A very warm welcome to Southampton Quaker Meeting
Join us at the Meeting House or online every Sunday from 10:45am to 11:45am
zoom login is via the events page, the buttons only become live on the day of each event
A Quaker meeting creates a space of gathered stillness.
We come together where we can listen to the promptings of Truth and Love in our hearts, which we understand as arising from God. Our meetings are based on silence: a silence of waiting and listening. But that does not mean nothing is happening.
"The waiting and listening become an act of sharing"
We are caught up in the still spirit of the meeting, and all of us are trying to come nearer to each other and to God, without reciting creeds, singing hymns or repeating set prayers. The waiting and listening become an act of sharing. In the quietness of a Quaker meeting we seek to become united in love and strengthened in truth, so we enter a new level of living, despite the different ways we may account for this life-expanding experience.
"This experience transforms the way we live"
For Quakers, faith is about our direct and inward experience of what is most real and true for us, and how this experience transforms the way we live. We believe that the deepest experience is best found through stillness and waiting rather than liturgy or ceremony; that it is something to be lived out rather than described or defined by creeds. As Quakers we try to be ‘open to new light’, from wherever it may come. This means being open to the new opportunities and possibilities offered to us by our own experience. It also means being open to the insights and understandings of others.
Meetings in the community room at October Books.
As well as our regular weekly meetings every Sunday morning at the Meeting House in Ordnance Road, we also hold a mid-week meeting 6.15pm to 7pm on the third Wednesday of every month, in the community room at the back of October Books in Portswood High Street. This is a small friendly group, with an opportunity afterwards to stay and chat over tea and biscuits.
Meetings at Southampton University
We hold an informal period of about thirty minutes quiet time every Monday from 1pm during term time. We meet in the upper room at the University Faith and Reflection Centre (FRC) which is in the Nuffield Theatre, Highfield Campus. There is time for catch up, mutual support and spiritual exploration over a cup of tea afterwards.
Undergrads, postgrads and University staff have said how much they value this opportunity for stillness and community. Alongside other faiths, it feels a real privilege to be in a position to help anyone who calls into the FRC for whatever reason. We are there to listen.
Meetings in Romsey
Southampton Meeting supports Romsey Quakers , who meet at the premises of Carers Together in Love Lane on the second and fourth Sundays of every month, from 10:45. Meetings last for about an hour, with time for tea, coffee and conversation afterwards.
Romsey Friends are actively involved in the ecumenical work of their local churches together group, find out more here.
Assistance dogs are welcome.
We are easily accessible by bicycle, at the southern end of cycle route SCN5. There are numerous places nearby to lock your bike, including the Meeting House front railings (please allow room for wheelchair access).
By public transport, Southampton Central station is a 16 minute walk away.
Unilink buses U1 and U2 stop nearby on London Road, as do Bluestar buses 1 and N1. See here for more info on getting to the Meeting House by bus.
By car, there is on street parking with meters right outside the Meeting House, and a long stay carpark just across the road.