A meeting house for Quakers is badly in need of refurbishment but they won't try to get money from the National Lottery. Why? Because they don't support state-sponsered gambling as Andrew Woodger reports.

Four facts about The Quakers: They've been in Bury St. Edmunds since 1682. They were treated with a lot of hostility. For instance two evangelical members George Harrison and Stephen Hubbersty were refused lodgings at any inn when they came to preach in Bury St.Edmunds. They initially fared better in Haverhill where they were taken in at a private house, but a mob demanded they leave, beating them up in the process. However, they don't dress like the chap on the porridge oats box anymore. But they do shun the Wednesday and Saturday night ritual of doing the National Lottery.

The friends meeting house on St. John's Street, Bury St Edmunds is in need of £200,000 for renovation and redesign work.

Most people in their position would instantly think of trying to get money from the National Lottery. However, Quakers elder Mary Pennock says that's not for them:

"Quakers do not feel comfortable applying for lottery funding because we see the lottery as state-sponsored gambling, " she said.

The Quaker Meeting House on St. John's Street

"We feel society has huge problems with debt. Many people become obsessed with the idea of instant lottery riches, usually the people who can least afford the tickets." adds Mary.

Since the lottery opened some people have called it a "tax on the stupid", whereas others argue it's harmless fun as long as you can afford the tickets.

The Quakers are going to have to try and raise the money from other sources. Mary Pennock acknowledges it will be a struggle: "Last year we raised £10,000 from a pantomime, an aqua festival and smaller events.

We are a fun-loving organisation, although people probably have an image of us being very austere and puritanical.

Quaker Mary Pennock

"We are a fun-loving organisation, although people probably have an image of us being very austere and puritanical."

So what goes on in a Friends Meeting House anyway?

At St. John's Street around 20 or 30 gather for their weekly meeting. They sit in silent contemplation until someone feels an urge to raise a topic, however there can be times when not a word is spoken!

If someone's meditation became very intense they could end up shaking, which is where the original "Quakers" nickname comes from.

The real name for the group is the Religious Society of Friends. The roots are in 1652, ten years after the outbreak of the English Civil War. It's not a Christian group and they were viewed as anti-authoritarian rebels by Oliver Cromwell's puritans.

One thing very much on the agenda these days is their pacifist anti-war stance. There are very strong links with the Suffolk4Peace group which held vigils outside Moyses Hall Museum in Bury St. Edmunds in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Even Mary Pennock admits to having a flutter in the past: "Yes, I bought one National Lottery ticket right at the beginning, but then I thought about my children being encouraged in their false dreams of quick riches and I haven't been down that road again since."

And with no lottery grants coming their way the first fund-raising event for the Meeting House revamp is a Chocolate and Books Day selling second hand goods at the Meeting House. That takes place on Saturday 27th March 9am-4pm.