The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland Lurgam Monthly Meeting Annual Report and Accounts for year ended 3111212022 Introduction This report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and in line with the guidance produced by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Constitution and Governance The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) In Ireland, Lurgan Monthly Meeting is Éh governed by its governing document which was agreed by the Meeting on 10 June 2020. The Meeting was registered as a charity by the Charity Commission for th Northern Ireland on 15 February 2021. The Trustees, of whom there should be not less than two, are appointed at the Annual General Meeting. They are appointed for a period of up to three years and are eligible for re-appointment for a further two terms. Trustees who senied during sl the year ending 31 December 2022 were as follows: Lesley Burney Anne E Gamble Jane E Lutton J Arnold Lutton The Trustees are responsible for the policies, activities and assets of the charity. No Trustee received any remuneration for services as a member of the Board of Trustees and the charity has no employees. The Meeting has put in place a data protection policy, based on guidelines from Ireland Yearly Meeting, which is reviewed regularly. Purposes of the charity Lurgan Monthly Meeting is a Meeting for Worship of the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland that practises in accordan with the principles of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. The purpose of our charity, as set out in our governing document, is the advancement of the general religious purposes of the Religious Society of Friends by the following means. in so far as they are exclusively charitable: Strengthening the Christian understanding and religious development in the geographical area of responsibility of the Monthly Meeting" li. Contributing financially and practically to the relief of suffering at home and abroad;
iii. Providing for the pastoral care of individual Members and Attenders of Preparative Meetings. including assistance to those in need. st At 31 December 2022 we had a total of 126 members as well as 12 regular Attenders. Our activities during 2022 We are responsible for three Preparative Meetings in Bessbrook, Lurgan and Moyallon. Monthly Meeting met on 5 occasions during the year with an average attendance of 11 members. Our activities in 2022 are reflected in the summary of Annual Reports from these Meetings which follows. In some respects, 2022 was a sombre year for Lurgan Monthly Meeting as we lost four much loved and respected Members, two from Bessbrook and one each from Lurgan and Moyallon, all were women and all sadly missed from within and without of the Society of Friends. Even so, it must be acknowledged that each had had long and well lived lives, leaving behind them legacies of love and kindness. Happily, each of the three Meetings have also enjoyed communal activities, including meals and one of fundraising for Macmillan Canr Support. On the harmonic front, some Members of Bessbrook joined the local churches in December for a carol concert, with one Member singing in the choir. On a somewhat bigger scale, a large contingency of the Blackburn Association, from the United States, came to visit Moyallon and Lurgan in July. ostensibly to view the headstones and premises where their ancestors have been buried and would have worshipped. On the Sunday we all lunched together in Moyallon Centre, spilling onto the picnic tables outside as there were so many, two coach loads in fact. Thankfully, it was a dry, sunny day and the food was prepared by outside caterers so there were no dishes to wash. On the Monday Lurgan Meeting opened its burial ground to enable the group to wander round. Although some had been concerned as to whether both Meetings could manage such a large number of visitors it went smoothly, and all seemed to find it enriching. During the course of the year all duties, as set out in the book of Organisation and Christian Discipline have been carried out the three Preparative Meetings and the Child Safeguarding reports have been sent to the Clerk of IYM Education Committee. Lurgan Monthly Meeting welcomes 38 adult Ffriends and one child in total to their Meetings. Looking fonmard We look forward to God's continued blessing on our Meetings in 2023 and we hope to see growth in Christian understanding and spiritual experience in all our Meetings.
Public benefit The trustees of Lurgan Monthly Meeting are pleased to confirm that they have complied with their duty to have regard to the public benefit requirement statutory guidance of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Our public benefit has been demonstrated in a number of ways over the past year: We ensured that our Meetings hold regular Meetings for Worship and these Meetings are open to members of the public as well as our own members and regular attenders these Meetings provide spiritual nourishment and deepen the Christian experience and understanding of those who attend. Using legacy and bequest funds that have been left to the Meeting, we provide financial support to those in need within our Meetings and for other charitable causes; We opened our historic site at Moyallon to the public on World Heritage Day. Financial review sl st Our financial statement for the period 1 January to 31 December 2022 is attached to this report and shows that we had a deficit of income over expenditure of £4301.53 for the year, although this was mainly due to a payment of £3740 from the previous year being made in 2022. As a result, our totsl current funds at 31 st sl December 2022 decreased to £7964.27 compared with £9525.80 at 31 December 2021. We also spent £1000 to support the work of Quaker Service and £1000 to Irish Quaker Faith in Action. Declaration This report was approved at the Annual General Meeting on 13th September 2023 and is signed on behalf of trustees. J.Arnold Lutton Clerk of Trustees