Gary Best writes:
This year is an important year – it is 275 years since the
commencement of open-air evangelical work in 1739 and the
creation of the New Room in Bristol:
17 February: George Whitefield preached in the open-air to the miners in Bristol:
‘I believe I was never more acceptable to my Master than when I was
standing to teach those hearers in the open fields…. The fire is kindled and
not all the devils in hell shall quench it.’
2 April : John Wesley took over from Whitefield and based himself in Bristol:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach
the Gospel to the poor…. O how God has renewed my strength!’
12 May : John Wesley laid foundation stone of the New Room and meetings
commenced within the shell of the building as early as 3 June:
‘We took possession of a piece of ground…. in the Horsefair …and the first
stone was laid with the voice of praise and thanksgiving’.
14 June : John Cennick , the first Methodist lay preacher, preached at Kingswood
for the first time:
‘I was sensible of the divine call in my heart, beside the open door before
me, but as I had never done such a thing and my conscience was exceedingly
tender, I delayed, though persuaded on all sides, till …we kneeled down
simply and asked our Saviour to make manifest his mind’.
24 June : Charles Wesley also commenced preaching in open-air, first in London
and then (from 31 August) in Bristol:
‘I invited them in my Master’s words...‘Come unto me, all ye that travail, and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’. The Lord was with me, even me, his
meanest messenger …. God shone upon my path, and I knew this was his
will concerning me.’
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I am marking all these five dates with a short lecture, most of them on the Friday
nearest to the date (c.1.20 to 2.00 following the communion service). The first on
Whitefield was held on 14 February. You can find the dates of the remaining four on
the website. I have also been asked to speak about Whitefield both in Bristol and
Gloucester on other occasions to help mark the 300th
anniversary of his birth and I am delighted to do so
because his important role has been much underrecognised by Methodists. He was a most remarkable
preacher and a very fine man, who had an immense
impact across both Britain and America. It is a tragedy
that his tabernacle in Kingswood has been allowed to
fall into ruin.
We had also hoped to mark the 275th by holding a worldwide Songfest on 24 May
(and Bob Woods wrote about this in the last Newsletter) but sadly we have not had
the support from the World Methodist Council to make this viable. We will,
however, be holding our own special event on 24 May and there will be some more
local churches who are making the occasion in their own way. I am also delighted
that we are having a special day out with many of our volunteers on 3 May to
attend the celebrations in Brecon that mark the 200th anniversary of the death of
Thomas Coke, the man who first encouraged Methodism to undertake a world
mission.
The Horsefair Project continues to progress but unfortunately the planning
application continues to take longer than originally envisaged. As we expected, in
October the Methodist Listed Building Advisory Committee gave its approval to the
scheme as it then stood. However, the Bristol Planning Department, who had said
we must redraw our original scheme in order to retain the lean-to building at the
rear of the Chapel, changed its stance in October and decided that our original
concept to remove it had been the correct one because of its adverse impact on the
space between the new building and the Chapel. They therefore asked us to revise
the scheme again and incorporate the removal of the lean-to again, even though
they acknowledged this change would invalidate the Listed Building Advisory
Committee’s approval. Simultaneously we were asked by the new English Heritage
Officer to pull the new building further back from the
original building. As a consequence a new revised
These Plans are evolving
scheme was presented on 29 January to a meeting of
the English Heritage officer, the Methodist
Conservation Officer, and representatives from the
Bristol Planning Department. This meeting (the first
where all parties were in attendance) went well and
we have subsequently tried to address the additional
points that arose at that meeting.
3
It is therefore our hope that we will finally be able to make our planning application
with the latest version of the scheme at the end of February – and the scheme will
simultaneously go before the Methodist Listed Building Committee.
That means – hopefully – we should obtain a positive decision from all quarters by
May. The new revised scheme will go on display in the New Room in March.
Progress has been faster in other fields. I am delighted to report that we have
appointed Mrs Elizabeth Worthington as a part-time assistant, thus releasing time
for the Manager to deal with the some of the workload that arises from the
Horsefair Project. We have also appointed Rev. Mandy Briggs as our new Education
Officer – a role that has been funded in part by the District and in part by HLF. She
will be not only looking at developing more immediate educational initiatives but
helping us plan what will be possible when we have the new facilities. She will
therefore have an important input into the activity and business plans and into the
museum interpretation plan required by HLF for Round 2. I have produced some
initial work on the Museum Interpretation Plan and that is being discussed by the
Museum Group at their next meeting in March. We have also appointed two
consultants – Mr Ian Parkin to help produce our Activity Plan and Mr David TrevisSmith to help produce our Business Plan. It is our aim to produce all the plans by
the end of August so that, if possible, we can make our Round 2 bid in September
rather than December as originally envisaged.
