The Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation (BHHC) has extended an emergency fund-raising campaign to restore the historic Middle Street Synagogue in Brighton, after the original campaign last week fell far short of the £250,000 goal, raising less than £76,000 as of September 25 .
Donations can now be made through Sunday, October 2.
The BHHC administers the Grade II* listed building, which was designed by Thomas Lainson and opened in 1875. Named by Historic England in 2015 as one of the 10 most beautiful synagogues in Great Britain, it was closed for regular worship nearly 20 years ago. It hosts community events, but closed in early 2020 because of the pandemic and remains closed because of its deteriorating condition, in part the result of water damage that took place during the pandemic lockdown.
The Jewish Chronicle wrote that some potential stakeholders or concerned individuals had raised concerns about the BHHC’s plans and felt that an independent charitable trust should be set up to manage the synagogue.
The JC quoted Brighton and Hove’s heritage commissioner, Roger Amerena as saying that “The Heritage Commission still believes this is the only way forward and would urge those that are promoting the present small-scale fundraising to expand the idea further to include the setting up of a separate charitable trust.”
There are many benefits that will be attained, it quoted him as saying: “a board of trustees, the trust being a CIO [Charitable Incorporated Organisation], which in itself will attract valuable Gift Aid, and the trust would be able to accept funds from other donating organisations, national and international, which hitherto would only gift to a charity.”
Access the fundraiser web page
Read the Jewish Chronicle article
Read our post about the campaign