How the Truth has prospered in Selly Oak Meeting

• “Joy Fridays” have been held approximately once a month – activities -usually all-age – and food have been provided, much of it on a bring-and-share basis. These were organised by our very active Pastoral Group. They have been challenged but remained faithful to the community needs of our meeting and to individual needs.
• Selly Oak Friends played a major role in the Area Meeting “George Fox Pilgrimage Day” which included two music sessions mainly by invited artists but including one of our own members who is a jazz musician, while two of our community were involved with the planning.
• Two members of our Meeting have been deeply involved in climate justice activism; their witness has been a strength to our Meeting, and they have felt supported by the friendship of the Meeting. Some members of our Meeting are deeply committed to living out a more sustainable lifestyle and their lives speak to the Meeting.
• We have held a number of helpful Meetings for Learning on a Sunday after Meeting for Worship. We periodically take stock of where the meeting is and how it wants to progress. In January we asked Friends to consider what it means to be a Quaker and what we wanted to learn during the year – we then ran sessions on Quaker spirituality and followed by looking at the spiritual underpinnings of Quaker business method. This will be continued in 2025 through our Eldership and Spiritual Nurture group.
• Our children’s meetings have been enthusiastically and creatively led. Our annual bonfire was greatly enjoyed by the children, for one of our younger children it was their first experience of sparklers. We were delighted to welcome a new baby to our community in the Summer. He was lovingly introduced to us by his proud brother during all age worship who smilingly told us all ‘I’ve got a baby.’ We have also been privileged to welcome two new families to our community this year.
• Several members of our Meeting are involved in the AM Responding to Racism Recognised Group and our Meeting is probably more diverse in relation to Black Brown People of Colour (BBPoC) than at any time in its 98 year history.
• Several of our trees, including a large black poplar, came down in the December storm. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, nor were any of our buildings damaged. We were humbled to receive generous donations towards the cost of the necessary tree surgery from several of our user groups.
• Our long-standing support of the Women with Hope refugee group has continued this year in the meeting house. Members of the Meeting have joined them for meals and we packed hygiene bags for them at Christmas.
• The meeting house has been a focus for our outreach efforts. During Quaker week we decided to hold a shared meal with the German Lutheran Church who use our space regularly. Several of us also attended their service and their families joined us for the bonfire night. We have all kinds of users of the premises including musicians, sculptors and dancers, a Sikh Ladies group and we have been able to extend the free hours we offer to a local mental health group. The grounds for our community and others are very special – we meet, eat out in summer, have held yoga sessions, BBQs, bonfires, and connected with local wildlife groups.
• We have sought to improve our public signage as we are aware that we are now the only Quaker presence on the Bristol Road which is a main artery in and out of Birmingham and so wish to be more visible.

There is a children’s meeting alongside the main meeting for worship every week. Please contact the Meeting House manager at sellyoakquakers@gmail.com or 0785 442 1959 for more information.

Hiring: The Meeting House is well used by a wide range of community groups throughout the week. If you are interested in hiring one of the three rooms for a one off event or on a regular basis please contact the Meeting House Manager on sellyoakquakers@gmail.com or 0785 442 1959 and she will be pleased to help you.

We receive regular comments from our users that they find the Meeting House a restful and peaceful location despite being so close to the centre of Birmingham.

By bus: Five minutes walk from No. 11 Outer Circle bus route. Buses 61, and 63 from the city centre stop at Selly Oak Junction or Weoley Park Road with a short 3 minute walk to the Meeting House.

By train: get a local train out to Selly Oak station and then walk up or get a bus to the Meeting House.

By car: we are about 4 miles from the city centre on the Bristol Road. Entrance is quite a narrow drive between 928 and 938 Bristol Road. If travelling SW and you reach Woodbrooke, you have gone too far and will have to U turn in the dual carriageway and drive back some 200 metres! There is a right turn lane after two sets of pedestrian lights. Car parking available.