The Master Rev. Barry Fry, supported by the Honorary General Secretary Robert Cater, the Honorary General Treasurer Michael Bubb and Minute Secretary Francis Mitchell, opened the meeting at 10.27 a.m. with a prayer, after an Inspection of St Barnabas’ new ring of six (tenor 2-3-2) on the Church floor.
He welcomed everybody, especially those attending for the first time.
The others attending were,
Andrew Banks, Brian Baverstock (for Portsmouth District Rep), Tony Buttle, Andrew Byford, Gail Cater, Andrew Craddock, John Davey, Gilian Davis, Mark Esbester, Elizabeth Johnson, Maureen Kelly, June Mitchell, Tony Smith, Barbara Townsend, Louise Marett, Jack Walters, Phil Watts, Mike Winterbourne, Margaret Wolverson, plus Teresa Brown and Marion Ponsford - both A&P Assistant Secretaries.
Petra Ballantyne, Ben Constant, Ceri Dodd, David Forder, Alan Hoar, Christine Hill, Wendy Ling, Brian Oakes, Martin Waldron, David Weir, Val Williams.
Ted Barnett (Upham), Elizabeth Hillier (Alverstoke), Maurice Manship (Curdridge).
Minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2002 were accepted by the meeting with a minor amendment and signed by the Master as a true record.
Tony Smith reported that the final material from Rev. David Cawley was expected very soon.
Mark Esbester reported no further progress in obtaining or creating an elm headstock, after which the dimensions of the frame can be determined. The possibility of this being expedited by Guild finds was to be explored in order to make this small bell suitable for demonstration and teaching purposes.
Graham Grant’s final design of the current bell-shaped badge with “W&P 1879” on the “Crown” distributed with the Agenda will be the new badge, to be ordered when existing stocks need replacing.
Celebratory Ringing is to be locally based, preferably including the Jubilee holiday weekend 1-4 June. All Districts and towers were encouraged to do something special at that time. Various plans were reported from the Districts including Peals, Quarter Peals and general ringing activities.
Bob Cater requested the Public Relations Committee to present to the next Exec meeting some Ideas for how to celebrate the Guild’s 125th birthday. The possibility of reissuing the Centenary Bells record on CD was mentioned.
There were no additions to the three members mentioned at the previous Exec meeting as qualifying under the ‘50 years rule’.
The report had been distributed with the Agenda and was accepted.
The report and accounts had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted.
Mike Bubb and Tony Smith clarified the source of number of members in each District as being the lists of members’ names submitted by each District for inclusion in the report.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted with some typographical corrections.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted with some minor corrections
This had been distributed with the Agenda and was accepted.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted with some minor corrections.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted.
Jack Walters was requested to purchase for the Guild Library “The Bells and Belfries of Dorset”, as all volumes were of relevance to Guild Towers.
These had been distributed with the Agenda and were accepted.
This had been distributed with the Agenda and was accepted after a vote on the inclusion of an incident in another Guild resulted in a majority in favour of printing the full report
Phil Watts confirmed another quiet year in our Guild with no complaints received, but said that ringers must continue to be aware of potential problems and the assistance available.
This had been distributed with the Agenda and was accepted after Phil Watts gave notice of some additional bells and works that would be included.
Mike Bubb gave this out at the meeting. It was accepted after a short discussion.
Tony Smith thanked all the suppliers of material to the Report, which he intended to get to the printers in mid-March for distribution to District Secretaries after Easter. Information on the W&P 200 Club could be included if supplied very quickly. The printer’s quote was within his budget
Mike Bubb had prepared a paper on the impact of the Guild Public Liability Insurance premium which had doubled to £1,500 in 2002. Although this was unlikely to cause the Guild to make a loss in 2002, any increase in subsequent years would need a rise in subscriptions or a reduction in the cover purchased for members.
The meeting agreed that the current Public Liability Insurance, which includes cover while working on bell restoration, is a valuable service to members, especially the BSC, and should not be reduced.
As any increase in subscriptions agreed by the AGM would start to be collected in January next year, but not reach the Guild Treasurer until 2004, the meeting agreed that an increase of £1 to all membership rates should be recommended to the AGM.
The question was raised of the whole Guild being a Registered Charity, not just the BRF, to reclaim Tax paid on subscriptions. Hon Gen Sec and Hon Treasurer agreed to Investigate the pros and cons by contacting the Central Council, other Guilds who already had this status and the Charity Commissioners, and to report to the next Executive meeting.
Jack Walters had prepared a paper recommending that the Guild purchase the annual collected copies of The Ringing World on CD, as bound copies are no longer available. He is getting copies for 2001 and 2002 bound into Annual volumes at a cost of approx £40 each. Cheaper ways of holding Ringing Worlds together were mentioned.
The advantages were highlighted of searching on CD rather than paper. The CD would be held in the Guild Library in Winchester Cathedral Ringing Chamber where a computer and individual copies of Ringing Worlds were already kept by the Cathedral ringers.
Although the cost and availability date of the CD were not known, the Executive thought this was a good idea in principle and urged the Guild CC Representatives to encourage the production of the CD as soon as possible. Jack will maintain his contacts with The Ringing World to demonstrate our interest.
Following the decision at the 2001 AGM to permit the Executive to authorise BRF grants prior to the AGM, Mark Esbester on behalf of the BRF Trustees presented two applications for grants which need to be considered at the Executive Committee due to the imminence of the work,
Lockerley
Retune, and rehang the ring of six with new headstocks, bearings and clappers plus other repairs to frame and fittings and weatherproofing in the spire. Total cost is £26,037 recommended grant £3,000.
Shanklin
To improve the “go” of these eight bells, they will be fitted with new gudgeons and bearings, some new crown staples, clappers and hardwood headstocks Plus new frame tie-rods and other repairs to frame and fittings. This should keep the bells ringing perhaps for the next 25-30 years pending a complete rehang lower in the tower. The trustees are recommending a grant of £1,200 towards £12,210 total cost.
Both of these applications were approved by the Executive Committee.
AGM confirmed as 2.00 p.m. meeting in Glebe Hall, Basingstoke on 6 July with evening entertainment.
Next edition of Guild Newsletter likely to be issued in mid-March.
All arrangements are in place for Guild Dinner at Winchester Cathedral Refectory on 6 April, Tickets are going well.
Open Day on Isle of Wight 6 May is being organised by Society for the Preservation of IoW Church Bells (in conjunction with the Guild), from whom details are expected soon.
This was confirmed as Saturday 16 November 2002 at St Barnabas Church Hall, at 10.15 a.m.
Barton Stacey in Andover District now has the same incumbent and band of ringers as Wonston in Winchester District, so would like to change Districts, along with Bullington where there are three unringable bells. This has to be approved by the AGM, and was noted by the Executive.
The Education Committee submitted a budget bid for £75, which was approved by the meeting.
Tony Smith is the principal contact for changes to names and addresses etc. as published in the Guild Report. He will feed the changes into the Guild Website.
There being no further business, the Master thanked all concerned for producing well worked papers and reports which had contributed to a quick meeting and closed the meeting with a prayer at 11.53 p.m.