Chatham-Summit Quakers To Celebrate Meetinghouse Expansion
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--Student film festival and community barbeque highlight
weekend of activities open to the community--
Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
On the weekend of June 18-20, members of the Chatham-Summit Quaker Meeting will be gathering at the meetinghouse at 158 Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township to celebrate the completion of the Meeting's first major expansion and renovation project since the building was completed in 1969-70. The weekend is one of the major highlights of a year-long series of programs and activities to mark improvements to the meetinghouse. Friends, neighbors and residents of surrounding communities are warmly invited to attend all activities.
Festivities begin on Friday evening, June 18 at 6:30 pm with the showing of short, prize-winning student-made films from the Bridge Film Festival. Established 11 years ago at Brooklyn Friends School, the festival accepts entries from Quaker secondary schools world-wide and seeks to nurture creative, value-based filmmaking that communicates messages of conscience. The Festival's creator and director Andy Cohen will be present to discuss the selection of films and answer questions. Young, aspiring filmmakers from New Jersey of middle and high school age are especially encouraged to attend the film showing.
On Sunday, June 20, following Quaker meeting for worship at 11:00 am, a community barbeque begins at 12:30 pm followed by the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:15 pm. Guided tours of the building, games and live music take place from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. More detailed information is available at www.chathamquakers.org.
The original Chatham-Summit Quaker meeting house was designed by the renowned Quaker architect H. Mather Lippincott, Jr. of Philadelphia and is recognized for the simplicity and serenity of its layout and interior finish. The Meeting's goal during the recent project was to expand and refurbish the meetinghouse in order to make it more serviceable both for the Meeting and for the surrounding community. Plans were strongly influenced by a desire to maintain the Quaker aesthetic of simplicity and the Meeting's commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency.
The completed $638,000 project, includes a two-story addition with a separate library and youth room; an ADA-accessible entrance and rest room; greater energy efficiency through installation of a gas-fired heating system, energy efficient lighting and ceiling fans; greater flexibility in creating spaces for large and small groups; an updated kitchen; acoustical remediation to improve hearing in primary meeting areas and improvements to the Memorial Garden. Much of the interior refurbishment work, which included painting, laying of environmentally sensitive carpet and installation of new lighting, was accomplished through the sweat equity of Meeting members and friends and is valued at around $75,000.
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