my return Ghana. I must have become a Quaker around twenty-six, so it must be roughly sixty years.<\/em><\/p>\n

What brings you joy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The unexpected. This usually involves other people and the joy they bring. Also, the sea. It was a real challenge not to be able to paddle in the sea during the COVID lockdowns. I have been swimming in the sea with snow on the ground!<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have a passage from QF&P that you would like to draw Friends attention to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last entry of Advices and Queries and, especially the call from George Fox: \u2018be patterns be examples\u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

What was the last book that you read?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a voracious reader, everything from Agatha Christie to everything new. I have read the entire Strangers and Brothers series.<\/em><\/p>\n

What would you say to someone coming to MfW for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stay for just one meeting. To appreciate, or not appreciate, Friends, I think you need to come a dozen times or so, if that! Coming to understand Friends takes longer than you think. <\/em><\/p>\n

Can you describe what Quakerism is to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wordless centre of my life. I stray away from it, from time to time. It is always there around me. I don\u2019t always like Quakerism \u2013 but I am conscious of a presence around me that has many names. But I am also conscious of periods of drought \u2013 I have learnt to sit those dry periods out.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you could do anything, what would you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Talk less and listen more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Is there anything else you like to say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am looking forward to seven or eight of us, who were all at school together, who are all eighty and meeting up in Scotland together this summer. I am hoping we all make it until then!<\/em><\/p>\n

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This Month’s Forty-Three Newsletter Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n