I would like to take this opportunity to record my thanks to
Rev. Phil Hewett (right) who stepped down as Deputy Warden at
the end of 2013. It has been a pleasure to work with him and to
share in his love for the New Room. I am glad that he is
continuing to help us with publicity, working alongside Gordon
James.
We have decided that it makes sense for the next couple of
years to have two Deputy Wardens - one to help on the Horsefair Project and one
to help with the ‘normal’ New Room work. I am delighted that Mike Rose, who has
been such a sterling worker for the New Room on the Horsefair Group, has agreed
to take on the role of Deputy Warden with specific reference to the Project. We
hope to announce the appointment of the second Deputy Warden shortly.
Gary Best (Warden)
This Newsletter is produced two times a year to provide a glimpse of the work and witness of
a unique Heritage Building of the worldwide Methodist Church. Illustrations have been
gathered from the files of the New Room, but it has been suggested that you might wish to
be reminded that Elizabeth Worthington’s design for the cover includes a man significant in
Methodist history but less often spoken of –George Whitefield. He’s the one on the left.
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PEOPLE AT THE NEW ROOM
The New Room is not only about historical figures. There are live people there too!
Here are some brief biographical accounts of some of them. If we can persuade
others to write, more will follow.
PHILIP BURNETT – Hymnody Project Officer
Phil Burnett (‘Philip’ only when he is in
trouble) is originally from Cape Town, and
has been based in Bristol since 2010. He
works at The New Room one day a week,
where he is Project Development Officer for
the Hymnody Project. He has also been
involved in co-ordinating the upgrade of the
‘Charles Wesley Room’ on the top floor of
the Chapel. For the rest of the week he
works on a MLitt/PhD at the University of
Bristol, and is a part-time library assistant in
the Wills Memorial Library.
Although not a professional musician, music
is a big part of Phil’s life. He learned the
piano and the organ from an early age, and
continued his musical studies at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.
After completing his undergraduate studies and a PGCE, he taught for five years at
Kingswood College - a Methodist foundation school in Grahamstown. At
Kingswood, he worked in a busy Music School, and was part of a team of six fulltime music staff. His many responsibilities included teaching subject and
instrumental music, training the junior and senior choirs, and organising school
tours and trips.
Beyond studying and working, Phil sings in the St Mary Redcliffe church choir, is a
keen runner, and darts between his various commitments on a bicycle. He is also
obsessed with cricket: he loves nothing better than to play a game, and study his
collection of Wisden Almanacs.
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MANDY BRIGGS – our new Education Officer
I grew up in Bristol and became a Christian through an
ecumenical youth group which met at a Methodist
Church. I have always been interested in writing and
communication and initially worked as a journalist on
two local papers in Weston-super-Mare and Bath.
Over the years my love and appreciation for being a
Christian in the Methodist tradition has grown. I
trained as a local preacher and then experienced a call
to ordained ministry. After training in Birmingham, I
have served as a Methodist minister in the Bristol
District for 12 years, currently serving at Nailsea.
Taking on the Education Officer post at The New Room will be a different shape of
ministry for me. I am really looking forward to working with people of all ages,
backgrounds and experiences, using the legacy of the Wesleys to communicate
God’s love for all and the importance of lifelong learning.
Away from The New Room, my hobbies and interests include: spending time with
my husband Niall and stepsons Caleb and Isaac; going to concerts and the theatre
and generally appreciating family, friends and the wonderful West Country.
ELIZABETH WORTHINGTON
– Assistant Manager
David and I met as students at Staffordshire
University where we were both actively involved
in the Christian Union. I graduated in Fine Art and
then worked in several administrative and retail
posts before taking up a position as a Graphic
Artist with Yellow Pages in Bristol. We married in
1990 and held various positions of leadership in
Christchurch, Clifton.
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After Sarah was born, I left full time employment. I later returned to part time
work as a tailor in various bridal shops around Bristol. When our son Andrew went
to school, I began my own Designer Dressmaking business, and for the past 25
years I have undertaken a wide variety of bespoke work for clients.
In addition, through my different roles at church, Brownies and the wider
community, I have developed experience of working with volunteers, including
here at The New Room. My association with the chapel began when David was
appointed as the Manager here seven years ago. Since then, I have volunteered
regularly as a steward, and helped with coffee mornings. I have made birthday
cakes for various members of the Wesley family! I believe The New Room is at one
of the most exciting moments of its history and I feel privileged to be involved in
the next stage of its development.
