Managing public buildings, owned by faith communities and balancing those groups needs and wants can be tricky. These articles might help.
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. O is for Oversight Oversight is more commonly used for pastoral matters than practical ones – and yet caring and maintaining the building in which the community meet and worship, should not just be left to a small committee. However, this
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. N is for Noticeboards Noticeboards, such as the one above are fairly standard outside most meeting houses. Usually they consist of space for Quaker posters plus information about the Meeting as a worshipping community. However, there are likely to be other
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. L is for Learning and Lights Learning and Light are things Quakers talk about regularly, although perhaps not always in relation to premises. How do you involve other members of the meeting in learning about the meeting house as a building?
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. On the Wardenship e-List one of the perennial questions a newly appointed Trustee or member of Premises asks is: “What does your warden do?” As with so many things this question has as many different answers as the number of Quakers
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project – click here for more information. I is for Inventories, Insurances and Inclusiveness Inventories and Insurances Inventories and Insurances seem to go together – Inclusiveness perhaps less so. Insurances are of course another of those matters where I will advise that professional guidance should be sought. Contents
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project click here for more information. G is for Gardens Many Meeting Houses have gardens or burial grounds or both… During the Woodbrooke “AM Properties: Spiritual & Strategic Resources” course I attended last year several Trustees brought up burial grounds as a problem. ‘Tis a complicated subject with
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project click here for more information. F is for Fair Trade & First Aid Fair Trade Churches Fair Trade Fortnight was 24 February – 9 March 2014 this year – did you do anything? A Meeting House can become a Fair Trade Church – a small but significant step
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project click here for more information. E is for Equality and Environment Environment Here I’m not thinking of our green and pleasant land, but around the Meeting House inside and out. According to Quaker Faith & Practice – Elders have a responsibility to ensure ‘the right holding of
This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project click here for more information. D is for Dangers I don’t want to suggest that there are unsuspecting dangers lurking around every corner – but there are a few things I’d like to suggest that each Premises committee should consider. What are the dangers that you might
C is for Choices and Changes (+ Cleaning) This is part of the Quaker Alphabet Project click here for more information. Perhaps not a very interesting title but have you ever thought of the Meetings Choices, Changes and Cleaning as a form of Outreach? Why Have a Meeting House? Wherever a few are gathered, in
What is a generic email address and why do I think they are important? An example of a generic email address is which for a office or that office holder rather than a person. For Quaker Meetings’ Friends House offer the option to have a standard email address, yourmeeting@quaker.org.uk – which is actually a forwarding
Six Weeks Meeting are the representative Trustee body for the 40 Meeting Houses in London. Last March they wrote a minute about how they would be tackling the 2011 Britain Yearly Meeting corporate decision to become a low carbon community – often called “Minute 36: Our Canterbury commitment” SWM13/23 Six Weeks Meeting Statement on a
This could be taken two ways – how do we ensure that the Meeting House is affordable for both the local community and the worshipping community that uses it. Not only financially, but also with reference back to an earlier post: Beacon or Burden. Hopefully, all Quaker Meetings are a spirit-led, all-age faith community trying
So you’ve read my previous post and either been busy ensuring you’ve met all the recommendations or you might be thinking, ‘yep knew all those!’ What other tips can I suggest? Well, hanging huge banners outside your building is one that Friends House did last summer… However, much of what is next will be very
When was the last time you looked critically, as a newcomer might, at the front of your Meeting House? Does it look inviting? Welcoming? Or a bit run down? Even somewhere you might be concerned about your personal safety? Have you ever tried to find out about your local meeting without knowing anything about it?