QUAKERS IN SCOTLAND (QiS) is the new charity that will be able to take on the legal, charity, and regulatory responsibilities of the charities that make up our Quaker organisation in Scotland. As the first step, QiS took on all the roles of General Meeting for Scotland (GM) on 20 September 2025, and held its first meeting on the same day.
Quakers in Scotland is the organisation of Quakers in Scotland. It is one of a number of regional gatherings that make up Britain Yearly Meeting. At the time of creation of QiS, Scotland had four constituent Area Meetings which are made up of 33 Local Meetings.
The webpages for General Meeting (GM) for Scotland are retained as archive. Some current information may still be linked from there until we have transferred them all to this page.
Role and organisation
QiS acts on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting in such procedures as may be required by the Scottish Parliament and Scottish legal affairs. QiS is a member of ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland) to which it appoints representatives. QiS will initially keep to the arrangements of GM, meeting quarterly for business, normally in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth or St Andrews. Additional meetings may be scheduled.
Since the Covid pandemic, meetings are now normally blended. These meetings are open to all members of the Religious Society of Friends in Scotland, and non-members may request permission to attend. QiS Meetings also provide an opportunity to talk with Friends from a distance and to hear invited speakers.
To organise business and carry through the decisions, QiS will appoint sub-committees to deal with finance, property, agenda for meetings, nominations, communications and outreach, parliamentary liaison, and children and young people. Committees aim to have representatives from around Scotland to provide geographical balance.
Governance and administration
Our Governing Document (pdf) describes how QiS is constituted as a charity. Various other documents can be found on our Documents page.
The Trustees of QiS have responsibility to the Office of the Scottish Charity Registrar (OSCR) for right ordering.
QiS has an Administrator who can answer enquiries about the operation of the Meeting.
List of mehmbers
A list of members is kept and distributed to meetings. It is not circulated outside Friends circles, and Members and Attenders are only included in the printed booklet with their permission. To be included in the book, please download a consent form and hand it in to pastoral support Friends (formerly known as overseers) in your local meeting.
Contacts for Quakers in Scotland
Further info on our Contacts page
- Clerk - Michael Hutchinson
- Assistant Clerk - Susan Mitchell
- Administrator - Jane Booth scotfriends [at] gmail.com
- Newsletter Editor - VACANT
- Clerks of Trustees - Elizabeth Allen and Adwoa Burnley (Please contact via Administrator)
- POSTAL ADDRESS - Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL
Area and Local Meetings
Area Meetings (previously known as Monthly Meetings) were originally intended to hold monthly business meetings, but the distances in Scotland mean that our Area Meetings meet less frequently. The four Scottish Area Meetings (North Scotland, East Scotland, South East Scotland and West Scotland) are made up of 33 local meetings. (An Area Meeting is roughly equivalent to a presbytery.) The business conducted at Area Meeting includes membership, marriage arrangements, ownership of property etc. Area Meetings send representatives to other bodies, including the national executive committee (for historical reasons, called Meeting for Sufferings) which meets five times a year at Friends' House in London.
Local Meetings (Find a meeting in Scotland) are the worshipping groups which meet regularly, usually on Sundays. A Quaker Meeting for Worship is based on silence, an expectant silence of waiting, in which we seek to come nearer to each other and to God. Occasionally a Meeting will pass in total silence. The silence may be broken if someone feels compelled by the Spirit to speak, pray or read. The Meeting ends after about an hour with the shaking of hands.
History of General Meeting and the move to Quakers in Scotland
- Before 1786 there were ‘yearly meetings’ in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, within which various Monthly and other Meetings existed at various times.
- 1786 - 'North Britain Half Years Meeting' was created, subordinate to London Yearly Meeting.
- 1807 - North Britain Half Years Meeting was renamed Scotland General Meeting.
- 2025 - On 20 September members of General Meeting agreed to transfer its functions and assets to Quakers in Scotland (QiS).