Bread and Roses is the trio of Frankie Armstrong, http://www.frankiearmstrong.com/ Pauline Down http://www.paulinedown.com/#!singing-workshops/cfrb and myself who perform mainly socially and hopefully ethically thought provoking songs as an unaccompanied vocal trio.
We were invited to perform at an International Friendship League iflworld.org event in Cardiff in October 2014.
This turned out to be a bit of a nice coincidence as Pauline had friends from Anglesey who she realized were members of the organization and also Frankie’s mother had belonged to the group. We performed 2 lots of 40 minute sets of songs in English as well as Welsh, Georgian, South African songs and included 2 of Frankie’s own songs, “Meeting” and “We Are Women” and one of Pauline’s “Old Woman” which all of us absolutely love to perform.
Anyway were were all very pleased to meet up with Malcolm Walrond of the organisation who explained to us about their history and future aims.
Here is some info – anyone is welcome to join and they run an international penfriend service – which adults and children can become a part of by looking at the website and downloading the application form – then sending it on.
Below is a little history of the IFL…..( http://www.iflworld.org/ )
The International Friendship League was founded in 1931 in the belief that the most effective way to increase international understanding is the development of personal friendships between individuals of different countries.
In 1931 Noel Ede, having experienced the Great War brought about by the rivalries within Europe, was looking for a way of replacing old enmities with friendship and peace between the European nations. To this end he invited thirty students from Berlin University to visit him in Peacehaven, his home on the south coast of England, to meet and work with
British students. From this modest beginning he got together a group of like-minded friends to form an association which would enable young people from various European countries to meet one another and develop a mutual understanding of each other’s way of life. And so the International Friendship League was born.
Noel Ede travelled tirelessly and succeeded in establishing IFL Friendship Centres around the UK and in many European countries. Sadly there was to be another World War, but when this ended the IFL continued to expand its activities and its membership.
Noel Ede died in 1960; he would have been delighted to know that the organisation he started continues to flourish. The IFL International Assembly is held each year in a different country and is followed by a holiday week which allows members to get to know the country and its people. Since the Millennium we have visited England and Wales, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Seychelles, Spain and Sweden. In 2014 the IA was held in Uganda. An interesting development in recent years has been the creation of several groups in Africa and, most recently, in India.
As we look ahead the need for greater understanding and a spirit of peaceful friendship between nations is as great as it was when, in 1931, Noel Ede sowed the seeds of friendship from which the organisation grew. The International Friendship League continues to have a very important role to play in the modern world.