The Mayor of East Grinstead, Steve Ody, attended the Church of Scientology’s Saint Hill headquarters in November in an official capacity to turn on their Christmas lights at an elaborate ceremony attended by their parishioners; despite previous criticism from residents and the national press.

Last year, concerns were raised when then-Mayor Frazer Visser attended the annual gathering of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) event at Saint Hill and accepted a £50,000 charity cheque. He later accepted an invite from Saint Hill to turn on their Christmas lights, sparking outrage after it was found out he had also attended a Mission Impossible film premiere and met with Tom Cruise, courtesy of the Church of Scientology.

The Daily Mail raised the question “has the local council of a sleepy Sussex town fallen under the spell of Scientology?” with local residents commenting things like “I live in East Grinstead. That many of our elected representatives are too close to the Scientologists is undisputed locally.”

In October it was revealed Scientology had failed to secure planning permission for a huge marquee it had erected for their annual IAS gathering, with Mid-Sussex District Council issuing a ‘Planning Contravention Notice’, and efforts were made to restrict protestors from gathering outside their property.

Despite the backlash and criticism from local residents and the national press, financial adviser Steve Ody, who was elected as East Grinstead Mayor in April 2024, decided to accept a “last minute” invitation to turn on the official Christmas lights switch-on event at Saint Hill.

The event was omitted from the official record of the Mayor’s engagements when Scientology Business requested a copy on 8th January. When asked directly whether he attended Saint Hill, the Mayor’s Secretary told us “further to your email I have now had the opportunity to check with the Town Mayor and he has advised that he did turn on the Saint Hill Christmas Lights.  It was a last minute invitation by phone and it did not come through the office so was not on the list.”

“I always send the list to the Mayor just before the full council meeting to check it is up to date as occasionally invitations go direct or things get cancelled at the last minute.  The Mayor has not attended any other events at Saint Hill.”

Perhaps most worrying of all was that line – “it did not come through the office and so was not on the list.” This suggests Scientology contacted the Mayor privately and he accepted the gig without the oversight of the Council, raising concerns over accountability and transparency.

In January last year, former Scientologist Danielle Chamberlin spoke about the abuse she suffered as a child at Saint Hill during a East Grinstead Town Council meeting, only for it to be removed from the public record when the minutes were published. We pushed back, and after a lengthy complaints process the council agreed to publish the un-redacted minutes and video recording on their website and official Youtube page. Her horrific story was covered by The Sun newspaper in December 2024.

We asked Danielle her thoughts on todays’ developments.

“I was sorely disappointed to hear that once again a Mayor from East Grinstead’s Town Council agreed to turning on the Christmas Lights at Scientology’s UK HQ at Saint Hill in East Grinstead.”

“This followed on the back of my having the courage to speak on an open platform on-line in front of the Town Council meeting and airing in public the horrendous abuses I suffered at the hands of Scientology. The person who is the victim of abuse needs to be heard and validated and by the Mayor showing up and supporting Scientology shows extreme lack of empathy and understanding of victims of abuse. It compounds the victim’s feelings of hurt and perpetuates it. One doesn’t feel nurtured, valued or cherished but rather feels the pain of being ignored, invalidated and tossed aside.”

In a video leaked to Scientology Business, the Mayor can be heard counting down from 10 before pulling a lever which turns on the lights. He is seen standing on a stage set up in front of Saint Hill Castle, the building where Scientologists learn about Xenu, an alien galactic warlord who came to Earth 75 million years ago and dropped H-bombs on volcanoes.

Regardless of their ‘spiritual beliefs’, when serious concerns have been raised about Scientology’s close relationship with East Grinstead Town Council, we’d like to know what message the Mayor thinks this sends to those who bravely spoke at a Council meeting last year about their stories of abuse.