Leaveners to be laid down?

The Quaker community arts charity faces closure

Trustees of Leaveners, the Quaker community arts charity, have decided to call an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for 4 March to consider a proposal to lay the organisation down.

In a letter to supporters of the organisation, Patrick Jones, clerk to the trustees, said the step was necessary due to a lack of funding: ‘In our appeal made last November we said that our primary funder for thirty years [the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust] has changed its priorities and could fund us no longer. Over the last year we have been searching for alternative funding.’

Patrick Jones praised José Forrest-Tennant, drector of Leaveners, for her successful efforts to secure project funding for the charity’s youth theatre programme. However, due to the ‘present climate’, Leaveners have not been able to raise core funding to pay salaried staff. José Forrest-Tennant has been given a redundancy notice.

At their meeting on 31 January, trustees ‘discerned that we can do no other than work to lay down the enterprise in the best order possible. Even this disappointing outcome will cost some considerable energy as we work to honour our obligations not only to our recently employed staff but also to our pension fund.’

Patrick Jones explained: ‘By calling a halt now, we estimate we can fulfil our obligations to The Pensions Trust and may have some residue to hand on to BYM [Britain Yearly Meeting] Quaker Life, which by our trust deed is the beneficiary of our funds.’

Trustees hope to make the resources developed over the last forty years accessible to further generations in some way.

The EGM, which is open to all Friends, will take place at 2pm at The Priory Rooms, Bull Street, Birmingham. Patrick Jones has asked those wishing to attend to email him on patricksgj@gmail.com.

‘We write to you now with sadness and disappointment but also proud achievement and celebration’, he added.‘Leaveners has had a remarkable history. We must register the many achievements that have come out of this last thirty years. Many lives have been enhanced, even changed significantly by taking a risk, imagining other lifestyles, extending performance skills, contributing to an artwork, working in a team collectively, exploring Quaker attitudes and sharing personal stories.’

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