The Master David Strong, supported by the Honorary General Secretary Pam Thompson, the Honorary General Treasurer Michael Bubb and Minute Secretary Francis Mitchell, opened the meeting with a prayer at 10.25 a.m.
He welcomed everybody, especially those attending for the first time.
The others attending were:
Anne Bailey, Roger Barber, Andrew Banks, Diana Bishop, Andrew Byford, Chris Caryer, Andrew Case, Michael Church, Andrew Craddock, John Davey, Maureen Kelly, Helen McGregor, June Mitchell, Peter Niblett, Ros Oakeshott, John Palk, Margaret Paterson, Mo Routh, Tony Smith, Mary Tester, Barbara Townsend, Jack Walters.
Val Cleaver, David Forder, Gill Gardner, Keith Gillings, Jon Hetherington, Bruce Purvis.
The meeting stood to remember Alan French of Niton IoW, Michael Morley of Brockenhurst, Jack Page of Romsey, Kathleen Pooles of Wootton St Lawrence.
Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2008 had been distributed with the agenda for this meeting.
Minute 8, last paragraph was amended to read “ … proposed augmentation to five at Avington,”
Minute 9, the part of the fifth paragraph reading “The Executive would decide whether to support the nomination or not, in which case the reasons for rejection would be fed back to the nominees. In either case the nomination could still be requested to be put on the agenda for the next AGM.” was moved to become the last bullet point in the previous paragraph beginning “Other views expressed were:”
With these corrections, acceptance of the minutes was proposed by Barbara Townsend, seconded by Andrew Craddock and agreed by the meeting with no votes against. The minutes were signed by the Master as a true record.
Ros Oakshott explained that David Forder had created an electronic data base of Tower Secretaries’ Email addresses for use by the Honorary General Secretary when distributing the pre-AGM notices electronically.
A similar facility for maintenance of Executive Committee addresses was requested by the Minute Secretary. Barbara Townsend noted the need to conform to the Data Protection Act and that some people still needed hard copy by post.
Bruce Purvis had detailed his investigations into refurbishment of the Guild handbells in a paper circulated with the agenda. The cost of overcoming the effects of fair wear and tear could be between £1,000 and £2,000. A suggestion that the handbells be sold was rejected because they were George William’s bells, now part of the Guild Heritage and usually used for Guild functions. Mike Bubb requested a formal quote and Peter Niblett offered to arrange for himself or another regular handbell ringer to inspect the bells.
Bruce Purvis’ written proposal to accept Hugh Routh’s offer to extend the Guild Library cabinets upwards, at no cost to the Guild was agreed by the meeting with no votes against.
A volunteer is still needed to fill this post to ensure the Guild fulfils its legal obligations under the next edition of “Vulnerable People Protection” legislation due to be implemented later this year. The Guild Master appealed to the Districts and members of the Executive to find a suitable person willing to stand for this post at the AGM.
It was confirmed that Gwen Mackrell of Alton St Lawrence and David Hughes of Buriton will achieve 50 years membership in 2009.
Pam Thompson’s report had been circulated with the agenda, was seconded by Jack Walters and agreed.
Mike Bubb explained his report which had been circulated with the agenda. A question on Social Committee funds was referred back to the Social Committee. Acceptance of this report was seconded by Pam Thompson and agreed. “The Church Bells of the Channel Islands” had sold almost enough copies needed to break even.
Bruce Purvis’ report had been circulated with the agenda, acceptance was proposed by Tony Smith in the author’s absence, seconded by Jack Walters and agreed.
Jonathan Hetherington’s report had been circulated with the agenda. A correction was requested to the spelling of Binsted, and the meeting agreed that dedication should be removed where no ambiguity existed. With these changes, acceptance was proposed by John Davey in the author’s absence, seconded by Diana Bishop and agreed.
The BSC and Restoration Activity reports had been circulated with the agenda and were agreed subject to removal of blank lines from the accounts, proposed by Roger Barber, seconded by Maureen Kelly.
Andy Ingram’s report had been circulated with the agenda. Corrections were requested to read “Quiet” instead of “Quite” in the first line and “2009” instead of “2008” at the end of the first paragraph. It was noted that the audited accounts were not the same as the accounts circulated. Acceptance of the report and the audited accounts was proposed by John Davey, seconded by Tony Smith and agreed.
David Forder’s report had been circulated with the agenda. The outstanding accounts for 2007 had also been supplied. Acceptance was proposed by Ros Oakeshott, seconded by Mike Bubb and agreed.
