Main Meeting Room

1. Bookings

1.1  All Bookings must be made by completing and submitting the Booking Form which can be downloaded from our website or obtained on request from the staff at the Meeting House.
1.2  When working out the period required for a room booking please include adequate time to set up and clear away after your event. An additional charge will be made for bookings that over-run the booked time, and extension will only be possible if the room is available after the booked times.
1.3  The hirer must provide on the Booking Form full details of the event proposed and who will be attending (additional information may be required in the case of public / open events and performances)
1.4  We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any booking at any time without giving reasons.
1.5  Proceeding with a booking application assumes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
1.6  If you are hiring a room for the first time, you must provide written details about your group/organisation and its aims, policies and objectives, before any booking request can be considered.

2. Payment and Cancellations

2.1  Rooms are charged for on an hourly basis in accordance with the scale of charges published on our website
2.2  Invoices for the hiring charges will normally be issued directly after the event date booked and are payable on receipt. Payments must be made by BACS, or by Debit/Credit Card.
2.3  We reserve the right to ask for the full charges or a deposit to be paid in advance, and this will normally be the case for all new hirers.
2.4  If the hirer wishes to cancel a booking this must be done in writing and the hirer will be charged as follows:

• If less than 2 weeks' notice is received: Full Cost is charged.
• Within 2 to 4 weeks' notice: Half cost is charged
• More than 4 weeks' notice: No charge

2.5  Brighton Quaker Meeting reserves the right to cancel any booking or event at any time. Any money paid before cancellation will be returned. Examples of the circumstance for cancellation could include

• The aims and policies of the organisation or individual hirer are in serious conflict with Quaker values.
• Violence or the encouragement of violence at the event may reasonably be anticipated.
• Contravention of fire or health and safety regulations may reasonably be anticipated.
• Misbehaviour has occurred in connection with a previous event on the premises organised by the hirer.
• A hirer breaches Friends' Meeting House Rooms Hire Terms & Conditions.
• Building works or urgent maintenance requirements. Brighton Quaker Meeting will make a decision on a case-by-case basis with regard to all circumstances at the time. Cases may be referred to the Finance and Property Committee of Brighton Quaker Meeting, whose decision is final.

3. Publicity and advertising by hirers.

3.1  The name of the building is Friends’ Meeting House; please use this on any information relating to your event.
3.2  Any publications can only be sold in the room booked by the hirer unless specially agreed in advance with Meeting House staff. Additional Conditions for public/open meetings and performance events:
3.3  If the booking is for a public or performance event the wording of publicity and flyers etc must be agreed with us in advance. At least two weeks before a public/open meeting, a draft of the text proposed for any advertisement of the booking should be sent to the Meeting House for approval. We reserve the right to require changes to the wording, or refuse any speaker who is not acceptable.
3.4  Please ensure that your group's contact details are given on any publicity for your event. (Mail for you should not be sent to the Friends' Meeting House). It should also be apparent that your event is not held under the auspices of Brighton Quaker Meeting.
3.5  All publicity material (including in electronic media) must be exhibited lawfully. Fly posting is illegal and must not take place.
3.6  Requests to display A4 posters and A5 flyers at the Meeting House will be considered, but is at the sole discretion of the staff.
3.7  Open meetings and events must be chaired by an appropriate representative of the hirer organisation, and all those in attendance must be informed that proceedings must be conducted peaceably and respectfully.
3.8  Hirers' particular attention is drawn to the conditions set out below relating to safety, and hirers should discuss arrangements with staff well ahead of the date of the booking.

4. Care of the Meeting House.

4.1  The hirer must check in advance that the parts of the premises to be hired and the conditions of hire are suitable for their requirements.
4.2  The hirer is responsible for leaving the rooms used clean, tidy and fully vacated. Any electrical equipment used must be fully turned off.
4.3  Hirers are asked to conserve the use of electricity, water and heating whilst on the premises.
4.4  The arrangement of furniture in the room should be discussed at the time of booking. The staff will endeavour to set out the rooms as requested but please note this is done as a courtesy. You are responsible for arranging the chairs and tables in the room for your requirements, and you must allow time at the end to return the room to the arrangement you found it in.
4.5  No nails, screws, drawing pins, tape or staples shall be used on the walls, woodwork, doors or furniture. Posters or placards may only be put up with the agreement of a member of staff in the manner agreed.
4.6 No sellotape or blu-tack etc may be used on painted surfaces.
4.7  Candles or other naked flames are not allowed in the building other than in ground floor rooms with prior approval of Meeting House staff.
4.8  Hirers are asked to take away all recyclable materials they use or have brought onto the premises and ensure these are recycled correctly.

