INTERVIEW
silent. There is also a time for
silence, which we call the Great
Silence, which is from 8.30 in
the evening until after Mass the
next morning – a silence of about
13 hours, although a lot of that
time is spent asleep, and there
is nothing in the rule about not
talking in your sleep!
“Normally we wouldn’t
chat during that time, unless
something happened that needed
attention. However, keeping silent
is a very important part of our
spiritual life.”
There is a daily newspaper
available for those who want
to read it, but Father Luke
emphasised: “I have stopped
reading it becaue it is usually
pretty nasty in what is says. We
do keep in touch with what is
going on in the world, but it is
not a priority. So there would be
something wrong if we got up in
the morning and the first thing
we did was to look at the news.
“That would be a distortion to
our way of lives. We keep in touch
without letting it dominate us
because the whole media industry
is so time bound with that mad
rush, and what is happening next,
which is rather opposite to what
we are aiming at, which is to be
here to eternity.”
Father Luke grew up in Surrey,
and later moved to Somerset.
So why the change of direction
from school teacher to monk? He
said: “The attraction for me was
that I could lead a life centred
on prayer. Becoming a monk still
has a perennial appeal. It is a very
basic thing for the human spirit
to seek God and be alone with
God. Whether people persevere
is a different question, but the
attraction is there and some
people do persevere.”
He added: “We do have room
here if anyone wants to become
a monk, but it is not a quick
process or necessarily easy.
However, we do have the capacity
for more monks. In any case
people are always welcome here,
even if they just want to visit the
church to pray and spend a quiet
time.”
Art at the Abbey
The art gallery at Quarr Abbey offers
exhibition space to Island artists on a
weekly basis throughout the year. There are
very few spaces available for artists this
year, but they are already taking bookings
for 2013.
If anyone is interested in booking the
gallery they should contact Ruth Rawlings
at [email protected] or Susan
Reed at [email protected]. Further
information about the gallery and future
exhibitions can be found on the Quarr
Abbey website.
The main member of the community of
Monks, who has the monastery link to this
activity is Br Duncan Smith. He regularly
exhibits in the gallery and he works mainly
in oils, and is inspired by the woodlands
and gardens especially around Quarr. Br
Duncan is exhibiting at Quarr Gallery from
May 10 -15.
Ailing beehives given welcome restoration
In early 2011 the IW Bee Keeping
set up a teaching apiary. A joint venture
With a generous grant from the National
Association decided to set up a Teaching
was born, with all honey produced at the
Lottery via the Awards For All scheme, the
Apiary and the proposal coincided with
Teaching Apiary being sold through the
Teaching Apiary was launched in March,
an approach from Quarr Abbey, asking for
new tearoom.
following successful trial sessions last
help in restoring their ailing hives.
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With the establishment of several hives
summer.
An inspection of the 10 hives was
at Quarr Abbey, the IWBKA have created
carried out and it was discovered that
an Island Teaching Apiary where they can
Thursday or Saturday mornings and will
without immediate intervention they were
hold courses for new and experienced
last from April to October. Students can
likely to lose all their colonies. In the
beekeepers to promote a higher standard
be loaned bee suits and will be made
urgent interests of rescuing their bees,
of beekeeping on the Island which in turn
members of the Isle of Wight Beekeepers
IWBKA took over the management of
will not only help the beekeepers, but
Association which ensures they are fully
their apiary on the understanding they
producers and farmers.
insured.
www.visitislandlife.com
The summer sessions are held on