2024-12-31-accounts

Triratna South East Buddhist Group (TSEBG) Registered Charity No 1179930

Trustees Annual Report for the period

1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024

Section A – Reference & administrative details

Charity name: Triratna South East Buddhist Group Other names charity is known by: TSEBG Registered Charity number: 1179930 Charity’s principal address: 104 Farmcombe Road Tunbridge Wells TN2 5DL

Names of trustees who manage the charity

Name	Office	Dates acted
Sraddhamayi (Beryl Mould)	Chair	All year
Nichola Lowit	Secretary	All year
Jane Bolger	Treasurer	All year
Fiona Smith	Assistant Treasurer	All year
Satyamati Dharmacharini	Women’s Mitra Convenor	All year
Howard Widdison	Communications	From February 2024
Nicki Williams	Safeguarding Lead	From February 2024

Names and addresses of advisors

Advisor	Name	Address
Bank	Co-operative Bank PLC	Business Customer Services PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Section B –Governance, management and structure

Constitution and Governing Document : Triratna South East Buddhist Group (TSEBG) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), Registered Charity No 1179930. It was granted charitable status by the Charity Commissioners on 14 September 2018. It is governed by a constitution dated 1 August 2018:

Constitution amendments:

7 September 2020: To change membership of the CIO to those who are members of the Triratna Buddhist Order or a Mitra of the Triratna Buddhist Order who is training for ordination. 10 June 2021: To change the name of the CIO from Triratna West Kent Buddhist Group to Triratna South East Buddhist group; to specify that membership of the CIO is open to (1) members of the Triratna Buddhist Order who are actively practicing in the Triratna community, (2) Mitras of the Triratna Buddhist Order actively practicing with and committed to the Eastbourne, Hastings or West Kent groups comprising the TSEBG; to specify that every Trustee of the CIO must be a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order or a Mitra committed to and actively involved in TSEBG; that the board of Trustees should comprise of at least one Trustee from each of the Eastbourne, Hastings or West Kent groups; at each AGM of the CIO all Trustees shall retire from office.

Management : TSEBG is run on a day-to-day basis by the Board of Trustees. The Trustees and their duties are shown above. Additionally, there is a teaching team of OMs and Mitras training for

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Triratna South East Buddhist Group (TSEBG) Registered Charity No 1179930

ordination which programmes and leads and supports teaching at sangha nights, day events and weekend retreats. There are also local sangha night teams in each of the three locations who help organize and set up the weekly in person meetings.

Members: As agreed at the Trustees meeting held on 10 June 2021 , all local and active Triratna Order Members (OMs) and Mitras are invited to become Members of the TSEBG charity. All those that accept the invitation may attend the AGM where they may vote for Trustees standing for election or re-election, and on proposed changes to the constitution.

Relationships : TSEBG maintains close communication with and works under the guidance of the Triratna Buddhist Order and in co-operation with other centers and groups with the same objects.

Safeguarding : TSEBG adopts the model Adult Safeguarding Policy used by all Triratna Centres and Groups and follows their guidelines for: Managing those who pose a risk in Triratna; Online safety in Triratna; Safeguarding and data protection; Model ethical guidelines. Additional safeguarding guidance specific to our own local situations and experiences is issued by the TSEBG Safeguarding Lead when necessary.

Health and Safety : TSEBG follows any health and safety guidelines that may be issued by owners of the premises we hire.

Section C – Objectives

The object of the TSEBG are specified in the Constitution. They are to support the advancement of the Buddhist religion by:

1. Encouraging members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.

2. Supporting ordained members of the Triratna Buddhist Community and other members of the Sangha, at the discretion of the Trustees of the TSEBG.

3. Maintaining close communication with and working under the guidance of the Triratna Buddhist Order and in co-operation with other centres and groups with the same objects.

4. Using applications of the Buddha’s teaching to promote the health and well-being of all.

Section D – Activities supporting the objectives

Election of Trustees

At the Annual General Meeting of Members held on 17 February 2024. All existing Trustees were re-elected unanimously. Additionally, Nicki Williams was elected as Safeguarding Lead, and Howard Widdison was elected as Communications Lead.

Activities

Our main activities in 2024 were to hold:

• Weekly meditation meetings and classes. These are held once a month on Zoom and at other times in-person in each of our three locations: Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne and Hastings. All the OMs in the teaching team take turns to travel to each of the locations.

• Regular study groups for each of the four years of the Mitra Study Course. These are run in parallel by the teaching team and are supported by Mitras training for ordination.

