The Bahá’í Community in Swindon has been running a Tranquillity Zone for over twelve months on a regular basis as the most visible part of the Shirin Dalvand Teaching Project. The Tranquillity Zone appeared in the "Heaven and Earth Show" on BBC, on BBC News West Television where it was filmed in action at the local hospital and more recently was featured in an article in The Times. The initiative also has regular mentions in the local press and on BBC Wiltshire Sound.

On 30th July Ruth Gledhill, the Religion Correspondent of The Times newspaper, joined one of the Tranquillity Zone sessions. Her article appeared on Saturday 14th August. Here is a short account of the session and its effects.

The end of July was oppressively hot. We met just after midday, in a darkened room, lit only by candles. The curtains were closed, and the windows were only partially open because of the risk of disturbance from noise outside. About twelve of us sat on chairs or on cushions scattered on the floor. There was a display of flowers in the centre of the room, and drapes were placed overhead to give the impression of light and space.

Ruth arrived hot and stressed after a long car journey, but quickly entered into the spirit of the session, sitting cross-legged on the largest cushion, notepad in hand. For about forty minutes we were treated to a sequence of music and readings designed to relieve stress and make us all more tranquil - a breather from the everyday world. At the end, some of us stayed to talk and take some refreshment together.

The effect of a Tranquillity Zone session is always good. Many people are deeply touched by the Word of God and inspiring music. Everybody feels more rested - particularly those who sometimes fall asleep during a session!

Since the first Tranquillity Zone in Swindon held on 24th April 1998, around 800 people have attended. Sessions are held both as an outreach service for a diverse range of community groups, in office environments and mental health organisations, as well as at the local hospital. Employees in the Social Services department at the local council will also enjoy a Tranquillity Zone in September. The majority of people who attend find the sessions beneficial and some have become interested in the Bahá’í Faith.

The Website for the Bahá’í Community in Swindon is:

You can also contact Fidelma Meehan, Tel: 01793 873684 for details and advice about running a Tranquility Zone.

Dave Richardson

Many visitors to the Traquair Fair on 7th-8th August must have noticed the words "Bahá’í Prayer Pavilion" painted in gold on a deep blue background adorning the entrance to a tent. A beautiful display set out the five stages of prayer and invited people to ask for a prayer to be said for them by filling in a slip and posting in a box provided. Enquirers could take away a range of printed prayers on variously coloured cards and choose from a wide selection of "Warwick leaflets".

This was the first public sharing of the Faith by the Bahá’ís of the Western Borders at this particular "alternative" annual event set in the grassy tree-lined gardens of historic Traquair House near Innerleithen.

We hope that this first proclamation at this relaxed family event will be followed by other Bahá’í happenings in future years. The tent was next to the Brahma Kumaris who were invited round for prayers. They are well known to us through Edinburgh Inter-faith.

Of the 5,000 people who attended the two-day event, thirty-four left prayer requests which were said the following week. Ironically, the friends in the Western Borders set out to provide a free service to the community and ended up attracting such strong interest that we ran out of basic information on the Faith! Ned Cundall

On 31st July the Rugby Bahá’í community manned a stall at the annual event " Going Green in the Park" hosted by Rugby Borough Council. It was the fourth time the event had been held and the first time that the Bahá’ís had a stall there. It is an event based on protecting the ecology of the planet and various eco-organisations, such as Greenpeace, WWF, local re-cycling organisations, Travelwise and animal protection groups, were also there.

Other participants were quite amazed by the presence of a religious group and many wandered over to ask "What are you doing here?" What an opportunity! Most were very interested to find definitive writings on ecological problems and were quite impressed with what they saw. Many visitors to the fair stopped by our stall and took various brochures.

The Council had organised a "Squirrel Trail" which involved going round every stall to find the answer to a list of questions. As children arrived at our stall to find the answer to "How long has the Bahá’í Faith existed?" we gave out Fun Packs with activities from Dayspring and the Planet 2000 pack.

It was a very good day and there was a fair amount of interest. This will definitely be added to our list of activities.

A remarkable event took place in June in Northamptonshire. The County Youth Choir of around forty-five voices presented a concert in Kettering Parish Church entitled "O Son of Wondrous Vision". The composer of the music is Richard Leigh, a musician with the County music service.

