John Betjeman would have demurred (being the staunch protector of Victoriana/Edwardiana that he was) but our nostalgic relationship with elderly Quaker buildings might be undergoing a modernising influence.

Friends Hall in Walthamstow has just been sold by its owners, London & Middlesex Quaker Service Trust, for near on £1m. It was acquired 103 years ago for community projects in the (then) new suburb of Walthamstow. The Bedford Institute Association (now Quaker Social Action) carried the work forward, developing the ideas of the Adult School movement. One of the Hall's wardens was the distinguished pioneer of adult education, Ray Lamb, who was a Quaker. Ray's enthusiasm for adult life-long learning made the Walthamstow centre known throughout Europe.

Walthamstow Friends met in the hall from the start until they bought their own Meeting house in 1998, but the Quaker role in adult education ceased in 1972, when the local authority took over and ran services from there. Now Waltham Forest has centralised services for adults and Friends Hall has been empty for a year. The hall's new owner is the Emanuel Christian Church, a vigorously growing local church which wants to expand its community activities.

Rod Harper, the London & Middlesex Quaker Service Trust clerk, tells us 'another Quaker building has gone but it frees us up to do other things with the money. It may be a good thing to lose some of our 19th century defunct buildings.'