## HASTINGS UNITARIAN CHURCH CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION (CIO) TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD 1 OCTOBER 2021 – 30 SEPTEMBER 2022 Reference and Administrative detail Charity name and address: Hastings Unitarian Church South Terrace Hastings East Sussex TN34 1SA Registered charity number: 1166588 ## Names of Charity’s Trustees: 1. Peter Sanders (Chair) 2. Francis Clark Loewes 3. Lesley Larcombe 4. Joanne Lemon 5. Campbell Purton 6. Ida Ward 7. Norman Williamson 8. Frances Williamson 9. Safar Wisby 1 The Trustees were appointed at the Annual General Meeting. ## Names and addresses of advisers: 1. The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, Essex Hall, 1 – 6 Essex Street, London WC2R 3HY 2. London District & South Eastern Provincial Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, Essex Hall, 1 – 6 Essex Street, London WC2R 3HY ## Structure, Governance and Management Description of the Charity’s Trusts Governing document: Constitution (Revised addition adopted 3 June 2018). The Charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organization (CIO). Trustees are appointed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for a term of office of three years. By staggering the dates of office three trustees will resign each year but are eligible for re-election. Following the formation of the CIO in April 2016 the first financial year was extended from April 2016 to September 2017 to fit with the Church’s normal financial year of 1 October to 30 September. The first AGM was held in June 2018 however since then all further AGMs have usually taken place in March. 2 ## Summary of the main activities for the public beneft. The Unitarian Church offers a place to meet and worship in an atmosphere of freedom. Our Unitarian movement has a long and proud history dating back to the midsixteenth century, however there are no dogmas or creeds to adhere to and freedom of thought and spiritual inquiry is encouraged with complete tolerance and respect for other faiths or none. Membership is free and open to all who wish to join. Services are held every Sunday morning and subsidiary meetings may be held during the week for meditation, prayer and discussion. Other community groups and societies also hire the church eg, circle dancing and Narcotics Anonymous, for their meetings. Much of the work of the church is undertaken on a voluntary basis by trustees and members of the congregation who receive no remuneration except for legitimate expenses. ## **SUMMARY OF MAIN EVENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE YEAR** The church continues to develop and deepen a spiritual path in community with each other; sharing our experiences and drawing inspiration from nature, art, literature, science and other faith traditions from around the world. 3 Towards the end of the year the church lost one of its key members. Alan Larcombe was a man whose energy and commitment helped the church enormously. Under his guidance the church embraced ‘zoom’ technology enabling members to see services remotely - including one from Thailand. Alan was a most popular service leader and supported many charities. He enhanced the Unitarian presence in Kent and Sussex. His loss is deeply felt. The congregation has increased a little over the year with some younger members. Maintenance work on the church included refurbishment of the kitchen and upper gallery, carpet cleaning. The church benefitted from a new stained glass window in memory of Mary Burbage, a much loved past member. The church now has its own website thanks to the help of Unitarians in London & the South-East. The church is fortunate in having as its Lay Pastor, Jennifer Sanders. She has made a significant 4 contribution to the Church and we are pleased that she continues her training for the ministry. The Church is very fortunate in having among its congregation people who are willing to take on essential roles and duties, eg, lettings and treasury, without remuneration requiring much time and who work together in furtherance of the aims of the Church. The Church is very grateful to Michael Stewart who advises the church on investments and also acts as the Church’s bookkeeper. He gives his expertise and time without charge. The Church would like to record its thanks to Pat Hitchman and Simon Edson for their good offices in maintaining the church. The following documents, which form part of this report, are attached as annexes: Lay Pastor’s Report Annex 1 Lettings Report Annex 2 Pulpit Secretary Report Annex 3 Receipts & Payments - filed separately Assets and Liabilities – filed separately Independent Examiner’s report – 5 fle:///C:/Users/Pete/Downloads/IER%20Report - %20signed%20Sept%202022 1.pdf ## LAY PASTOR’S REPORT ## ANNEX 1 I am so incredibly blessed to have spent the last 2 ½ years leading the congregation at Hastings and there have been a few tears, especially on Sunday as I drove away. Sunday was a very special day to be 6 with you and I wanted to thank you so much for the flowers and the generous cheque. I will let you know in due course what I choose to spend it on. So much has happened during this time, Covid, changing