MICHAEL Richardson is leafing through a collection of family heirlooms made up of faded photographs, books and some squares of leather.

Amongst the paraphernalia is a biography of the pioneer of modern weather forecasting, Lewis Fry Richardson, and another of the noted actor Sir Ralph Richardson – both famous relatives of Michael.

“Lewis Fry was my grandfather’s brother and during the First World War was in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit,” Michael (84) says.

He was a conscientious objector, as many Quakers were during the First World War, owing to the ‘Peace Testimony’ introduced by one of the most influential early Quakers, George Fox, in 1651.

Indeed, pacifism remains a core characteristic of Quakerism.

Sir Ralph, on the other hand, was brought up a Roman Catholic by his mother, Lydia, after she and her husband, a devout Quaker, parted.

“My grandfather’s brother was Arthur and Ralph was Arthur’s son,” Michael recalls. “I would go and see him at the theatre and he’d invite me backstage – I think there was more gin than tonic in his G&Ts!”

Perhaps there’s a performance gene in the Richardson clan as Michael’s parents, Colin and Merl, met treading the boards with the Valley Players in Hexham and whilst reading agriculture at Cambridge, Michael starred opposite a young thesp called Judi Dench in Richard II.

“She was the queen and I was the gardener, which is fairly apt,” Michael observes, wrily.

Michael himself is well-known in Tynedale through his Stocksfield dairy farm, Wheelbirks, now run by two of his sons, Tom and Hugh – who is currently NFU chairman for Northumberland.

“I have been proud of my antecedents, although I’m not sure that I match up with them in any way,” he laughed.

Unfurling a huge scroll, Michael reveals the Richardson family tree dating back to the 1600s. The makers of Who Do You Think You Are? would have a field day.

The Richardson family can be traced to the Richardsons of Great Ayton in North Yorkshire who were early converts to the Society of Friends and important in the development of the leather industry.

William Richardson (c1660-1740) started tanning leather in Ayton and several generations on, his descendants founded the business of E & J Richardson Ltd in Elswick, one of the major British leather producers and pioneers of transforming traditional tanning into an industrial process based on science.

It was Michael’s great grandfather, David – one of 12 children – who set up the Elswick leather works and he bought Wheelbirks Estate in 1882 as a country retreat.

He was a lover of inspirational inscriptions and had them built into farm buildings, bridges and seats. They included: ‘Wisely Improve the Present’ and ‘Be Fruitful and Multiply and Replenish the Earth and Subdue It.’

Michael’s grandfather, Hugh, was a teacher at Bootham in York, the famous Quaker school, and Michael’s father, Colin, Michael himself and his sons, Hugh, Tom and Ian were all educated there too, whilst their sister, Susan, was educated at The Mount, the girls’ equivalent.

Being a Quaker did not stop Michael from being conscripted into the army – although it was post-war so he was not in combat.

He did prove to be a very good skier and as a result, was recruited into the 45th Field Regiment Royal Artillery by a major who wanted to put together a British Open Cross Country team, and it was whilst on a skiing practice trip, he met his Australian wife, Jeanette.

Michael recalls his Quaker education at Bootham with affection and says that the quiet contemplation, to which they were taught to adhere at Sunday meetings, has stood him in good stead.

Today, mindfulness meditation is all the rage, but in Quaker meetings, people sit in contemplative silence.

Michael still attends Stocksfield Quaker Meeting House on New Ridley Road and is giving a talk there on Monday as part of Quaker Week.

“I don’t feel a very high Quaker -– in fact I feel right at the bottom of the pile!,” he says, modestly.

“But I enjoy their meetings. At the last two meetings, no one has spoken, but sometimes somebody does read a short passage and you can think about that or just sit quietly. There’s no formal ‘service’. I think the last time I spoke, I talked about the harvest.”

So what kind of person might be attracted to Quakerism, I wonder.

“They can be any sort of person at all,” Michael says. “I’m a Quaker by my ancestry, whereas other people can become Quakers by inclination.

“We don’t sing hymns – although I used to enjoy singing hymns – and we don’t have somebody preaching to us, like a minister.”

Michael’s son, Ian, is a Quaker, but the other Richardson children have gone their own ways. Tom for example, has recently been confirmed and is a member of the Riding Mill church because that was his wife’s tradition.

But he remembers Bootham as ‘a calming place’. They weren’t allowed to play rugby, as that was a ‘contact sport’ that might get violent.

“The one thing about Quakerism is that 98 per cent of the population have probably never sat still for an hour with only their thoughts for company. The Church of England doesn’t tend to give you as much time for your own prayers, he said.”

l Michael will talk about his family’s Quakerism at 10am on Monday and other speakers at Stocksfield during the week include willow artist Ruth Thompson and Caroline Westgate, one of the organisers of the Hexham Debates, who will reflect on the Quaker Peace Testimony.