Historic meeting house welcomes local community

It's the fourth year that Quakers in Crawshawbooth in Rossendale have invited local people and neighbouring Quakers to join them for a choral recital inside the meeting house followed by a brass band in the gardens.

“Once again, it was a really successful day," said Philip Whitehead, who helped to organise the event. “We began with Meeting for Worship before being joined by the St Nicholas Choir. It's always such a treat for the meeting house to be packed with people enjoying choral music from down the ages."

Following home baked cakes and refreshments in the gardens, visitors were entertained by the local Water Village Brass Band which has been delighting audiences since 1866.

Back in the 1600s, Quakers in Rossendale would meet in each other's houses, but the Toleration Act of 1689 granted limited religious freedom to Protestant dissenters in England and this allowed Friends to build the Crawshawbooth meeting house – now a grade 2-listed building dating back to at least 1716. Over the decades it's been visited by a number of Quaker luminaries including Elizabeth Fry.

If you fancy a visit, Friends will be opening up the meeting house again for the annual Heritage Open Day event, England's largest festival of history and culture. All are welcome on Saturday September 12, 9.45am to 16:45 and again on Sunday September 13, 12.30 – 16:45, following Meeting for Worship 11am-11:45.

Crawshawbooth meeting house can be found at 13 Co-operation Street, Crawshawbooth, Rossendale, Lancashire, BB4 8AG.