1941: On this day, 814 20-year-old city girls responded to their call-up papers - although some forgot their registration card! Many of the girls had come with their mothers, while others had their boyfriends for company. Some are described as arriving 'with an army escort on either side'. Quite a few perambulators are also recorded as being parked outside the building. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
Solar panels were installed few years earlier and in 2017 the internal walls of the Meeting Room were removed and thoroughly insulated, loft insulation improved, windows & doors replaced with current standard double-glazed units. The kitchen was refurbished to contemporary standards.
The Meeting House continues to be used not only for the benefit of its worshipping members but for many groups large and small from the Peterborough community. Many feel the Meeting Room’s simple design and plain decoration is particularly peaceable and conducive to good meetings. This is a tribute to the architect, Leonard Brown. The garden and labyrinth contribute in no small measure to the overall feeling of calm and restoration.
Peterborough Quakers continue a long tradition of involvement in the community serving as hospital, hospice, prison and university chaplains and applying their dearly held testimonies to peace, sustainability, equality and simplicity.
Redevelopment of the large garden in which the Meeting House was situated was started to provide an attractive and peaceful facility for members, users and the community of Peterborough to enjoy. Planting is designed to reflect what Quakers refer to as testimonies to their key beliefs which are Truth and Integrity, Equality and Community, Peace and Earth and the Environment. A labyrinth is a well used addition.
The Meeting House was extended on the eastern end to enable the addition of disabled toilets and insertion of a staircase to create two rooms in the extensive loft space. This additional space enabled four rooms to be hired for meetings, etc. a facility that has become very valuable to many small groups from the Peterborough Community.
Peterborough Quaker Meeting House was opened. Designed by Quaker architect, Leonard Brown, from Welwyn Garden City hence some resemblance to architecture there. Built on the paddock/orchard/kitchen garden of Orchard House. Legend has it that Mrs Scott, of Orchard House, said she would much prefer Quakers at the bottom of her garden.
Features: A large Meeting Room, a smaller ground floor room which could be divided into two ‘class rooms’ by an oak surfaced folding door, a large kitchen and toilets. The all electric heating system was very advanced for 1936. The Meeting Room was heated by electric convector heaters built into the ceiling and electric skirting board heaters round the perimeter. A large car park was ambitious yet now inadequate. The front of the building faces south to the terrace and garden whilst the back is to the north and the entrance off Thorpe Road. This arrangement has been expressed cryptically as “The front faces the back and the back faces the front.”
The land cost £650 and the building (John Cracknell Ltd) £1900.
Solar panels were installed few years earlier and in 2017 the internal w…
The Meeting House was extended on the eastern end to enable the addition…
Peterborough Quaker Meeting House was opened. Designed by Quaker archite…