In this case, on the stewards and trustees, a handful of dignitaries, a crowd of nearly 200 and the local media at The New Room, Bristol, for the grand opening of their new garden and Wesley Day (24 May) Service at The New Room, Bristol. A drab, grey and pretty uninviting cobbled yard has become a green oasis with box boards around herbs and gently waving birch trees. To quote John Wesley (actually then speaking about his London chapel in City Road), it's 'neat but not fine': it's not ridiculously showy, but totally appropriate to the space and makes a welcoming and attractive approach to the chapel. It's evocative of the chapel's past, but contemporary and flows naturally into the very modern shopping plaza beyond (perhaps unsurprisingly when both were landscaped by the same company).
I arrived early, before the gates were shut to the public for 
preparations to begin for the official ceremony, which focused on unveiling new carvings of Wesley's sayings around the foot of the famous statue of him on his horse.
Both gates into the multimillion pound Broadmead shopping centre were open and I witnessed passersby stopping to read the commemorative plaque outside the building - I don't recall either of those things before - and a few people came in, sat on the benches with sandwiches, made phone calls and just enjoyed the sunshine. Already this is a place of refreshment and relaxation, a calm in the storm of shopping frenzy: I think Mr Wesley would approve.
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