Our AGM in July was very kindly hosted by our Isle of Wight members, with the Service, Guild Inter-District striking competition and the meeting itself being held at Shanklin. The Guild’s thanks go to all those who helped to make the day a success.
At the meeting, I offered my resignation as Guild Secretary as Gail and I were planning to retire to the Yorkshire Dales later in the year. Unfortunately no one came forward and I continued as Secretary until the end of the year, a few days after Gail and I had moved to Settle. In the meantime (thankfully) Steve Castle volunteered to fill the post and in accordance with the Guild’s rules was appointed by the Executive Committee to hold the post until our AGM next June.
I offer Steve my best wishes. He is keen to do the job and I am sure that all District and “Central” officers, as well as all Guild members, will give him the same high level of support that they afforded me over the past 11½ years.
Much change has been implemented in the Guild during the past decade and, even for me, it is only by reading past Guild Reports and the minutes of meetings, that I can appreciate the breadth of it all.
One main area has been the improvement in communications across the Guild, helping it to achieve “unity across the membership”, which is one of the Guild’s formal Aims. This has come about through a variety of ways, ranging from newsletters through membership booklets to the simple encouragement of Executive Committee members to feed back their deliberations to District meetings. The introduction of electronic systems has certainly made the work of a secretary less onerous and the electronic availability of minutes and other Guild documents to all members has made the obtaining of information much easier. I’ve never been able to hide behind the excuse that I didn’t know what was going on!
Another main area has been the creation of the Belfry Stewardship Committee and the consequent advice it has provided and work it has done on bell installations, which again help to fulfil one of the Guild’s Aims.
Training is another such area, and much has been done, both at District and “Central” level, to supplement the work of the Education Committee, which was started in the mid 1970s. The public relations work leading to the recruitment of hundreds of new ringers for the Millennium and their training was a great achievement.
Change has even occurred in the meetings of the Executive Committee! For example, papers proposing new projects are now submitted with agendas and are read by members before meetings, instead of the matters being raised at the meetings themselves. The Committee now has a more business-like approach to its work.
The overlying theme has been to create a climate where the Guild’s “Centre” is not remote from the membership, where the Guild’s Districts realise that they are in reality the Guild in the area they cover, and where all members - whether actively involved in the Guild’s affairs or simply and equally importantly solely ringing at their own tower Sunday by Sunday - are united by the Guild, and a Guild which is there to provide them with appropriate services to help them in their ringing.
Both Gail and I have had the privilege to serve the Guild in a variety of offices during the enjoyable 28 years we lived in Winchester and as a consequence know how the Guild is faring - and faring compared with other Guilds and Associations across the country. Now in its 125th year we are sure that the Guild is in a very healthy state and we wish it every success in the future.
Robert Cater