1676–2026
Celebrating 350 years on this site
Welcome - we're glad you found us
However you found us, something about Quakers must have sparked your curiosity — a search for calm, a sense of community, or simply the feeling that life could use a quiet corner.
Whatever brought you, you’re genuinely welcome.
What Quakers Are About
Quakers believe there is something precious in every person, and that each of us can learn through listening in silence, or speaking to one another of our own experiences. We gather in stillness to make space for clarity, connection and peace — not because silence is a rule, but because it helps us hear what matters.
Some of us believe in God, some of us don’t and some of us are unsure.
We believe everyone can have their own, unmediated connection to something greater than themselves. So there is no 'priest', no sermon, no ritual. And there is no pressure to believe anything in particular.
You don’t need to be religious. You don’t need to know anything beforehand. You just come as you are.
We hope our meeting is a place where people can explore life’s big questions and be met with with openness, respect and kindness.
Why People Visit
People often tell us they’re looking for:
- A spiritual home without dogma or hierarchy
- A friendly community that’s supportive, but not pushy
- A calm space to breathe and reset
- or just a moment of stillness in a noisy world
If any of that resonates, you’re in the right place.
What You Can Expect
What a Quaker Meeting Is Like
A Quaker meeting is about creating a moment of shared stillness, in which we can quietly explore our deepest beliefs and how we live them.
Sometimes someone feels moved to speak — a reflection, a question, a story — but often the silence simply holds everyone gently.
We sit together for about an hour.
Many are surprised by how natural the silence feels.
Who You’ll Find Here
Saffron Walden Quakers are a mix of ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and life stories. Some have been Quakers for decades; others joined recently; many are simply exploring.
You won’t be asked to introduce yourself publicly.
You won’t be asked to pray or recite anything.
You won’t be asked for money.
If you want to slip in quietly and slip out again, that’s completely fine.
“Quakers are defined by our practice rather than our individual beliefs.”
Our practice of sitting in stillness is an attempt to find a kind of relaxed readiness, a ‘letting-go’ of the problems and perplexities with which the mind is occupied, and a waiting in ‘love and truth’: the truth about oneself, the truth about the world, deeper than the half-truths we see when we are busy in it about our own planning and scheming, the love in which we are held when we think of others more deeply than our ordinary relations with them, the love that at root holds us to the world.
Harold Loukes, 1967
Quaker life
What Quakers Care About
Quakers often describe our shared values as four simple “testimonies”. These are ideals that shape how we live, spend money, work, care for the planet and relate to our neighbours.
Simplicity
Focusing on what really matters — people, the natural world and our inner life — rather than constant busyness and consumption.
Truth
Trying to live with integrity, speaking honestly and listening deeply, including when dealing with people in power.
Equality
Believing that every person has equal worth and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
Peace
Acting from the conviction that love is at the centre of existence and all human life has equal worth, which leads many Quakers to reject violence and work for justice.
Quakers have a long history of campaigning on issues like peace and disarmament, prison reform, the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage, and today are involved in work on climate justice, economic fairness and human rights.
The Quaker way is a search for truth, not a place for finished saints.
So, if you feel you aren’t yet a saint, you’ll fit right in.
Many people come once just to see what Quaker worship is like, and are surprised how at home they feel in a room of people sitting quietly together.
A practice of stillness
Quakers believe there is something precious in every person, and that each of us can learn through listening in silence, or speaking to one another of our own experiences.
We gather in stillness to make space for clarity, connection, and peace — not because silence is a rule, but because it helps us hear what matters.
350th anniversary
Autumn Events
We also have some events on this autumn which you might like to come to.
Opening to Silence
Saturday 5 September · 10.30am - 3.30pm
An offering to anybody in or near Saffron Walden interested in silence and stillness, with readings and reflection.
20 Places - Booking Essential
Email stillness@saffronquakers.org.uk to book a place.
Open Afternoon
Saturday 12 September · 2–5pm
Meeting House
History display, refreshments and talks on Quakers then and now including local history with Martyn Everett.
Discussion evenings
Friday evenings · 25 September, 9 October and 23 October
Our suggested themes are “Exploring Love”, “Exploring God” and “Exploring Prayer”. Three Quakers share their experience before inviting you to reflect on your thoughts.
Special Book Club
Quakers do what? why? by Rhiannon Grant
Sunday 25 September · 9.15 - 10.15
discussion in Meeting House
Monday 28 September
online Zoom : 7-8.30pm
with Q&A with author.
Gibson Library Showcase
7-25 September,
Historic Quaker books and photographs
The Gibson Library (in the Town Library), Market Square
We’d love to welcome you.
Come as you are.
Your first visit
Visit Us in
Saffron Walden
We meet at the Saffron Walden Meeting House, a peaceful historic building on the high street.
It’s easy to find and fully accessible.
If you’re thinking, “Maybe I’ll try it once,” that’s exactly the right approach.
Ready to Explore?
You don’t need certainty. You don’t need a plan.
You don’t need to know what you believe.
You just need a moment of openness — and a little adventurousness to see if we could be your type of people.
It might be that you simply enjoy an hour of quiet. Or you may discover something you’d like to explore further.
We meet every Sunday from 10.30
at the Meeting House on the High Street.
After Meeting we usually share tea, coffee and conversation.
You’re welcome to stay for as long or as little as you like.