5. Use of the Meeting House

5.1  Use of the garden must be pre-booked (charges apply) and will be at the discretion of staff on the day.
5.2  No alcohol or illegal drugs may be brought into the premises, including the garden.
5.3  No smoking is allowed in any part of the building. This includes e-cigarettes.
5.4  Raffles and other games of chance are not permitted. Auctions for registered charities only are at the discretion of staff and must be agreed in advance.
5.5  No food or drink may be taken into the carpeted main Meeting Room except with the agreement of a member of staff.
5.6  No dogs (except guide/assistance dogs) are allowed on the premises (including in the garden) without prior agreement (please see section on dogs).
5.7  The use of any part of the building by the hirer must not interfere with the use of the remainder of the premises by Brighton Quaker Meeting or other hirers.
5.8  All users of the premises must act in a tolerant, peaceful and non-aggressive way; violent or threatening language or behaviour will not be accepted.

6. Safety and Liabilities

6.1  All hirers are required to provide the name of an individual (“responsible person”) who will be in charge of the booked event on the day(s). If a series of dates has been booked, and there are changes to the responsible person then the hirer must provide us with the name and contact details for each occasion.
6.2  Fire safety. The hirer's responsible person must ensure that they are familiar with the location of fire exits, fire extinguishers, and the assembly area outside the building. They must ensure that emergency exits are not blocked. The hirer should inform all participants at their meeting(s), of these procedures, and is responsible for the safe entry/exit of all participants at their event including any who are disabled.
6.3  The hirer must limit the numbers attending their event to the published room capacities, as shown on our website.
6.4  Use of the premises is at the hirer's risk. The hirer is responsible for any damage to the premises, fabric, furniture, fittings, chattels and equipment resulting from their booking or caused by those people attending the booked event. and shall take reasonable steps to ensure that damage shall not occur. The hirer should report any damage occurring and without delay.
6.5  The hirer, in consultation with a member of staff or other representative of Brighton Quaker Meeting, is responsible for ensuring proper supervision of entry to /exit from the building during their event. Mindful for the safety of people coming into the building and their security, Brighton Quaker Meeting requires the hirer to provide designated stewards for large events in the Meeting Room or Lecture Room. We reserve the right to require a hirer to have an extra member of staff on duty as a condition of the booking proceeding. Any costs incurred by us in providing extra staffing will be discussed in advance with, and charged to, the hirer.
6.6.  Brighton Quaker Meeting shall not be responsible for any injury to persons, or loss or damage to property during the hirer's use of the premises, other than injuries caused by the negligence of Brighton Quaker Meeting or its staff. Any property belonging to the hirer is left in the building at their own risk. Hirers should ensure that they have adequate insurance cover in respect of liability to any persons, or loss or damage to property, including personal injury and death of third parties (including employees and volunteers) and damage to the building or to the property of others. and any specific cover they may need in respect of their own property, or cash or activities during the use of the premises.
6.7  Hirers are responsible for safeguarding any children and vulnerable adults who take part in their activities from abuse of any kind. They should also be aware that there may be other groups in the building with children and vulnerable adults. Hirers therefore, must hold a safeguarding policy or sign agreement to ours (see website for details : https://quaker.link/ymy11f). If they do have a policy, hirers must post a link on our booking form in the space provided.

Revisions

These Terms and Conditions will be reviewed and updated from time to time by:
Finance and Property Committee of Brighton Quaker Meeting.
July 2022
Brighton Quaker Meeting is within Sussex West Area Quaker Meeting.

After due reflection and hours of consideration, Brighton Quakers have issued the following statement regarding contentious bookings at the Meeting House.

Quakers value Justice and Peace and have a long history of engagement in trying to resolve conflict. Quakers have premises in the United Nations in New York and Geneva to provide space for opposed nations/factions/camps of all kinds to meet ‘off the record’ and away from the media in order to explore the possibilities of common ground. This long-standing attempt to mediate between opposed groups has been widely praised. As far as Brighton Quakers are concerned, our Meeting has no wish to mediate in similar cases, nor does it have the capacity to do so, but we do attempt to provide a space in which complex and controversial views can be aired and discussed in an uncharged atmosphere.

Alongside Peace and Justice, Quakers also value Equality and the need to work towards equality in the midst of human diversity and competing needs. Given our commitment to equality,
we do not offer a platform to all contentious groups. For example, those who are committed to and express racist, homophobic, sexist or transphobic views are not welcome to hold meetings in Brighton Friends Meeting House.

