Quinton Local History Society has it taped

After the tremendous success of its first audiotape, Quinton Local History Society has commissioned another innovative gem. History Publications has once again produced a most interesting and absorbing item of history - a pageant of dramatic readings written by Michael Hall, one of Quinton’s local historians. Michael is an expert on Methodism and has written several books on the subject.

The title of the production is “Ravers, Ranters and Respectable Schoolboys” and boasts a cast of forty-four readers and singers. A booklet, giving a complete transcript of the presentation, accompanies the tape/CD.

The scene opens in the front parlour of Ambrose Foley’s farmhouse, Quintain Green, late in the eighteenth century. Landowner and maker of musical instruments, Foley has just returned from London where he has encountered Methodist preacher, John Wesley. Inspired by the experience, Foley starts a Methodist meeting in his own kitchen and invites Wesley to Quinton. This invitation proves to be a turning point in village history and leads to the building of Foley’s Chapel, Quinton’s first church.

A generation later William Stringer, a Primitive Methodist from Darlaston, arrives in Quinton to mission the village for the Ranters. Opposition and persecution meets him in the forms of stones and rotten eggs. Offered Monckton Barn for their meetings, the Ranters are disturbed by loud music but still manage to establish a Sunday school in the cowshed. Eventually a proper meeting house is built, so close to Foley’s Chapel that the congregation in one can hear that in the other singing. Discipline is strict and visits to the circus in Hales Owen forbidden.

By the end of the nineteenth century, a boarding school for the sons of Primitive Methodists, one of the only two such institutions in the country, is established in Quinton. Friday 24th July 1891 is Speech Day at Bourne College, when parents and boys are joined by a whole host of visiting dignitaries. George Middleton, the Governor, and Stuart Hooson, the Headmaster, exercise considerable influence in little Quinton, and villagers’ horizons are widened by the presence of boys who come from all parts of the country and across the world to be educated here.

A live performance of the work will take place on Tuesday 9th October, 2001 at 7.30pm in Quinton Methodist Church Hall (Opposite the ABC Cinema, Hagley Road West, Quinton). Entrance is £1 by ticket which can be obtained by phoning either Bernard Taylor on 0121-422-1792 or Michael Hall on 0121-421-6657. Admission for the evening includes refreshments and also a 50 pence reduction off the cost of the tape, which will be available on the evening.

“Ravers, Ranters and Respectable Schoolboys” is available as a cassette and booklet at £5, or as a double CD and booklet at £10.

Quinton’s first published dramatic production, “Meet the Quinton Ancestors of the Mid-1800s” will be on offer that evening at a special price of just £ 3.50 for a cassette and booklet (usually £5).