M for Meeting Houses in Somerset

Quakers have a tradition if building interesting yet functional buildings called Meeting Houses.  Unlike a church they are built to also be hired by the community in which they are located reflecting the Quaker belief that worship resides in daily life.

An early example is Spiceland Meeting House.  This Seventeenth Century building was built when dissenters were required to worship five miles outside the boundaries of townships.  This beautiful litte building set in rolling countryside and a reflective garden is open to the public on the National Heritage Weekend. Its arched windows flood the room with light bouncing off the plain white walls. A rush mat gives an aura of simplicity and peace. This building as you can imagine is popular for weddings and retreats.

A later example is Wellington Meeting House.  Built in the Victorian era it is perhaps more austere yet nevertheless very interesting. It holds a gallery, beautiful wood paneling and in the old Quaker tradition a Woman’s room. Quakers believed that women could discuss items of business more freely if men were not present. Their findings would then be brought to the main meeting.

The women’s room today hosts the coffee room on the first Saturday of each month for the LETS Meeting. Wellington Meeting House also hosts the yearly event called The Celebration of Light when the Meeting House and the adjoining Peace Garden are filled with hundreds of candles and lanterns during the early dark evening. The general public are invited to experience the contrast of darkness and light.

Taunton Meeting House is situated at the end of Bath Place off Taunton High Street..  Bath Place itself is an historical architectural gem and once an old coaching road. It is flanked by the shops which are themselves listed buildings.

Taunton Meeting House is not listed but none the less used by about forty independent groups. Architecturally it is not of interest at the moment. But that is about to change! There are plans to renovate and in the tradition of Quakers it will reflect a modern day testament to green values. Such is the art of the architect that a three dimensional film has been produced showing how the new building will look when finished. If you are interested we have loaded this onto our website www.westsomerssetquaker.org.uk on our Taunton Meeting Renewal page.  For all those interested in our architectural heritage, I am sure you will be delighted.

above - Bath Place Taunton Somerset

L for Luck

We all know that there are things that happen out of the blue. For instance I broke my ankle unluckily, but I was given excellent nursing care, lucky.  Is our glass half full or half empty? Sometimes its hard to distinguish, but looking for the positive even when things are negative is a skill which can be learnt.

I thought I would share a particularly lucky surprise I had last year.

Around my birthday weekend I visited my daughter and grandchildren, it is on May 28th, always half term week with a lot of things happening.

Because of an experience in my teens I always love rhododendrons, they are nearly always in bloom at the end of May.

My husband John always tries to find some for me and last year he had discovered on google that Furzey Gardens in Hampshire advertised. Along sleepy, sun drenched lanes, avoiding mounted horses, past thatched cottages we found Furzey.  It is a garden that was rescued from the bulldozers in 1952 and now is host to young disability gardeners.

It was glorious, the rhododendrons were in full bloom and the blowsey flowers radiated their colours for the bees in the sunshine.  We sat down half way around the circulating path by the pond and the resident cat jumped up beside us and stretched languorously.

There was a very pretty and modern teashop and as we refreshed ourselves a robin, quite tame , came onto our table asking for crumbs. Although we were not eating we found some discarded ones and he flew away happily to a nest, perhaps, in the nearby wood.

The whole afternoon was a complete surprise when we accidentally found such a beautiful garden filled with blooms.

In the centre was a thatched cottage and outside, a wooden cross with Christ. As we walked through such glory, we silently found prayers coming to mind and thankfulness for our blessings.  The natural world is a beautiful gift from God.

This year, on my birthday, I shall be on a cruise, crossing the Bay of Biscay.  I wonder if my glass (or my stomach) will be half empty or half full?

K for kites and knitting

Hi,

Did you know that March is the national kite flying month?

To celebrate this our children's meeting is going kite flying in our local Vivary Park. This is great, it is so nice to have families in the Meeting. Most of us are elderly.

I have bought a butterfly kite from Amazon to join in and I am sure one of our ten grandchildren will enjoy it afterwards.


Knitting.

I have been tested by the poverty in our country and support the food bank.  But now I want to give my time to the Credit Union.

Credit Union encourages people to save just a little and then they can have loans for things like holidays and Christmas.  It avoids people going to loan sharks.  It is a small endeavour on my part but " small is beautiful." With my progressing ill health I feel I can manage this small duty.

The Credit Union are delighted to have a collection point at our MH which is in the centre of Taunton.  They like other activities to go on as well to minimise the formality.  So I am organising a charity knit and natter coffee morning on the same day.

There are lots of charities that like knitted squares. So I shall ask for wool donations, supply a few needles, and similar to Woodbrooke, people can do as little or as much as they are comfortable with, as they have their coffee.

Wish me luck