For those groups whose views are broadly in line with our values, however, there are two important points which need to be borne in mind.

• Conflict-resolution requires moderation and kindness. Views expressed in an aggressive or inflammatory fashion are not helpful. We require of hirers, therefore, that their meeting is conducted in a manner which is respectful of the other side. That means acknowledging that the others’ views - however different - may also be based upon fundamental beliefs and experiences and be deeply felt. Where we have doubts about whether a hiring-group will be able to abide by this requirement, we may require that a representative of the group meet with us prior to booking, and Quaker observers are present at the subsequent event.
• Second, the Quaker tradition of mediation would never have been possible, had Quakers taken sides on the controversial issues in question. Conflict-resolution is only possible where the host maintains a detached stance in the debate. To be sure, individual members of the Brighton Quaker Meeting undoubtedly feel strongly about some of the issues under discussion. But if the Meeting House is to provide a space in which controversy can be explored through respectful dialogue, it is essential that the Quaker community as a whole does not take sides in any given controversy. In agreeing to allow an organisation to use the Meeting House, therefore, we do not necessarily endorse all of the views held by that group. It is worth noting that there is nothing unusual in such a stance. The letters-page or opinion-pages of quality newspapers routinely state that the views expressed on those pages are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Organisations willing and able to conduct their discussions in a moderate manner and who can accept that we may also hire rooms to groups who hold views contrary to their own, therefore, are welcome in the Meeting House.

These are the basic values and principles that inform our consideration of applicants for bookings. We recognise that this document represents our best current understanding, and that this is an ongoing work in progress. We also recognise that these are our best ideals and that there may be times or situations where we do not have the practical facilities, resources or expertise for accommodating the most challenging of bookings, and in these cases, we will have to say no.

Untill recently, the Friends Meeting House has had a policy of refusing the entry of dogs to either the garden or the building, unless they are designated assistance dogs.

1. We will continue with the ban of casual dog access into the garden, unless they are designated assistance animals. 
   If spotted by staff, the owners will be asked to leave.
   
   
2. We will now admit dogs into events in the building after prior agreement and according to the following criteria:
   
   a) If an owner would like to attend an event in the building accompanied by a dog, they will need to check with the organisers of the event to see whether participants are happy to share their event with a dog.
   b) If they bring a dog, the owner will be responsible for managing the animal, and the dog should be able to behave appropriately.
   c) The dog is to be kept on a lead at all times, whether in the garden or in the corridors.
   d) The dog will not be admitted to the cafe or the kitchen.
   e) The dog is not permitted to go defercate in the garden or the building.

You can see our diary at the following link -http://www.webdiary.biz/Brighton_Quakers/home/

PLEASE NOTE;

The diary can give you an an initial notion of room availability, but confirmation of a booking needs to come fom a member of staff. We try to keep a gap of 15 minutes between bookings in order to turn rooms around.

There are two designated Blue Badge parking bays in Ship Street which are about 50m from the entrance to our grounds.

At the Meeting House we have been working to improve the accessability of the building in recent years and this has led to the following improvements :-

• Automated doors into the building; the Main Meeting room and the disabled toilet. All of the rooms on the ground floor are wheelchair accessible.
• A stair lift allowing access to the upstairs rooms for those with limited mobility (not suitable for wheelchair users).
• Fixed Loop Systems in the Main Meeting Room and the Lecture Room.
• Sound baffling measures in the Cafe, Lecture room and the main corridor.
• Brighter lighting of the garden at night.
• Wheelchair for users who need temporary assistance.

Brighton Quaker Meeting has a duty of care to all users of the Friends’ Meeting House.

We are committed to ensuring good health and safety practice is maintained in the building. To this end the Meeting works to keep the Meeting House, furniture, fixtures, equipment and chattels in good order and regularly checked.

We ask you as users of the building to observe the following practices to ensure the safety of your event.

• Please read the fire alarm procedure displayed in each room and familiarise yourself with all the fire exits. A plan of the building is available which details exits and the main passage ways. Fire alarm points and fire fighting equipment are in the passageways.
• Please do not obstruct any of the doorways in and out of the hired space with furniture or equipment. Passageways, stairs and fire exits must also be kept clear of obstructions.
• Hirers are responsible for the safety of any electrical equipment they bring into the building.
• Any cables for equipment must be laid safely and with awareness for doorways and passageways. Cables should be firmly taped down.
• Candles are not allowed.
• We ask users of the kitchen to observe basic food hygiene and ensure that doorways are not obstructed. Any waste to be placed in the bin provided. All equipment and work surfaces used to be left clean and tidy.
• A first aid box is kept on the premises and can be accessed through the Warden or duty Friend.
• Hirers of the building are required to ensure that all attenders at the end of their event leave the building.

