July 2010 - News & Updates

This has been a good month for the Union Meeting House. The response to membership solicitation packet which was sent out in mid-May was encouraging results and the money people have sent in is much appreciated. Even if you did not receive a letter but wish to do so please contact us at the address below. If you are interested in volunteering
to do simple, easy things at the Meeting House we’d love to hear from you.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ann Harriman and Joshua Long who were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Meeting House on June 4th. We wish them a long and happy life together.

AND MORE CONGRATULATIONS to our neighbor, St. Andrews Episcopal Mission,which will be
celebrating its 50th anniversary very shortly. The UMH Board extends its sincere best wishes on reaching this important milestone.

With the flurry of envelopes coming in with membership donations it was surprising, one day, to get a notice from the Post Office that there was a box waiting for the UMH. In it was a membership check but also, carefully wrapped in tissue, a delicate, tiny teacup with a picture of the Union Meeting House on its side. It was sent by Rev. and Mrs. Peter Bridges. He was, some may remember, the first fulltime pastor when the five Readfield churches were united in 1961. The little cup was made by a transfer process in Germany at the turn of the last century. It has a piece of tape on the bottom stating it was a gift in 1907 “To Laura from Oremell (or Cremell) Hunton. Of course, Hunton is a good Readfield name but who was Oremell and who was Laura? The transfer was
obviously taken from a postcard in the UMH collection (gift of Holly Dumaine) that shows the exact same scene, even to the size of the trees on the lawn, which today are monster maples. Of course everyone recognizes that the cup and postcard show the Brick Church’s original spire on top of the steeple. It blew down in December 1916 and the current dome was built to cap the big hole that resulted. The Meeting House thanks Rev. Peter and Mary Ellen Bridges, who now live in Burlington, Vt., for remembering
their years in Readfield by this delicate gift.