Triratna Southampton Chairman’s Report 2021
In last year’s Chairman’s report began by recalling the importance for the Southampton Buddhist Centre of the inspiration offered by the Buddha Amitabha and his red rite of fascination and attraction in bringing more and more people to the Buddha’s teaching, and in particular to the Ideal of spiritual community.
The Period from May 2020 to May 2021 has of course been exceptional and extraordinary for the world as a whole. It also has been exceptional and extraordinary in the smaller world of the Southampton Buddhist Centre, with much good news to report with regards the meeting of our charity’s aims and objectives.
Growth of the Sangha
Recent weeks have seen the growth of the committed order community at the heart of our activities with the ordinations of Amalasraddha and Utpaladhi. Whilst the first of these was delayed from last year due to the pandemic, the two ordinations represent the flowering now of individual and collective commitment over many years. They bring the order presence in Southampton now to 7 (4 Dharmacharinis and 3 Dharmacaris). With such talented individuals joining the order, our resources to communicate the Dharma are inevitably strengthened for the coming years.
This year though has been more than simply a flowering of seeds previously sown. It has also seen new commitments being made for future flowering. Three new ordination requests has been made, whilst 6 people became mitras in a memorable and groundbreaking online ceremony in June 2029. With around half a dozen people are likely to have their mitra ceremonies on Dharma Day in July, our Sangha is certainly a widening circle of friends in the Dharma life.
Together our current community of explicitly practising Triratna Buddhists comprises 25: 7 order members ( 4 women 3 men), 18 mitras (11 women - 8 active , 7 men - 6 active). Of the mitras, 6 are training for ordination, with another known to be seriously considering it. All of this indicates a sangha that is healthy and growing in its essentials, with people clearly becoming attracted to the Three Jewels.
Lockdown Growth
The Pandemic taught us how to be an online centre. All our activities shifted to Zoom. This produced an outcome that many people joined in with activities who may otherwise have been unable to due to physical distance and other accessibility issues.
Tuesday Night Introductory Courses had much increased attendance ( up by approx 300% over the previous year) with a varied range of courses derived from a mixture of Sikkha Project courses and home grown courses on the Brahma Viharas and and Satipatthana. This gave new comers the opportunity to sustain involvement with us and make the transition to deeper involvement via our regulars’ session ( Sangha Morning) or the Foundation Year of the Dharma Training Course for Mitras. Another noteworthy feature of these courses was the continuing presence upon the teaching teams of mitras, who often showed remarkable talent and confidence in the task. Other things to mention about these courses are the effectiveness of
publicity for them ( which has comprised video announcements and targeted Facebook advertising, and the decision for the majority of the lockdown to provide them on a Dana (by donation ) basis. This has surely furthered our reach into the community and will have been good public relations. It has proven financially viable and meant that for months we were operating entirely on a Dana Economy which was an inspiring financial model. This was possible due to regular donations from Sangha members, increased numbers of Standing Orders and Gift Aid claims, along with a period of stable residency in the flat above the centre, which in recent times has been harmoniously occupied by three men who, if not super involved in local Triratna activities have all attended some, have an interest in spiritual growth and are very sympathetic to our aims.
Wednesday Nights continued as Dharma Training night online, and through the assistance of Saddhabhaya was able to grow to accommodate a fourth group doing the Foundation Year. This brought the total meeting to deepen their Dharma practice each week to 32. The programme was supplemented by regular devotional and practise evenings, especially for rejoicing in the merits of those departing to be ordained, and for the Mitra ceremonies of 6 participants ( which due to their groundbreaking nature attracted visitors from around Triratna and encouraged other centres to follow suit.
Friday Nights throughout lockdown intensified to become a weekly puja night, with a regular handful of participants. As the year proceeded it was possible to have limited numbers in physical attendance, puja loaning itself quite easily to the hybrid virtual/physical style.
Sangha Morning ( our weekly session for all regulars) was remarkably consistent in attendance throughout the the year with on average 15 people attending. We continued with our series of topics based on Bhante’s Guide to the Buddhist Path, supplemented by explorations of the Metta Sutta and the 4 Mind Turnings. The sessions were also good occasions to welcome popular guests from the broader Triratna world including Mokshini, Danapriya, Maitrimala and Padmavajra.
