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

Please note the building is wheelchair accessible with disabled toilet and lift.

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

For details please ring 07882545856

or
email: PenarthLM@southwalesquakers.org

What is Quakerism?

Quakerism started in Britain in the mid 17th century when some people, including our founder George Fox, were seeking an alternative to the established church. 

These ‘Seekers’, as they were known, wanted direct connection with God rather than through a priest as an intermediary. 

Over time, the core values of peace, truth, equality and simplicity emerged within this religious movement and came to be known as our Testimonies, We try to embody these values in the way we live our lives day to day.

A Quaker meeting for worship is based on silence, on gathering together in stillness. Out of that silence, anyone might be moved to stand and offer ‘spoken ministry’. These spoken contributions are typically few, brief, and spontaneous, rather than prepared. 

We recognise that each person’s life journey will be different and that people will be more or less comfortable with language used for describing spiritual or religious experience. We try to hear the meaning behind words and expressions, especially ones we might not choose ourselves.

From the beginning, Quakers have maintained that all people have equal value, irrespective of gender, age, or any other characteristics. We believe there is ‘that of God’ in every person.

Why are we called Quakers?

‘Quakers’ is a nickname that was given to us in the early years of the religious movement. There are at least two stories about how this happened. 

One is that when Friends stood to minister in Meeting for Worship, they were so filled with fervour or nerves that they shook or quaked. Another is that George Fox, on 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: The Religious Society of Friends of the Truth'

Your first time in a Quaker Meeting

You will be warmly welcomed, and someone will do their best to answer any questions you might have. This might include giving you a leaflet or two about the meeting or on an aspect of Quaker faith, which you are welcome to read during the meeting for worship if you wish. 

No-one will press you to commit to anything or to give more information about yourself than you are comfortable with. Friends will just be pleased that you have come along to give it a try on this occasion.

You may want to experience meeting for worship several times and talk to different people in the meeting before considering whether you would like to become more involved.

Community activities

Every so often after meeting for worship on Sunday, we have a shared or picnic lunch followed by an informal discussion on a topic or theme of interest to Friends. 

From time to time a one-off mid-week evening meeting is held in the homes of local Friends, to enable us to get to know one another better and discuss something in greater depth.

Organisation

Quaker meetings have no clergy. Practical and organisational matters as well as spiritual and pastoral aspects are undertaken voluntarily by Friends within the meeting, who are appointed for a fixed period before the responsibility passes to someone else. 

The main areas of responsibility in a local Quaker meeting are clerking, eldership and pastoral care, children and young people, and treasurer. 

The meeting clerk has a coordinating role and also facilitates our business meetings.

Penarth Meeting is one of the 12 local meetings that make up South Wales Area Meeting. The area meeting is part of Quakers in Wales and this in turn is part of Quakers in Britain.

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.

Children and Young People

This is held at the same time as the adult meeting on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month if there are families with children present. 

Children and their parents/carers who attend regularly go to Cardiff Meeting on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month, we usually arrange an outing of some kind. 

Adults present in the children’s meeting are either the parent of one of the children or a member of the meeting who has an enhanced DBS check. Penarth Quaker Meeting 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.

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.