Taunton Quaker Meeting

15/12/2023

WEDNESDAY 20TH DECEMBER SILENT VIGIL FOR PEACE IN TAUNTON HIGH STREET 11.30 TO 12.15
ALL WELCOME BUT NO BANNERS OR FLAGS.
MORE INFO: [email protected]

11/06/2023

Loving Earth Exhibition at the Meeting House in Bath Place from 17th to 24th June. Come and be inspired.

16/05/2023

24/10/2022

This exhibition is at the Meeting House in Taunton from 31st October to 5th November. Come along if you can.

21/10/2022

TThis exhibition will be in Taunton Quaker Meeting House in Bath Place in the week of 31st October to 5th November, Free admission. All welcome.

13/05/2022

Quakers alarmed by Queen's Speech

Quakers in Britain have responded to the new policies and legislation set out in the Queen's Speech.

The announcements are nowhere near enough to tackle the acute crises of climate and cost of living. The UK needs urgent action to bring about a just transition from fossil fuels to a fair and sustainable economy and society.

The government is weakening UK democracy and human rights. We are alarmed by proposals for a Bill of Rights and new police powers to restrict protests. We are campaigning for the right to boycott in light of a proposed new law to stop public bodies from divesting from unethical companies.

We welcome the ban on so-called conversion therapy, and will continue asking for it to be as comprehensive as possible.

Paul Parker, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain, said:

"We seek a world which is peaceful and just. Yet our government is focusing on centralising power and winning the culture war, rather than tackling the key challenges of our time. As Quakers we refuse to be drawn into wars, cultural or otherwise, and instead work to address their causes. We will continue collaborating with politicians from all parties and others of good faith to tackle the causes of injustice and promote a more compassionate politics and society."

13/05/2022

We meet each Sunday at 10.30 for an hour in person and on zoom on the 1st,3rd,4th and 5th Sundays. We also hold a shorter in person Meeting from 6.00 to 6.40 on the 1st and 3rd Sundays. All are welcome.

30/01/2022

We are pleased that we no longer require pre-booking for attending Meeting for Worship in the Meeting House although we request that face coverings are worn while moving round the building and keep a record of those attending.
We hold Meeting for Worship in the Meeting House from 10.30 to 11.30 every Sunday and also on zoom except on 2nd Sundays in the month. We also have a Sunday evening meeting on the 1st and 3rd Sundays from 6.00 to 6.40 in the Meeting House. All are welcome.

10/11/2021

Climate change isn’t just in the future – floods, wildfires and drought are already destroying people’s homes, lands and livelihoods.

Fossil fuel companies caused
this crisis – and they must pay for the damage.

WE NEED AN INTERNATIONAL LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND NOW.

JOIN A SILENT CANDLELIT VIGIL IN TAUNTON HIGH STREET ON THURSDAY 11TH NOVEMBER BETWEEN 5 AND 6

01/11/2021

COP 26 STATEMENT FROM BRITAIN YEARLY MEETING

"Our faith does not permit us to stand by": Quakers' statement ahead of COP26

Quakers in Britain are calling for just solutions to the climate crisis and encouraging Friends to join the global day of action on Saturday 6 November, in a statement published in advance of the UN COP26 climate negotiations.

The statement draws on minutes from this summer's Yearly Meeting Gathering – Quakers' decision making body – as well as suggestions from young Friends and from Meeting for Sufferings. It calls for loss and damage finance and a global just transition beyond fossil fuels, and clearly articulates a core principle of climate justice: “Rich countries like the UK have done the most to cause the climate crisis, and owe the rest of the world an immense 'climate debt'."

We are part of a mass movement of people that will not be defeated.
- Statement from Quakers in Britain

As well as criticising the UK government's approach to climate action and its broken promises around access to COP26, the statement is a call to action for Friends, for “[o]ur faith does not permit us to stand by while the splendour of the world is destroyed for short-term profit." It invites Friends (as Quakers refer to each other) to join a meeting for worship on Sunday 31 October as COP26 begins, as well as the global day of action for climate justice on Saturday 6 November.

On 6 November, Quakers will be joining the 'faith and belief bloc' as part of the marches in Glasgow and London, to which everyone is welcome. Marchers in Glasgow are invited to gather at the Stewart Memorial Fountain in Kelvingrove Park at 11.30am, while the faith and belief bloc in London will be meeting outside St Michael Cornhill Church on Cornhill at noon. Both marches will conclude with a rally from 3.00-4.00pm, on Glasgow Green and in Trafalgar Square. Glasgow and Westminster meeting houses will be open for people to drop in for hot drinks.