GWYNETH and MIKE DEAN - Stewards
Gwyneth writes:
My first encounter with the New Room was when I was about 15. Colstons Girls
School, where I was a pupil, held an early morning communion service at the
Cathedral once a term, for anyone who wished to attend. For the small number of
girls whowere not members of the Church of England, a service was also held at
the New Room. I remember, I think, a harmonium where the book shelves now
stand. Even then I felt a sense that this was somewhere “special.” It was not until
my retirement in 2005 that I really came to know and love the chapel.
Mike had retired before me and had been persuaded by Pam and Don Blackmore
to join the ranks of the stewards. As he
was a qualified Tourist Board Guide, they
felt he could bring new skills to the role,
and even suggested he might like to dress
up in period costume! On the
understanding that he NEVER had to do
that, Mike was eased into the role by
Rachel Newton and became enthusiastic
about the building and the people he met.
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And so it seemed a good idea for me to join him as a steward when I, too, had time
to spare. The intention was that Mike would field the questions on history, both
general and specific, and I would fill in with the Methodist information, as I have
been a member of the Methodist Church since 1964. To be honest, he answers
about 80% of the questions we are asked!
So why do I enjoy being a steward?
There is a sense of peace in the New Room that contrasts forcibly with the
commercial world outside. So many people come in just to experience that
moment of quiet, of reflection, of refreshment. There is a tremendous sense of
history as we proudly tell visitors that this is the oldest Methodist building in the
world.
There is a feeling of continuity, that we are just a small part of something that has
gone before and will, hopefully, continue long after we have gone. Being a steward
is, for me, a privilege.
Mike adds:
For me, the interest and enjoyment lie in working in a building which has a unique
place in history. The great diversity of visitors to The New Room means that no two
duties are ever alike, and the variety of questions which, as stewards, we are asked
means that we are always trying to extend our own knowledge and keep it up to
date, and so we learn even more about the building and its historical associations.
Visitors who, like me, are not Methodists are nevertheless invariably fascinated to
learn the story of the building and the part it has played in the history of Bristol and,
indeed, of the country as a whole.
I never cease to be amazed at the number of Bristolians who, though they have
lived in the city for many years, are discovering The New Room for the first time.
This can be especially rewarding, as we are able to derive considerable satisfaction
from the fact that we have helped people to increase their knowledge of, and
perhaps their pride in, their city.
Editor’s note: Please note how influential existing volunteers can be in attracting
new helpers and encouraging them to find their own niche at The New Room.
We welcome Mandy Briggs and Elizabeth Worthington to their new roles at The
New Room. These are indeed exciting times!
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MANY OTHER PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN CARING, SHARING AND
FINANCIALLY SUSTAINING THE WORK OF THE NEW ROOM:
TO ALL OUR FINANCIAL FRIENDS
Dear Contributors and Subscribers
We are writing to say a very warm thank to you all for your
recent donations. We are choosing to send our thanks this
year by means of the New Room Newsletter as we know that
you all receive a copy and it will save postage.
It is undoubtedly all your generous contributions which help us
to keep The New Room open and to continue its role as a quiet
place of mission for the city centre.
The plans for the Horsefair Project are moving forward as you
will read in another article in this newsletter. It is a very
exciting time to be involved in this work and we would
welcome it if you are able to visit us so we can explain to you in
person our plans for the future.
Thank you again for all your gifts.
Yours sincerely
Maureen and Bob Wood
(Secretaries to the “Friends”)
Bob and Maureen do a great job in keeping in touch with our group of “Friends”
who so generously subscribe to the working funds of The New Room. If you would
like to join them in helping to defray expenses, please contact Bob and Maureen
through the Office.
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275th ANNIVERSARIES
This year marks the 275th Anniversary of the founding of The New Room and the
start of John Wesley’s open air preaching. To mark these anniversaries, special
events are being planned.
This advance information is provisional and subject to change. Please check l test
details on the New Room website, or through the regular diary updates.
Wednesday 2 April
-Anniversary of John Wesley’s first open air preaching (2 April 1739)
A Pilgrimage around some of the Wesley sites in central Bristol, will be led by the
Revd David Weeks, chaplain of The New Room.
