Eye - 04 May 2012

From movement to leaning

Kingston on the move

In 1656 John Fielder and his wife Ann ‘gave up their house for a Meeting place and accordingly a Meeting was settled’ in Kingston in Surrey.

Three hundred and fifty years later the current Meeting house (sketch by Geoffery Weeden) has just been sold and Kingston Friends look forward to moving to a new location.

Friend Linda Murgatroyd tells Eye that ‘Kingston Friends will be meeting in rooms at the United Reformed Church (Richard Mayo Centre) further down Eden Street for about two years until their new Meeting house has been built nearby.’

Linda says that as they sang together, following a ‘Meeting for Leaving’ on their final Sunday at the old Meeting house, there was a strong sense that the Meeting was ‘in God’s hands’.

The original Meeting house was constructed on the corner of what was then called ‘Heathen Street’. It is interesting to note that, in time, the street name was changed to ‘Eden Street!

Eye wonders if the early Friends were responsible for this?

A bit of laughter

Eye was grateful to receive, for review, a Little Book of Laughter published by the Mary Evans Picture Library.

The tiny book contains some lovely images from the picture library accompanied by amusing quotes:

‘My first job was working in a orange
juice factory, but I got fired. I just
couldn’t concentrate.’

It’s meant to be leaning…

Eye hears that an ancient stone wall surrounding Rawdon Meeting House in Leeds has recently been repaired.

It was slowly collapsing and leaned out dangerously over the public footpath. A high ‘Toleration Act wall’, it was originally built to screen the Meeting house from view, so passers-by would not have to suffer the indignity of seeing Quakers at worship.

The repair required listed buildings consent and approval was readily given, with one stipulation – after the repair the wall still had to be leaning over! Expert guidance was sought and the solution was to insert stainless steel support rods inside the wall.

So the wall was carefully taken apart, stone by stone, before being completely rebuilt with the appropriate internal supports. It looks as good as new (or should that be old?) and now leans over in perfect safety.

Eye regrets this story didn’t arrive a couple of weeks ago. You would never have guessed it wasn’t an April Fool piece!

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