The management of the bookings at Brighton Quaker Meeting House is done by our Wardens in the first instance. If the Wardens have doubts about any person or group who wish to hire our building, they will refer the matter to the Finance and Property Committee who will make the final decision

This statement endeavours to explain the criteria used for such decisions

Brighton Quaker Meeting considers its lovely Meeting House as one of our best forms of outreach to the local community so we endeavour to use it as fully as we can to support our testimonies and social witness. In keeping with our Quaker values, we try to provide a peaceful space where a wide range of groups can meet and hold events. We have developed our Conditions of Hire over recent years and these are to be found on our website. We are happy to host groups who can agree to these conditions.

We place particular emphasis on the need for groups to respect our Quaker testimonies of peace equality, truth, integrity and sustainability

However, sometimes decisions in these matters are nuanced and complex. Where doubt has arisen from whatever source about any group or speaker being in conflict with our testimonies, we give the matter serious consideration. We may also consider the matter within Quaker Worship

If we feel the need, we will also consult others including those within our wider local Quaker Meeting and may seek advice from Friends House (the central Quaker organisation).

Having been through this process, we make a decision based on our judgement at the time. Where we decide to go ahead with a booking despite doubts having been expressed by other outside persons or organisations, we will endeavour to have Quaker observers present. Should these observers raise any doubts themselves about speakers or organisations who use our Meeting House, we will review future bookings.

Where bookings are rejected, that decision will also be based on not only whether the hirer’s aims and objectives are in accord with Quaker testimonies, but also whether their means to achieve these are respectful and peaceful.

The decision of the Finance and Property Committee as to whether to accept or reject a booking is final.

Finance and Property Committee

April 2017

Refreshment Charges

Catering by Meeting House staff is available and includes the provision of a cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit @ £1.50 per person per serving.

It is possible for all groups to provide their own refreshments. They have free access to the upstairs kitchen, and can either hire the downstairs cafe (£18/hr), or ask for urns and mugs in their room (£8/session).

Because of the variety of groups and potential catering needs, we have writen a guideline for larger groups considering refreshments, please contact us for more information.

Needless to say it would be worth discussing arrangements with the warden team.

You can order food from outside caterers to be delivered to the building.

Equipment Available Free of Charge

• Chairs and tables.
• Whiteboards in rooms 2, 3, 4 and 6.
• Projector screens in the Lecture Room and Meeting Room.
• Flip charts and pens - additional flipcharts are £5 a pad.
• Speakers for computers/ video presentations.

Data projectors are not available from us but can be hired from a community organisation called:

The Resource Centre - Telephone 01273 606160.

Computers and screens for Zoom Meetings, Power Point, Videos etc - at a charge of £5 per session (Rising to £10 a session for the equipment in room three, and £15 for the zoom equipment downstairs).

A Yamaha C3 Grand Piano is available for concert performances at a charge of £35 and £20 for other uses.

Stage Lighting at £20 or £12 per session for consecutive events (following picture courtesy of Ela with Strings)

Unless stated otherwise there is a minimum booking period of two hours on all rooms.

ROOM PRICES

• Room 2  £16 per hour
• Room 3 £18 per hour                
• Room 4 £18 per hour                
• Room 6 £16 per hour  
• Quiet Room £16 per hour             
• Lecture Room £30 per hour
• Meeting Room £35 per hour
• Cafe £18 per hour and £54 beyond 3 hours if hired with another room
• Kitchen £25 for every 4 hours

Brighton Quaker Meeting is part of Sussex West Area Quaker Meeting, and together we have policy and practice which helps us to safeguard children and adults who are part of our Meeting.

Abuse is unacceptable. Everyone, including children and vulnerable adults, have a right to participate in Quaker communities without suffering harm. We are committed to keeping everyone safe.

Quakers recognise that of God in everyone. All children, young people and adults deserve respect, value and appropriate care. Our care extends to people who are at risk of abuse, have been abused and to those who may be perpetrators. We apply the Quaker national approach to assessing and managing risks from those who have a record of offending.

Sussex West Quaker Meeting is committed to the robust implementation of these policies and practices. We believe that they offer the best protection for those adults and young people in our Meetings who may be at risk of harm. There are three main strands to this work:

• the prevention of harm through careful checks and safe procedures
• the taking of effective action where harm is found or suspected
• the care of those who may be affected by harm

Our safeguarding policy can be found at: http://quaker.link/YMY11F 

Details of Local and Area Safeguarding Coordinators are here