A message from our Chief Executive
We have much to thank God for during the last year, not least for his sustaining and protection over our centres which were open for the whole year for the first time since 2019. Since re-opening after the pandemic over 640 church groups and Christian organisations have enjoyed the blessing of a residential conference at one of our centres, with tens of thousands of men, women and young people gathering together to worship and praise God.
We thanked God too in 2022 for one hundred years of conferencing at High Leigh, and celebrated our centenary with Christian leaders from across Christendom gathering with us to thank God for his hand over the centre since 1922 and to ask for his blessing for the next hundred years.
Gathering to celebrate the centennial at High Leigh
During the year The Hayes partnered with leading Christian environmental charity A Rocha UK. This has led to investment in many biodiversity initiatives including the introduction of two colonies of bees. Guests can now enjoy “The Hayes Honey” with their breakfast, collected straight from our beehives!
The Hayes Conference Centre was officially launched as a Partner-In-Action with leading Christian conservation charity, A Rocha UK in May 2022
We recently completed the centenary tower at High Leigh, a £1m investment which enables all our first-floor meeting rooms to be fully accessible for our guests for the first time ever.
Cutting the ribbon at the launch of the High Leigh centenary tower
Over the past year more than 450 people benefitted from our bursary fund, set up to bless guests who may otherwise not have been able to experience residential conferencing because of financial disadvantage.
We thank God for our staff team. We employ over 250 staff, most of whom live in our local communities. As a staff team it is our joy to serve each and every one of our guests, and we describe ourselves as “servant-hearted-history-makers”.
As we look prayerfully to the future, our vision is to serve the Christian family with beautiful venues and great hospitality, to see ministry flourish. We are exploring the possibility of opening new centres in the future so we can serve more Christians across the UK. As we do this, please pray that as a trustee board and executive team we may have much wisdom, insight and courage.
We value you all and pray you may know the Lord’s continuing blessing on your own ministries and we look forward to continuing to serve you at Christian Conference Trust.
John Heasman
Chief Executive
