| Description | The overseers and other members of Bull Street Preparative Meeting felt that there was a need for a more personal welcome for young Friends attending the meeting at Bull Street, and they wanted to unite members of the meeting and encourage a spirit of sociability. Therefore it was decided in 1910 to form the Bull Street Social Union and it initially had about 50 members. This subsequently rose to a membership of over 200.
Activities arranged for young Friends in the summer included tennis matches at tennis courts lent by Mr and Mrs Barrow, excursions and picnics in the countryside in places such as the Lickey Hills and Sutton Park. In the winter, there were debates, lectures, readings, talks with lantern slide shows on subjects such as 'democracy and art', 'business ethics from the Quaker standpoint', 'town planning in Germany', 'dirty air and its cures', 'economic and political conditions in Russia', 'work in the Internment Camp at Knockloe, Isle of Man', 'municipal work from a woman's point of view', 'life at Ruhleben internment camp' [Germany], 'labour unrest', 'Indian nationalism'. There were also dramatic performances, musical evenings and games.
During World War One, the Social Union decided to record the experiences of those in the armed forces, in the Friends Ambulance Unit, undertaking other war work or conscientiously objecting to the war and these can be found in SF/3/4/5/3/5/2.
The Social Union continued to organise social events along similar lines as above with a summer outing to the countryside or a local place of interest, an autumn social, a New Year party or Christmas lunch, visits to the theatre, whist drives, evenings of music, talks and games and a reminiscence evening. It continues today as the Social Committee and since 2006 activities have included visits to art exhibitions at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and other local galleries, theatre and concert trips, history walks, visits to local churches, houses and other sites of historic interest in Birmingham and the surrounding area, local country walks. From 2007 it has participated in Heritage Open Days, opening up Bull Street Meeting House for members of the public to visit. |