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Triratna South East Buddhist Group (TSEBG) Registered Charity No 1179930

• Several day events: 14Sept24 puja training day for Mitras; 28Sep24 day retreat for all sangha members; 26Oct24 day event to celebrate the sangha and welcome new Mitras.

• A weekend retreat, from 26-28April24, attended by some 24 members of the sangha at the Rivendell Retreat Centre in High Hurstwood.

Chair’s Report (as given at the AGM on 17 February)

Primarily I would like to rejoice in the team effort of the running of TSEBG. This is an amazing team of Trustees, working together for the development of our charity. No one person bears overall responsibility, it is truly a joint effort.

We have seen the full return of in-person classes, with only one zoom meeting a month. The OMs take it in turns to travel to each of the locations in order to ensure that none of our sanghas are left to feel isolated.

Within that context, the OMs have taken on a bigger vision of being present in order to train, encourage and mentor the wonderful Mitras and meet their enthusiasm for the Dharma. The vision of succession is very much in our hearts, to enable any new OMs to feel equipped and supported in their own journey towards enlightenment. There have been several ordination requests this year and, with the support of the Mitra Convenors, quite a few regular friends have become Mitras.

There is also a lot of gratitude to our finance officers, who also put in large amounts of their time to keeping our records up to date and the team informed at regular intervals. The safeguarding team work really hard to keep up with the training and to ensure all our locations provide a safe environment in which to practice. Our secretary is a star as well, keeping us informed of our meetings and taking the necessary notes for all these meetings.

We were delighted to welcome back a new OM (Amalakirti) from his ordination retreat. All the sanghas engaged wholeheartedly in his return and a substantial amount of money was raised by us to give him a gift to take back with him to Spain. He has asked to be part of the team for our monthly zoom meetings. We look forward to welcoming new OMs in the future.

We have been able to make several donations on behalf of TSEBG, to support Tiratanaloka and Padmaloka. We are also able to offer financial support to our Mitra convenors and to Mitras to enable them to go on retreat when cost has been a barrier for them.

The OMs work tirelessly to meet up one-to-one with all of our friends and Mitras as often as we can. We also have study groups, led by variety of order members and supported by senior Mitras; covering each year of the Mitra study 4-year course. I would also like to thank Śripada and Taragita for running weekly post-Mitra study courses.

I’d also like to express gratitude and appreciation for our sangha night teams, who set up and tidy away each week. They also make the tea, bring biscuits, milk and flowers, the generally unseen bodhisattvas in our midst. I think our sangha is alive and thriving, driven by the bodhisattva ideal, spiritual friendship and Bhante’s vision of community.

It has been a pleasure to serve as chair, and I would like to thank you all for your guidance, friendship and inspiration. Sraddhamayi.

Section E – Financial review

Annual overview

Our income from donations has remained steady and our expenditure has been as expected from recent years. We remain in a strong position to continue our activities as planned in the year

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Triratna South East Buddhist Group (TSEBG) Registered Charity No 1179930

ahead. The signed end of year balance sheet, and breakdown of income and expenditure for 2024 are attached below.

Income

TSEBG is funded by a combination of donations and fees.

• Those attending the regular weekly spiritual activities (i.e. Sangha Night and Mitra Study) donate to TSEBG what they can afford either as a monthly payment or at each meeting.

• Fees are charged to attend weekend retreats in order to cover the costs of hiring the retreat venue. Different fees are charged for those who are waged or low or unwaged. Additional bursary support is offered to those who need it. While our intention is to simply to break even, in 2024 the Sangha Retreat made a profit of some £431.

• No applications for grants from sister Triratna organizations to support TSEBG have been made in 2024.

Expenditure

Our expenditure falls into the following main categories:

• The day-to-day running of TSEBG, including: room hire in each of our three locations, insurance, subscriptions to the Zoom platform, maintenance of our website and email communications.

• Consumables (e.g. printing, stationery, candles, tea and biscuits)

• Travel expenses for the teaching team.

• Venue hire for day events and weekend retreats.

• Subsidized places on retreats for those on low income.

• Providing bursary support for Mitras to go on training for ordination retreats.

• Regular financial support to the Mitra Convenors to cover their on-going training, the time they spent meeting with Mitras and their associated travelling expenses.

Policy on reserves

Our general policy is to hold in reserve around £12,000 each year. This is sufficient to cover a year’s expenditure should all our income unexpectedly cease. Anything in excess of this amount is donated to other Triratna fundraising initiatives. In the past these have included: providing support for Indian Order Members during COVID; the Buddhist Centre Online; the purchase of a new retreat centre for women training for ordination; and Rivendell, our local retreat centre.

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