(For complete details of Church Governance, have a look at our Governance page)
The Register of General Vestry Members at the United Parish of Ballynure & Ballyeaston (Ballyclare) is now open for review and is available for inspection upon request.
Those whose names appear on the register are eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting and are eligible to be nominated and elected to the Select Vestry, subject to their consent.
If your name is not already on the Register of Vestry Members and you wish to have it added, you must:
- Be over 18 years of age and subscribe to Church/Parish funds.
- You must sign a Form of Declaration, which can be obtained from the Forms section of this website . These forms need to be signed and returned to the Parish Administrator before Monday 1st March 2021.
The Review Meeting of the Register will take place on Wednesday 3rd March 2021 at 8pm. The Select Vestry will receive the Forms of Declaration, and if there are no objections, the names of all qualified persons who have completed Forms of Declaration shall be added to the Register. The names of those who are no longer qualified (that is those who have left the Parish or those who no longer subscribe to the Parish) will be removed from the Register. Please contact the Parish Administrator if you wish to discuss your financial contributions to the parish.
The Annual Meeting for all parishioners will take place on Wednesday 10th March 2021. Due to current restrictions, more details will provided in the future on how this meeting will be conducted.
The United Parish is registered as an individual charity with the Charity Commission (N.I.)
Guidelines state that:
“Each member of the Select Vestry is considered as a Trustee of their parish – that is nothing new in terms of their responsibilities, it is just that these have been formalised under charity legislation”.
The Supplementary Guidance on Charity Trustees provides this additional information for your assistance:
Anyone who is elected as a member of a Select Vestry must not be disqualified from being a trustee of a charity. Those disqualified under the Charities Act from acting as a trustee are anyone who:
- has been convicted of an offence involving deception or dishonesty, unless the conviction is spent conviction under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (NI) Order 1978.
- is an undischarged bankrupt or has made a voluntary arrangement with creditors.
- has previously been removed as a trustee by the Commission or by the Court.
- is subject to disqualification under company legislation.
It is the responsibility of anyone who might fall into any of these categories, not to make themselves available for election to the Select Vestry.