Yearly Meeting update March 2026

How we hold Yearly Meeting (YM) sessions is changing – in 2026 we will hold sessions in May, July and November.

People engaged in animated conversation

Yearly Meeting sessions in 2026

We hope to see you soon in Friends House or online for YM 1-4 May 2026. You can register here and read the preparatory documents here. YM is open to all but you will need to register in advance to attend, whether you wish to come to Friends House or join us online.

Yearly Meeting 2026 won't finish on 4 May as there will be two further sessions this year: on 18 July in Manchester and online and on 21 November in Friends House and online. If you register to attend in May then you will automatically get further information about sessions later in the year. We will ask you to let us know in advance if you are planning to come to the venue in Manchester in July so that we can take care of the practical arrangements.

Engaging with Yearly Meeting

Area meetings and other Quaker communities have been asked to appoint Yearly Meeting representatives (YM reps) to attend from July 2026 onwards.

The key roles of a YM rep are to:

  • attend regularly, supporting continuity of attendance
  • strengthen connections between local Friends and the yearly meeting as a whole by making sure there someone in the local Quaker community who knows about YM and can encourage others to join in
  • reflect the wide diversity of Quaker experience by ensuring Friends are present from across the yearly meeting

See the full guidance for the appointment of Yearly Meeting representatives (PDF).

Area meetings and other Quaker communities may send their minutes to the Agenda Planning Committee of Yearly Meeting.

Yearly Meeting and Meeting for Sufferings

Meeting for Sufferings met for the last time on 7 March 2026 and Yearly Meeting is preparing to lay it down in May. All the functions previously held by Meeting for Sufferings will now be done by Yearly Meeting, unless they have been delegated to another committee. As above, Quaker communities should now send their minutes to the Agenda Planning Committee instead of Meeting for Sufferings. Look out for changes to the Quaker website as we reorganise the Meeting for Sufferings and Yearly Meeting pages in the coming months.