Richard came into contact with Northamptonshire Bahá’ís when he was invited to take part in the centenary concert in October last year. Since then he has taken on running the Northamptonshire Bahá’í choir and has composed several pieces based on The Hidden Words. He taught one of these pieces based on Arabic Hidden Word, 19 to the Northamptonshire County Youth Choir and it formed the centre piece of their concert in Kettering. The piece was received extremely well by the audience and questions were asked about the words and their author.

O Son of the Wondrous Vision! I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover. Why hast thou forsaken Me and sought a beloved other than Me?

David Kayani, an eighteen-year-old Bahá’í youth from Reading is presenting a TV show on regional television entitled "Kayani’s Conquest". It is essentially a religious discussion programme in which he acts as an impartial presenter/chairperson whilst representatives from other religions discuss an issue.

The first few episodes were an introduction to the various religions, with one representative per episode plus a panel discussing that Faith. These included shows on Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Rastafarianism and the Bahá’í Faith.

The show then moved on to a setup where three or four different religious representatives discuss an issue. So far the role of God in society, the return of Christ, science and religion, whether or not all religions are from the same God and whether or not religion can survive the new millenium are issues which have been discussed.

The next show will be on prophecies. A Bahá’í has been in every discussion, usually alongside a Christian and a Muslim.

The television station, Thames Valley Television, has received positive feedback for the show. The viewer rating for the show is about a third of a million and it goes out four times weekly on Cable 10 in the Thames Valley region.

The show has been successful from the Bahá’í point of view with the Faith being well voiced in each episode and sometimes even becoming the centre of the discussion.

Four members of the Wakefield community travelled up to the first Orkney Summer School held since the early 1970’s. "Living on the Edge" was attended by over fifty adults and about twenty youth. Participants were welcomed with an introduction to the Islands and local fayre at the newly-opened and very well equipped Pickaquoy Centre. Key note speakers included Betty and Hasan Sabri and Shomais Afnan and representing the National Spiritual Assembly, Barney Leith. The wonderful spirit of the Orkney School showed to its full effect on our National Secretary, who arrived appearing tired and stressed and left looking revitalised. A highlight of the week was an informative talk by Barney, who gave us a glimpse of his working diary, by explaining the kind of tasks he deals with in the course of a month.

Some of the subjects covered during the week were - "World Citizenship", the importance of the islands, the links between Esperanto and the Bahá’í Faith, and "Progressive Revelation".

The Bahá’í community spirit in action was in full evidence at the youth hostel, where excellent food was prepared and served, guided by our "Summer School Master Chef".

"Traces" Dance and Drama group participated in the school by putting on daily public performances and successful workshops.

A bus tour of the island gave us the chance to see a few of the many historic sights and some of Orkney’s beautiful scenery. The wealth of prehistoric sights, stone circles, burial mounds and the amazing 5000-year-old village at Skara Brae are wonderful to experience. The summer school ended with a Ceilidh on Friday night at the "Picky" Centre attended by many local people and was an enjoyable finale to the school.

We feel that "Living on the Edge" was a triumph for the small Orkney community who worked extremely hard. Helen and Ian Thompson, Bets Mitchell and Jayne Wellbourne

It was going to be a scorcher. The prediction was confirmed in the exposed white chests, burning pink skin and mutterings about the heat. The Lambeth Bahá’í community had decided to have a Tranquillity Zone at the Lambeth County Fair 17th - 18th July.

The stalls were just being set up and the public was yet to arrive. I circled the park trying to locate our tent. The stage area was set up with 20 mammoth speakers vibrating with "Boom boom boom shake de room"; the generators were all starting up to power the food stalls and the rides were silent but ominous. I was stressed just trying to find the tent. "You have got to be joking," I muttered, "this is some kind of joke having a quiet space amongst this noise".

I found the tent next to a nervous woman selling clothes, a stall with big furry toys and the ice cream van belting out "The Flintstones". We had spent a good deal of time working out how to organise the inside of the tent. A carpet with lots of cushions, a table decorated with petals, soft billowing material to cover the roof, special Persian sweets to give on the way out and rose water to spray on the way in.