Mo Routh’s report had been circulated with the agenda, together with outstanding accounts for 2007. Acceptance was seconded by Tony Smith and agreed.
Chris Caryer’s report had been circulated with the agenda. Tony Smith proposed acceptance subject to the inclusion of more detail for the 2008 6-bell results. This was seconded by Roger Barber and agreed.
Andrew Craddock’s report had been circulated with the agenda, was seconded by Pam Thompson and agreed. Copies of the Guild video were available for viewing after the meeting and would be made available on the web.
June Mitchell’s report had been circulated with the agenda, was seconded by Roger Barber and accepted. She appealed for more support in raising funds for the BRF.
The Guild Master thanked all officers and committee convenors for their reports.
The Trustees’ report had been circulated with the agenda for information. David Strong thanked Michael Bubb for his work on the BRF.
Andrew Case reported on recent requests for grants:
Hannington had requested an increased grant due to £7,000 increase in costs;
Avington are hoping to install two additional bells.
These two grants will be referred to the AGM.
East Tytherley are installing new hardwood rollers and boxes at a cost of £783. The BRF Trustees had recommended a grant of £250 to be put before this Executive meeting as a matter of urgency. The proposal was approved with no votes against.
A discussion paper by Tony Smith had been circulated with the Agenda, explaining the Central Council’s practice of holding its annual meeting by invitation of the major territorial Guilds and suggesting that the Guild should offer to host such a meeting in 2015, possibly in Portsmouth. The Guild previously hosted Central Council meetings in 1953 at Bournemouth and 1980 at Southampton.
After discussing the geographical distribution of Central Council and W&P annual meetings around that time, Tony Smith proposed that the Guild should prepare an invitation to the Central Council for 2016 or later. This was seconded by John Davey and agreed. Tony Smith will prepare a proposal for the AGM.
Chris Caryer’s proposal had been circulated with the agenda. As the cup had broken away from the base and the metal was too weak for repair, he proposed that a new cup be purchased and mounted on the original base for an approximate cost of £85 to £135.
Mike Bubb proposed that Hugh Routh be asked to see if he could satisfactorily repair the trophy, and if not a new cup be purchased on officer authority. He asked if anyone wished to donate the new cup. This proposal was seconded by Andy Byford and carried with no votes against.
Tony Smith in conjunction with Barbara Townsend had prepared a rule change to allow members to be proposed for election to life member at an AGM without the Executive committee having a previous veto, and also rewriting rule 7 in a more easily understood format.
Discussion on the basic merits of this proposal, begun at the 2008 AGM and referred back to the November 2008 Executive meeting, continued to show deep differences of opinion as to its merits in practice.
Tony Smith’s proposal to break rule 7 into sub paragraphs was seconded by Andy Byford and carried as long as it involved no actual change to the meaning of the rule, just its layout.
Mike Bubb proposed that the Executive should recommend to the AGM that this rule change should not be proceeded with. Seconded by Pam Thompson this was carried with 18 votes for, 2 against and 5 abstentions.
Striking Competions.
| Inter-Tower 6-Bell | May 16th | Sopley | ||
| Inter-Tower 8-Bell | May 16th | Ringwood | ||
| Inter-District 8-Bell | July 4th | Highclere | ||
| Inter-District 10-Bell | September 5th | Portsmouth |
Guild Dinner 4th April 2009 Winchester Royal Hotel
Andover District will be hosting the AGM on Saturday 4 July 2009 at Goodworth Clatford. Towers had been booked and other arrangements were in progress.
Executive Committee meetings are 21 November 2009 and 13 March 2010 at St Barnabas Church Hall.
These have previously been agreed as second Saturday in March and the third Saturday in November.
Michael Church suggested that mid summer was not the best time of year to hold the AGM. This is to be discussed further.
It was requested that more committee and officer reports be submitted to the November Executive meeting, if the relevant business had effectively been completed for the year.
Following several spelling mistakes in last year’s report, John Palk appealed for more items to be submitted electronically to reduce the need for retyping.
The Vice-Master position is still vacant. David Strong asked Districts to assist in finding volunteers for this post as well as Child Support Officer.
Margaret Paterson asked what should be done with old Basingstoke District Minutes. She was advised to keep them safe and pass very old ones to the Guild Librarian and Archivist for safe keeping.
The Essex Shield Striking Competition will be held on 12 September 2009 at Hythe. Offers were invited to form a Guild band.
The Master closed the meeting at 12.45 p.m.