worship, hybrid services, a new website, an opening up of the gallery space, and maintenance to the building. And through it all I have been fortunate to build relationships with you all and be part of the growth, tenacity and love between you all. You are a unique congregation, spiritually rich and have witnessed much change in the church over the years which is why I feel hopeful and confident that you will come through this next phase of the church to embrace a new chapter. With financial security, my hope is that you will take these next few months to reassess where you are as a congregation and look at options to invest in an expanded ministry to help to grow the church. There will always be challenges, both individually with health and family, work and relationships as well as continuing concern over the decaying beauty of our dear planet and yet this congregation is bound together by a deep spiritual love and through a commitment to continue to explore share and support each other It will remain part of the landscape on the Unitarian movement. 7 Change is always around the corner and the death of Alan Larcombe, Chair of the Congregational committee in August was a huge shock to all of us having welcomed him back only days before after post-op recovery. Both the service at Hastings Crematorium and the memorial service at our church were packed, reflecting his wide variety of friendships and the respect and love we all had for him. In many ways, the church is still coming to terms with his death and the huge loss he leaves both in terms of personality and also service. The chair of trustees is carrying a heavy load, yet the congregation is pulling together to try to fill the gaps where possible. One may say that 2022 has been a year of 2 halves a gentle settling from the ravages of Covid and enjoyment of participatory worship to a time of loss, reflection and gratitude and with 2023 offering the potential for new ministry for Hastings Unitarian Church. Jennifer Sanders LETTINGS REPORT ANNEX 2 Our church seems to be blessed with its own resilience, however that may have been achieved, it 8 is something we can all be grateful for, we lose members and soon after their departure new members join us. This can also be said regarding the number of people who are willing and happy to share this spiritual space with us. Since the full impact of the pandemic seems to have passed our hirings have returned to a more normal routine, along with a few new members. The first group to return were Narcotics Anonymous who meet every Saturday morning. The Krishna group, who meet twice a month on Thursday evenings have also resumed their bookings. The Class Choir have also returned on Wednesday evening. Another regular group who appreciate our venue is the NFOP (post office pensioners), who meet most months on Thursday afternoons. We are pleased to welcome the Hastings and Rother Interfaith Forum who rejoin us since the pandemic, on Tuesday evenings. will also welcome Father Barry Carter for the first time on Thursday the 16[th] of March, he is the first hirer who has requested the use of our Zoom facilities. We have yet to fully discuss how that might be facilitated. 9 We have had to say goodbye to one group, the Townswomen's Guilds, who met once a month as they can no longer sustain their membership. They were the only group who required tables and chairs to be put out by our Caretaker, a service for which we didn't actually charge. PULPIT SECRETARY’S REPORT 3 ANNEX 10 During the last year we have had some interesting new service leaders, both live and on Zoom. Zoom has been both a benefit and a challenge, but those who have risen to the challenge have done really well coping with the technical issues Zoom brings. There have been a few hiccups but no disasters. We now have the challenge of managing without our part- time Lay Pastor, Jennifer Sanders, who did an excellent job filling the pulpit diary, bringing many new faces to our church. Unfortunately we have lost a few too. The pulpit rota is, with one or two exceptions, full for this year. I will endeavour to follow in her footsteps and fill as many of the gaps as possible. We may have more congregational services than before but l am hoping this will lead to more members of the congregation wanting to be involved. We will be continuing with Zoom but l hope to attract pulpit leaders who will take the service live here in the church. Alison, our new Administrator, is a real asset to all of us, especially me, sending reminder e-mails etc and I am personally very grateful to her. This is a learning curve for all of us but working together we can make zoom and the pulpit rota work. ## Lesley Larcombe DECLARATION ## The Trustees declare that they have approved 11 The Trustees’ report. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees: Signatures: Peter Sanders Full name: PETER CHARLES SANDERS POSITION HELD: Chairman of Trustees ## NORMAN WILLIAMSON POSITION HELD: Trustee Date: 16 JULY 2023 12 To 6fftA14 fjr*tswd4XtrMl￿A￿8SF-NFj 25 ns Fu￿1 44TI U¥dlTIi%ts 9m ¢171 Cafét4￿1ndCle￿n 753 Imi 11èpa1r5￿ Herwa 7.775 174 IQ5 Char*ththn¥k Churth hlf4rMt 3L7 JA7 172 In 165 TAM MBkwlund1kl￿th 65*n Iwrn 131 111