– TRUSTEES REPORT FOR CHARITY COMMISSION JANUARY 2026.
– Stand Unitarian Chapel Charity Number 1180670.
The Chapel is a small place of worship situated in Whitefield, on the north side of Manchester. We have 23 members and a weekly attendance – in good weather - of 15/16 people. We have no Sunday School and the average age of our congregation is in the mid-to-late 70s.
The Chapel is open for anyone who wishes to visit us, but like many similar church and chapel congregations up and down the country we receive few visitors and, sadly, no interest at all from families or from younger adults with or without children. We maintain a pattern of weekly services on Sunday mornings from 10.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and the services are a mix of hymns, prayers, readings and guided reflection. We do not have a minister attached to the Chapel and our services are led by lay preachers, members of the congregation, and the occasional retired minister.
The Chapel is led by a Trustee board consisting of five people, responsible for maintaining a legal oversight of the Chapel's activities, and a General Council of six people responsible for day-to-day running purposes. The Trustees income consists solely of income generated by investments and the General Council's income derives in the main from letting the Chapel Hall to outside organisations e.g. Slimming World, a reading group, yoga, painting group. Income from fees paid by those groups using the Church Hall depends as to how many groups wish to use our premises at any one time and the Trustees income depends on the vagaries of the financial markets. Neither the Trustees or the General Council employ any person/persons in any capacity.
We manage to keep the Chapel as a going concern but for how much longer is anyone's guess.