Here is the draft web page that I submitted last week to Heritage Open Days. It should appear on the site in due course. Further below are some notes from the Local Meeting for business for worship on Sun 3 May.
Colchester Quaker Meeting House: “The World is My Country”
6 Church Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1NF
To mark the ongoing centenary of World War One (as well as this year's seventieth anniversary of VE day at the end of World War Two) we are providing an exhibition of posters called “The World is My Country”, which highlight the untold history of people who opposed the First World War at the time.
We will also be hosting a public event with invited speakers from Peace News, including Emily Johns, the artist who designed the posters. The event is part of the ongoing nationwide Peace News speaking tour that accompanies the exhibition. For more info see www.theworldismycountry.info
On the Open Day, you may view the Meeting House, “The World is My Country” exhibition and the Quaker Peace Testimony. There is also a short (20 minute) video about Quakerism in Colchester on repeat showing and refreshments will be available throughout the day.
Opening Times: Saturday 12 September: 1000-1600
Booking Details: No booking required
Access: Wheelchair access throughout ground floor area and wheelchair accessible toilet. The main Meeting Room and the exhibition are on the ground floor. The first floor is unfortunately not accessible by wheelchair.
Additional information: Colchester Quaker Meeting House is a Grade II listed building dating from 1803. Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) have been active in Colchester since the seventeenth century. At the heart of Quakerism is our worship. We come together in stillness and silence, to open our hearts and lives to God.
Directions: From Colchester North station, you can either walk (about 20 minutes) or take a bus from the stop in North Station Road. (From the station, walk under the rail bridge and across the road, next to Wickes builders merchants.) All services from this stop go to the junction of High Street and Head Street, from where it is a two minute walk to the Meeting House.
From Colchester Town station, it is easy to walk via Osborne Street and Saint John's Street. Trains to Colchester Town station are less frequent than those on the main line so check in advance for details.
There is no car parking at the Meeting House. The nearest public car park is Saint Mary's on Balkerne Hill (which you can drive into from the north-bound carriageway of Balkerne Hill).
Cycle parking stands are available near the Meeting House.
Website: www.qcolpm.demon.co.uk and essexsuffolkquakers.org/meeting-houses/colchester
Organised by Colchester Quakers
Local Meeting for business for worship on Sun 3 May
There will shortly be a Minute about this from the Clerk and in the meantime here are my notes and To Do list.
Public Meeting in September
I’m going to arrange a talk by Gabriel Carlyle and Emily Johns the artist, both of Peace News. This is to be part of their UK speaking tour to talk about the posters and the First World War anti-war movement. My plan is to set a date for a Thursday evening in September not too far from the HoD on Sat 12 September so we can advertise it as an upcoming event on the HoD itself.That'll hopefully be 17 or 24 September. Peace News’ speaking tour page states:If you’d like to offer to host an event for the speaking tour and / or arrange an exhibition of the posters in your local area, then please contact us: 0207 278 3344 or promos [at] peacenews.info. Please include: your name and contact details (email and phone number); which dates you have in mind; the name of the group; and the likely size of the audience. Hosts will be expected to provide our train fares from Hastings as well as accommodation (where necessary). We are also encouraging all groups to do local press work around the exhibition and talks, and will provide a template press release for this purpose.It was suggested that we invite teachers to the talk in the hope that this can help disseminate the peace testimony message to schools. I’ll try to get on to the Friends who are teachers to follow this up.
Children’s activities
I’ve ticked the HoD box that we can offer children’s activities this year, so I’m looking for help. Aas a minimum I suggest we have some art materials in the children’s room upstairs and some Friends on a rota to supervise children under 18 only if accompanied by a parent (so as to avoid any DBC and child care issues). I can offer to teach people how to make origami peace cranes (such as are associated with Hiroshima Day).Media coverage
This is largely what the event is about: while I’d like people to get to see the exhibition on the day, I’m just as keen like to let the wider community know more about who Quakers are, even if they don’t turn up to the HoD or the talk. As the Clerk to SEA AM wrote in our March newsletter, one of our current aims is to publicise ourselves more and this exhibition and event ties in with that aim.Getting our draft web page in by the early May bank holiday, as we did this year for the first time, means that we’ll be in HoD’s “long lead press release” (which sounds like something for a dog). As they state:
That’s the one that goes out to glossy September magazines, and sites featured in it tend to get the most coverage.I’m also booking onto HoD’s Media Training Day, Thurs 25 June, in London, which HoD says is:
aimed at getting Heritage Open Days coverage in newspapers and magazines, on TV and radio and on websites and blogs.The event will take place at Grosvenor Gardens in London, SW1 and includes reasonable travel costs and lunch.
HoD 2015 diary reminder
- Late June/Early July – promotional material available
- Mid-July – Event listings start going up on our web directory
- 10-13 September – the big event!
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