After the activity and enthusiasm of the early years Portadown Meeting settled into a period of quiet conventionalism. By 1910 Albert and Mary Shemeld had removed to Belfast, their children having already left the town. The Bamber children were widely dispersed, living in places as distant as China and South Africa. Wm Jones Burrell died in 1911. Attenders from the town came from time to time but few became fully involved. One notable exception was Thomas Spence, of the linen firm Spence, Bryson & Co, and father of Everard. He was attracted by the peace testimony of Friends and the family came into membership during World War 1. Daniel Chapman, a cousin of Robert, was another member at this period. He had varied business interests in the town, including a jam factory which he sold to Lamb Bros. He also was the first to provide a general electricity supply to the town. The main responsibility for the meeting appears to have been carried by Capel and Louisa Reid, Robert and Kezia Chapman, Thomas and Anna Magowan and their families. Robert Chapman, especially, seems to have taken an important administrative role, serving as Clerk and later Treasurer.

On 23 June 1909 a news item appeared in the Northern Whig, a Belfast daily paper, under the above title. It shows the alarm with which the newfangled motor car was viewed and the relative rarity of such vehicles.

"In the early hours of Monday morning a motor car dashed into a wall in Portmore St., Portadown and totally destroyed at least twenty feet of it. The damaged wall surrounds the caretaker's residence of the Friends Meeting House, and is also closed in by an iron railing, which rests on the wall. From the marks of the tyres on the road it was quite evident that the car had been attempting to turn out of Edward Street into Portmore Street when the accident occurred. Apparently the lower part of the car dashed against the wall with terrific force. There were a number of bloodstains on the ground which went to show that the person driving the motor must have been thrown over the rails into the caretaker's garden. Pedestrians came to the conclusion that it had been dark at the time of the accident, and that the driver could not see, with the result that he was allowing himself too much space. The caretaker took the number of the car, and it is said it belongs to a Belfast gentleman."

The arrival of William E. Coulthart and his wife Mary and family brought new life and impetus to the meeting. They were both from Lancashire and William had come to Ireland about the turn of the century to Waterford with the Irish Church Missions, an Anglican organisation. He did not feel at home in that work and in 1901 became involved with the Ulster Friends Home Mission Committee in their new work at Rathfriland. After a few years there they moved to Enniscorthy, returning to Rathfriland in 1911. In 1914 they took up residence in Friends Cottage in Portmore Street, remaining there for the rest of their lives, with William's role as a staff worker with the Home Mission Committee.

William was a fine figure of a man, tall, erect and with snow-white wavy hair. His public ministry was informed by wide reading, broad experience of life and deep devotion. He had gifts too of counselling and could find words of wisdom and comfort for any situation. He was above all a humble and contented man, devoid of personal ambition and eager to serve his Master in any way to which he was called. His wife, Mary, supported him in every way. She had great gifts of friendship and a warm outgoing personality. She liked to tell of her Quaker roots which went back to the earliest times in Westmoreland in the 1600s. Portadown was a good centre for pastoral work among Friends and the Coultharts contributed much not only to Portadown Meeting, but also to Friends in the general locality. At that time in Ulster QM there were many 'arranged' or 'programmed' evening meetings and William Coulthart was a frequent visitor at these and at mission centres in Moyallon, Drumgask and Rathfriland. He was a familiar figure on his bicycle as he visited Friends in their homes or in hospital. One of the annual reports for the Home Mission states that he covered over 2000 miles on his bicycle in one year in the course of his work. His gentle gracious manner was appreciated by all and his ministry and visitation were universally welcomed.

William Coulthart was held in high esteem in Portadown and was engaged in many inter-denominational projects. From reports he supplied to 'The Friends' Witness' during the 1920s and 30s we can gauge something of his work. In 1920, a tense time in Ireland's history, he writes of the Irish Christian Endeavour Convention, which was held that year in Portadown. A great open-air meeting was held in the main street which he was invited to lead. It was estimated that 1000 to 1200 persons were present. Three other Friends took part in the service. At that time the C.E. movement was strongly supported by Ulster Friends with many meetings, including Portadown, having their own particular society. (Incidentally a member of Portadown Meeting, Richard Poole, was President of Christian Endeavour in Ireland in 2003-4.) Missions in Ulster held by W.P. Nicholson in the 1920s and 30s attracted many crowds and produced much spiritual growth. William Coulthart was involved in arrangements for these missions in Portadown and many Friends lent active support. These large campaigns gave rise to smaller scale events in particular areas. In 1929 W.E. Coulthart records an open-air meeting in the centre of Portadown as follows:

"The writer had felt under a Divine compulsion in declaring the message of God's love and salvation. Immediately I had finished a man pressed through the crowd and fell on the wet ground in the middle of the ring. I got down beside him and asked him if he fully realized the seriousness of what he was doing.'Yes',he replied, 'I am fully aware of what I am doing, and I feel I must do this as a public confession! He then and there sought and found mercy, after which prayer was offered aloud for him, and thanksgiving was made to God for His willingness to receive sinful man. It made a great impression on the crowd as the man was well known as a drink victim. He is now pressing on the upward way, and greatly interested in everything which makes for the extension of God's Kingdom."