Sundays also saw significant expansion in activities with monthly single-sex meetings for men and women. This was a welcome development in our facility to offer the benefits of single sex environments, known for the depth they enable. Four Festival Day Retreats and our own unique Sunday Morning Philosophy club, in which we looked at Western Philosophy from a Buddhist viewpoint, introducing and discussion ideas from Plato, Aristotle and Descartes.
We also had Jo Newman offer a series of online yoga sessions on a dana basis, and likewise with early morning meditations offered by Dylan and Chris.
The summer enabled us to hold one event for our community outdoors in the form of a picnic, meditation and puja at Lakeside Country Park. It was a joy to meet in person in the largest numbers the year allowed, and to meet some in person for the very first time. The weather was fortunately kind.
A final significant point to add is that all this growth in our general attendance is also finding expression through bookings to our annual weekend retreat. Presuming that Rivendell are able to relax social distancing requirements, the event will be fully booked by Southampton Sangha members for the first time, without recourse to inviting people from other groups to make up numbers.
Lessons learned from Corona Year
Key points
⁃ Much increased attendance shows there is a hunger for what we offer. More are looking for something than we might assume
- ⁃ Our geographical scope broader than Southampton
⁃ Our physical location in St Mary’s may not be ideal in the long term, therefore there is a need to adapt our thinking on how to realise our vision of bringing the 3 Jewels to people in the longer term
- ⁃ Clearly online is an effective means, and one that it may be wise to continue in some
form
⁃ And yet there is great value in meeting in person - A fuller ‘vital mutual responsiveness’ that much aids the creation of Sangha
-
Our pathway of deepening involvement is quite effective : Introductory courses - Foundation Year - Sangha Morning - Dharma Training for Mitras - Requesting ordination Life in the Order.
-
We could perhaps signpost that pathway more explicitly
Charity Aims and Strategy
The trustees held a couple of meeting to address these during lockdown. The conditions of lockdown inhibited progress, so this needs to be taken up again. Nonetheless, subject to review we did identify 5 Strategic Priorities
1) The Need for Depth and Intensity
Given the distance of our centre from other Triratna projects, and that our growing Sangha is still relatively spiritually inexperienced, there is a need for the Dharma to take deeper root amongst us. This could be enabled by developing more of a culture of going on retreat, particularly among newer
Friends and Mitras.
Intensity and deepening Going for Refuge could also be aided by teams engaging in projects together leading the participants into closer existential contact with one another. This could take the
form of outreach classes ( there seem to be a number of us in the proximity of Winchester), fundraising ventures or projects to add environmental benefit to the locality of St Mary’s.
2) The Need to be Distinctly Triratna
We are not a generalised Buddhist Club, but a distinct traditional Buddhist community, continuing to derive guidance from our particularly gifted root teacher Urgyen Sangharakshita and his senior disciples. In terms of depth this means continuing to plumb Sangharakshita’s Dharmic exposition to the fullest. In terms of breadth it means developing stronger links and interaction with the broader Triratna world.
3) Maintaining and Developing our current centre premises
Recognising that the St Mary’s location may not be the best in the long term, and consequently not over investing in it with major structural renovations, there remains the need to maintain and beautify it as a place of inspiration for our current efforts.
4) Recognising our Charity Scope
Our “catchment area” of participants in the Dharma extends beyond Southampton and into Hampshire and Dorset. This requires a conscious strategy in order to be built upon.
- 5) Developing our Public Image and Interface
This means creating a unified and consistently recognisable interface at all points of contact with the public: Decor, Online and Physical publicity design (“ branding”), overhaul of website
Final Points
Whilst we are at a point of growth and potential, our human resources of committed Buddhists are still limited. 7 order members are still few. The experienced needs both to be facilitating the next generation of committed Southampton Triratna Buddhists, and also to be forming teams to take on
our charity projects so that teamwork remains effective and no individual is overloaded. This can mean e.g. the passing on of mitra convening batons, and the creation of teams for such areas as centre maintenance, courses and outreach work.
In short there is plenty of opportunity for those deepening their involvement with us to play a key part in shaping our future.
