Dancing the night away! SNU President Duncan Gascoyne and Vice-President (Administrative) Dinah Annable enjoy some time away from the weightier matters of Conference.

     “Yes, it will increase costs,” he admitted, “but if you want to have higher standards and a more professional approach, then facilities have to be paid for.”
       A comprehensive insurance scheme should be facilitated by the SNU for its registered ministers, officiants and platform workers, on a similar basis to that operating for healers.
     “In view of recent events,” he said, “I strongly feel that insurance cover, including a legal expenses section, is a vital necessity.”
        Turning to the importance of mission work, the foundation of new churches and the regeneration of some already existing ones, Mr Gascoyne told delegates that “the time is right to establish a new category of churches in the form of SNU-owned or run churches, directly overseen by the Union with specially appointed persons or committees.”

        He reminded people that Spiritualists were not limited to the few thousand souls in their congregations. “Outside of our churches in Britain, there are 194 countries and six billion people, many of whom might love to link with us. But do we provide them with the opportunity? The straight answer is, ‘No, we do not’. It is time we did. It would also put the Brotherhood of Man into a new perspective.”
      The introduction of SNU International would provide the means for expansion, he explained. It would also offer basic or associate international SNU membership, which in time could lead to Class B membership and its associated rights.
     When small groups were formed, it would enable the establishment of new SNU churches and centres in other parts of the world – “The world in Union.”
      Considerable refurbishment work had been carried out at Stansted Hall, he said, and it was essential that the Hall continued in a good state of repair for the future.
      The Union’s sound financial position should be “used wisely for the future upkeep and maintenance of the Hall and College and not squandered on propping up other parts of the Union, or on unnecessary whims.
      “A few years ago we nearly lost it,” he reminded delegates. “Do you want the same thing to happen again?”
      Mr Gascoyne informed the audience that a residential development of 700 houses was being built on the edge of Stansted village, near the Hall. Estate agents acting for the trustees had enquired whether the Union would be interested in making an offer for land and property around the Hall.

     “Whilst we could not afford the asking price for the whole estate, we felt it was in our interest, and vitally essential, that we look to the future and take steps to try and ensure that we have a green belt area surrounding Stansted Hall, so stopping residential development on our doorstep.
     “With this in mind, preliminary representations have been made to the estate agents in order to ascertain the possibility of purchasing some of the land near to us.”
   Turning to the matter of publicity and public relations, the president felt that there was now a great opportunity to publicise what the SNU and its seven principles really stand for.
    “We should be at the forefront promoting our philosophy, the development of spiritual gifts and survival evidence, which in no circumstances whatsoever should ever be debased or classed as ‘entertainment’.”
     He continued: “In Britain we have freedom of worship, and as the Union is the recognised body for Spiritualism, we should be standing up for the same rights as any other religion.”
     He expressed his pride in the Union’s equal opportunities policy, and asked where the Union would be without the women, past and present, who held high office within it. “Where would the Union be without them?” he asked.
     The Church of England should have a similar policy, he said, adding wryly, “ It would solve the problems they are having at present about appointing women as Bishops.”

     Returning to the fundamental issue of regeneration, President Gascoyne was direct: “When contemplating regeneration, one has to look at restructuring all issues involved, not just one section, in order to make it work more efficiently.
      “The Union is no exception to this rule. Its perception at national, district and church levels has to be looked at as a whole, so that they co-ordinate together.”
     He referred delegates to the detailed presentation by Vice- President (Spiritual) Judith Seaman for restructuring the NEC: “This is mainly aimed at stimulating growth within the Union as a whole, and bringing a more professional approach to the way the NEC has to deal with continuing regulations imposed on trust and charitable organisations.
    “We shall also be looking at the regeneration of the communications system within the Union from top to bottom and vice versa, and, where necessary, have the courage to restructure the roles of the council, district councils and churches.” (Full details of Mrs Seaman’s presentation were published in last week’s edition of Psychic News.)
        Saying that his address had expressed just a few of his visions for the future, he told delegates that now firm financial foundations had been established, the time was right to ascertain whether his visions were feasible. He invited others in the Union to share their own ideas for the future. “Maybe you, too, have a vision for the future,” he said. “If so, let us know.”
        The majority of workers within the Union were currently unpaid volunteers, he said. “As SNU president, and on behalf of the NEC, I would like to thank all these people for their hard work in perpetuating the Spiritualist movement. Whilst your efforts really are appreciated, more has to be done to take us into the future.”

    SNU Spiritualism and the teachings and philosophy of its seven principles had much to offer contemporary society, he said, and the time had come for regeneration.
     “I am of the opinion that the time is now right for all of us to regenerate and revitalise a Union which has done so much for over one hundred years. However, this will not happen if some of us are content to just lie back and amble on complacently, yet complain when others show initiative. “Over the past few years, we have backed up our words by action. Are you prepared to do the same for your church? Let us have some action”
     The president concluded his address by quoting a favourite verse of his father:
    “He who whispers down a well, about the goods he has to sell,
      Will never reap the golden dollars,
     Like him who shows them round and hollers.”
     He asked delegates, “Are you prepared and willing to do a bit of hollering for bringing the world into the Union?”


SNU AGM 2008 Report by Susan Farrow, ©Psychic Press, 2008.
Psychic News. Published by Psychic Press (1995) Limited. The Coach House, Stansted Hall, Stansted, Essex CM24 8UD.
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