DRAFT Minutes of the East Grinstead & District Guild Annual General Meeting

held at Crawley on Saturday 9 March 2019

The meeting commenced at 6:06 pm

The Chairman, Kate Wills, welcomed everybody to the meeting, and invited everyone to stand in memory of David Tomsett, who had died on 7 March 2019.  David was a ringer and verger at Crawley and had been a member for many years.   

The Chairman thanked: the Vicar, Steve Burston, for taking the service; the organist, Gerry Taylor; Margaret McGinn and members of the Crawley band for preparing an excellent tea; and the Crawley ringers for making us so welcome, and joining us in the tower.    

The Chairman explained that as there were only 17 members present, the quorum of 18 laid down in the Guild’s Rules for an Annual General Meeting had not been reached.  However, she proposed to convene an Ordinary Meeting of the Guild for the purpose of electing a member Carol Nelson (Lingfield) who was present at the meeting. Carol was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Patrick Wills, and all present were in favour of her election. This brought the number of members present to 18, to constitute a forum.

The Chairman went on to open the 92^nd Guild AGM.

1.    Apologies for absence

These were received from Milica Reardon, Lynda Johnson, Barbara Taylor, Stephen Newlands, Sheila Marsh, Richard Dyson, Mike Bullett, Andrew Brock, Helen Goldstraw, Robert Everest, Candy O’Donovan, Caroline Stockman, Margaret Funnell, John Verity and Jonathan Large.

2.    Minutes of the AGM held on 10^th March 2019 at Edenbridge

       The Chairman said that the Minutes were available on the Guild website and had been sent out to members by email before the meeting.  They were also printed in the Annual Report for 2018 which had been distributed to the members following tea.  No matters of accuracy were raised and the Minutes were adopted on the proposal of David Finch, seconded by Iain Davey.

3.    Matters arising from the Minutes

There were no matters arising from the Minutes.

4.    Chairman’s Report for 2018

Kate Wills said that her report was included in the Annual Report, and pointed out that she had corrected some errors which appeared in the version of the Report that had been circulated to members by email.  The updated version now appeared on the Guild’s website.  Kate proposed the adoption of her report, and this was seconded by Roger Cowsill.  The report was adopted unanimously.

5.    Statement of Accounts for 2018

       In the absence of the Treasurer, the Accounts were presented by the Chairman.  The Secretary (Patrick Wills) proposed their adoption, David Finch seconded and all were in favour.

6.    Election of new members

There were no further members proposed..

7.    Proposed Rule Change (Central Council Representation)

The Chairman explained that the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers had moved away from the concept of representatives being elected by their guilds and associations for a three-year term.  The Chairman therefore proposed the amendment of Rule 6 of the Guild’s Rules which stated “Officers shall be elected annually by resolution of the Annual General Meeting except the Central Council representative(s) who shall be elected triennially” by removal of the italicised words.  The proposal was seconded by Iain Davey.  A vote was taken by a show of hands resulting in 16 members voting in favour.  As this number exceeded the two-thirds majority of the members present and voting required under the rules, the amendment was passed.

8. Election of Officers for 2018-2019

The President: Ray Large agreed to continue in this post. 

Vice-Presidents: Andrew Brock, Robin Grant, Roger Cowsill, and Rosalind Cowsill all agreed to continue. 

The President and Vice Presidents were proposed by Gavin Bennett, seconded by Gail Terry, and duly elected.

The President took the chair for the next two elections.

Chairman: Kate Wills was proposed by Iain Davey and seconded by Oliver Thompson, and duly elected. 

The Ringing Master, Robin Grant, had indicated that he wished to stand down.  The President thanked Robin for all the work he had done for the Guild, mentioning that he had been a member for 51 years, a Central Council Representative for 15 years and Ringing Master for 8 years.  

Kate Wills was proposed as Ringing Master by Eric Roughley, seconded by Emma Tamkin, and elected unanimously.

The Chairman re-took the chair.

Treasurer: Mike Bullett had agreed to continue.

Secretary: Patrick Wills agreed to continue.

Committee Members: Iain Davey, Sheila Marsh and David Finch had agreed to continue.

Trustees of the E J Oliver Memorial Fund: Andrew Brock and Candy O’Donovan agreed to continue.

These returning officers were proposed en-bloc by Roger Cowsill, seconded by Kate Wills and elected unanimously.

The Assistant Secretary, Milica Reardon, had indicated that she wished to stand down.  Rosalind Cowsill was proposed by Emma Tamkin, seconded by David Finch and elected unanimously.

The Central Council Representative, Kate Wills, had indicated that she wished to stand down.  There were no nominations for the post.  Kate pointed out that it was possible for anyone to attend the Central Council Meeting (to be held this this year in London on 7 September) even if they had not been elected as a representative. In the absence of a willing candidate for the role of Central Council Representative Kate agreed to remain in the role until the AGM in 2020.

9. Programme of Meetings for 2019 – 2020

Patrick Wills reminded members that he had produced a draft Meeting Programme which had been discussed at the January Quarterly meeting and at the Guild’s Committee meeting.  As a result of these discussions he had made some changes to the programme and had contacted towers in mid-February, but only four towers had responded so far.  Patrick said that the programme distributed at the meeting showed the current position.

Patrick explained that the bells at Hurstpierpoint would be available for only one hour in the evening of June 8, but that the Tower Captain there (John Norris) had offered the use of his mini-ring (the Wickham Ring) for another hour.  Members agreed that the Guild should accept John’s offer.

Patrick said that there seemed little point in producing Fixture Cards before more meeting venues were confirmed, but said he would produce them for the meeting at Cudham in April.

Patrick raised the subject of the venue for the Guild’s outing in July, and suggested visiting the area around Chichester.  This met with members’ approval.

10. Any other business

The Chairman raised the possibility of reducing the quorum for the Annual General Meeting.  At present the Guild Rules set the quorum at 18, and had it not been for Carol Nelson’s election today the meeting would have had to be postponed.  During the discussion that followed, Roger Cowsill said that the quorum was reduced from 24 to 18 when he was Chairman, and another member said that it would be undesirable for the quorum to be lower than the number of people on the Guild’s Committee.  The Chairman said that she would be prepared to propose a change to Rule 5 at the 2020 AGM to reduce the quorum to, say, 12 (25% of members) or 10 (20% of members).  It was agreed that this would be discussed by the Committee.

  The meeting closed at 6.43 pm

    It was announced that ringing would continue until 8.00 pm