Frandley Meeting House. Photo: Jacqueline Moore.
The Anderton Soul Lift
Rose John writes about the pleasure of gardening at Frandley
The old Quaker Meeting house of Frandley in Cheshire recently hosted a Quaker Voluntary Action working weekend. There were mostly ‘fifty-pluses’ in the teams of gardeners of visiting and local Friends. We worked from 30 September to 2 October transforming a couple of historically overgrown flower beds and an ancient compost heap. We met in quiet and truth for several sessions, with Friends reflecting on, and sharing, their own personal stories and transformations.
What an amazing location Frandley was! The present Meeting house is Victorian and mostly wooden, but there’s loads more history than that. George Fox travelled through the area and was involved in preaching to a large crowd under a huge oak tree in the grounds. An attic school was held at Frandley for some years and the postman’s stables were located in the restored barn in the grounds. All these sites have been renovated and are cared for.
Frandley Meeting House has a national profile at the moment for those people who enjoy the suspense and intrigue of a ‘conspiracy thriller’. It is featured in the current ITV drama series Paranoid and one of the lead characters is a Quaker. She befriends a detective involved in solving a murder mystery.
The calm, kindness and care of the group during the Quaker Voluntary Action working week was astonishing – alongside the great efforts of all the gardeners to do their bit in this transformation of the Meeting house garden. I would warmly recommend joining a Quaker Voluntary Action event if you can. They are great value for participants and bring a wonderful sense of both service and recreation.
Oh, yes – and the ‘Anderton Soul Lift’ in the title – that’s my personal summing up of the value of the whole weekend. It’s taken from our group visit to the nearby Anderton Boat Lift – a working historic boatlift that was regenerated by community service and a love of local heritage – just like the work of the Frandley Meeting House members and gardeners!
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