Following the 1997 national launch of the “Ring in 2000” publicity campaign and the formation of the W&P “Ring in 2000” Group, 1998 was the year that perhaps for the first time ever, the Guild took seriously the job of getting publicity. A large number of attractive coloured leaflets were produced and distributed by the “Ring in 2000” Group. The “Ring in 2000” display stand was on show at 13 events. I produced a Press Pack which was distributed to all towers. There were many publicity initiatives at District and tower level resulting in articles in newspapers and radio. I believe that all these contributed greatly to bands starting up in once silent towers and to new recruits in others.
I am not aware of any adverse publicity for ringing in the Guild area this year.
Two Guild Newsletters were issued during the year, in March and in October. My sincere thanks go to all people who contributed articles and information. All Districts but one produce their own newsletter, and I enjoy reading all of them to extract articles for Guild News.
Only the Winchester District produces an annual district directory, distributed free to all members. I encourage other districts to follow suit.
Items from the PRO Inventory were not used during the year. The items are now old and have effectively been superceded by the stand and leaflets that were purchased by the “Ring in 2000” Group. Subject to approval, at the end of 1999 I intend to deposit items 1-2 in the Guild Library, and items 3-5 in the Guild archive.
Our World Wide Web site received about 2500 visits in the year. My thanks to David Forder for maintaining the site.
Returning to the subject of publicity, the successful message we are taking to the public at present relates bellringing to the Millennium and the attempt to ring all bells simultaneously on 1 January 2000. If we wish to maintain our momentum we will need to consider carefully our message after 2000, and how we should promote it. Perhaps there should be a Guild Publicity Committee rather than a single officer.
The items listed below are a Guild resource that can be used for tower Open Days and other appropriate events. There is no charge for use, other than return postage. Simply write or telephone me before the planned event and I will send you what you want. There may be a significant increase in the material available this year as our W&P “Ring in 2000” initiative gains momentum.
I lend out items 1-5, and give away from item 6.
| Income | Expenditure | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £.p | £.p | ||
| Balance b/f | 36.43 | Photocopying newsletters | 103.45 |
| Transfer from Guild a/c | 175.00 | Stamps and envelopes | 45.83 |
| Telephone | 2.25 | ||
| Computer printing | 4.00 | ||
| Balance c/f | 55.90 | ||
| £211.43 | £211.43 | ||
Ian McCallion