My Quaker day out.

Well - what a lovely mothers day present I had on the 18th April 2009. I went to the Quaker conference in Skipton and met Richard.

Firstly many thanks to Richard for passing on to me information about the Wilcocksons from Preston. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to properly talk and I as usual was unprepared and in (I can only excuse myself, too much excitement) awe. The first thing I should have told him about was this blog .......anyways I shall write to him and ask his permission to use the materials he gave me. He has already sent me an outline of the family tree which goes back much further than mine. He has visited many of the places relevant to the family. I also met Richard's wife Sheila. What lovely people. I am so happy with my growing family. Can you tell that I have not recovered from yesterday, sorry if I am not making much sense.

Anyway before I forget I shall record an account of my day.
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I should have realised early on that this was going to be a good day, a successful day.......I didn't sleep well and was up with the birds at 5.30 to blue skies. Despite my early rising we were on the last minute for departure and rushing to the end of the street saw the bus already at the bus stop. Poor Joseph, we legged it and luckily it was one of the nice bus drivers who waited for us. Then when we got into town we saw the free bus to take us up to Piccadilly, so we arrived in very good time. There was no que (haha Joseph's just made a joke....not Q from star trek, I asked him for the spelling) for tickets and Joseph saw on the departure board an earlier train to Leeds. We just had time to buy his railway magazines and the newspaper and the train arrived at the platform at the same time as us. It was nice and quiet. I was thinking good, we will have more of an allowance for late running trains and maybe get to Skipton even earlier than planned....(I am happy to say that all the trains we used ran to time). At Leeds we literally stepped off one train and on to another.

It must have meant to be, catching the earlier train that Joseph sat on the side to see Keighley and Worth station that soon after leaving Leeds stopped at a junction, Joseph saw a heritage diesel excursion train. The rest of the journey was spent discussing possibilities of this train. He was unlucky at Keighley there was no steam train in. So I said that we would wait at Skipton to see if the diesel train came through. Well we waited, and we waited. Anyone else would have given up but having just lately been on the Tin Bath excursion we were well aware that these trains are held at junctions sometimes for considerable periods of time......We saw the departure of the Bradford train and three trains to Leeds and were just on the point of saying we will have to go now when there was an announcement and just as they finished saying stand back from the edge on platform three it came thundering around the bend. Full speed. Rattling and rushing. Oh such a thrill. Joseph had his camera at the ready, I think his hands were shaking. It was passed in a moment. I was so pleased for Joseph. And do you know we were the only ones at Skipton and along the way we had seen no other enthusiasts out with cameras. Later when we got home Joseph looked it up on the internet and that train had come from Holyhead. I must say they had a lovely day for doing the Settle-Carlisle run.

Anyways, Joseph's good fortune did not end there for on the way to finding Skipton Meeting House what did mother see but one of her loves, a bargain book shop. We had to go in didn't we. Unfortunately I got nothing, but Joseph came out with two new books. They were study books, mind you, but he had seen them on the shelf whilst I had been looking for railway books or history books for me.

We found Skipton Meeting House hidden away from the general hustle and bustle of Skipton market day down a ginnel. Nestled behind protective stone walls the stillness and peacefulness of a beautiful pocket sized garden bathed in sunlight was a most attractive foreground to the stone meeting house. It was obviously a place looked after with much love. What was the picture like hundreds of years ago when the Friends came to meeting with long flowing dresses when inclement weather did not give such a warm welcome. You see I always think of questions to ask well after the event, I should have liked to have known how far they came to meetings here. Were they Skipton folk or travelled from roundabout? As you passed through the gate into this place of sanctuary the meeting house is on your left and to the right another building where there was a reception room, kitchen and toilets. It was here I met Richard. There was refreshments, and a book stall. There was 38 of us present, I know this because they gave us a sheet with the programme and a second sheet with a list of all those present - what a good idea. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

The actual talks took place inside the single storey Meeting House. Inside the floor was flagged and it was separated into two parts by a sort of wooden screen, we sat on one side in wooden bench like seats and at the rear was a raised section. The first talk was about the history of the Skipton meeting. When the Meeting House had been first built it had a thatched roof and the inside would have been open to the rafters. That certainly would have changed my fanciful flight into the past. Again challenging my preconceptions. At one time there was a Quaker school nearby and some of the boy pupils had carved their names or initials into the wooden seats at the back. At another time there had also been an adult Quaker school - I should have liked to know more about that.

The second and third talks were about personal family trees. There were several interesting points to me that came up. The difficulties of putting on family trees where cousins married cousins, I did like the method shown. Families are not neat little 2D packages that can easily be described in flat 'trees' but are vibrant living complexities. Lately I have been looking at Barton Wilcockson Allen for a possible connection, the best I have come up with is the possibility that there was a friendship or business connection between the Allens and Issac Wilcockson who had no children. How could this, or even should this be shown on a family tree. Were friendships, business associations just as important? This also has me thinking about the importance of a name. Also not to be afraid to come up with solutions that work for you. Mention was made of those trees which separate male and female issue. I must admit that I often get confused when trying to find my way round family trees. I am not even sure that having a standard format is helpful.
Another reassuring point was that there are many many questions to which we shall never find the answers because the records are just not there. We may come up with plausible answers but we must be prepared to accept that that is what they are.
That it seems common for people to have married more than once.
The last talk was about the early Friends in Dent. I found many interesting points in this talk too. (I have not come across any evidence to suggest that the Wilcocksons were amongst the early converts.) It would appear that George Fox was predisposed to travel to places where he might be favourably received because they were already areas open to liberal thought. That many of the early converts were people of modest means and people of standing in the local communities rather than ordinary working folk. That the original convert group in Dent consisted of 5-6 (goodness I have already forgotten, I know one was a youth) persons. That the early Quakers were drawn from rural rather than urban folk. That there came to be a change in attitude within the Quaker movement between the original convert generation and the next generation ie. intolerance to drink. Mr. Boulton made reference to the fact that many early converts were drawn from military men who had been part of Cromwell's Model Army because they were 'liberal' thinkers. I think another area of ignorance for myself. So then......
Who in the Wilcockson family was the first to convert to Quakerism?
How did they become converted?
More questions.
I shall just close and say we had an uneventful journey home albeit two tired travellers arrived at 7.20 pm. having returned via the long route to Manchester Victoria.