Preliminary work begins

Chris Edwards, our meeting house manager, reports that following the many visits by contractors and builders as part of the tendering  process, other work is now in hand in the garden. Chris has helpfully provided some photos for the blog.

Archaeology
Now that the community archaeology project has removed the wall, it's time for the professional archaeological survey to begin. And inevitably, the examination of the site begins with – a hole. The photo shows archaeologist Kurt Hunter-Mann supervising the removal of top layers of earth immediately behind the now-demolished section of wall.

Building works

Meanwhile …

close nearby another hole is dug. 

This time it's close to the location of the lift tower and is being dug to examine the ground conditions, and to help determine what kind of foundations will be necessary to support the new building above. Architect Mark Druery and structural engineer Dominic Rawcliffe are in charge of this process.

And finally …

More preparation work in the garden, but this time not involving hole digging. Our versatile Treasurer David Peryer shows how it's done, getting hands on with the removal of the unwanted children's slide round the tree in front of the Woolman Room, soon to have much-improved garden access and light.

Now we need to dispose of a high quality stainless steel children's slide (not in picture, as already removed), in need of a good home. Anyone interested?

Fundraising for the Project

Fundraising for the Friargate Project took off in May. On one Sunday, a plant stall raised £135.



On the same day there was a lively auction of promises under the leadership of our able auctioneer Andrew (Bone) Jones.

Friends didn't hold back with their comments and advice on how the lots should best be dealt with but Bone coped well with calls from the floor that would have been ripe for  a music hall.

"What's this lot? Taxidermy, you say?" - "No, I said taxi service."


Gardening, learning to make a pot, music and language lessons, portrait painting all went under the hammer, and over £2000 was raised towards the cost of developing our community meeting place.

She did it!

On Sunday Danielle Palmour finished the Leeds Half Marathon in 1 hour 54 minutes. (See post of 24th April). And through her sponsorship raised the grand sum of over £600 for The Friargate Project. Sponsorship is still possible via her page at just giving.com. So it's possible the final total might be even higher.

Thanks to Danielle (who by the way is also a member of the project fundraising team) and congratulations!

Greetings to other Quaker Meetings

As part of our fundraising activities, we are sending a copy of our appeal leaflet to every Quaker meting in the Yearly Meeting. The mailing consists of an envelope, the leaflet and to save paper, a pre-addressed envelope re-use label.

Contacting every worshipping Quaker group in the country is a special event, and Friargate Friends are hoping to send personal greetings to Quakers in other meetings.

On every envelope there's a small box, ready for a personal message. Today, after meeting for worship, Friends began writing their own greetings to Friends around the country. There are over 500 letters, so it will take us a few weeks to complete. But Friargate Friends are keen to use the opportunity to contact meetings known to them, and to meetings near and far. There's also a good number of oohs and aahs as names of Friends on envelopes are recognised.

A mailing task has been transformed into an opportunity to send greetings from York to other Friends around the country.

Half marathon for the Friargate Project

Friargate Friend Danielle Palmour is taking advantage of the turn in the weather to train for the Leeds Half Marathon in May. And she has decided to donate any sponsorship funds on the day to The Friargate Project. A great idea!

To show support for Danielle on 12th May go to her page on the just giving website. Just put in her name, or go direct to

http://www.justgiving.com/Danielle-Jeanine-Palmour1

Go Danielle!

Sun shines on Archaeology Volunteers

Another Monday afternoon's work in the garden for the volunteers, but this time with a difference, as they were not battling the elements. So work continued with removing the wall, cleaning the bricks and sorting them.

Chris Edwards has taken some photos of evidence of the event (below).

In the coming weeks progress on the project will continue, including an extra afternoon next Sunday (21st April).

Removing the Wall: The archaeology group continues

The wall in the garden has now been measured, drawn and photographed. Volunteers have now begun carefully dismantling the wall. Each brick is cleaned before being examined and sorted. It is hoped some of them can be incorporated into the new building work.

Brenda Tyler continues to capture the progress of the work. Here's her latest painting, on show in the meeting house: