Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers

  1. TOC
  2. back
  3. next

FSG Committee Meeting, 27th May

The Committee met at Ilmington on May 27th. A major item for discussion was the AGM in October and the need to make arrangements well in advance, to avoid the rather disorganised state of last year's event. The issues included finalising the items required to be in the Notice of AGM & Striking Competitions that must appear in the July Newsletter, because their appearance in the next issue (October) will give insufficient notice. These were: agenda content; the 2009 accounts (although unavailable until after the meeting); proposal for a subscription increase*; proposal to form a bell fund; and a proposals sheet on which to propose Guild Officers for election at least 2 weeks prior to the event. Although the latter is required under the Guild Rules, its use has lapsed in recent years, but it was agreed it should be revived this year. The format of the proposals sheet was agreed. It will be attached to the back of the July Newsletter, as the subs renewal form. The rule applies only to Guild Officers, defined as: Guild Master; Ringing Master; General Secretary; and Treasurer. Although the President and Vice-Presidents are not specifically included in this list, those posts are for annual election at the AGM and therefore are being included on the proposal sheet. The remaining members of the Committee, six other elected members, do not have a defined time for election, so proposals and votes for these posts will be taken at the AGM. If the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers allows the Guild entry, the two CCCBR Reps will need to be elected via the sheet. The two posts will be added to the proposals sheet if this occurs.

Steve Bowley, the Ringing Master, said he intends to stand down from this post at the AGM, as his personal commitments will not allow him to continue. He believes it would be beneficial to have some deputies to assist the Ringing Master, as it can be difficult to be at every Saturday night practice.

The Membership Secretary reported 175 members had now paid their 2010 subs. This was seen as an excellent result from the closer monitoring that has been applied to the paying subs, as promised to the membership at the last AGM.

It was agreed the Minimus Striking Competition should take place, but on a 5 this time with the tenor behind, at Cold Aston before evening ringing there. The Guild Master will arrange this (see Guild Minimus Striking Competition).

Whether to have a Christmas Party or another function this year, or nothing at all, was deferred to the next meeting.

The advantageous arrangement for printing the Newsletter has been lost, so an alternative was discussed. It was agreed this should be via a network of home printers, with the owners printing off and stapling together multiples of 10 copies. The costs can be reclaimed from the Guild at a rate of £4.00 per 10 copies for Newsletters having up to 12 sides, and £5.00 per 10 copies for 14-16 sides. This will equate to what we have paid previously. A trial run will take place this time with a small number of volunteers, to assess viability.

This year's events were discussed. These include: the Guild Ringing Tour to Rutland on July 3rd, the details of which appeared in the April Newsletter and on the web-site; the Walking Tour on Saturday September 25th, which has been finalised and its details appear in this Newsletter [p. 12]; and the Minimus ('Mini-Mouse') Striking Competition [p.13].

The next meeting will be on Thursday 2nd September at Ilmington, 6.30pm start

* on subsequently seeing the accounts and finding them better than expected, your committee decided to defer a rise in the subscription amount until next year.