Anthroposophy in Hawkes Bay       
Rudolf Steiner Centre, 401 Whitehead Road, Hastings 

Another verse that Michelle shared:

"The human being is a bridge
Between the past
And future existence.
The present is a moment:
Moment as a bridge."

 (Rudolf Steiner for Ita Wegman. Christmas 1920) 

Events over next 2 weeks

[24 August  to 7 September]

•  Saturday 6 September. 9:30 am. School of Spiritual Science. Recapitulation Lesson in Berne.

Committee News

• We warmly welcome two new members to the Society:  o   Matthew Frear  o   Sabina Bacchus

• The Spring Festival will be held on Sunday 12 October, which is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox.  There will be a Biodynamic preparation stirring on the Saturday.
  
  
• Disposal of Coffee dregs after events has caused a problem, namely a blocked waste-water drain running from the kitchen to the roadside sewer.  Apparently, when coffee dregs are flushed down the sink, they don’t always go the whole distance and settle on the bottom of the drain.  As the building is not lived in the running of water from the sink is infrequent.  The dregs have the nasty habit setting like concrete (well, quite hard).  This means that they catch the next lot and settle, and so on, until a crisis occurs and the water can’t flow at all.  This happened quite recently.  The resulting Plumbers bill was $800!
  SO, PLEASE DO NOT FLUSH COFFEE DREGS DOWN THE KITCHEN SINK.
  They can go in the Green Bin or spread over part of the garden somewhere (not just by the steps). 
  
  
• Thanks to those who kindly donated blankets for the Centre, and we now have sufficient to keep people warm during the cold weather. Please feel free to use them and remember to fold them neatly and return them to their storage places which at present are in the foyer or passageway.  
  
  
• Every year we submit a Report to the Charities Commission.  One of the questions they ask is about Volunteer work for the Society as a Charitable organisation. 
  Unfortunately, we have not been recording that in any organised way.  The Committee plan to set up a Volunteer Hours Book (details soon).  
  Our next Report is due in September and we would like to know from people who have given their time voluntarily to the Branch and the Centre over the last year.  SO, if you have worked voluntarily (i.e. unpaid) for the Centre or its activities in the last year, specifically from
  1 January 2024 to 31 March 2025, 
  please let the Treasurer know what you have done and how long you spent doing it – at least your estimate.  treas@anthrohb.nz

BRANCH TRUSTEES

~~~~~~ 

SEMINAR REPORT

 Future Events  Regular Groups   

Items, Notices, Letters, or articles of interest to the Hawkes Bay Anthroposophical community
ARE MOST WELCOME
Please email your text by midday Saturday to the Editor at info@anthrohb.nz with"For AnthroHB News"  in the subject line.
Diagrams and pictures need to be in .jpeg or .jpg format. 

Robin Bacchus, Editor

Who owns the Centre?

No-one – that is no “one” - owns the Centre.  But group of people, organised as a Society, do.  That Society is “The Hawke's Bay Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand.”  It was first formed in the late 1970s in order to purchase an ex-corner dairy on 500 Nelson Street North, (opposite the Rudolf Steiner School), as a home for anthroposophical activities in Hawkes Bay.  A member, Dora Bird, had left a sizeable bequest to the Society for the purpose of purchasing a property.  Prior to that, members of the Society met in rooms in the school (which was busy growing with a new High School) and in the home of Ruth Nelson and Edna Burbury, Taruna, in Havelock North.  They died in the late 1970s. 

Over the next decade, the building was renovated: the dairy shop was removed; interior walls were removed so that 4 rooms and a passageway became the large main room – the ceiling being kept up by a long steel beam.

In the late 1980s, a house on the school property (no longer needed) was moved from 310 Fitzroy Avenue and nestled in behind the original building and the two were joined by the present Foyer.

In 1990 (35 years ago), the Society was incorporated under the Charitable Trust Act 1957. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1957/0018/latest/whole.html 

Key clauses in this Act are:

Clause 38 (f) the support of libraries, reading rooms, lectures, and classes for instruction.

Clause 39 … in which money has been raised for any charitable purpose by way of voluntary contribution, or by the sale of goods voluntarily contributed, or as the price of admission to any entertainment, or in any other manner of voluntary contribution …

....

In the founding Trust Deed, three Elected Trustees are empowered to buy or sell real property for the Society.  An executive Committee of up to 7 people have the task of managing the affairs of the Society and maintaining the buildings.

 Another aspect of being a Charitable Trust is in relation to tax: The Society’s financial transactions are not taxed and donors to the Society can claim a tax credit.  IRD says:

• About donation tax credits
  Individuals can claim 1/3rd of the value of eligible donations over $5, up to their taxable income.
• Getting the right receipt for your donation
  To claim donation tax credits, you have 4 years to submit receipts from an approved organisation that clearly show all required information. 
  (The Treasurer of the Society sends an official receipt for tax purposes to all donors soon after the end of the Financial year on 31 March,)

--------------------------------------------------

The Society adopted a new set of Rules (also called a Trust Deed or Constitution) in April 2008.  The Objects and Purposes are outlined there as follows:

 "The Branch Society's objectives are expressed in the Principles given by Rudolf Steiner at the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society at Christmas, 1923.

The Branch Society is intended to be a community of human beings who desire to further the life of the soul - both in the individual and in human society - on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world. This is to be attained not only by studying the works of spiritual science but also by fostering educational opportunities for those people in all walks of life who seek answers to contemporary issues out of a renewal of human culture. It is a purpose of the Branch Society to cultivate Anthroposophy through artistic, scientific and educational activities (in the broadest sense of these concepts) and the Branch Society intends to devote all reasonable means available to realise this purpose. This shall include the appropriate supporting of libraries and providing of lectures and publications."

----------------------------------------------------

Over time things change. 

• At that time communication with members of the Society was by letter to a Postal Address; now it is predominately by email and virtually all members [except 5] have an email address.
• At that time payments were made with cash and cheque; since then cheques have vanished and cash is rarely used for larger payments – most payments now are by ETFPOS (Electronic Transfer of Funds at Point Of Sale) or Digital Wallets. 
• With the Internet, many transactions are not face-to-face or confirmed with a handshake but are remote and very quick.  However fraud and scams are frequent and challenging.  So, in recent months all NZ banks have adopted a policy of Confirmation of Payee [CoP] for all digital payments.

This is wonderful, but also raises a problem.  As you may be aware the official owner’s name on our bank accounts is the registered name of the Society, which is over 60 characters long: “The Hawke's Bay Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand”.  This length is very tedious to type, though one can also ‘copy and paste’ of course.  But it seems it is too long for some banks apps – even though Kiwibank has accepted its length as an actual name.

This has led the Committee to consider revising the Rules and adopting a much shorter name.  But this is lawyer territory.  Rules are written in ‘legalese’ which is a foreign language using English words. 

To Change the Rules we must hold a Special General Meeting for that purpose.  We are tagging the date, Saturday 8^th November, for this while we work through any other changes that may be called for by changing circumstances.  The proposed changes are highlighted in this version.

We are wondering if any of our readers are lawyers or are versed in sorting legal problems?

If you can help, please give Robin a call on 022-3982805.

RB