Page 6 - HGS Suburb News 140 - Autumn 2019

The Meeting House in North Square Royal Free at the

Despite being tucked away in a Free Church
small corner of North Square
adjacent to Big Wood, there is Last year the Free Church hosted To find out more about the
an institution in our midst with a an Armistice Concert featuring RFMS visit their website at www.
long and interesting history that the Royal Free Music Society royalfreemusicsociety.co.uk.
created, and continues to provide, and the choir is back again this Tickets priced at £10 (half-
a space for everyone to meet and year on Sunday, November 17. price for full-time students/
share their religious experiences The RFMS choir accompanied unwaged) are available online
and social commitments: that by the Hampstead Sinfonietta will at www.ticketsource.co.uk/rfms,
is the Golders Green Quaker be performing Mozart’s Coronation or at the door for £12.
Meeting of the Religious Society Mass. In what promises to be a
of Friends. wonderful concert, the orchestra
The Meeting House was built will also perform Beethoven’s
in 1913 in the Arts and Crafts Symphony no. 3.
style on a plan which was The RFMS is a friendly, non-
rejected by Dame Henrietta auditioned choir based at the
Barnett because it had no spire or Royal Free Hospital. The choir
dome to match St Jude’s or the was founded in 1995 by hospital
Free Church. She did not get her staff but now includes many
way that time. Quakers emphasise members of the local community.
simplicity and equality, and are There are approximately 45
very stubborn once they believe members, who come together
the authority with which they regularly to enjoy high-quality
witness is Divinely inspired. music-making. The choir puts
Two of the Meeting’s founders campaigner for the new National included those with traditional may be from 10 to 20 regular on three concerts a year.
who embodied such stubborn- Allotment Scheme (1925) for Christian beliefs, those with worshippers, occasionally even
ness were Joan Mary Fry, the the relief of the poverty-stricken Universalist beliefs and those 30, some who have attended for
daughter of a High Court Judge, and unemployed in England and who wished to worship with many years but are not
who lived on Temple Fortune Wales. This enabled them to grow Quakers, who were quite members because they are not
Hill, and John Fletcher from a and sell vegetables without losing opposed to any doctrinaire ‘joiners’. The age range is from
humble background, who lived any of their dole money. religion. Some were Jewish 19 to 101. We still reflect a wide
on Maurice Walk. Fry was a A British postage stamp refugees who had been helped range of personal belief, religious
pacifist and Quaker Prison commemorating Fry’s work as a out of Germany, Austria, Poland origins and ethnicity. What
Chaplain who visited Fletcher, also ‘Briton of Distinction’ was issued and Czechoslovakia by the links us is a belief that there is
a pacifist and a conscientious in 2012. Three other ‘public’ Kindertransport. That was an that of God in everyone; and a
objector, imprisoned for two Golders Green Friends were the organisation strongly supported mode of worship based on an
years in Pentonville during the humourist Gerard Hoffnung, the by The Germany Emergency attentive silence that can be
First World War. journalist and broadcaster Gerald Committee of the Religious broken by anyone present who
Fletcher was an indefatigable Priestland and Sydney Bailey, a Society of Friends set up in is inspired to speak words they
worker for peace and reconciliation, peace and human rights activist 1933, shortly after Hitler came believe helpful to the spiritual
and also a Quaker Prison at the United Nations. to power. life of the Meeting. Anyone, who
Chaplain in the Second World When I joined Golders Green Most new Friends now go to also would like to experience the
War. Fry organised support for Meeting in 1967 there would be their first meeting in their 40’s. stillness and depth of a Quaker
impoverished and starving some 70 or 80 Friends worshipping The numbers who worship Meeting, is welcome to join us in
refugees in Germany after the on a Sunday morning for an today at Golders Green have worship on a Sunday morning.
First World War. She was also a hour beginning at 11am. They declined but on a Sunday there JOHN SHINEBOURNE

Care in Barnet

Barnet Carers, the borough’s care adult and young carers, and at- Providing unpaid care can A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A I grab some lunch and then before heading off to collect Mr
organisation, has announced a home care, in the London have a real impact on the mental HOME CARE ASSISTANT head off to Mr Z. He has complex Q from the day centre.
new initiative designed to help Borough of Barnet for almost 30 health and wellbeing of a carer, The first order of the day is a health needs and I am going to Then it’s time to set off to
carers. We are all aware that carers years. There are an estimated and it is hoped that using the strong coffee to wake me up, provide Percutaneous Endoscopic my own home to feed the
carry out a vital role in society, 32,000 carers in Barnet of latest IT will be able to provide a quick bite to eat, and then I Gastrostomy (PEG) feeding, for family and hear about their
and that the social care system whom around 6,000 engage carers with added information am off to my first appointment which I have received special day; and have time to put my
would collapse without them. with the centre. and support. at 7.30 am. training. I make him as comfortable feet up for a while. At 9pm I go
Barnet Carers aims to provide Caring for someone can be A new app delivers events Mrs Y is an 85-year-old lady as possible during the procedure back to Mrs Y and get her ready
carers with support to carry out challenging, especially if you information, training, videos, who is determined to stay in her and have time for a chat with for bed. She also uses our Night
their caring role and to reach out feel like you are caring alone. forms, carers needs assessments, own home. She is getting frail him and his wife before I leave Owl Service and a colleague will
to as many of them as possible. Sometimes getting help with articles of interest and news. It and has partial sight, so I help I have some paperwork to pop in to see that she is OK
Barnet Carers Centre has caring is essential to make sure also enables carers to contact each her get showered and dressed. I do and I do this in the car during the night.
been providing support for you have a life outside of caring. other through the development make sure she eats breakfast and
of a kind of community of takes her morning medication.
carers, and so helps to counter I’ll return later to put her to bed, Orchard Housing Society
feelings of social isolation. but we have a quick chat and
The app can be downloaded then I’m off to my next client. part-time housing assistant
for IOS at Apple.co/2EoRqpv, and My next client is a 90 year-
for Android: Bit.ly/2Hw0ICc. old man, Mr Q, with mild required
For further information visit dementia, who manages very well
www.barnetcarers.org, contact at home, but needs escorting to The Orchard Housing Society is looking for a part-time housing
admin@barnetcarers.org, or call a local day centre. I will pick assistant on a six-month temporary contract at a salary of
020 3995 1909. him up later and when he gets £9000pa. The offer is for two days per week 9am to 5pm (16
Barnet Carers also provides home his adult daughter will be hours), of which one day will be Monday.
some at-home care to enable home from work so I know he Orchard Housing Society is a small sheltered housing
people to stay safely in their will be safe and sound and will scheme in the heart of the Suburb on Hampstead Way. You
own homes and keep their not have to worry. should have an interest in working with older people in person,
independence. I then head off to the office and on the telephone.
The following short essay to hand in my printed time We are looking for a part-time housing assistant who has
will hopefully give Suburb News sheets. These will soon be a thing good written, communication, IT and administration skills
readers an insight into a care of the past as we’re getting mobile (test at interview stage).
assistant’s day. phones to use for this purpose. To obtain further details on this position and information
on how to apply please e-mail orchardhousing@btconnect.com.
Two of Barnet’s Home Care Assistants
The closing date for applications is November 25, and
interviews will be from December 2-6.

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