Watchtower at Bilbster – team effort put in to build place of worship
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Motorists on the A882 may have noticed the sight of a building that is quickly taking shape close to the road at Bilbster and wondered what was being constructed.
Jehovah's Witness Dave Edwards showed the Caithness Courier around the construction site and said that a place of worship, called a Kingdom Hall, is being built there.
"It was just a plain green field that was acquired 10 years ago and planning permission came through some time back with the eventual building of the Kingdom Hall," he said.
"The congregation in Wick had expanded and the place of worship we use at the moment on Glamis Road is rather old, it used to be the old Co-op. Many Kingdom Halls are being built and older ones being refurbished up and down the country and, indeed, worldwide."
Dave said that the groundwork was done by a small team but that there were 30 people working at the site when we visited – a mix of men and women of different ages. "There will be other skills needed as we go along, such as plumbers and electricians, and we may have up to 40 on site."
Incredibly enough, all involved in the construction are Jehovah's Witnesses and, though some are local, there are others who have travelled miles to be at the site. Part of the organisation behind it is called Local Design and Construction (LDC) which involves a "pooling of resources" using volunteer worshippers who have logged their skills on a global database. "When your particular skills are needed you'll be called upon. For instance, we have people come up from Alness and there is a couple from Milton Keynes who have come up for a few days because they have the skills we can call on."
There is training for people driving diggers and other large machines and Dave says that many of the women working there show great skills in this area. Some people stay with other worshippers locally while others come up in campervans or stay in hotels. "A lot will make a bit of a holiday of it and it's a great way to forge friendships in a unique situation that last forever."
Dave calls himself a "willing volunteer" and says his particular area of expertise is in electronics which will be utilised when the sound and AV systems are put in. The finished building will seat 80 and is described as a "public building where everyone is welcome" – it will also be used as a teaching centre.
"We also build huge assembly halls with many more working there. Someone may arrive on site and we train them to a level of competency where they can drive diggers safely and use these skills elsewhere."
Dave retired from the NHS as a biomedical engineer and moved to Caithness four years ago from the Cotswolds. He says he has been involved in 30 to 40 Kingdom Hall refurbishments or builds.
Site foreman, Josh Dennis, says he works all over the country on Kingdom Hall builds and will move on after this project is completed. "We've put the floor in and are starting the brickwork for the superstructure," said Josh.
"Hopefully, we'll be done by the end of the year. There will be good views of it from people driving in both directions; and they'll be more than welcome to stop in and get the contact details of Witnesses in the area. There will be also an open day at some point." He says that there may be up to 200 people involved in the construction of the building.
Josh pointed out a website called jw.org which has more information on the Witnesses. The website says that its followers want to honour the God of the Bible and the Creator of all things. "We do our best to imitate Jesus Christ and are proud to be called Christians," it further states. "Each of us regularly spends time helping people learn about the Bible and God’s Kingdom. Because we witness, or talk, about Jehovah God and his Kingdom, we are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses."
And, once complete, Dave says that anyone driving past who sees the new building, and completed landscaping around it, will be more than welcome to come in and learn more and pick up a copy of The Watchtower, a magazine produced by Jehovah's Witnesses which has a circulation of 36.3 million per issue and is produced in 419 languages.
