Use of hall facilities
Please note the booking form below must be completed for requests to use our halls, please read this section in full, including the Halls terms of use document.
As part of its outreach to the community the Congregation of Newtownbreda makes its church building, halls and other facilities available to registered charities and other not-for-profit1 organisations or individual providers whose objectives fall within the wider Christian ministry of the Presbyterian Church. Where it is unclear that an organisation fulfils this criterion, the final decision will lie with the Kirk Session2 taking into consideration any recommendation of the Congregational Committee3. In exercising its right of refusal the Kirk Session is not bound to provide a reason.
While the Church’s own organisations are given booking priority, other organisations or individual providers are welcome to unallocated space and every effort will be made to accommodate them. We do not purport to supply, in the commercial sense, a service for outside users; rather we simply seek to share our facilities with those who can benefit from their use and, in turn, anticipate that such users will engage with us as partners in caring for them.
As Newtownbreda Church is supported through the voluntary contributions of its congregational members, any organisation or individual provider using its premises is normally expected to make a donation towards heat, light and general wear and tear. While the following suggested donations represent the minimum needed to cover such costs, as a guiding principle, no one should be deterred from seeking use of our premises because of a genuine inability to contribute as indicated.
Definitions:
- A ‘not-for-profit’ organisation or individual provider is one exhibiting a strong element of ‘social enterprise’ principally for the benefit of participants/clients or the wider community and whose purpose does not involve generation of commercial revenue for the organisation or a personal income for an individual provider whether acting independently or as a franchisee. Exceptionally ‘for-profit’ organisations or individual providers may be granted access to our facilities where their activities are directly sponsored by and deemed to be in the interests of the congregation of Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church.
- The Kirk Session consists of ordained elders who, within Presbyterianism, take responsibility for the spiritual and pastoral affairs of the congregation. Temporal matters are normally delegated to the Congregational Committee.
- The Congregational Committee is an elected body with delegated responsibility for management of the business, financial and secular affairs of the congregation.
St John’s Hall (seats up to 300):
£300 per session (morning or afternoon or evening);
£500 for morning + afternoon OR afternoon + evening;
£500 per session for licensable entertainment use.
Rosetta Hall (seats up to 100):
£40 per hour
Use of the Coffee bar and the adjacent Mezzanine area is separately negotiable
Megaw Room (seats 50) or Cairns Room (seats 40 includes kitchenette):
£15.00 per hour.
Main Kitchen: use is separately negotiable.
Foyer (including the servery): use is separately negotiable.
Please note that certain conditions apply to the use of Newtownbreda Church’s facilities with which organisations or individuals booking the facilities are required to conform.
MAKING A BOOKING ENQUIRY
The management of our facilities is undertaken by members of the congregation on a voluntary basis with the assistance of a part-time Church Steward. As there is no permanently staffed office, the most effective way of making a booking enquiry is by email.
Complete the booking enquiry form at the end of this document and email a copy of it as an attachment to the Halls Convenor.
Please only telephone in exceptional circumstances as it is unlikely that the Halls Convenor will be able to answer your enquiry at the time.
You are recommended to apply as far as possible in advance as your enquiry may have to go before the Congregational Committee (which only meets on alternate months from September to June) and, possibly, the Kirk Session for ratification.
For administrative reasons, it is not possible to process an enquiry for a booking which falls within a current calendar month or within 5 working days prior to the start of that month.
MAKING A DONATION
Donations in lieu of the use of the facilities are gratefully received. Please note that we do not issue invoices, reminders or receipts, though all contributions are acknowledged in due course. Donations may be made:
by cheque payable to Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church and forwarded to
374-378 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 3HX or;
by electronic transfer to the Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church account at
Danske Bank; Sort Code 95-01-34, Account No. 92796783.