Imagine a stout wooden shed, cosy and warm, the smell of pancakes sizzling on the skillet, walls vibrating to the sound of fiddle music and singing. A couple of dozen people laughing and the babble of conversation spilling into the colourful garden outside, a sunflower lording it over the vegetable patch and beds of bright orange nasturtiums.
The centrepiece of this gathering is Donegal woman Breezy Kelly, and she’s whipping up a storm of fun and laughter. She pulls her green beanie hat over her head, dons her apron, fetches her baking bowl, flour and buttermilk, turns on the cooker and we’re off. She sings her welcome and we all join in.
Why All This Performance?
To advertise the thing that’s most important to her - baking bread for peace. She explains that her father was an alcoholic and many a day he would be roaring and shouting and her mother would take the children into the kitchen and they would all get involved in baking bread.
To drown out the noise Breezy’s mum would sing and so Breezy starts, arms waving and again we all join in - “When I was just a little girl... Que sera, sera” - with our hostess dancing with storyteller Sharon Dickinson.
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But this was a party with a message. The safety of that childhood kitchen stayed with the young girl and over 10 years ago, one night when she couldn’t sleep she came down to her own kitchen, switched on the kettle and the television and was astounded to see graphic pictures of the wars in the world. At that moment she thought back to the days when peace came to her with the aroma of baking bread with her family.
“I thought I’ll bake bread and share it with my neighbours in the name of peace,” she tells me. “It took off as I shared in my home town, Glenties, and people picked up the idea and ‘Bake Bread for Peace’ is now an annual event on October 24 - this Thursday.”
“And you know Anne, it’s now international,” says Breezy, as she reads stories and letters she has received from round the world, from Alaska to Palestine and Israel. This was very moving, and all the time she was kneading the dough which soon became scones enjoyed with a cup of tea - and she was right, we shared with each other and there was peace in the little shed on the Rosetta Road in Belfast.
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Grateful For The Basics
Breezy talks of the disease in the world, fear for self and family and, she adds, wildlife on the earth and in the sea. I’ve written about this special woman many times but every meeting brings something new to ponder and appreciate.
“We’ve become disconnected from nature,” she tells us. “Just think, the one thing we share with each other is bread, which is common to all mankind.
“And what about water? We turn on the tap and expect it to come flowing out. We are fortunate when it does but do you ever wash the dishes and say, ‘Thank you water for all you do?’ Do you ever stop when cleaning your teeth and give thanks to the water?” This is a woman with logic by the bucket load.
Her Saturday afternoon guests were musicians and storytellers, Bangor poet Stephen Knox read from his new book of poems, Sensing Wonder, and we walked through bluebell woods with him; Karen Edwards told hilarious stories and played the penny whistle; Geoff Gatt played guitar and sang, and we all joined in.
The wonder of all this activity both in the shed and the garden is that it happened on Belfast’s Rosetta Road. Walk off the pavement along the little ‘loney’, wander in and you’re welcome. This wildlife haven belongs to Knockbreda Methodist Church and since its development on a plot which was once an allotment, the community garden has been making friends far and wide.
It was especially important during lockdown as it was a safe outdoor space for people from all backgrounds to visit and help with the gardening. It’s open to all comers and there is no shortage of volunteer gardeners, schools get involved, a recent apple fest drew people along with their baskets of apples which were pressed into gallons of juice, the lord mayor of the time, Ryan Murphy, planted a climbing rose tree last April.
There’s an orchard, beehives, a pond, bug hotels and, music to my years, ‘untidy corners’. Charity fundraising events include coffee mornings, pizza evenings and plant sales. The next big event is carols round the Christmas tree in the garden.
And the surprising thing is that all this is going on only a few yards off Rosetta Road, BT6 0LU, in the city. Breezy promises to be back sometime in the future.
