As we’re halfway through the year, we’ve settled into our new homes! At the Annual General Meeting on 28 April, we agreed to continue meeting as we are – second Sundays in the month at Northumbria Spiritual Commons, every other Sunday at Jesmond URC.

We also agreed to pursue the investment of the proceeds of sale of our own building, to march at Northern Pride 2024, and to look into the possibilities of applying for funding for spiritual leadership and outreach. Whilst a permanent full-time minister is not a realistic possibility, we wonder if a more short-term arrangement could be an option for helping us grow our congregation, with the aim of meeting more people’s spiritual needs, and hopefully becoming more self-sustaining. We will see! We’ve also had a Special Congregation Meeting on 2 June 2024, at which members present agreed to adopt the new constitution (the ‘church rules’) for the future, to allow us to meet online and vote electronically, among some other changes. 

Work to renovate our old building by Northumbria University continues; they are currently working on the roof and windows – see the photograph! It will become a lecture theatre, opening in 2025. More updates as and well.

The UK Unitarian and Free Christian General Assembly (GA) took place over 4-6^th April 2024 – I was our fellowship’s representative. We passed resolutions on awareness of the benefits and dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the ‘No More Deaths’ campaign, and action on the conflict in Gaza.

We have our annual Whitby Trip to look forward to on 7^th July 2024, and for the first time we intend to try to livestream this for anyone who cannot attend. Watch this space!

Northern Pride is on 20-21^st July 2024, and we have the Northern Unitarian Association AGM on 28^th September. We hope to see you all soon!

Louise Reeve

Chairperson, Newcastle upon Tyne Unitarians