The Bristol assembly hall scandel

by sleepy 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  bluesapphire

  My opinion is that the Society doesn't care how much money is spent or wasted on these places. The more extravagant, the higher dollar it's worth. For example, the marble floor that is now covered by carpet is still a marble floor worth $$$ if the society ever wanted to liquidate. The state of the art kitchen is another selling feature. The waterfall too.

  They don't give a toss about the money because it's not their money being wasted. It's the poor bros and sisters. What was that scripture about tying up heavy loads and being unwilling to use a finger to ease the burden. Yeah that one! Fits doesn't it.
• 

  termite 35

  Hi Slepy;

  I remember contributing to the place- but not the tree farce-what a bunch of idiots- It dos'nt sound as though many know about this- I wonder how they would all feel about 30,000 being wasted due to an inability to take advice?

  We were asked to contribute an extra 1 a week to the Bristol assembly Hall- then as time ticked by we kept getting 'encouragements' to contribute more and more per week or else construction could'nt start;this went on for AGES- some in the cong. could barely afford to give normally-without an added burdon of another 'debt'

  Before that we used to use a school 12 miles away-I never went to Bristol;everytime it was assembly weekend I had to make some excuse- the thought of 40 miles there and back in a day- then repeat... with 3 children?No thanks.

  Did it look cheap in the end then?

  There was an experience that was used to try to tempt me to go, of a study who smoked; she went to Bristol and went into the bathroom for a sneaky fag, but could'nt smoke as the loos were SO BEAUTIFUL and SO CLEAN!!! She could'nt defile those holy loos, and gave up on the spot! Hallelulah, it was such a wonderful place, even those toilets gave a good witness!!!

  I still did'nt go;I heard there was no where to smoke.
• 

  anglise

  Sorry cant help with any info on Bristol.

  We were involved with the Surrey Assembly Hall.

  Spent lots of time and effort helping with that one. Again a lovely stainless steel kitchen fully equipped was unused when the new "simplified arrangement" came in.

  I do remember with that one that quite a number of brothers involved in the build formed a business - called Greenfields I think - and proceeded to sell their services and goods to the project. I know their was a lot of bad feeling over this from some of the more honest ones, but I dont know all the details.

  Now they are forever refurbishing parts of it even though they tell the r&f dubs to "keep their eye simple"etc.

  Another annoying part was the nicely laid out grounds that were flaunted prior to the project taking off as areas which would be nice to walk and picnic in during the lunchtime break, but that never happened. At every assembly the moring announcements always included the instructions to stay of the grass and not let your children on there either. You could of course promenade around the carpark!!

  What stinks is that we all helped pay for these structures!!

  Anglise
• 

  waiting

  Back over in the states, I was assigned to the Salisbury, NC Assembly Hall. I live in South Carolina, and all of us have been driving 3.5 hr to and then home from our assemblies for 10 yrs now.

  As with the other assembly halls mentioned - lovely, stainless steel kitchen & dining room - never been used. The walk-in refrigerator was a monster - and never been plugged in. There was installed metal cafe style tables in a park surrounding outside. Quite lovely, and again - never used. The landscaping was awesome - including the pond with swans. Too bad nobody was allowed to actually walk around the pond, as they didn't put steps nor walk to it.

  If we didn't bring our own food both days, we had to drive 20 min. to the nearest local restaurant (and then back) and hope we could get seated right away & eat fast. Lol, then the loving elders started announcing we should have a good breakfast, skip lunch so we can socialize (and be back on time), then have a not-too heavy dinner (so we wouldn't be late the next morning.)

  What a waste of all those years.

  waiting
• 

  Matty

  Again a lovely stainless steel kitchen fully equipped was unused when the new "simplified arrangement" came in.

  Exactly the same thing happened at Dudley Assembly hall as Hayes Bridge by the way! I worked on both Bristol and Dudley projects, but I found the waste of money at Dudley more shocking there than anywhere else I've ever been. I will tell the full story when I'm out.
• 

  termite 35

  I will tell the full story when I am out...

  Now there's a positive attitude Matty!!!!! I look forward to it!!!!
• 

  LeslieV

  I also went to the Henrietta assembly hall for years. My husband and myself gave many parts on the assembly. I could not believe how silly those floors were. I have three very small children and was always afraid they were going to kill themselves on those floors. But they were beautiful. They brought the marble in from W. Va. if I remember correctly.

  I also remember everyone filling their cars up with cheap food or throwing it all away. That was another waste.

  Leslie
• 

  abbagail

  This was a very interesting thread! And hey, fellas, this chick actually WORKED at the Quick Builds, four of them that I can count. One of the elders in our cong had his own masonry business so he kept his wife and the rest of us busy with the bricks, carrying cement, cleaning the excess cement out of the "grooves" after the men laid the bricks, etc. It was much more fun that working in the food lines.

  I've only seen one assembly hall and it was built way back in the 80's, with the SS kitchen you guys describe, no marbel that I recall, but a solarium, tile mural, etc. So why can they not use the decorative interior water fountains any more?

  From what the men here describe, I wonder how slip-shod the work actually was on these Halls. I had my "wordly dad" who had been in construction all his life, come and videotape the entire weekend at one of the halls. And he was impressed, as he only intended to stay like 2 hours, and he stayed all day both days, taping and interviewing everybody. But if they weren't constructing things properly, I would have thought he would notice and would have made derogatory comments.

  That story of the bible study who quit smoking on the spot due to the fancy toilets -- LOL! Guess I need to go back ASAP and stand over a toilet so I can get off these smokes myself!

  As I said, very interesting reading gang!

  Grits