The Master David Strong, supported by the Honorary General Secretary Clare Griffiths, the Honorary General Treasurer Michael Bubb and Minute Secretary Pam Thompson, asked Canon Barry Fry to open the meeting by leading in prayer.
The Master, David Strong, welcomed everybody, especially Clare Griffiths, who was attending for the first time.
The others attending were: Andrew Banks, Roger Barber, Charlie Barrett (observer), Andrew Byford, Charlotte Colliss, Michael Church, John Davey, Barry Fry, Keith Gillings, Maureen Kelly, Christine Knights-Whittome, John Palk, Bruce Purvis, Maureen Routh, Mary Tester, Mike Hopkins Till, Barbara Townsend.
Alan Barsby, Diana Bishop, Andrew Case, Nicky David, Gill Gardner, Jonathan Hetherington, Janet McCoy, Lucy Hopkins Till, Viv Nobbs and Tony Smith.
The meeting stood to remember:
| Don Exell | Arreton | |
| Peggy Chalk | New Alresford and Ropley | |
| Barbara Crook | Bramshott | |
| Michael Goss (LM) | Burghclere | |
| Jack King | Winchester | |
| The Venerable Ronald Scruby | Isle of Wight |
The minutes of the meeting held on 20th November 2010 had been distributed with the agenda for this meeting. Acceptance was agreed with no votes against. They were signed by the Master as a true record.
None.
Congratulations were due to Jill Taylor from Ryde for 50 years membership.
Clare Griffiths’ report had been circulated with the agenda.
Mike Bubb explained his report which had been circulated with the agenda. It was noted that the figure under 2010 for “Districts” should be £16,552.14 and under “Sub Committees” the figure should be £933.42 making a total of £24,731.09. Budget holders were urged to apply to carry forward their budgets from 2010 if they wished to do so. Seconded by Bruce Purvis, the reports and accounts were carried.
Bruce Purvis’ report and accounts had been circulated with the agenda. Bruce explained that a new treble handbell had now been received and that the old caps had been saved by Taylors. Bruce also applied to increase his budget from £250 to £300 in order to buy the Ringing World and the Bell News DVD. Proposed by Bruce Purvis, and seconded by John Davey, this was carried. Bruce Purvis also gave details of the wording to be engraved on the plaque mounted inside the Library bookcase which had been donated by Hugh Routh.
Jonathan Hetherington’s report had been circulated with the agenda. With the proviso that the “112th peal for the Guild by Colin Butler” needed to be checked, this report was seconded by John Davey and carried.
The BSC accounts and Restoration Activity reports had been circulated with the agenda. Roger Barber told the meeting that work was in progress at Dummer and the bells were at Whites being repaired. Wherwell had been declared unringable as the tower moved quite a lot. These problems were being discussed with the churchwarden. Seconded by John Palk, the report and accounts were carried.
David Forder’s report and accounts had been circulated with the agenda. Seconded by Bruce Purvis, these was carried.
Charlotte Colliss’ report and accounts had been circulated with the agenda. Seconded by Michael Church and carried.
Mike Till had taken over this post in 2010. There was £19.62 in cash which could be put into the general fund. Proposed by Mike Hopkins Till and seconded by Roger Barber and carried.
Christine Knights-Whittome’s report and accounts had been circulated with the agenda. Seconded by John Davey, this was carried.
Alan Buswell’s quarter peal analysis and comments were discussed at the meeting. It was agreed that John Palk would be able to edit the analysis by liaising with Alan, but that it was only acceptable to omit wording and not to amend the wording. This was proposed by David Strong and carried. David Strong had already thanked Alan Buswell for the report.
David Strong thanked all the officers for their reports.
The accounts had been approved by the Trustees and final approval would take place at the AGM. Mike Bubb reported that the accounts were quite healthy at the moment and there would be a meeting with the BSC after this meeting.
Dummer - bells were going in mid April and the dedication would be in May.
There had been a formal application from Liss but further information was required. There was also an application from Brading for the rehanging of the frame and from Bullington. These applications would be considered at the next meeting.
Work at Portsea was ongoing.
There was conservation work at West Tytherley but this was being fully funded elsewhere.
Arreton were not being augmented to an eight.
David Strong thanked Mike Bubb.
Clare Griffiths had produced a discussion paper on bell badges and guild sweatshirts. There was discussion on whether the design on the badges should be changed and whether it would be better to have ties/scarves instead of badges. As there was no consensus of opinion, it was decided not to order any further badges at this stage. Mary Tester would negotiate for further badges from those remaining. Clare would pursue the matter a bit further and report back at a future meeting.
Clare had not received many replies to her questionnaire on whether Guild members wanted to buy any more sweatshirts. It was felt that there might be more interest in a different garment as many of the Districts and towers had their own garments. Clare would distribute a pro forma to see whether there were any orders for sweatshirts.
There was still no BRF Fundraising Committee. After some discussion it was agreed to keep the item on the agenda for future meetings in order to continue to look for a volunteer to fill the post. It was noted that the post of Public Relations Officer was also still vacant. It was important to find somebody to fill this post especially in view of the Central Council visit in 2016.
| Inter-Tower 6-Bell | May 21st | (now confirmed as Broughton) | ||
| Inter-Tower 8-Bell | May 21st | (now confirmed as Romsey Abbey) | ||
| Inter-District 8-Bell | July 2nd | Ryde, IOW | ||
| Inter-District 10-Bell | Sept 3rd | (to be confirmed) |
Mike Hopkins Till was arranging these competitions. It was confirmed that Triples would be rung for the 8-bell competition.
The Guild Dinner would take place on 21st May at the Holiday Inn, Winchester. People were encouraged to buy tickets as soon as possible. Ringing would take place during the day and the details would be circulated shortly.
The District Officers’ Forum would take place on 2nd April 2011 at St Barnabas’ Church Hall, Southampton. Three districts had replied to the invitation so far but the deadline was the end of the month. Mary Tester raised the issue of fares from the Isle of Wight and it was confirmed that the first port of call for this should be the district treasurer.
The next Executive Committee meeting would take place on 19th November 2011 at St Barnabas’ Church Hall, Southampton.
It was noted that the William Rayner restoration project had been nominated for an Isle of Wight Conservation Award which would be presented on 15th April 2011.
The Guild display boards were currently stored in the back of Hursley church but a new home needed to be found for them.
John Davey enquired about having a central volunteer list of all people who had been CRB checked. It was confirmed that the only requirement for CRB check was for transporting people under 18 years old. It was therefore not necessary to have a list of CRB checked volunteers.
Bruce Purvis had recently taken over as Winchester District Secretary and sought confirmation as follows:
There was no problem with members transferring from one tower to another.
If anyone joined the Guild as a member in November, it was still necessary to pay a full year’s membership.
There was no formally constituted executive for each district. Therefore it was not possible for a district meeting to direct district officers. However, district officers could act together at the AGM.
The Master closed the meeting at 11.48 am.