Our AGM in July was hosted by the Andover District, with numerous morning towers followed by a lunchtime barbecue at Highclere, kindly provided by the local company. After the Service and Meeting at Highclere, more towers made it a very enjoyable full day’s event.
At the Meeting we agreed that “continuing” members of the Guild now have to pay their subscriptions by 30 June in the year. This should make the work of District Treasurers a little easier when preparing annual accounts. Previously they were still collecting subscriptions as their books closed at the end of the year.
The Isle of Wight District held a well-organised Open Day in May when nearly £700 was raised for the BRF. Thank you very much. I remember bumping into ringers from across the country when queuing for the early morning car ferry at Portsmouth.
The Executive Committee considered the future of the Guild Library in the Spring, which is held in a large oak bookcase made nearly 50 years ago in memory of George Williams, a long-serving Guild Master. It has been housed at Christchurch Priory for the past ten years, but because of various factors concerning allocation of accommodation at the Priory, now has to be moved. The authorities at Winchester Cathedral have recently given permission for it to be placed in the ringing chamber there. Once relocated, it is hoped the library and archive can be developed to be of greater utility to members.
A leaflet explaining the details of the Public Liability insurance the Guild holds on behalf of members should be available soon, as well as one explaining the rationale the BRF Trustees adopt in recommending grants.
The “Ring in 2000” Group has been very busy in the year, with its display boards promoting ringing being on regular display during the Summer. The Group’s recruiting leaflets have been widely circulated and have drawn many recruits. Intensive training has been under way in all areas of the Guild and I hope that organisation on the day will enable all the bells in the two dioceses to be sounded at noon next New Year’s Day, as part of the planned special Service. This may mean that some churches with a surfeit of ringers may be requested to share them with other churches less fortunate.
Over the past few years - perhaps without recognising it fully - the Guild has been steadily taking a fresh look at its aims and aspirations and the way it achieves them. I sense a strengthening unity in the Guild between all its component Districts and committees and a greater clarity of vision in providing services for members, be they educational, social, fund-raising or work to bell installations themselves. Communication is certainly more effective and several new committees have been created to deliver new services.
At the forefront of all this, the District committees and officers all now provide a very wide range of practices, newsletters and social activities for members in their areas.The slight downside however is that new activities and committees require volunteers to spend a year or two working on them. Whereas volunteers have readily come forward for some fields, in others a few more members joining them would enable the groups concerned to provide a first class service.
I was at a meeting recently when sixty or more hands went up to support a certain social activity, but then no-one could be found to organise it. Do please come forward from time to time to do your bit for your fellow ringers in the Guild. Most Districts now elect officers on a yearly cycle, so this doesn’t commit you to too long a stint. Work, done collectively, isn’t usually too arduous and most people who join in enjoy it and find that they themselves get a lot out of it.
Robert Cater