Dear All;
As you are aware the last year and a half has been an exhaustingly busy time for the Shul Committee as it set about fund raising and repairing the Shul. I hope you all agree that the effort was worth it.
The Committee was looking forward to a relatively quiet year in 2019. Unfortunately, this will not be the case. In the last few months we have had a series of events that impact on the ongoing viability of the Shul:
• The attic flat tenant left leading to a significant loss of income
• The attic flat needed significant refurbishment before it could be re-let
• The basement flat tenant left - the flat remains empty, with the shul incurring ongoing costs
• Significant deterioration of the back wall of the building during the winter
Once again, the Committee was faced with difficult decision:
• Do we refurbish the flat or do we not?
• Can we defer work on the wall again, bearing in mind that every committee in the last 10 years has deferred the work which has led to further deterioration and increases the repair costs?
• Do we shut the shul and get the shul trustees to sell the building?
Other issues taken into consideration included paying for the work:
• Do we launch an appeal?
• Do we get a loan?
After much discussion it was decided that we would refurbish the flat and defer the wall repairs. In two months the flat was transformed with the help of several volunteers. But the cost of the refurbishment was high, much higher than expected, as more and more problems arose as the refurbishment went on.
Concurrently, we were advised that leaving the wall another year was not a good idea as it had deteriorated significantly, and then the basement flat tenant left.
So, to cut a long story short we need donations from our members urgently to keep the Shul from going broke. We are not launching an appeal because we don’t believe “fixing a wall” will interest people and the issue is really about cash flow.
We need our members help. The debt we have incurred is about £19,000 which we can pay off over a two to three-year period if we are able to keep the two flats rented out. (One is rented out at present). Members of the Shul Committee are funding a large chunk of this debt. However, our immediate need is for donations to cover the running costs of the building and to pay off debt that comes due in the next 6 months.
We therefore need our members to actively raise funds for the Shul, be this by being sponsored to run a marathon, holding coffee mornings, or anything else you can think of. If we run out of cash, we will have no other course of action than to close-up. If you value the Shul and the community, please help. Please don’t rely on or expect others to sort this problem; they won’t. The Shul needs you to help. This is an Aberdeen issue and the Aberdeen Community must work together to solve the problem.
All donations and money raised can be paid in to the Shul’s bank account directly:
Aberdeen Synagogue and Jewish Community Centre
Sort Code 80-22-60
Account Number 15015067
Or by donations can be made to
(gift aid is recovered automatically on this site)
Other means of fund raising are
If you would like to know more about the issues I have raised, please ask me or any of the Trustees.
Thank you
President ASJCC and AHC
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