Sidcot Festival of Peace
My how we live in changing times, where the world suddenly seems more uncertain and complicated overnight! With this complexity comes a need for our young people to understand and come to a terms with the big issues of our time and to be the changemakers of the future. And so I was delighted that the first Sidcot Festival of Peace that took place on Sunday 19 June was such a success. It was a celebration of music, drama and poetry focusing on the nature of identity – a theme that we could not have believed to be so much in the zeitgeist.
Despite the rain, which in many ways contributed to the festival feeling, we gathered an eclectic group of people to continue conversations that had been started and, in many cases, initiate new ones. Challenging concepts were presented in an engaging manner including the poet Matt Harvey presenting a poem he had been commissioned to write on Quakerism entitled ‘That of God in Everyone’. I was delighted that the festival was so well supported by students, parents, staff and members of our local community. It really was a fusion of ideas, cultures, reflections and opinions in an atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance – an example and pattern for others to follow.
IWK – June 2016