The Master David Strong, supported by the Honorary General Treasurer, Michael Bubb, Honorary General Secretary, Clare Griffiths and Minute Secretary, Pam Thompson, opened the meeting by asking Canon Barry Fry to say a prayer. The Master welcomed everybody, especially new members attending for the first time.
Other members present were: Andrew Banks, Alan Barsby, Michael Church, Edd Colliss, Anne Fraser, Barry Fry, Lucy Hopkins Till, Mike Hopkins Till, Christine Knights-Whittome, Jane Le Conte, Janet McCoy, Peter Niblett, Viv Nobbs, John Palk, Malcolm Powell, Bruce Purvis, Maureen Routh, Mary Tester, Anthony P Smith, Barbara Townsend and Matthew Wilks.
Apologies were received from Roger Barber, Diana Bishop, John Davey, David Forder, Keith Gillings and Nigel Herriott.
The meeting stood to remember:
| Ray Aldington | Winchester Cathedral | |
| Doris Barber | Hawkley | |
| Sue Buchanan | Candover Valley |
The minutes of the meeting held on 10th March 2012 had been distributed before the meeting. Acceptance was agreed with no votes against. The minutes were signed by the Master as a true record.
Viv Nobbs reported that the refurbishment of the boards was being organised by the Isle of Wight ringers. The problems were not as bad as had been expected.
Tony Smith reported that the original artwork had been located and passed to the Guild website. David Strong said that he had so far received requests from five out of the eight Districts for the labels.
David Strong reported that the ringing for the Jubilee had been a very successful event with a hundred towers taking part and 800 Guild members. Jubilee ringing was still taking place in Guernsey. Tony Smith congratulated David Strong on his initiative and Bruce Purvis offered to confirm the statistics. There was an official record of the Jubilee ringing in the library and Executive Committee representatives were asked to share this with their districts.
Viv Nobbs reported that 300 visitors had attended the Newport Open Day which had received huge media support and free publicity.
The report and accounts had been circulated. These were proposed by Mike Hopkins Till and seconded by Bruce Purvis and carried.
| Librarian & Archivist | £150 (2012) plus £300 |
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Bruce Purvis explained that no money had been requested in 2012. The £150 being requested was to cover The Ringing World subscription and to purchase a copy of Elphick’s Sussex Bells and Bellringers. The £300 was to cover the backlog of binding for The Ringing World up until 2011. This was proposed by Bruce Purvis, seconded by John Palk and carried.
| Guild Report Editor | £50 |
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Proposed by John Palk, seconded by Mike Hopkins Till, and carried.
| Belfry Stewardship Committee | (bid to be received in March) |
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| Education Committee | (no bid put forward) |
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| Communications Committee | £505.50 |
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(Domain Name Renewals £10, Web Hosting £52.50, Newsletter Printing £378, Post & Packing £65). Proposed by David Forder, seconded by Bruce Purvis and carried.
Peter Niblett sought the members’ views on whether 50p per rope should be charged for striking competitions to cover the costs of the hall and judges. After some discussion, it was proposed by Viv Nobbs and seconded by Barbara Townsend that there should be no charge per rope. This was carried. In view of this decision, Peter Niblett proposed a budget bid for £160 to cover the striking competitions, to replace the 8 bell trophy and for repairs to the 6 bell trophy. This was seconded by Christine Knights-Whittome and carried.
Barry Fry welcomed Malcolm Powell as Trustee for the Portsmouth Diocese. The BRF held £60,000 in cash which was available for future grants. West Tytherley bells had been much improved by the installation of new clappers. The refurbishment of Heckfield and Ringwood bells was about to be completed. The new ring of bells at St Agatha, Portsmouth had been dedicated on 10th November 2012 and would be installed at the beginning of January 2013.
Just over £3K was required for refurbishing the bells. So far, £2,000 had been raised. A grant of £400 was recommended.
The estimate to renew and refurbish the fitting was £21,000 of which £4,000 remained outstanding. A grant of £1,500 was recommended.
A total of £16,000 was required to augment the five bells to six bells and to include refurbishing. £5,300 had been raised so far. A grant of £2,000 was recommended.
These grants were proposed by Barry Fry, seconded by Michael Church and carried en bloc.
David Strong had circulated a proposal that the Guild finance the updating of the Bishopstoke Ringing Centre Abel simulator software to the most recent version at a cost of £22. This was seconded by Matthew Wilkes and carried. It was noted that the centre had no organising committee but was available for use with donations being invited from users. Tony Smith proposed that the centre and its availability to members in our area and all other areas should be advertised in the Annual Report and on the Guild website and this was seconded by Barbara Townsend and carried.
A survey had been circulated by the CCCBR Vice-President, Chris Mew, on behalf of the Wellesbourne Conference Review Group. The survey, together with the responses by the Education Committee, had been circulated for discussion by David Strong. Discussion by members at the meeting centred round the need to recruit and retain more ringers. District representatives were asked to go back to their districts and ask members what they would like to see in the future by way of recruitment and training resources and to feed this back for consideration by the Guild. David Strong agreed to formulate an agenda item for the March Executive Meeting.
The members were content for David Strong to formulate replies to the questions and agree these replies with the other principal officers.
| Inter-Tower 6 and 8 bell competitions | 6th April 2013 | The Clatfords (tbc) | ||
| Inter-District 8-bell competition | 6th July 2013 | St John, Jersey | ||
| Inter-District 10-bell competition | 7th Sept 2013 | East Meon (tbc) |
It was agreed that composite bands would be allowed for the 8-bell competition on the 6th July 2013 at St John’s, Jersey, and this would be arranged by Nigel Herriott and Peter Niblett. Peter Niblett had volunteered to judge the competition.
No nominations were put forward for the positions of BRF Fund Raising Committee, Public Relations Officer or the Social Committee.
Bruce Purvis reported that 110 - 120 copies of the original 330 copies printed remained to be sold. If we sold six copies at a 30% discount then we would break even with the costs. It was agreed that the District Officers on each of the Channel Islands would try and contact booksellers, etc, and offer a discount of 50% if they took the books.
| ITTS Module One Course | 24th November 2013 | Bishopstoke Ringing Centre | ||
| Executive Committee Meeting | 9th March 2013 | St Barnabas’ Church Hall | ||
| District Officers’ Forum | 23rd March 2013 | St Barnabas’ Church Hall | ||
| Annual General Meeting | 6th July 2013 | St John, Jersey |
Jane Le Conte (Channel Islands District Secretary) and Anne Fraser (Channel Islands District Chairman) provided a handout and outlined the proposals for the AGM in July 2013. Anne agreed to make a contact list of who was likely to be attending so that there was an early indication of numbers. Details of the event would be posted on the Guild website and the Guild e-list, with an entry in the Guild Report.
John Palk stated that there were still back copies of the Guild Reports for 2009 and 2010 available.
Matthew Wilks asked whether the Guild had supplies of ash stays in view of disease affecting ash trees. Although there are no supplies of ash tree stays, Japanese Oak could also be used to make stays.
The Master closed the meeting at 12.11 pm.