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Terry is moving out of his flat and has donated his library to the Meeting House. We may now be the only Meeting House anywhere in the world to own a collection of books on art and design.
I rang the Church Army to see if they could tell me anything about Keith's time as one of their Captains. What they furnished me with was sketchy but acted as a corrective to my assumptions. I had thought, from the weight he accorded it, that he'd had a long career with them; in fact he served between twelve and thirteen years. He was "commissioned" in 1967 and resigned in 1980. During that period he worked in parishes in the Durham, Manchester and Cheshire dioceses- so never long enough to put down roots- with a couple of years spent running a hostel, probably in Manchester. My informant didn't have- or chose to withold- the names of the parishes- and it all happened so long ago it's unlikely if I had them I'd be able to trawl for personal memories. So that's that. What did he do with the rest of his life? I know he spent some time at Claridge House- a Quaker retreat house in Lingfield- but I doubt that that accounts for more than a handful of the missing years....
In order to retain its charitable status our Area needs to be able to field five trustees. Three of ours are about to retire and we' don't have people falling over themselves to replace them. If need be I'll volunteer. In West Kent the situation has gone from serious to critical and they're putting out a call to neighbouring Areas to lend them bodies (which would be within the rules.) Again I'd be willing to volunteer. I know West Kent pretty well, and find- a little to my surprise- that I have an affection for it. Gotta keep the show on the road....
In the long term (and everything to do with the Society of Friends takes a long time) there's a proposal on the table to merge the following Areas: East Kent, West Kent, Sussex East, Sussex West, Surrey and Sussex and Hampshire and the Islands. It would appease the Charity Commission but, on the other hand, would be a retrenchment and an admission of failure. This morning, to amuse and inform myself I've done a tour of all the individual Meetings by way of their websites. West Kent is the only area that is on life support (I wonder why?) and elsewhere the picture is chequered. Certain Meetings seem to be flourishing- Brighton and Winchester are stand-outs- and others have a tiny attendance but are not necessarily downhearted. Surrey and Sussex has the dullest websites and Hampshire the liveliest ones. I think our own website is pretty good.....
I rang the Church Army to see if they could tell me anything about Keith's time as one of their Captains. What they furnished me with was sketchy but acted as a corrective to my assumptions. I had thought, from the weight he accorded it, that he'd had a long career with them; in fact he served between twelve and thirteen years. He was "commissioned" in 1967 and resigned in 1980. During that period he worked in parishes in the Durham, Manchester and Cheshire dioceses- so never long enough to put down roots- with a couple of years spent running a hostel, probably in Manchester. My informant didn't have- or chose to withold- the names of the parishes- and it all happened so long ago it's unlikely if I had them I'd be able to trawl for personal memories. So that's that. What did he do with the rest of his life? I know he spent some time at Claridge House- a Quaker retreat house in Lingfield- but I doubt that that accounts for more than a handful of the missing years....
In order to retain its charitable status our Area needs to be able to field five trustees. Three of ours are about to retire and we' don't have people falling over themselves to replace them. If need be I'll volunteer. In West Kent the situation has gone from serious to critical and they're putting out a call to neighbouring Areas to lend them bodies (which would be within the rules.) Again I'd be willing to volunteer. I know West Kent pretty well, and find- a little to my surprise- that I have an affection for it. Gotta keep the show on the road....
In the long term (and everything to do with the Society of Friends takes a long time) there's a proposal on the table to merge the following Areas: East Kent, West Kent, Sussex East, Sussex West, Surrey and Sussex and Hampshire and the Islands. It would appease the Charity Commission but, on the other hand, would be a retrenchment and an admission of failure. This morning, to amuse and inform myself I've done a tour of all the individual Meetings by way of their websites. West Kent is the only area that is on life support (I wonder why?) and elsewhere the picture is chequered. Certain Meetings seem to be flourishing- Brighton and Winchester are stand-outs- and others have a tiny attendance but are not necessarily downhearted. Surrey and Sussex has the dullest websites and Hampshire the liveliest ones. I think our own website is pretty good.....
