by Lostandfound 49 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
DanShanks - "Chelmsford is going to be a glorified old peoples home... Most donations now go to looking after aged Borg who want to have the best care ever in their old age."
Funny, I thought they were all planning to bugger off to South America or something if the WT went under.
I see Chelmsford being a huge expensive white elephant
I honestly don't see the point of Chelmsford - it's basically just a warehouse and a TV studio as well as a lot of residential buildings. Once the Society decided that no printing would take place there it kind of ceased to have any purpose but I guess they were already a couple of years down the line in planning and it gave them a "heaven sent" ( pun intended ) opportunity to cash in all their London properties.
With the Society basically being a real estate development company nowadays ( build with free labour - sell tax free - repeat ), you get the feeling it will be flipped in the short to medium term ( 10 or 20 years or so ) for a massive profit with everything being centred in Germany at Selters as a European HQ and the UK just having a token branch office ( or none at all. )
/\ /\ lets hope so.
sooner the better
At least they have one coloured person among the eight , when are they going to have a sister among the ranks after all sisters are among the 144000 that are going to rule with Jesus Christ in the heavens aren`t they .
Perhaps they are worried about the UK becoming under sharia law? but most likely planning stuff ups are due to the planners having at best a high school certificate as far as they are educated and have nil experience in the real world..
The new branch is overly luxurious
They have a health spa, sauna, steam room and amazing pool.
They have massagers and reflexologists for free treatments as much as you want.
All over 50s only have to 'work' half a day, then they go to relax and chat in the luxury facilities. The work is just meeting up for association and then time in offices web surfing and booking holidays I mean you have to use up you holiday and financial allowneces somehow.
They have all these fruit trees growing and each have a plot of fresh veg growing all managed by volunteers.
Its the best life ever for those who are able to go to the new Bethel,
Surrounded by really beautiful lands, landscaped and kept to a very high standard.
And say what you like about the JWs but they are very good association, so it really is the best life ever for the chosen few,
Chelmsford tours are on and apparently they are very underwhelming.
someone said they get to reception then walk outside if the weather permits and that’s it. The tour is over.
anyone who did tours in other Bethels will be very very disappointed. Especially if they travel a long way.
Its most run by commuters these days, volunteers working for free to keep those who live there in the luxury lifestyle they have been accustomed to
Chelmsford tours are on and apparently they are very underwhelming.
Everything about the org seems underwhelming these days, even for those who are still relatively PIMI.
I believe the branch relies a lot more on commuter workers now. I know a few pioneers who do that and they are so excited to be able to go to Chelmsford a few days a week and 'work' from home for the branch on other days (and of course it counts toward their 'hours'), but to me it sounds like Bethel taking even more advantage of the 'privileged' R&F. Not only do they get your free labour, but they don't even have to pay the cost of your bed and board. And they can dump you anytime, without the hassle of having to move you and your possessions out of the place.
Recently, one of those pioneers tried to "sell" the idea of returning to pioneering to me by saying, among other things, that the 'new' school schedule (which was cut from two weeks to just one) has "videos of the governing body" in it! Wow. Sign me up!
I never did visit the old Bethel at Mill Hill, but if I ever was going to visit it was then, not now. Back then there were at least impressive print works in place, with literature rolling off the production line.
Now all printing has moved to Germany (with the subsequent delays in shipping and processing of orders that you would expect from a sprawling organisation that is losing the efficiency it once had) and the original ambitious site plans were scaled back, so the new UK Bethel seems a big white elephant to me. (EDIT: I see from upthread jookbeard and dozy also had the same thoughts previously.)
Not only that, anyone from the UK (particularly the south of England) will tell you that Essex, and Chelmsford in particular, already had something of a poor reputation, being the butt of jokes, so the org relocating there, while it might have been a sound property move, has an added snigger factor!
There was a comedy series in 1988-1990 called Chelmsford 123 about the rivalry between invading Romans and occupied Britons set in the year 123 (of course) - maybe someone should make a parody of that based around the UK Bethel. Chelmsford 2023 - it's time!