The pilgrimage will begin at 3 pm, and there will
be a brief ceremony at the Brickfields site, where
Wesley first preached in the open air. The party
will then return to The New Room, for refreshments. Gary Best, the Warden of The New Room,
will speak on the occasion.
Saturday 3 May : Bi-centenary of the death of
the Revd Thomas Coke
A coach will leave The New Room at 10 am for Brecon where
New Room stewards and other friends will be able to attend
the Celebrations at Brecon Cathedral to mark the bi-centenary
of the death of Thomas Coke. If you would like to go, please
contact the Manager without delay.
Friday 16 May
275th Anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of The New Room
1 pm
1 20 pm
Holy Communion
Lecture by Gary Best—‘The History of The New Room’
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Sunday 18 May
Aldersgate Sunday
Wesley Walk—led by the Revd David Weeks –
Chaplain of The New Room
Further details to be announced.
Monday 19 to Saturday 24 May -Flower Festival
(Monday 26 May is Spring Bank Holiday)
Please see page 13 for details “Lord for the Years ….”
Friday 23 May
1 pm
1.20 pm
Holy Communion
“Strangely Warmed”—Music for Wesley Week
Saturday 24 May - Wesley Day Song Fest
3 pm Informal singing in the Chapel
4 pm Service (preacher to be arranged) during
which the hymn
“O for a thousand tongues to sing”
will be sung to mark the various anniversaries of
this year.
5 pm Refreshments
Saturday 7 June “Wonder Love and Praise”
Art Serve Day
with Charles Wesley at St James Priory, Charles Wesley’s House, and The New
Room
(Please check with the website or the e-diary for details.)
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Friday 20 June—Celebrating John Cennick, the first local preacher
1 20 pm
A talk following our regular service of Holy Communion
(finishes by 2 pm)
Friday 11 July - Recital at 1.20—2.00 pm
given by Michael Comber (baritone) and Jean Routley (organ)
Friday 18 July - Organ Concert by Jonathan Price at 1.20 pm
Sunday 31 August“ - The Sweet Singer” 2
3 pm-4 pm
A Bristol District celebration of Charles Wesley’s hymns
and his first open air preaching on 31 August 1739
We shall also present the results of the Hymn Writing Challenge and publish the
selected hymns and tunes in “Tell the World”. 1
MUSIC AT THE NEW ROOM
‘Methodism was born in Song’ as many earlier hymn books have reminded us, and
as our church’s most recent publication states, we are still ‘Singing the Faith’. This
year, 2014, is special in Methodist history, especially for Bristol and The New Room.
We hope voices will be raised on a number of significant occasions, all of which are
listed in this Newsletter.
Hymn Writing Challenge ‘Tell the World’ 1
The challenge has gone out to authors and composers inviting them to submit
words and/or music to this theme. The closing date is 1 June after which a panel of
experts will examine the entries and decide which are to be included in the 275 th
Anniversary booklet ‘Tell the World’.
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Singing the Faith will certainly be central to the celebrations on 2 April, 16 May, and
24 May. For details, see the “275th Anniversary” feature.
On 31 August we will be celebrating ‘The Sweet Singer’ 2— Charles Wesley’s hymns
and the 275th anniversary of his first open air preaching. The New Room will also
publish ‘Tell the World’, the collection of hymns and tunes selected from the Challenge.
‘Praise the Lord - A Journey with Charles Wesley’
This is Paul Leddington Wright’s arrangements of selected
hymns by Charles Wesley. Paul, besides being a good friend of
The New Room, is also musical director for BBC Songs of Praise.
The New Room commissioned “Praise the Lord” in 2007, and
with generous help from the Pratt Green Trust, we hope to present it later in the year, to mark Charles’s 300th birthday. More
details later.
Lunchtime Music
‘Celebrating Sam’ was a good start to the season, marking Samuel Wesley’s 248th. birthday in February. You will find that there is a wide variety of
concerts and recitals during the coming months. We shall meet again some familiar
faces, but new artists will also appear, for example Hayasaka Makiko, a very talented organist from Japan, currently a Ph.D. student at Bristol University.
The New Room Singers
Our own local choir will provide a valuable service in leading the singing at the 2014
special services. We normally meet for practice once a month on Tuesdays (5.30 6.45 pm).
If you love singing and value our ‘Born in Song’ heritage, why not join us? Please
contact Philip Carter through the Office.
Philip Carter (Director of Music)
Editor’s note:
We publish a regular e-mail list of events at The New Room. This will often contain
the very latest details of time and date when circumstances force a change.
If you would like to add your name to the list, simply send an e-mail to
[email protected] with YES PLEASE in the subject line and we will do the rest.
