Quakers in Keswick, Cumbria are already going about the repairs to their Meeting house, which last Thursday night was flooded for the second time in five years. Michael Evans (clerk of Keswick Quaker Meeting) told the Friend on Monday that they were pleasantly surprised at how quickly they had been given the go-ahead to make repairs following a visit by the insurance assessor and local authority surveyor. ‘Our meeting was at ten thirty this morning, and the workmen were in by twelve’, he said. The Meeting house’s carpets have all been removed and a door broken in where the buckled floor made it impossible to open – but the full extent of the damage to plaster and fittings will not be clear until dehumidifiers have been allowed to run for some days. One Keswick Quaker couple have been forced out of their home by flood damage, and have found temporary accommodation in a holiday cottage in the town. Otherwise, says Michael, Friends have been very lucky ‘because we all live on the hills’.

Friends in Cockermouth have also been affected by the flooding, with one couple being among the two hundred or so residents who were rescued by boat from their home. At least one other Quaker couple were forced to leave their home.

Meeting for Worship in Keswick was held on Sunday morning in a temporary venue of an old people’s drop-in centre. Keswick Friend Dorothy Crowther said: ‘we held those affected by the floods in the light and we will continue to do while the clean-up continues’.

Across the region several road bridges have collapsed and in Keswick only footbridges were open on Monday.

Comments

• Posted by Adrian Rose on November 25, 2009

  If Friends up and down the country want to help people in Cumbria affected by floods, the best way is to donate to the Cumbria Community Foundation Flood Recovery Fund
  http://www.cumbriafoundation.org/