ANTON U3A QUESTERS

VISIT TO WELLS CATHEDRAL AND BISHOP’S PALACE AND GARDENS

WEDNESDAY 03 July 2024

A visit is planned to the Wells Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace and Gardens on Wednesday 03 July 2024.

Once we arrive at Wells Cathedral we will have a short comfort break and a one-hour general highlights guided tour will commence at 11:15. The Cathedral does have a café, the Loft Café, which offers a variety of snacks and light meals. Participants will be able to choose this or one of several nearby venues for lunch. After lunch we will gather at the adjacent Bishop’s Palace and Gardens where we will commence a guided tour of the buildings and gardens at 14:00 for one hour.

This will be a minibus trip and we should all meet at Wickes carpark by 08:45 for departure before 09:00. The drive is expected to take at least 1 ½ hours. The return trip will depart from Wells by 15:30 and we expect to return to Wickes carpark shortly after 17:00.

Should the number of members wishing to book this outing exceed the capacity of the minibus (16 passengers), we will consider accommodating some in a self-drive option (assuming there are willing derivers able to offer lifts). The cost of the outing for those traveling by car will be adjusted accordingly.

Suitable, comfortable footwear is essential for this activity. Please also bring a coat as we will be outside for parts of the tour.

The cost of the visit is £28 per person which includes transport, joint entry ticket and guided tours at both venues. It does not include lunch and other refreshments. Names will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis.

Final details will follow nearer the date, but in the meantime all members who wish to join this visit should advise the organiser :

Cecil Rose     cecilrose1@gmail.com            0794 336 3350

Payment to be made to the Treasurer at

Anton U3A (Business Account)              Sort code 40-08-28               Account 7158 7986

As a reference, please indicate what the payment is for and follow this with your membership number.

Eg         Wells 36 & 37

Your number is shown on your membership card for 2024/25 – if you do not have this, please contact the Membership Secretary or Treasurer.

A party of 25 was warmly greeted by the Mosque Secretary, Mr Zahir Ahmed at the entrance where we were invited to remove our shoes and place them on a rack. Fortunately, they had underfloor heating!  The ladies also had to cover their hair.

We were ushered into a largish room to be seated for a general talk and question and answer session by Mr Ahmed   followed by an explanation of the 5 basic pillars of Islam, namely belief in one God and his messenger Mohamed, prayer, pilgrimage (hajj), almsgiving and fasting, from the Chief Imam.  Basic beliefs in the Old Testament, but an earlier version to the one we may be familiar with and the Koran both written in unchanging Arabic were compared to the various editions of the Bible. Apparently the Mosque caters for more than 30 different nationality groups who live or work in the Southampton area.

The mosque is named after Abu Bakr, the closest colleague to the Prophet, and they follow Sunni teachings which is the original version of the faith.

We were provided with a very acceptable lunch at a very modest price and then shown the pre-prayer washing procedure necessary to prepare the faithful for prayer.  There are separate washing facilities for men and women and the sexes also have separate prayer sessions.  The ladies were dressed all in black with flowing gowns and complete covering of head/hair.

Immediately following the washing procedure we were able to witness prayers.     The prayers were attended by men of about 16 or older and there was a fair number of young men present.  Prayers in Arabic lasted about 15/20 minutes and seemed to follow a pre-set programme.   Shortly after, the visit concluded.

Throughout the visit our hosts could not have been more welcoming or hospitable and did everything possible to make our visit both interesting and enjoyable.

Norma Bryan