Bristol & West Progressive Jewish Congregation

Name

Bristol & West Progressive Jewish Congregation

Former Names

Bristol & West Progressive Congregation (from about 1989 to about 1996)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Bristol & West Progressive Synagogue (from about 1986 to about 1989)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Bristol Progressive Synagogue (from about 1975 to about 1986)^(iv)

Bristol Progressive Liberal Synagogue (from about 1970 to about 1975)^(v)

Bristol Liberal Jewish Group  (from formation to about 1970)^(vi)

Address:

43-45 Banner Road, Easton BS5 0RR

Number 43 was purchased and consecrated in 1975, and was combined with number 45 in 1988 and further expanded in 2003.

The congregation initially met in members' homes. Subsequently the congregation received permission to use the library at the Friends Meeting House in Hampton Road, Redland, although other venues were also used until the Banner Road premises were acquired.^(viii)

Current Status:

Active

Date Formed:

1961^(ix)

Ritual:

Liberal / Progressive

Affiliation:

A constituent community of Liberal Judaism (formerly the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues), to which it has been affiliated since June 1962

Website:

http://www.bwpjc.org/

Rabbis and Ministers:

(To view a short profile of a minister, hold the curser over his or her name.)

Visiting Rabbis

Rabbi Hillel Avidan - from 1984 to 1987^(xii)

Rabbi Curtis E. Cassell - from about 1987 until about 1988^(xiii)

Rabbi Douglas Charing - from about 1988 until about 1990^(xiv)

Ministers

Rabbi Francis R. Berry - from about 1990 until about 1994 (first term)^(xvi)

Rabbi Hadassah Davis - from about 1997 until about 2007^(xvii)

Rabbi Francis R. Berry - from about 2007 to about 2008 (second term)^(xvi)

Rabbi Monique Mayer - from about 2011 to present (July 2019)^(xviii)

Congregation's Magazine:

Alonim, published quarterly by the congregation.

Membership Data

General

1999 -   93 members ^(xxii)

2005 - 140 members ^(xxiii)

National Reports and Surveys^(xxiv)

1977 - 28 male (or household) members and estimated 28 female members

1983 - 34 male (or household) members and estimated 34 female members

1990 - 67 members (comprising 23 households, 25 individual male and 19 individual female members)

1996 - 93 members (comprising 28 households, 32 individual male and 33 individual female members)

2010 & 2016- listed as having 100 to 199 members (by household)

Charitable Status:

No information found of current registered charity status (as of 19 July 2019).

Registration District (BMD):

Bristol (since 1 July 1837). Link to Register Office website

Cemetery
Information:

The congregation can conduct funerals in several cemeteries in the region. Two local cemeteries with burial plots available are South Bristol at Bedminster Down and the Memorial Woodlands Cemetery, Alveston in the South Gloucestershire countryside. Cremation may be done at Canford, South Bristol, or another local crematorium.^(xxv) (For further details see Cemetery Information on the Brighton and Hove community page).