Welcome

All are welcome at our Meetings for Worship, which are held every Sunday from 10.30-11.30 at St Paul’s Community Centre, Arcot St, Penarth, CF641EU

Children's Meeting 1st and 3rd Sundays in the month (2nd and 4th Sundays, Cardiff Meeting).

For details please email: penarthlm@southwalesquakers.org

What is Quakerism?

Quakerism is a religious movement, which started in Britain in the mid 17th century, when some people, including our founder, George Fox, were looking for an alternative to the established church at the time. These ‘Seekers’ as they were known, wanted to be able to have a direct connection with the divine, rather than through a priest as an intermediary. The core values that emerged over time were, Peace, Truth, Equality and Simplicity, which we now refer to as our Testimonies and which we try to exemplify in the way we live our lives day to day. We have no clergy and our form of worship is also simple.

At the heart of our form worship is  silence, but out of that silence, anybody present may speak, if they are moved to do so. Such ‘spoken ministry’ is typically very brief and spontaneous, rather than prepared. We celebrate all forms of diversity and recognise that everybody’s journey will be different, but of equal value. Each of us will have different ways of expressing this and will be more or less comfortable with particular forms of language used to describe spiritual or religious experience. Right from the start, Quakers have maintained that all people have equal value, irrespective of gender, age or any other characteristics. We believe that there is ‘that of God’ in every person.

Why are we called Quakers?

‘Quakers’ is not our real name - it's a nickname given to us in the 17th century when Quakerism started. There are at least two stories about how this happened. One is that Friends when they stood to minister in Meeting for Worship, were so filled with fervour or nerves that they shook or quaked. Another is that George Fox (the founder of Quakerism) when appearing before Justice Bennett in 1650 told him to 'tremble (quake) at the word of the Lord' and the name 'Quakers' stuck. Our formal name; The Religious Society of Friends, is a bit longwinded - but even that is a shortened form of the original name, which was 'The Religious Society of Friends of the Truth'.

Your first time in a Quaker Meeting

If it is your first time in a Quaker Meeting, you will be offered verbal or written information and an explanation of Quaker worship, but you will not be put under any pressure to do or say anything that you are not comfortable with or to make any commitment to attend again. Here is a link to a leaflet published by Britain Yearly Meeting, the central body for Quakers in the UK 'Your First Time in Quaker Meeting'.

 

Individual experiences of Penarth Meeting

A short informal account from a local Friend about what it was like to attend her first meeting in Penarth. Click here

In September of 2018, I finally got up the courage to attend my first Quaker meeting in Penarth.

 

I had been interested in the Religious Society of Friends for a long time and had contacted Friends House in London for information and details of a local meeting. I had also visited Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, due to my association with another organisation.  I really enjoyed the peace and feeling of acceptance I found in Woodbrooke. I attended a Meeting for Worship there and discovered, much to my surprise, that I could sit in the quiet for half an hour!

 

I arrived at the venue in Penarth in good time and was welcomed to the meeting. Everyone settled into the silence AND THEN noise erupted from the pier, just down the hill from the venue - a heavy metal disco was thundering from the pier and motorbikes were roaring down the hill outside. Some of the music brought back happy memories from my student days. Apparently there was a motorbike rally that weekend! It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but somehow a sense of peace and stillness arrived.  There has never been a meeting like it since, but it was certainly a memorable experience. Since then I have regularly attended the Penarth Meeting and become a member of the South Wales Area Meeting. 

 

Since that first meeting, the Local Meeting has moved to a different venue, then onto ZOOM and now tentatively back to in-person meetings in a community garden. Even with all these changes, peace and stillness have been a common theme through all the meetings.

Community activities

Every so often on a Sunday afternoon after Meeting for Worship, we hold an informal discussion on an issue or theme of concern to Friends, after a shared or picnic lunch. Periodically, a one-off mid-week evening meeting (or a short series of linked meetings) are held in the homes of local Friends, to enable us to get to know one another better and discuss an issue in greater depth.

Organisation

Quaker meetings do not have any clergy. Responsibilities for organisational matters as well as spiritual and pastoral aspects are taken on by individuals within the meeting, who are appointed for a fixed period of time, before the responsibility passes to someone else. The main areas of responsibility are: Clerking, Eldership and Pastoral Care, Children and Young People, Treasurer and Trustee. The clerk of a Quaker Meeting has a coordinating role and also facilitates our business meetings.

Children and Young People

A children’s meeting for worship is run on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, if there are families with children present. The children and their parents or carers who attend regularly go to Cardiff Meeting on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. If there is a 5th Sunday in the month, there is usually an outing of some kind. All the adults present are either the parent of one of the children or a member of the meeting, who has an enhanced DBS check. Penarth LM follows the safeguarding policy for South Wales Area Meeting, which is based on a model devised by Quakers in Britain, in conjunction with the safeguarding organisation, Thirtyone:Eight.

 

Children and young people usually join the adults in worship for the first quarter of an hour and then leave with two adults for their own activities and worship, either indoors or in a nearby open space. Children’s worship will often link to the same concerns and values, which are important to adults Quakers, but are usually approached through creative and fun activities, as well as quiet time. In this way all those present are enabled share their spiritual journeys while building friendship and trust.

From one of the children

I find going to Quakers is enlightening. We begin with a quarter of an hour in silence together. There are books for children to read or you can just sit quietly, which I like because it is calming. Then we leave for children’s meeting. When the weather is nice, we often go outdoors, or we have our own room. We do lots of different things. They are usually interesting, particularly the parts about Quaker history. It is also fun to meet other children and play games with them. Making things is fun too. When the meetings join back together for the last ten minutes we share what has happened in the children’s and adults’ meetings. Sometimes it is quiet and sometimes there is a lot to think about. I often feel happier after I’ve been to meeting.