Leaning against the tent outside was a unity tree with leaves that people could write special thoughts on. (One little boy came up on his own and wrote, "poor had money").

At every hour on the hour there would be 20 minutes of focused time on music and writings. Inside the tent, with the flaps drawn and the music competing with the megaphone announcing lost children every five minutes, we centred ourselves and found an oasis in the desert. It worked. And if the public couldn’t make up the numbers we crowded into the sessions ourselves. (There were a lot of sunburnt tranquil Bahá’ís at the end of the day).

Lambeth is an area in South East London with a very racially diverse community. It was here the first Brixton bomb attack happened, motivated for racial reasons. The wider community have been working hard to actively increase understanding between people and it was clearly visible this weekend. The fair attracted a lot of people over the two days who were a rich display of the colourful community that exists. There were so many mixed race couples, and with the infusion of sunshine, there was a kind of glowing excitement in the atmosphere. Here were the people of Lambeth defying fanaticism and hatred.

One World Rhythm performed late on Sunday afternoon to an audience already warmed up by Scottish folk music, limbo, Irish and African dancing and rappers. They joined in quickly, singing and dancing. "There is only one race," Suzanne Swan shouted, "and what race is that?" "The human race," one man replied, (followed closely by "the rat race").

At 7.30pm, the sun was still sitting quite intensely in the sky but tents were being packed away. The Flintstones had been laid to rest though the megaphone continued to announce lost children. The tired, burnt, strangely tranquil Bahá’ís went off for lashings of Thai noodles and soup at the Brixton noodle bar.

The 15th Aberdeen Summer School was held in August at the park-like grounds of the Northern College which include good, comfortable, self-catering accommodation and a swimming pool. The school was in the second week of August, the eclipse week.

We were blessed by having many youth and children (even more than adults). The older youth enjoyed an excellent programme including interactive talks, and discussions. The adult programme included excellent analysis of the Covenant and related matters given by Dr Khazeh Fananapazir. Other speakers included Dr Kishan Manocha, member of the National Spiritual Assembly who related the Covenant to the Bahá’í Administrative Order, Carmel Momen, from the Office of the External Affairs, and Amal Rushdy.

In the evenings there were talks on the theme of peace which looked at Agenda 21, women and children as factors in bringing about peace in the family, and in society in general.

The youth had noticeable participation in all stages of organisation and smooth running of the summer school. They gave a very moving presentation where many young Bahá’ís spoke about their time of service for the Faith, and the teaching activities they had been involved in. This left many adults thinking if we were asked to give a similar presentation to the youth, would we have so many stories to tell!!

It was particularly heartening to see the youth getting on so well together and forming links which will last them all their lives.

These gatherings are a focal point for the Scottish Bahá’í Community. Many members of the Bahá’í Council for Scotland were present, keeping them in touch with the community. Well done to the organising committee. We are now looking forward to what’s in store at the winter school in Aberdeen.

To be honest, one of the worse things about going to summer school is the nagging feeling I get throughout the week that I am going to have to write about it when I get home. I make plaintive appeals to anyone who will listen, for reporters to come forward with witty, moving, accurate accounts of the happenings of the week, but to no avail. So it’s me again. Same me, different Sidcot. Very different Sidcot.

For me it was especially different because we managed to convince some friends from Chester who weren’t Bahá’ís to come along with us (!). And they did, at least for the first half of the week, before the eclipse thing drew them further south. So for the first few days I was slightly nervous, hoping that the Symes family would like us en-masse. I needn’t have worried. Who can resist Farhad’s charming reminder that latenight Angels should be considerate towards early-to-bed Angels and not carry-on outside their windows? So within hours Jon, Tina, Jack and Becky found themselves part of something that was organic; a strange mixture of chaos, fun, love and bad weather divided into devotionals, courses, classes, long meal times and endless cups of brown liquid that could be either coffee or tea - it doesn’t really matter when the conversation is good.

It was also a very different Sidcot this year because of our evening spent at the Cheddar Gorge for the special Bahá’í Centenary presentation in Gough’s Cave of "The Wayfarer’s Journey" where we discovered God underground.

