The three families, members of the Mennonite Church in their native Wisconsin, decided to uproot from their home in the USA and travel cross the Atlantic to found a new branch of the Church near Craven Arms, two years ago.
Money to support the new church and themselves comes from the manufacture and sale of a range of solid wooden furniture, which is now on show in a spacious unit on the middle level of the Darwin Shopping Centre.
One of the founders of the business is 50-year-old Mennonite Pastor Ken Witmer who journeyed to the UK from Wisconsin with his wife, Anna, also 50, and their six children. Back in the States they have four married daughters and five grandchildren.
Ken said: “We came over here with two other families from Wisconsin, which meant there were about 20 of us in total.
“We were all part of the Mennonite Church in the United States and we were asked to come over to establish a church or churches in England.
“We arrived in 2012 and set up what is now known as the Shropshire Hills Mennonite Church. We meet in the village hall at Aston-on-Clun and the church now has about 15 members.
“We chose to come to Shropshire for a number of reasons. We had many acquaintances in this country who were interested in our faith, and particularly the principle of home education for our children, and two of them lived in the Shropshire area.
“Another reason was that our people usually go for the quieter life, which Shropshire certainly provides, and the third reason is that, quite simply, it’s a lovely county.”
Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “We have been delighted to welcome Shepherd Hills Furniture here to the Shrewsbury Shopping Centres.
“They make very high quality furniture, often bespoke work, and they certainly add to the diverse retail mix we have here in Shrewsbury.”
Ken said: “The Mennonite Church has its origins in the 16th century in Switzerland and Friesland, in the north of what is now Holland.
“It is a Christian faith and the roots go back to the Anabaptists in Switzerland. We have a strong tradition of faith in Christ and His Word, non-resistance and living our faith.”
There are an estimated 1.7 million Mennonites worldwide and the Amish are an offshoot of the original Mennonite church. The name comes from Menno Simons, an influential early leader from Friesland.
Ken said: “All the furniture we sell is hand crafted at our workshop at Lydbury North, between Craven Arms and Bishop’s Castle.
“We rent a number of farm buildings on the Plowden Estate and have converted them into fully equipped workshops.
“Our main craftsman is Emanuel Martin, who is 38, and is part of one of the three families who came over from Wisconsin two years ago.
“He and his wife Kristine also have 10 children and some of them work on the furniture with their father. Two of my own sons, Randal, who is 18, and Linford, 16, help with the manufacturing side of things as well as Dirk Eberly, another craftsman.
“All our children have been educated at home according to our beliefs and the boys are properly apprenticed craftsmen.
“Both Emanuel and I bring long furniture-making experience to the business, as I’ve been doing it since 1984 and he’s also been in it for many years. However, I mainly now take care of the sales and accounting side of things at our showrooms in the Darwin Centre and at Craven Arms.
“We sell a full range of furniture which is a mixture of traditional and more modern styles, with the over-riding theme being Mission and Shaker styles. It’s predominantly made from oak – either American or English – and we also use beech and ash.
“We have dining tables and chairs, bedroom furniture such as chests, wardrobes and bedside tables, sideboards, coffee tables and rocking chairs.
“All our furniture is solid and built properly to last for many years.
“We also have a shop in Craven Arms but our new showroom in the Darwin Centre has a lot of footfall which you don’t tend to get there and is why we chose it.
“Since we opened we’ve had lots of positive feedback from customers and quite a bit of repeat business. A number of people have been back two or three times to buy items of furniture from us which is very encouraging.”
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