The first woman president of Nottingham Hebrew Congregation has stepped down after less than a year in office, saying the demands of the role had affected her health.

Su Collins, who was elected by the Orthodox community last July, notified members of her decision shortly before Pesach.

Three members of the executive have also tendered their resignation.

The community, which has less than 200 members, was in a “sensitive and fragile” situation, according to one congregant who asked to remain anonymous. In January last year, it made long-serving minister Rabbi Moshe Perez redundant.

In a letter to members, Mrs Collins said she had hoped to bring “some harmony and stability to the running of the community and to its future”.

But “sadly, despite all my best efforts, this turned out to be a bigger job than I had anticipated and, as it has recently cause me to suffer health-wise, I find I am no longer able to continue in this role.”

She hoped her successor would have the “fortitude as well as the support” to take the community forward.

Life vice-president Richard Resnick has assumed the role of acting president.

David Simmons, one of the executive who resigned, said he had been “asked to rejoin it to try to improve the way it was run. But I felt that decisions were being made outside of this forum, with a request for the management to agree with those directives.”

Congregants have also been told that although two new members had joined the synagogue, a number of people had left.

According to its latest published accounts for 2017, the community has funds of around £1.7 million, having sold its old synagogue building a couple of years ago.

A number of small regional communities have opted to join the United Synagogue to help plan their future. The idea was floated in Nottingham but proved too divisive.