SPRING 2010The new addition to Woodstown MM has been rising rapidly this fall and winter. Cinderblock and cement foundations, pipes and electrical conduits, wooden frame, insulation, windows, and brick facing—all have been set in place quickly and expertly by obviously skilled workers.
This is the culmination of many years of decisions, planning, and preparation. At first the only concern was to make the meetinghouse fully accessible to those who needed walkers or wheelchairs to navigate the meeting room, Annex, and Social Room. Flights of stairs prevented those with difficulty walking from getting to the Annex for postworship refreshments without going outside the building, down the driveway, and re-entering from the parking lot. Reaching a bathroom became a major effort for Friends with disabilities.
Woodstown Friends quickly realized that there were other flaws in their building. Children leaving the First-day School rooms often ran straight into the driveway, and the brick wall of the Social Room kept drivers from seeing them until it was almost too late. The electrical system was a patchwork of the old and the new.
Part of the problem was that the additions to the building had been constructed without thinking about what was already there. Floors were at different levels. Newer sections, such as the Annex (1910), were originally built entirely detached from the meetinghouse itself, and only later was a door at the side of the facing benches converted into a covered access to the later structure.
As always among Friends, deciding what to do took a great deal longer than actually doing it. The process went on for years, through the tenure of four clerks: Dorothy Kramme, Loren Thomas, Frank Lenik, and now Mike Ayars. Sketches and proposals and renderings by the architect—Connie Lezenby, who is also a former clerk of Gwynedd MM, Abington Quarter—were considered and studied and criticized. Friends scratched their heads and made suggestions, and yet another iteration of the plans was produced.
Now the project is under way. A major advantage, notes Mike Ayars, is that there’s now a “front door” to the meeting straight off the parking lot. From the entrance, one can turn left to the Annex or go straight into the Social Room, where First-day School is held. Our cover photograph, taken by Mike, shows the “front door” of the addition at the end of January, surrounded by scaffolding with the interior work only begun.
Even though construction is coming to completion, the meeting still has decisions to make. Landscaping is a question. And what will happen to an open area now enclosed on all four sides is up in the air.
However, Mike promises, the structure itself will be finished by Sunday, 3/14, in time for quarterly meeting. He and Woodstown Friends look forward to being our hosts at the grand opening of the new addition.
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Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 09:08 PM
