Area Meeting update and notices
We held the first Area Meeting of 2026 online on Saturday 15th January and we were pleased to welcome Friends from all six of our Local Meetings, as well as being joined by Friends from Evesham and Kirsty Philbrick, of Quaker Life.
We began by accepting two Friends into membership and by recording two transfers of membership: one into our Area Meeting and one out. We also agreed to appoint two visitors for a membership application. We agreed to continue the practice of issuing certificates of transfer and acceptance as this helps with our record keeping.
We appointed representatives for Telford and Wrekin Interfaith Group and for the SACRE in the same region. We also appointed an Elder attached to Telford and a member of our Area Meeting Property Committee.
Our Trustees presented an update of the safeguarding procedure and toolkit. Friends are advised to note the changes to the poster on page 15 of this document.
We also heard an update of the work being done to facilitate the proposed transfer of Evesham Local Meeting into our Area Meeting. We are hopeful that we can welcome Evesham Friends into our Area Meeting as soon as the practical arrangements allow.
We heard reports on Meeting for Sufferings, the annual tabular statement and on Data Protection.
Finally, we welcomed Kirsty Philbrick of Quaker Life who told us more about the project to fund a Midlands Children and Families worker. He agreed to explore this further and to discern the appropriateness of our involvement in March’s Area Meeting.
Next Area Meeting will be held online via Zoom on Saturday 21 March 2026, 10.30am to 12.30pm.