Newcomers

We have lifted Covid restrictions at the Meeting House. There is provision for social distancing and please feel free to wear a mask if you are more comfortable with this.

When you come in, you can sit anywhere. Some people will be sitting quietly in a gathered silence while the Meeting settles. If you arrive a bit later (or very much later!), don’t worry – you will still be very welcome. Just go in through the blue door, the inner glass door and turn right and you will see us. Sit down quietly and join us in worship. Our worship is blended, so there is a large television screen in the room showing the faces of our friends joining us on Zoom.

The wood-panelled meeting room is tranquil and calm. The room is not consecrated and there is no altar or any religious symbols. The seats face inward to a central table on which there are flowers, a Bible, and a copy of Quaker Faith and Practice. Anyone can use these books, or some people will have brought their own.

Worship

Worship is for an hour. In that time we are gathered in a shared community, connecting with each other and God, the ‘divine’, or the ‘spirit’.  We seek to be still and centred. Someone may be inspired to speak on Zoom or in the Meeting House (maybe you!). This is called ministry. We are encouraged to stand when we can to minister and leave a pause between ministry for reflection. Listen with an open mind and try to understand the spirit behind the words. If you come to Meeting with something on your mind, you can share it without saying anything.  Meeting will uphold you and hold you in the light.

The end of the Meeting is marked by two Elders shaking hands and others will do the same. If you prefer, you can use the 'Namaste' gesture to greet others.

Children

A Children’s Meeting for those under 11 is held on some Sundays. Two DBS checked adults will have organised a topic which we aim to be fun and spiritually nourish both adults and children.  Teens are welcome to join the main meeting.  Please ask about other activities for teenage children. We welcome children and parents, and the ministries and needs they bring to our meeting. 

After Meeting

After Meeting, a member of the pastoral care team will ask about absent friends and welcome you. It is lovely if you can introduce yourself but need not. An Elder will then give notices about activities coming up in the area. If you are attending on Zoom, you will be invited to join a break out room to chat with four or five others. If you are in the Meeting House, you can chat with others there. 

We offer tea or coffee and biscuits in the Common Room after Meeting, which can be enjoyed in the garden or inside. Please feel free to ask any questions  and find out more about us.

You will not be contacted by us after the meeting unless you tell us that you would like to be. Please let anyone know if you would like to know more, or get in touch with us later using the contact form on our website

Other Useful Links

Our national website Quakers in Britain describes how Quakers worship. 

Woodbrooke is an international Quaker learning and research organisation based in Britain. They offer opportunities for online Quaker worship which are in addition to our Local and Area Meetings. These may be of interest. They also provide information on what to expect at an online Quaker meeting.

Two quotes

• “For me the focused, expectant silence of the meeting was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Birdsong or traffic noises would mingle with the occasional cough, or creak of a seat, within the room. And after perhaps 10 minutes there would be a sense of the silence deepening – like a coastal shelf falling away beneath our feet. A profound, inner stillness would descend as fidgeting diminished and superficial sounds receded into the background.” (The singer Tom Robinson)
• "We offer a spiritual journey: a journey that is undertaken with others in our meeting, and which is reflected in turn in their journeys. We offer a faith which is based on personal experience and which contains no dogma – Quakers do not believe what they are told. We offer a spiritual life in which belief is shown through action, so it follows that there is no dotted line on which you have to sign. We are a faith which readily acknowledges and welcomes its Christian roots and remains open to new light from wherever it may come. We offer the still waiting on God of our Meeting for Worship. We offer our testimonies – particularly the Testimony to Equality from which everything else stems. We offer the transforming power of silence." (Geoffrey Durham, a Quaker)