Dear Friend,
Updates in BOLD 25 July 2010
You should all know that the Satipanya Buddhist Trust now has a retreat
centre near Bishop’s Castle on the Welsh border. I hope that, if you
haven’t managed to visit the centre yet, you will soon.
We bought the Westcroft property for £350,000 and have paid £200,000 with £50,000 for emergency and
shortfall in the first year. As a result there was a mortgage of £150,000 on the
property. Since then ’08, we
were able to pay back £110,000.
Because our lender, the Charity Bank, had to hold the interest rate at 6%, the Trust decided to remortgage with Tridos Bank. This
year, ’10, our present rate of interest is 3.5% which on the remaining £40,000 approx. has a repayment of £3.500 p.a. approx.
Your response to the last appeal, to raise the funds to buy this
property, has been excellent. Many of you renewed your mandates while more of
you started a contribution (for single donations and/or standing orders). There are now around 90 mandates and this
with the Gift Aid rebate is covering the cost of the mortgage and more so that
hopefully, we will be able to pay off the final amount by the time of the Stupa Blessing on Sunday 26 June, 2010.
But there are still further plans to make Satipanya fully adapted to our
aims. We do need extensions for a walking hall and a larger dining room. And we
need to have three extra rooms so that most will have their own room when they
come. There is also the important matter of making our Retreat disability
viable. As with our last appeal we note that standing orders give us a regular
income, no matter what the amount. We are looking for funds of approximately £150,000 to cover these works. A priority is to make the centre available
to wheel chair users.
As Bhante has said before, £1 a week is a worthy gift. To have a regular
income allows us to cover our mortgage and plan for the future.
Mandates are
the backbone of our finances.
*You can also donate an Instant Online Payment through
the website here: Support – most
efficient if donating from outside
We want to thank you for your generous and continued support.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch for any further details about
financing the project.
Nick Costaras .
Treasurer on behalf of the Trustees.