A Letter from House Morgain

10 May 2007

Dear CUPS,

This is a heartfelt thank you to some wonderful CUPS pioneers: Kim (whose grasp of the House Morgain project was instant and magical) and Chrissie, David, Gareth, Jon, Rhys and Steve. Every iota of your muscle-power, kindliness, and laughter has already sweated into the fabric of House Morgain, and your names will be part of it always.

Each person who steps over the threshold so far says ‘Oh WOW! I had no idea it was so awesome!’ so it seems that descriptions I’ve sent out are just not enough until you come here to see for yourself.  But to put you all in the picture just a bit here is what House Morgain temple is like.

The building is very easy to get to, in a tucked away street in Newport, looking towards the forested hills to the west. There are two floors, so myself and my family can live on the top floor with the ground floor providing spacious resources for meetings, handfastings, baby welcomings, memorials, workshops etc.  I own it outright without loans so it is very secure financially. I also have a bit of money saved for renovations this summer. It’s been in use as a social club so there is no problem with holding events here.

As a manor house it was originally built in 1580 by the same family who built Tredegar House.  Sadly a fire in the 19th century gutted a lot of its historical Tudor features. During the 20th century the ground floor was hugely enlarged. The result is MASSIVE – loads of space.

My plan – which C.U.P.S. has already started doing – is to strip it all down to bare plaster, paint in plain white or similar, and put in some oak beams to bring back its historical character. I’m also getting some old leaded windows, country oak doors, a lot of long velvet curtains and gothic style sconces.

There is a large Temple room – of course; plus a Dance/workshop room in front of it looking on the garden. Both these are having new oak floors put in.  At the back is a big room which will be a kitchen Refectory with big scrubbed oak tables and a Welsh dresser. There is a positively enormous L-shaped Lounge with comfy couches and coffee tables and a dining area, then big cloakrooms one of which will have a sauna in it. The Garden is quite a good size too.

As a new, unique kind of Pagan temple this is a huge project. It’s an open-minded one too, genuinely welcoming all Pagans, and the likeminded. As a huge project House Morgain now needs willing hands and brains to shape it, now and over the summer, as it is being born.  For anyone who doesn’t know how a new project develops the people who get stuck in early on and help out are the ones who naturally become those at the heart of the new network with a lot more say in how it’s all done. 

Please come to our regular Sunday workdays [Shan's asked us to note that the workdays aren't just on Sundays any more - there are usually people helping several days a week, so please get in touch with Shan if you'd like to come along. Andy] – though I am also free to see you most other days too if you arrange it with me. You don’t need much skill or knowledge to be useful and all levels of physical capacity can contribute. (If you know about electrics or plumbing you would be a wonderful gift right now.)  I provide food and drink all day and we end the workday having a friendly supper together. You’re welcome to stay over, arriving Saturday, if you’re travelling far.

Any questions please do contact me by email or phone.

Shan Morgain
House Morgain
Chelston Place NP20 5LX
01633  718726        shan@shansweb.co.uk

If anybody is interested in attending the workdays, either get in touch with Shan at 01633 718726 or on her email shan@shansweb.co.uk or contact Kim Huggens at kimhuggens@yahoo.co.uk to arrange to meet with the other regular Sunday Pagans!