Dorchester Quaker Local Meeting
All events take place in the Meeting House in Holloway Road unless otherwise specified. Please see other pages of the website for directions.
Meeting for Worship each Sunday in the Meeting House 10.30am All Welcome.
Worship is followed by informal time together over tea and coffee in the kitchen at the meeting house.
February 2025
2nd February Meeting for Worship at 10.30 followed by Local Quaker Business Meeting from 12 noon until 1pm. All are welcome to attend this meeting. Please see your email inbox for the reports and agenda for this meeting.
9th February Meeting for Worship at 10.30
15th February (Saturday) Day workshop in the Dorchester Quaker Meeting House on the subject of an event entitled Future of British Quakerism. It will be led by some Friends and an Attender who attended a conference of that name in October 2024. The Area Meeting appointed Alex R of Salisbury LQM to attend and she did so in person. The AQM also appointed Jeni E of Bridport LQM who attended online. Others attended in a personal capacity. This event will run from (tea and coffee from 9.30) 10 am and finish by 2.00 pm. Please bring your own packed lunch. Tea and coffee will be available.
16th February Meeting for Worship at 10.30
19th February (Wednesday) Mid Week Meeting for Worship 12.30 to 1 followed by shared lunch ending at 2pm (bring food to share) led by the Eldership and Pastoral Care Friends.
23rd February 9.15 bring and share breakfast meeting (please bring food to share) with discussion on the subject of peace, particularly the work of Ukraine and Georgian Friends on conscientious objection followed by Meeting for Worship at 10.30
28th February Friendship and Frolics (F&F) at 5.55 pm in the Meeting House organised by the Eldership and Pastoral Care Group.
March 2025
2nd March Meeting for Worship at 10.30
7th March 10.30 in St Mary’s Church Edward Road, World Day of Prayer (WDP) service with liturgy from the Cook Islands. Dorchester Quakers in the past have had a representative on the World Day of Prayer committee which offers a special service every year from different areas of the world. The WDP raises funds and gives many grants to charities, and has supported Quaker work in the past. If you are interested in becoming the Quaker representative on the local committee, please let the Clerks know.
8th March Changemakers online conference to meet and hear about Christian Aid in action Saturday 8 March 10.30 to 1pm https://www.christianaid.org.uk/news/events/when-changemakers-gather
9th March Meeting for Worship at 10.30
15th March Bingo event at St Georges Church Fordington to support Christian Aid. Details to follow.
16th March Meeting for Worship at 10.30 followed by a bring and share lunch for a discussion about roles and nominations issues in the Meeting. This event, which was agreed by business meeting on the 2nd of February, will be facilitated by the Elders and Pastoral Care team and will end by 3pm.
19th March (Wednesday) Mid Week Meeting for Worship 12.30 to 1 followed by shared lunch ending at 2pm (bring food to share) led by the Eldership and Pastoral Care Friends.
22nd March Earth Hour at the Quiet Space Saturday 8.30-9.30 pm
A candlelit hour to share poems, prose and discussion in appreciation of our beautiful and fragile Earth The Quiet Space Woodlands Crescent DT1 3RQ
21st to 23rd March. Area Quaker Meeting residential at the Othona Community. The focus is on the subject of “silence”. Details available from Elders and an email was sent on 20th January with information about how to sign up to attend.
23rd March bring and share breakfast meeting followed by Meeting for Worship at 10.30
30th March Meeting for Worship at 10.30
April 2025
6th April Meeting for Worship at 10.30
8th April Area Quaker Meeting online
13th April Meeting for Worship at 10.30
20th April Meeting for Worship at 10.30 Note that in the Western Christian calendar this is Easter Day and there may be Churches Together activities across Dorchester.
23rd April Mid Week Meeting for Worship 12.30 to 1 followed by shared lunch ending at 2pm (bring food to share) led by the Eldership and Pastoral Care Friends.
27th April bring and share breakfast meeting followed by Meeting for Worship at 10.30
May 2025
4th May Meeting for Worship at 10.30
11th May Meeting for Worship at 10.30
19th May Meeting for Worship at 10.30
21st May Mid Week Meeting for Worship 12.30 to 1 followed by shared lunch ending at 2pm (bring food to share) led by the Eldership and Pastoral Care Friends.
25th May bring and share breakfast meeting followed by Meeting for Worship at 10.30
Britain Yearly Meeting will be held in London, at Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ from the 23rd to the 26th of May. It is an in-person and online event. For those wishing to attend with children please go to the BYM website for booking forms.https://www.quaker.org.uk/
Local Quaker Business Meeting
These are held every two months and all are welcome to attend (next one is to be held February 2nd 2025). Next Area Quaker Meeting will be online on 8th April. The Clerking team are currently Marigold, Mike and Tess who share the Clerking responsibilities (clerks.dorchester@gmail.com). Please contact one of them if you have an item which you want to be included in the agenda for LQBM. Minutes are taken at these meetings so please ask an Elder if you would like to see them.
