‘Bienvenue les amis’

We welcomed Sylvette and Richard Thompson to our Meeting for Worship in Reading, after not having seen them for five years. They were visiting from Congénies Quaker Centre, in Languedoc, South of France.

A largely Protestant community of pacifists existed in this region from the early 17th century. Members of this “little Canaan” became aware of Quakers around the time of the American Revolution, and discovered there were shared values.

One of their number visited our Religious Society in London and in 1788 the first Quaker Meeting was established in France. There are currently four other Quaker Meetings in France, i.e. Languedoc, Nantes, Paris and Toulouse, united under France Yearly Meeting / La Société religieuse des Amis.