Dhammavijaya June 3 2021
Triratna Southampton 2020 Annual Accounts
Receipts and Payments Accounts
| Receipts Dharma Activities Women's group Thursday sangha class dana Friday Evenings Saturday class Lunchtime Meditation Mitra Morning Retreats Courses Men's group Southampton Council Group Study Groups Sangha Night Donations One-off donations Fundraising Standing Orders Gift Aid Tax Other Income Book Sales (net) Yoga Mela Rental Income Bank Interest Total Income Payments Administration Insurance Loan Interest (Windhorse) Computer/Internet/Telephone |
2020 2019 53 123 150 25 617 1,152 236 1,250 1,710 2,215 2,462 123 81 393 2,229 1,906 1,666 7,155 9,236 1,606 390 9,070 5,091 2,140 2,052 12,816 7,533 200 320 390 811 24 11,440 10,144 12,030 11,299 32,001 28,068 909 1,071 2,755 2,978 285 313 3,949 4,362 |
|
|---|---|---|
Triratna Southampton 2020 Annual Accounts
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|---|---|---|---|
|Receipts and Payments Accounts|Continued|
|Payments|Continued|2020|2019|
|Building - repairs and maintenance|1,685|894|
|Central Triratna Dana|120|314|
|Dharma Activity Costs|
|Publicity / Advertising|562|1,065|
|Teaching materials|417|
|Retreat Costs|1,374|709|
|2,353|1,774|
|General Costs|
|Miscellaneous/Unknown|309|200|
|Staff Costs|11,280|7,100|
|Yoga Teachers|378|
|Travel|60|248|
|11,649|7,926|
|Costs associated with the rental income|
|Electricity|367|1,017|
|Gas|2,562|2,241|
|Water|731|539|
|Council Tax|891|1,319|
|4,551|5,116|
|Asset and Investment Purchases|
|Loan repayment (Windhorse)|8,237|8,014|
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Historical adjustment:
Windhorse has now recorded the December 2017 loan replayment that was made to them. As this wasn't recorded in the SOFA at that time, we are now recording it here. It was, however, recorded in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, as an asset. Therefore that latter entry has now been removed from the 2020 Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
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|---|---|---|
|Loan repayment (Windhorse) - December 2017|2,025|
|Loan repayment (Windhorse) - December 2017 (INTEREST)|276|
|Total Expenditure|34,845|28,400|
|Net Income|-2,844|-332|
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Triratna Southampton
2020 Annual Accounts
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
| Fixed Assets Building & Land FFE (Mats) Current Assets Co-op Bank Account extra loan re-payment made to Windhorse (Dec 2017) Total Assets Liabilities Windhorse Loan Capital Net Assets Represented by Funds brought forward roundings adjustment Surplus for year Capital payments made in the year to reduce the Loan liability |
2020 2019 257,150 257,150 550 550 257,700 257,700 5,862 6,406 2,301 Note 1 5,862 8,707 263,562 266,407 90,400 100,662 90,400 100,662 173,162 165,745 165,745 158,063 -1 -2,844 -332 Note 1 10,262 8,014 Note 1 173,162 165,745 |
|---|---|
Note 1
In December 2017 the charity made a payment of £2,301 to Windhorse Trust. This was, in the end, not recorded in the accounts and was a payment made in addition to the schedule.
It was therefore added to this Statemet of Assets and Liabilities as an amount owing back to the charity from Windhorse Trust.
However, following a revision to the loan schedule in 2021, it has come to light that Windhorse have adjusted the schedule accordingly, to take account of that December 2017 payment.
This £2,301 payment has therefore been removed from the assets section of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, and added as a historical adjustment into the Receipts and Payments accounts for this current year of 2020.
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Triratna Southampton
I report on the accounts of Triratna Southampton for the year ended 31/12/2020.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. You consider that an audit is not required (under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011)and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to examine the accounts following the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act), and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of examiner’s statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent examiner’s unqualified statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met, or to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Mr Lee Walford MAAT (AAT Licensed Accountant No. 1000163) 24 Temple End, Great Wilbraham, Cambridge, CB21 5JF Signed ................................................................. Date: 27[th] September 2021