Some members of the Meeting get a preview of the new Meeting room from John Langley, the architect. Photo: Photo courtesy of the Kingston Meeting House Committee.
New Meeting house opens for worship
New Kingston Quaker Centre will host its first Meeting for Worship on 15 June
The new Kingston Quaker Centre in South West London will host its first Meeting for Worship at 10am on Sunday 15 June. The following Sunday, the Centre will hold a ‘friends and family day’. Beginning at 10am with a Meeting for Worship, this will continue until 4pm, with lunch, musical entertainment and afternoon refreshments.
A key part of the friends and family day will be an illustrated talk on both the new building and the history of Quakers in Kingston. Friends from the wider Quaker community are welcome to attend.
The formal opening of the Centre will take place on Saturday 6 September. Writer and broadcaster Geoffrey Durham will be a guest speaker. Further details have yet to be confirmed, but Graham Torr, clerk of the Kingston Meeting House Committee, told the Friend that local MPs Ed Davey and Vince Cable have also agreed to attend.
The Centre includes a number of sustainable design features, including an air-source heap pump, underfloor heating and rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing and garden watering. It opens more than thirty years after Kingston Meeting decided that the existing building was no longer fit for purpose.