Olivia Hanks, Economics & Sustainability Programme Manager for Quakers in Britain, said: “COP26 is a huge moment for the UK climate movement, and Quakers around the country are very much part of that. It has been amazing to see such creativity and passion for climate justice as Quakers prepared for COP26. They have been involved in pilgrimages, vigils, banner making, political advocacy, knitting, and all kinds of other actions to build a strong movement and call on our governments to take this crisis seriously.

“As today's statement says, Quakers cannot and will not stand by and see everything we love destroyed. We know COP26 will not deliver climate justice – this is a long struggle. But when we take action together, we are powerful, and we are part of a mass movement of people that will not be defeated."

Read the full statement here (PDF)., watch and share the statement video below.

To receive updates about the Glasgow and London marches, please sign up to our email list for the event..

Read the full statement (PDF).

21 October 2021
Share this article:

23/09/2021

A number of West Somerset Quakers took part in a relay pilgrimage from Spiceland Meeting House to Wellington and Taunton then on to Bridgwater on 17th/18th September to highlight the need to climate justice in advance of COP26 in Glasgow in November. We were joined at some points by members of other churches. We hope all will support actions to ensure the outcome we must have for the future of our planet

22/08/2021

Skip to main content

Quakers in Britain
Search
Donate

Home
About Quakers
Our work
Our organisation
News and events
Children & young people
Resources
Giving
Contact us

Home
News and events
News
Quakers commit to becoming an anti-racist faith community

Quakers commit to becoming an anti-racist faith community

Stirring and sensitive ministry describing how racism feels, led Quakers in Britain to commit to becoming an actively anti-racist faith community.
laptop screen shows Epistle plus red Qf&p and mug
Reflections and decisions from YMG 2021, summed up in the Epistle. (Photo Nik Dadson)

Together online, hundreds of Quakers listened to each other's experience. Quakers refer to each other as Friends. A Friend of Colour spoke in ministry: “All I have ever wanted for the longest time is to feel equal, and again, here in this room, I don't. I hear people talk all week about George Floyd but we are here now, in the UK, in your meetings, feeling like outsiders every day. This is not the experience I was promised."

Earlier, trustees and senior management had made a statement that “Tackling racism is a spiritual imperative of our time and this affects our understanding and communication of Quaker history, and how Quakers live now."

All I have ever wanted for the longest time is to feel equal, and again, here in this room, I don't.
- A Friend ministering at Yearly Meeting 2021

And, “We are committed to grounding our anti-racism work in the Quaker faith: listening to the spirit; recognising each person is unique, precious and a child of God; praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand."

Quakers around the country related their experience of responding to racism.

Junior Yearly Meeting recorded a minute which said, “As Quakers we need to understand that we are not exempt from racism because we wish to be anti-racist – it is our actions that will make a difference, not our intentions, since racism is so systemic that it's often subconscious."

Acknowledging current failings, a minute from Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021 recorded, “As a religious society we are still failing to live up to our testimony on equality and we have been deeply moved by honest ministry about these failings. There is white privilege in our community, and there is work to do. As a body we must seek to inhabit feelings of shame and discomfort."

“We declare our commitment to becoming an actively anti-racist faith community. We are still wrestling with what this means for us."

More than 2,000 registered for Yearly Meeting 2021, the annual governing body of Quakers in Britain. Events over three weeks moved online because of Covid-19 regulations. Quakers in Britain considered the theme of “For our comfort and discomfort; living equality and truth in a time of crisis" and made key decisions:

Made a commitment to becoming an actively anti-racist faith community
Lovingly acknowledged and affirmed the trans and gender diverse Friends in Quaker communities and
Committed to redoubling their faith-based action for climate justice.

The full Epistle of the Yearly Meeting 2021 can be read here.

18 August 2021
Share this article:
Media information

Anne van Staveren

Media Relations Officer

Quakers in Britain

020 7663 1048

07958 009703



[email protected]

Find a meeting
About Quakers
Our work
Our organisation

News & events
Children & young people
Modern slavery statement
Jobs

Blog
Giving
Safeguarding
Yearly Meeting

Contact us
Newsletters
Connect with us

Twitter Facebook

Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

Telephone: 020 7663 1000

Registered charity number: 1127633

Privacy policy

Version 0.11.0