1. Death of Rev Desmond Porter

It was with sadness that we learned of the death of Rev Desmond Porter on 06 September 2017, at the age of 82. He served at Newry, Warrenpoint and Banbridge (1978-93), Bolton Halliwell Road (1993-07) and Bolton Egerton (Walmsley) (1993-2007).

The funeral service will be at Underbank Unitarian Chapel, Stannington, Sheffield, S6 6AP at 10.30am on Tuesday 19 September 2017, followed by burial in the graveyard.

For further information please contact Rev June Pettitt (Email: june@underbank-chapel.org.uk), Minister of Underbank Chapel.

2. Death of John Cook

It was with sadness that we learned of the death of John Cook on 15 August 2017. He served in many committee roles across the Unitarian Movement, including as Treasurer of the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth Park, of the Stipend Augmentation Fund and on the Unitarian Investment Panel.

A Thanksgiving service has been arranged for Friday 29 September at 12.30pm at St Peter’s Church, 2 Village Road, Heswall, Wirral, CH60 0DZ.

Derek McAuley
Chief Officer

3. Technical Issues
There have been some technical issues with the email circulation of uni-news and as not everyone may have received the last edition no 188, published on 4 September 2017, the issue is repeated below:

----- UNI-NEWS 188th Issue 4th September 2017

1. Youth Programme Stakeholders' Session

Are you interested in the Unitarian Youth Programme? Do you have children, teenagers or grandchildren that are in the correct age brackets to come to our weekends? Would you like to send your children to the programme but does something keep stopping you? Are there things that you would like the Youth Programme to offer but it does not? Have you been through or are currently going through the Youth Programme yourself and are interested in its future?

The Youth Panel would like to hold a stakeholders' session to help us to take the programme forward in the coming years. With the present Youth Officer leaving this is an ideal time for consultation.

We plan to hold this session on Saturday 30 September 2017 at St. Saviourgate Chapel, York, YO1 8NQ between 12noon and 4pm (approx.).

For further information or to let us know you wish to attend please contact Lorna Barry (Chair of Youth Panel) at lornahill28@googlemail.com. If you have comments or ideas that you would like to make and you cannot make the day, then please send these to Lorna.

The Youth Programme is dear to the hearts of so many of us and we want to make sure of its continuing success.

Lorna Barry
Chair of Youth Panel

2. Emergency Resolution at 2017 GA Annual Meetings regarding Irene Clennel

We are pleased to report that Irene Clennell, whose case was raised by Stockton Unitarians in an Emergency Motion to the 2017 Annual Meetings, has been granted a visa. As reported in The Guardian:

“The Home Office has finally granted a grandmother and mother of two British children who has been married to a Briton for 27 years a visa to live in the UK.

Late one night in March, Irene Clennell, 53, was forcibly taken from her home in County Durham to an immigration detention centre in Scotland. After a month’s incarceration at the centre, she was suddenly and without warning forced on to a flight to Singapore by four border guards.

She had just £12 in her pocket, no change of clothes and was given just minutes to say goodbye to the family and friends she had made during her three decades in this country.

“Mrs Clennell has been granted a visa as a spouse as her latest application meets the immigration rules to enter the UK,” they have said. The Home Office remain unrepentant, however, about its previous refusals to allow Clennell, who was the main carer for her husband, John, to remain in the country.

“This does not negate the previous decision which was the result of Mrs Clennell having entered the UK as a visitor, overstaying her leave to remain and making several applications while in the UK which did not meet the immigration rules. During that time, it was open to her to leave the UK voluntarily at any time in order to re-apply under the correct route as she has now done.”

Clennell arrived in the UK in 1988. Before her deportation, she had indefinite leave to remain in the country. This, however, lapsed after she spent long periods back in Singapore caring for her dying parents.

Despite the statement by the Home Office, she made repeated attempts – in Singapore and back in the UK – to reapply for permission to live with her husband, which were all rejected.

Allowed back in on a six-month visa in 2013, she had overstayed its terms while caring for her husband, who had femoral artery bypass surgery and suffered a subsequent hernia.”

Rev Dr David Steers has set up a new blog dealing with the History of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, a denomination with long-standing links with the General Assembly.

4. Frank Lloyd Wright – The Man Who Built America

There is still time to watch on BBC iPlayer the recent programme in the series “Utopia” on “Frank Lloyd Wright – The Man Who Built America” which drew heavily on how his Welsh Unitarian values influenced his architecture. It includes a short interview with Rev Wyn Thomas.