Meeting for Worship
is held at our Meeting House at 10.30am each Sunday.
All welcome
Where are we?
The Meeting House is behind the Police and Fire Stations.
Station: Chapel Street, Southport (about half a mile)
Bus Stop: Manchester Road, end of Court Road
There is some parking at the Meeting House. Disabled access
is easy. There are also toilet facilities for the disabled.
For a general map of Southport click
here
For a closer orientation, click
here
Local Contacts:
01704 513565
01695 423536
01704 220992
General contacts:
Quaker Life, 173 Euston Raod
London NW1 2BJ
020 766 31017
Some links of interest:
Quakers around the world:
www.quaker.org
Friends World Committee for Consultation
Other local websites:
Quakers in North West England
Quakers in Liverpool
|
|
|
|
|
Community
The following groups use our Meeting House during the week:
NB we do not have a resident Warden.
Arden College
Welfare Groups
DRS Mediation Service
Buddhists
Southport Lecture Society
from time to time:
The Baha'is of Sefton
Liverpool University (adult education classes)
Sefton Borough Council run several courses here, too, for
example "Sure Start" and "Early Years"
programmes
|
If you would like to use our Meeting
House, please contact our lettings officer for details
of availability and our
charges.
Tel no: 01704 513565
Facilities:
Easily reached from Lord Street / Manchester Road -
behind Fire Station
Car spaces for about 6 cars in total and street parking
a little further up Court Road.
Easy wheelchair access and toilet facilities for disabled
Loop system for hard of hearing
Main Meeting Room can seat 40 in comfort
Small Meeting room to seat 8 - 10, with tables in place
Flipchart (small extra charge)
Small Library can seat 6 - 8
Kitchen with hob, oven, kettles, basic crockery, washing
up facilities
Pleasant rear garden and patio
|
|
|
Who are we?
We are a group of worshippers who feel that
we belong together, sharing beliefs based on a common Christian
heritage. Our official name is the Religious Society of Friends
but the nickname, Quakers, given by a judge and meant in derision
in 1650, has stuck and is used as much as the term Friends.
A little about Southport Preparative Meeting
Friends have been active in Lancashire since
the early days of Quakerism. George Fox, generally regarded
as the founder , recorded meeting "Friends" in Ormskirk
in 1657. Of course, the township of Southport did not exist
at that time.
|
Early Friends came
to North Meols and appear to have lived on the fringes of the
manor to avoid persecution for refusing to pay tithes. They
later moved into the new township of Southport and groups of
Quakers met in each other's homes for worship.
In 1826 they built a small meeting house on Lord Street, approximately
opposite the present St George's Church. In April 1865 they
held their first meeting for worship in a new, larger meeting
house in Portland Street. By the mid 1950s , however , the
numbers of Friends in Southport had fallen drastically and
the building was too big. So they sold it to the Jewish congregation
at the Reformed Synagogue. Meetings were then held in rooms
near Birkdale station and Friends had to wait until 1960 before
they could worship again in their own meeting house, the present
building.
|
|