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TELL THE WORLD - Hymn Writing Challenge 275
Singing hymns has always been a strong feature of Christian worship, and hymns
were at the heart of the 18th Century revival. Charles wrote many of his hymns at
The New Room and at his house in nearby Charles Street in that period. These
buildings remain living and working centres of Christian mission. Regular services,
concerts, lectures and other events are held here. The chapel is open every
weekday and visitors are welcomed from all over the world.
From its open air beginning at the Brickfields, Bristol (at a site now marked by a
modest plague on a wall) and from the small but central New Room, now honoured
as the birthplace of Methodism, the Wesley’s mission has encircled the globe.
The Trustees of The New Room now invite poets and musicians to mark the 275th
Anniversary of The New Room, Bristol, by providing a hymn for this
Hymn Writing Challenge 275.
The theme of the Challenge is “Tell the World” and the Trustees intend this to be a
celebration the 275 years of continuing mission begun by John Wesley and his
brother Charles to ‘tell the world’.
Entrants are invited to provide a new hymn in any of the following categories:
i) words only , (ii) words and tune, or (iii) tune for existing words
Please submit your words and/or music to The New Room by 1 June 2014. There is a
modest entry fee of £5.
A panel of experts will appraise entries, and the most suitable will be published
together in a booklet entitled “Tell the World.”
Those who have agreed to serve on our panel include:
Bishop Timothy Dudley Smith
Revd Dr Andrew Pratt
Paul Leddington Wright
Revd Brian Hoare
texts
texts
music
music and texts
The composers and writers whose work is chosen for publication will receive a copy
of ‘Tell the World’ and they will retain the copyright of their work. The Trustees will
reserve the right to use submitted words and music in any way they wish, including
its first publication in ‘Tell the World’.
Through this hymn writing challenge, the Trustees intend to encourage the wider
church to produce new music and words commemorating the past 275 years and
look forward to the future with faithful confidence.
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GEORGE WHITEFIELD AT 300
This year marks many anniversaries, not least the tercentenary of the birth of
George Whitefield (1714-70). Whitefield was the eighteenth-century’s best known
and most widely travelled evangelical revivalists. He was for some time the most
famous person in the Atlantic world.
Like Wesley, he was an Anglican clergyman, and his ministry fuelled revival
movements on both sides of the Atlantic. John Wesley came to Bristol in the first
place as the result of an invitation from Whitefield. He was one of the fathers of
the Methodist movement, a founder of Calvinistic
Methodism, and a leading itinerant and
international preacher of the time. He crossed the
Atlantic seven times, preaching in nearly every
town on the eastern seaboard of America.
He was so popular that he has been called ‘AngloAmerica’s first religious celebrity’, and even one of
the ‘Founding Fathers of the American Revolution’.
Methodists tend to see him as one who fell out
with John Wesley—he is seen as a hero by some
and something of a villain by others.
This is the background to an international, academic Conference to be held at
Pembroke, Whitefield’s old college, in Oxford, in June 2014. It will review
Whitefield’s work and reputation. Details of the event may be obtained from the
Conference website: http://www.mwrc.ac.uk/whitefield-conference/
The flowers in the New Room each week are donated and arranged by a
team of talented volunteers drawn from churches in and around Bristol.
The flowers enhance the worship experience and our spirit of welcome.
New volunteers are always welcome on the team and can be guided
through the processes by current team members.
Please contact either Jill Butler (01275 847218)
or Glenys Lewis (0117 9609352).
Should you feel that flower arranging is not for you, but would like to contribute to this
aspect of our ministry at the New Room, donations are always welcome and it can be
arranged for someone to purchase and arrange the flowers for you. Please contact either
of the above for availability of dates.
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“LORD FOR THE YEARS….”
A flower festival to mark the 275th Anniversary of The New Room
In May, it will be 275 years since the foundation stone of the New Room was laid.
To mark the anniversary, a Flower Festival and to give thanks for the continuing
work of the New Room and its influence within the wider Methodism.
The theme of the festival is ‘Lord for the
years’, based on the hymn by Bishop
Timothy Dudley-Smith. Flowers will be
arranged to represent groups and
individuals within Methodism using
quotations from John Wesley’s diary as well
as scripture verses.
Why hold a Flower Festival?
There are many reasons to justify the hard
work, long hours and commitment!
