Club members did Saint Andrew proud with an excellent turnout for our meeting on 30 November. It was especially good that the ice and frost hadn’t deterred us from braving the extreme cold for our weekly get-together.
We welcomed our speaker Peter Petrie of Cheltenham, who had been scheduled to tell us about ‘Order out of Chaos’. Instead he spoke about the building of Gloucester’s Cathedral, which he said was creating order out of chaos anyway.
The Cathedral, originally Gloucester Abbey, was one of over 19,000 churches throughout England and Wales. It took over 50 years to finish, was built of Painswick Hill stone Forest of Dean wood and was built at about the same time as Evesham Abbey.
Peter described the skills needed to complete this monumental undertaking and how the money was raised to fund it. We learned about the importance of Purgatory, about rods, poles and perches, and about medieval lime mortar.
Peter responded to our questions and John Doyle thanked him on our behalf for a splendid presentation.
We shall hear about Tax, Care and Toyboys on 7 December and will then enjoy our traditional Christmas Party on 14 December.
CHRIS DONOUGH
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here