The following interview with the producer of "The Wayfarer’s Journey", Jeremy Herbert, illustrates how the seed of an idea came to fruition and that what was, in the words of one non-Bahá’í present "a Mystical Journey which opens the heart, the centre of knowledge and teaches the soul profoundly" is only the beginning. Friends, it’s going to be big ...

Anne Maund

17. How did the Cheddar Caves’ Event come about?

A. I’ve known the Showcave’s Director Hugh Cornwell for many years as a close friend and two years ago I suggested to him that it would be fun to have a concert down the caves and he said, "yes, that would be nice!" So I approached Farhad Shahbahrami (from the summer school committee) with the same idea and he said "Yes, we’ll see". So I thought nothing more about it until late May of this year when Farhad rang to say "you know that idea about Cheddar, would it be possible to do something about it?"

Q. So what happened?

A. I went down to Cheddar to introduce Hugh to Farhad and they got on famously. Then Farhad turned to me and said "there you are, do something!" So my planning for the summer holidays was thrown into confusion and the projected visit to the Canaries abandoned somewhat abruptly!

Q. How many hours did it take to devise, once you had decided to present the Seven Valleys?

A. It took a long time. However, two of the most important ingredients were already in place. One was the venue, the Caves which are absolutely fantastic and the second was the computer. Without my son’s computer skills it would have been virtually impossible to hold all the nightmarish logistics together. For safety and practical reasons we were only allowed to move a group of 70 people at one time. So another two related events - a brilliant slide show on the Seven Valleys and the art exhibition - were created to run simultaneously so that everybody was involved in some kind of entertainment/experience during the couple of hours that were made available to us.

Q. All events have difficulties with things going wrong. Was there much wailing and gnashing of teeth behind the scenes or was it all plain sailing?

A. Tons of problems, too numerous to mention! Problems from the most simplistic to the most hair-pulling but as John Lennon once sang, there are "no problems only solutions!" The availability of performers was a great worry as the project had to be put together in 12 weeks and many musicians I asked were already booked up. There was no database to refer to so I relied upon making numerous phone calls and pursuing tenuous suggestions but we received much good fortune. One of the main problems was trying to find Persian instrumentalists. We also had to rely upon the vast numbers attending Sidcot Summer School to pick up an Acapella Choir and a Persian Choir and a host of ushers who had a vital job of conducting their assigned group around the complex.

Q. So when the evening of 12th August came, how many people arrived to experience the presentation?

A. Over 500 people came, 120 of whom were not Bahá’ís. We had 104 people in the production. The art exhibition, for which we had 4000 flyers distributed, attracted around 400 visitors each day over an eleven day period which was tremendous. The three artists’ work on display was of the highest quality. You had CD players throughout the cave at the various presentation points.

Q. What was the thinking behind that, because it must have caused a lot of extra work especially for the Sound Engineer?

A. The Sound Engineer, John Taylor, was a star. He surfed the net to find out about the Bahá’í Faith and I found that such a professional attitude. I wanted to avoid focal points so the sounds and the caves would become the experience for an individual’s journey, rather than looking at readers, so the pre-recorded narration could just flood each chamber. It may seem a bit pretentious but the aim was that the audience might enter the caves as people and become transformed and leave as Angels.

Q. The seventh Valley was the most spectacular, when we all assembled on the terrace outside and Ben Roskims played that eerie music up on the rock. Is it true that he had to have his own mountain rescuer?

A. Quite true! The Police closed the Gorge road to traffic for 15 minutes. I was provided with an UHF radio and on voice command, one of the cave staff worked all the light timers including turning off the street lights. The laser light was adjusted to pulse on the lion rock 150 foot up. There, the violinist performed with a radio pick up to a control desk, which was then amplified through speakers. The original piece, composed by a newly declared Bahá’í will be featured in the second round of the Young Musician of the Year National Competition which is a lovely spin-off. It is a stunning piece of music. The mountain rescuer said because of the lasers he was able to watch the violinist’s shadow reflected and playing in the night clouds.