Portadown Friends sought to adapt the current evangelistic concern to their own way of working and the 1931 report of the Home Mission Committee tells of a Tent Mission in Meadow Lane, not far from the Meeting House:

"At the personal concern of one of our Committee the Home Mission tent was erected in Meadow Lane, Portadown. This Mission was unique, and in every way a Friends' Mission, no speakers being arranged to conduct the meetings, the Friends depending on God to guide and provide messengers. Those taking part were conscious of God's presence."

The report continues:

(In Portadown) "new work has been undertaken, the direct outcome of Robert G. Bass's Mission held last year. A local committee, largely composed of Young Friends, was responsible for an evangelistic meeting in the Meeting House each First Day evening. This has proved a channel of blessing to quite a number and has introduced strangers to our Society. A meeting for children every Fifth Day afternoon, with an attendance of 40 boys and girls is the visible result of a tent mission held this summer."

In July 1933 the BBC offered Ulster Friends the opportunity to broadcast a Sunday evening service from the Belfast studio and William Coulthart was invited to give the address. A report in the Portadown News gives a summary of his message. He spoke of the vision of Habakkuk and outlined the parallels between the conditions in Israel in the prophet's time and that of the 1930s. The answer to the problems of our age was to be found in an acceptance of the way of Christ.

Although Portadown was a centre for mission work at the time the meeting itself was going through a lean patch. Membership remained small and Sunday morning worship had an attendance of about ten or a dozen. Only half of the meeting room was used and one had the impression of a little group huddled round the cast-iron stove. George and Annie Chapman had been living in Portadown since their marriage in 1926 but with their strong Richhill associations continued to attend that meeting. In the mid-thirties they decided to transfer their membership to support the small and struggling local meeting. Portadown was not a 'childfriendly' meeting in the memory of the author after the lively Sunday School at Richhill with Lambs, Peiles, Loneys, Pearsons and Chapmans. William E. Coulthart had a powerful presence and was a gifted speaker, but the freedom of Friends' worship attracted a number of elderly men who used the occasion to propound their particular theological insights. One Friend who related well to children was Edmund Allen, originally of Richhill. In his latter years he lived on his own as a widower in Portadown and used to regale us at Sunday lunch with memories of his days at Lisburn School and his exploits in Australia to which he had gone as a young man.

Physically the building did not change at all in this period and accommodation was very limited for anything apart from Morning Meeting. Monthly Meeting tea had to be made in the women's cloakroom or with the help of the Coultharts in Friends' Cottage and served in the vestibule or meeting room. The well-attended Quarterly Meeting in June was a real challenge and Friends prayed for fine weather so that it could be served outdoors on the lawn! William and Mary Coulthart were most alarmed when a tall warehouse was erected behind Friends' Cottage towering over their dwelling house and plunging the lawn into almost constant shade. To the rear of the site development took place and the first Elim Church was built there which has expanded greatly in recent years. The meeting house itself presented a smart appearance and was kept in good order by the caretaker, James Mitchell. His son, Jim, recalls helping his father early on Sunday mornings to get the fire going in the coke-burning stove.

Two great tragedies befell families of the meeting within a short period of time. Both concerned girls at Friends' School, Lisburn, and remind us of the medical advances and the drugs which are available at present to combat infection. In 1914 Patricia Coulthart, at the age of 16, developed peritonitis and died in Lisburn. Four years later Anne Magowan, a twelve year old girl, became infected with influenza during a serious epidemic which resulted in the School being closed. A total of three girl pupils succumbed to the illness as well as the School Matron and the Headmaster's daughter, who interrupted her studies to lend a hand with the nursing.

Mary Coulthart died in 1941 and her husband died ten years later. William E. Coulthart was speaking in meeting one Sunday morning in 1951 when he became unwell and resumed his seat. Shortly afterwards he suffered a severe heart attack and died before the end of the day. By that time all the original members, Capel and Louisa Reid, Robert and Kezia Chapman and Thomas and Anna Magowan had passed on but a good number of new members were coming to the fore and the meeting was entering a new phase.