A flower festival can be an uplifting and inspiring occasion, allowing people to work
together giving freely of time and energy towards a single purpose
It will have so many different jobs that anyone can participate, stimulate the New
Room’s community spirit and attract visitors who might not otherwise come into
the chapel, also providing an opportunity to raise money towards
the Horsefair Project.
The flower festival will be open from Wednesday 21 May to Saturday 24 May,
from 10am until 4pm each day.
We hope that the event will enhance the experience of all who visit The New
Room.
For further details, please contact Glenys Lewis on 0117 9609352
or email at [email protected]
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Methodism, Baseball and ‘42’
A film entitled ‘42’ had a very short run in UK cinemas last year. Even though it
starred Harrison Ford in one of the lead roles, many film distributors saw it as a
baseball movie that would have limited appeal to a UK audience. However, the true
life story featured two men, Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, both of whom had
Methodist links and characteristics that were integral to the film. Jackie Robinson,
who attended a local Methodist Church as a young adult growing up in Pasadena,
California, went on to become the man who broke the baseball colour line when he
became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the
modern era when he was selected for the Brooklyn Dodgers on 15th April 1947. The
man responsible for Robinson’s place in history which brought to an end racial
segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades
was Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who was a member
of the Methodist Church.
Prior to signing Robinson in 1945, Rickey had needed to establish whether Robinson
was the right choice for this unenviable task and so asked him if he could face the
racial taunts that would inevitably come without taking the bait and reacting
angrily. Robinson was aghast at the question and responded; "Are you looking for a
Negro who is afraid to fight back?" Rickey’s reply was that what he needed was an
African American player "with guts enough
not to fight back" and after obtaining
Robinson’s commitment to "turn the other
cheek" to racial antagonism, Rickey agreed
to sign him. This example of Robinson's
character, plus his unquestionable talent
over 10 years in the major leagues,
culminated in his election to the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1962.
Robinson pioneered the integration of professional athletics in America. By
breaking the colour barrier in baseball, he courageously challenged the deeply
rooted custom of racial segregation which, at that time, marked many other aspects
of American life.
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Robinson was also a strong influence on the Civil Right Movement and became
friendly with Martin Luther King Jr. who referred to him as “a legend and a symbol
in his own time”. In 1962, he accepted a role with King's Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and he also attended the March on Washington in 1963 at
which King gave his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. In 1999, Robinson was named
by TIME magazine on its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
and his legacy remains stronger than ever today as MLB remembers his
contribution to the game annually by instructing all baseball personnel to wear
jerseys with Robinson’s number 42 on 15th April. It remains the only number
permanently retired across all of MLB.
In 2010, I had the pleasure of going to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,
New York with friends from the General Commission on Archives and History
(GCAH) based at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. We went to present a
DVD showing footage of Jackie Robinson appearing on an episode of “Talk Back” in
1958, a programme produced by a predecessor
agency of United Methodist Communications,
designed to help local communities discuss important
moral questions. I think it is significant that two of the
men most associated with breaking the colour barrier
in America were inspired by their Methodist
upbringing and values. My personal favourite Jackie
Robinson quote is; "A life is not important except in
the impact it has on other lives" and I consider it
worthy with some of those that we know and love by
John and Charles Wesley.
David Worthington - Manager
Thanks and acknowledgement for the inspiration for this article to Bob Williams and
Chris Anderson at GCAH and Linda Bloom at United Methodist News Service.
When John Wesley sent Francis Asbury to ride the American
Circuit, what would he have made of someone from the New
Room being a number One American baseball fan????
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Even within one year the New Room is always a scene of
development, based on the unique heritage of the Chapel
- such as
improvements in a
Museum room now
dedicated to
Charles Wesley
Mr James Gibbs, a Steward, works tirelessly to
discover the history of the New Room
building
and compares it with the fate of George
Whitefield’s Tabernacle in Kingswood –now a
sad wreck
Film crews arrive to use
the building as a suitable
scene for period drama:
hard work for the
Manager and stewards,
but it raises funds to help
keep the doors open
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This Newsletter was published in March, 2014 at
The New Room, Bristol
Editor: Rev. Phillip Hewett
under the stewardship of
The Trustees of the New Room
The New Room/John Wesley’s Chapel
36, The Horsefair, Bristol, BS1 3JE, United Kingdom
&
Charles Wesley’s House and Heritage Centre,
4 Charles Street, Bristol BS1 3NN
Warden: Mr Gary Best
Manager: Mr David Worthington
Email:
[email protected]
WEBSITE:
http://www.newroombristol.org.uk
Telephone: +44 (0117) 926 4740
Registered UK Charity No. 1137957
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