THE MEETING PLACE
We may or may not have decided this beforehand. Not once or twice, brethren on holiday have taken advantage of their circumstances to bear witness to the Truth on a well-stocked beach, with an audience which is often a good deal less distracted than those found in open-air sites elsewhere. If we are preaching (as on campaigns) in such a place, the water-front may well be the best place we can find, or could wish for. One of the essentials of outdoor work, in this matter of venue as in others, is ability to take advantage of a favourable situation swiftly, and more than once it has come about that a likely spot has been exploited without prior arrangement of time and place.

If such opportunities are likely to arise, we can cover them beforehand by obtaining general permission from the local chief of police, and in any case this permission is best obtained for the places we know we intend to use. It is generally given quite readily. Sometimes official caution prompts noncommittal replies: that permission cannot be given but will not be withheld; which generally means that the police wish to retain the liberty to ban the meeting if they see it, in which case it is safe to go ahead.

Generally, a site deliberately chosen must be either central, or a general place of resort. Parks and the like come under the latter head, but apart from recognized debating grounds such as Hyde Park and Clapham Common, it is not usual to find that we are permitted to use these places. The former then becomes necessary. The people will not often follow to hear us, and we must therefore be near where they pass. That makes our choice fall upon Market Places, or less salubrious spots such as temporarily disused car-parks and pieces of waste ground. If they are on main roads, or very close to them, they will be well-frequented but insufferably noisy, and it is a rare blessing to come upon a place which is happily cut off from wheeled traffic by kerbs, or " pedestrian only " paths or rows of charitable posts, and yet a public thoroughfare of consequence. We must take the best we can get: some towns have places regularly chartered for the purpose, and some do not. In either case we do well to prospect on our own account and make our own opportunities, rather than rely only on facilities, which we may be able to better, or be defeated by their absence.