Q. Are there any future plans for the caves or The Wayfarer’s Journey?

A. Hugh Cornwell always felt the caves to be such a spiritual place and was amazed when we told him that the discoverer of the Cave, Richard Gough, has a great granddaughter who is a Bahá’í, living in Swansea. He invited us back when we next had something to perform. It being a pilot scheme and for us to learn from our mistakes we had decided against television and radio interest this year but next year we would like to go as big as is feasible - money permitting - 7 nights of performances open to the general public with as much media coverage as possible. It would be fun to take ‘The Journey’ to other countries, if there were entrepreneurs interested in funding it and willing to take on the risk. It could be exciting to adapt and modify the experience for the whole of Europe.

"Your music, poetry and singing have added an entirely new dimension to our appreciation of Gough’s Cave.

We are always captivated by the visual beauty of the cave, however you evoked a sublime human spirit in those chambers in a simple, yet powerful and dramatic way.

I shall remember the Persian choir, the flute, the male and female soloists ... every nook and cranny of the cave now carries a special memory of your evening in Cheddar."

An unusual and dramatic event took place in Cheddar Showcaves when hundreds of people attended the premiere of a special religious performance. The Wayfarer’s Journey is a new musical drama based on aspects of the Bahá’í Faith and the performance formed part of a summer school which is being held at Sidcot School.

Friends at Sidcot Summer School were treated to a talk on Hand of the Cause John Robarts, given by his daughter, Nina. Interestingly, a third of the audience had met John Robarts. She recounted his birth in 1901 in Canada and how he built a successful career in life assurance. He learned the Faith from his aunt, declared in 1937, and was appointed a Hand by the Guardian twenty years later.

Nina demonstrated through anecdotes and quotations her father’s inspirational teaching. One example was his trip to the UK in 1950, when he visited thirteen towns and cities in search of new Bahá’ís to help achieve a teaching goal of the 6-year plan. Of course, it was accomplished! When the Guardian launched the 10-year Crusade in 1953, the Robarts family volunteered to pioneer. They were assigned to Bechuanaland - a chronically poor country composed mostly of the Kalahari desert with no hospitals and no tarred roads.

John Robarts used to say: "If you want help, you have to make the effort and ask for it", and always recommended that the friends turn to prayer. His humility led him to assume that the announcement that a Robarts had been appointed a Hand must refer to his wife, Audrey.

Hand of the Cause John Robarts died on 5th October 1990. Friends will be able to learn more about his life when Nina visits the UK again in November to speak at "Connecting with the Covenant" in Scarborough. Don’t miss it!

"Surrender" is an expression of how Jenny Rebeiro felt on discovering the Bahá’í Faith. Having already been on a spiritual journey, the Bahá’í Faith was the missing piece in the jigsaw, the culmination of many thoughts and beliefs. When Jenny met the Bahá’ís she felt she had come home - a very strong feeling of familiarity. Following the death of her father last year, she had been searching for truths, and answers, to take away the weight of what she felt. Finding the Bahá’í Faith took away a lot of that fear and anger, replacing it with peace.

This poem is an expression of a soul that has been touched by something very special.

Today I surrender my soul to my creator. I am returning home, Filled with joy, laughter and hope. The weight of reality, my reality, No longer bears heavily upon my shoulders, Taken in the arms of the all-knowing, all-loving, Nurtured and cared for, like a young child. I run with the wind I dance with the rain I rise up with the sun I fly like a bird,

Released from the worries and sorrows of life For I have been shown new things. Fear must release me to my God Anger must leave me, As a gentle whisper in the wind Death must lose its sting. For I have been given eyes to see, And ears to hear Peace, calm and love fill every void in my aching body. Praise be to God, To Bahá’u’lláh, For in knowing them, I have come home.

Jennifer Rebeiro 1999

Audrie Reynolds is a United Kingdom pioneer living in Kamchatka, Russia with her husband Jonathan. Audrie shared some of her poetry with friends in Chester when she visited the UK earlier this year.

Though truly of the dust, I might presume To sing melodies of my own meagre deeds, But cannot solve one mystery myself Or create the source of peace and laughter, The wonder of one nightly disappearance, Place pearls in seas and catch another’s thought Or ply successfully a mystic pen; Cannot turn a river on itself Or fret storms to fine weather, can barely swing my poor woodnotes into ecstacy, Barely purchase each day’s cost, Let alone man the world’s frontiers to oneness, But from the dust I can choose to sing of One who can.

Audrie Reynolds