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quiet.html
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<html>
<head>
<title>Quiet place</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" link="#555555" vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">
<h1><a href="index.html"><img src="folklore-icon.gif" alt="Folklore" align="bottom" width="31" height="33"></a>
Quiet place</h1>
<p>During the expansion plans of the early 1990's, there were some plans made
that never quite came to fruition. This was one of them, as described
by the University Magazine, October 1993.</p>
<blockquote>
<strong>The Quiet Place</strong>
<p>A `Quiet Place' for provate contemplation is to be established on
campus if the required £180,000 to build it can be raised. A site, near
Spring Lane bridge, has been donated by the University, but money to build
a quiet room for up to five people, set in a circular landscaped area, is
to be raised through donations.</p>
<p>``Growth and development, both in numbers and in the range of activities
undertaken, enhance the life of the University but, as that life gets
busier, so the opportunities for quiet reflection diminish for students
and staff,'' says Martin Biggs, convener of the Quiet Place Group. ``The
Quiet Place would provide a still space, open to all, of any faith or
none.''</p>
<p>A grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has made possible the
development of detailed plans for the Quiet Place from architects Anthony
Richardson and Partners, and the Quiet Place Group has recieved a pledge of
£35,000 from the Castlegate Fund, a fund controlled by York
Quakers.</p>
<p>Further information is available from Martin Biggs in the Careers Service
(ext 2680) and donations can be sent to him. Please make cheques payable
to University of York (Quiet Place Fund).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The plan (possibly to be scanned and put here) shows the Quiet Place to be
a circular enclosure, taking up much of the grass between Spring Lane and
Langwith, as well as including the lake at this point.</p>
<h2>Latest plans...</h2>
<p>The latest plans (1997) are to convert the gazebo next to the
Heslington Hall gardens into a Quiet Place. £25,000 has been pledged
by the Society of Friends. This article was donated by Jo Dubé:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Quiet Place is going to be in the gazebo
near the topiary place and it will be a place for students to go to get
away from university life. There are two rooms in the gazebo and
the Quiet Place itself will consist of the lower room
and a small area of land just beside it. This will be landscaped. There
will be a "no talking" rule within the Quiet Area - if people wish to talk
they can go elsewhere to do it. Entrance will be via a door with
security code in the wall just in front of the garden. (The code will be
available from Derwent Porters.) Initially there will be daytime access
only, for security reasons - access will not be restricted to students and
staff. There will be another way out that will be exit only (this is
necessary for security reasons). The upper room in the gazebo will be
available for small groups of eight or ten people to hold quiet meetings
(i.e. you will not be able to meet there if you are going to talk a lot!)
Martin Biggs had great difficulty in getting this restriction placed on
the upper room - the VC wanted to use it for ordinary, noisy meetings,
which would be quite inappropriate.</p>
<p>Janet Baker, the Chancellor, has given this project her "full support".
Martin says that she was dismayed to realise that there was no "sacred
place" on campus. This statement suggests that she has missed the point
somewhat - the Quiet Place will be a place for <b>everyone</b> to go when they
need to be quiet, be they of any religion or denomination, or no religion
or denomination.</p>
<p>Friargate Preparative Meeting, who are responsible for the Castlegate
Fund, initially agreed to give £35,000 towards the cost of building the
Quiet Place (when it was going to be between Langwith and Spring Lane
Bridge). After much lively discussion at last May's PM it was agreed that,
although the gazebo was now going to be used, £35000 was still an
acceptable sum to give. However, in October we had an even livlier
discussion of the issue and in the end the amount was reduced to £15,000.
The project is also underwritten to a further £10,000, making £25,000 in
all. Some people were dismayed because the sum was reduced so
dramatically. Others thought that £25,000 was too much, since this is not
a specifically Quaker project. £25,000 was the sum given to Acomb
Preparative Meeting to rebuild their Meeting House. It was argued that it
was somewhat unethical to give the same sum to a project that is not
specifically Quaker. Some people even said that no money should be given
at all, since it is always possible to find somewhere quiet even if it's
only a church. At which I leapt up and pointed out that when you are a
student, even if you don't live on campus it's not always possible to find
somewhere quiet, and when you do live on campus it's practically
impossible. Heslington Church, the "official" university church, is nearly
always locked and anyway churches are not acceptable to everyone.</p>
<p>Some alterations are going to have to be made to the gazebo itself - it
must be wheelchair accessible and there must be adequate security
provision. There are a few minor problems with this because it is Grade II
listed. Martin has had to struggle to get the project to this stage -
the VC keeps on being annoying and for a long time no-one wanted to think
about ways of raising money. For several years the project was practically
static. This is one reason why the amount of money being given by Friends
has dropped - had the building work started before last October the full
£35,000 would have been given.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><i>Jo Dubé (Y Gymraes o Sir Gaer)</i>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>An article about the plans appeared in the Autumn/Winter <i>Grapevine</i>.
(The gazebo was used as a logo for <i>Grapevine</i> when it first started!)
The building work will be carried out from May to July, and the project will
be completed ready for the 1998/9 academic year.
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