A London Underground sign for Bethnal Green subway station. Photo: By Maggie Jones on Flickr.

‘All we need is to make sure that someone pays the rent and buys the biscuits.’

Where the heart is: Catriona Forrest on Meeting places

‘All we need is to make sure that someone pays the rent and buys the biscuits.’

by Catriona Forrest 3rd January 2025

Some Friends are feeling heartbreak and anger over losing – or facing the possibility of losing – their Meeting house. It’s a feeling I have compassion for, but have not experienced. Not because my Meeting house is secure, but because my beloved Local Meeting has not had one for as long as I’ve been a Quaker – not for almost ninety years, although our Meeting dates back much further than that, all the way back to 1655.