For those who ask about the donation to Britain Yearly Meeting, please see the Charity Commission website which illustrates the finances of BYM which can be found under charity number 1127633.
The Meeting is to have a reading group in 2025 (no firm dates or arrangements made as yet) and the first book is to be “Life After Doom” by Brian McLaren published by Hodder and Stoughton |May 2024.
If you want to explore more about Quakers, Kindlers might be for you. Visit the website www.thekindlers.org.uk email admin@thekindlers.org.uk
Every Monday at 19.30 there is an online JUST… meeting called One thing you can do this week for peace and justice in Palestine, Lebanon, Israel. Based on the AFSC format, American Friends Service Committee Action Hour, we witness… a minute silence remembering ONE event or person Learn… what’s going on – UPDATE Act…. ONE letter or petition to write or sign Share…what is happening in your area that counts as a small WIN Friend Nicola Grove spends about one day every week gathering and preparing resources for the meeting. You can join on https://www.campain.org/post/join-just-campain-s-weekly-action-for-peace-and-truth-in-the-middle-east
https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/international-work/responding-to-the-current-situation-in-israel-and-palestine is also useful
Church events in Dorchester (Our representative on Churches Together in Dorchester is Sarah)
Please remember to contribute to the Food Bank by dropping items off at the Dorford Church in Bridport Road.
Firm Roots is a Christian cancer support group. Dorchester Family Church Office: 2 Red Cow Business
Park, Long Bridge Way, Dorchester DT1 1YD Join us for friendship, encouragement, reflections, refreshments and prayer for anyone affected by cancer.
Everyone welcome. Email: dorsetfirmroots@admin
Please also get in touch if you would like to go on our prayer list and our group will pray for you.
www.firmroots.org.uk
Acorn Christian Healing Foundation Dorchester Hub The Quiet Space Poundbury DT1 3RG
Second Wednesday and Third Friday of each month 10.30-12.00 All very welcome, any faith or none
OTHER EVENTS OR OPPORTUNITIES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN
Individual Quakers are involved in a range of social action activities and some are mentioned here.
Quakers are part of the World Wide Family of Quakers and the Around Europe Newsletter has articles from various aspects of Quaker activity across the Europe and Middle East Section latest issue of Among Friends. https://fwccemes.org
For those interested in the demonstrations and protests in relation to Israel and Palestine, there is a Dorset Palestine Solidarity Campaign which can be followed through these links.
Facebook: https://fb.me/e/awqc2ZXll
Twitter/X: https://x.com/dorsetpsc/status/1851643419065532557
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBwPIBxNFoB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Contact dorsetpsc1@admin or dorsetstopthewar@gmail.com
The Quaker Socialist Society meets online from time to time – and had a meeting on how we promote Quaker values in state schools and private Quaker schools. Prof Francis Green spoke about his book on private schools: Engines of Privilege. See the Quaker Socialist Society website for further details. Also, a lecture on George Fox by Graham Taylor, which quotes some of Fox’s unpublished work, is on https://quakersocialists.org.uk/
We encourage Friends to see a Lecture by Revd Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian on https://quakersocialists.org.uk/.
In June at Salisbury International Arts Festival on Friday June 6th this year, Friend Michael Mears with Riko Nakasono will perform THE MISTAKE – see below from Michael.
It’s 80 years since atomic bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities.
I’m Michael Mears, actor/playwright and pacifist and I attend Wandsworth Quakers in southwest London.
In 2023 I toured THE MISTAKE, the play I wrote about Hiroshima and the first atomic bomb, around the UK, with no public arts funding – just the enthusiastic support of crowdfunders and one or two small organisations. The play was performed by Japanese actor Riko Nakazono and myself. This year, the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, I feel compelled to take the play further afield to the USA and to Japan.
We will be touring in the USA for six weeks from the start of April, and it’s an expensive undertaking, though in order to help the tour proceed, I have chosen to be unpaid myself, as part of my witness for peace.
Potential sympathetic funding bodies in the UK won’t fund a project that goes abroad. So will you help us bring THE MISTAKE to the USA, to share the urgent themes and message of this play with a wider, American, audience? Join us in our efforts to enlighten, to illuminate, to change hearts and minds, through the emotional power of theatrical storytelling?
Any donation however small will make a difference and help us. Here is a Crowdfunding link for donations which will give you a lot more information, with photographs and reviews.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/taking-the-mistake-to-the-usa