At the March 2022 Exec meeting the subject of Guild membership fees, and future spending requirements for the Guild were discussed. The Executive committee voted on and agreed to present a motion to the Guild AGM to increase membership fees for Full, Senior and Student members in support of this requirement.
The Bell Restoration Fund (BRF). - Up until July 2015 £4 of each subscription was paid into the BRF. At the AGM that year it was agreed to reduce this to £2, the remaining £2 being allocated between central funds and the Districts. In light of the recent projects undertaken and review by the BRF Trustees on potential requirements, we need to increase the share back to £4 to ensure that the BRF has sufficient funding to allow future support for our towers.
Training and development - the increase in subscriptions has a two-fold benefit on training and development.
As each district receives a 30% share of the subscriptions after the BRF money is allocated, this will increase the amount that each District receives which we hope will in part be used for training and development at District level.
The Guild will allocate £1 into the Guild Training and Development fund to support training grants across the whole Guild.
The Guild rules allow for ‘Reasonable expenses of members attending meetings of the Executive Committee may be defrayed by the Guild.’ In almost all cases currently, these expenses are not taken up, but in light of rising costs of travel, we wish to have available funds to support the good work of the Executive Committee. This also extends to Instructors out of pocket expenses under rule 16 if the Districts do not have sufficient funds and require Guild support.
The proposed increase is as follows
Full member increase from £10 to £15
Senior Member increase from £7.50 to £12.50
Student Member increase from £6.50 to £10
There is no proposed increase to Probationary Membership
This increase is less than a couple of cups of coffee in town or a pint of quality beer at your local and compared to many other sports and hobbies represents great value for money.
Helen Woolford | Pete Jordan | |
Hon. General Treasurer | Master |