Minutes of the East Grinstead & District Guild Annual General Meeting

held at Edenbridge on Saturday 10 March 2018

The meeting commenced at 6:13 pm

The President, Ray Large, welcomed everybody to the 91^stGuild AGM, and invited everyone to stand in memory of the Chairman of the Guild, David Threlfall, who had died on 31 January 2018.

1. Apologies for absence 

These were received from Anthony Leeves, Barbara Taylor, Ruth Goodsir, John Warner, Robert Everest, Chris Funnell, Betty Green and Lynda Johnson.

2. Minutes of the AGM held on 11^thMarch 2017 at East Grinstead

Copies of the Minutes had been distributed to the members prior to tea, so that they had the opportunity to read these before the meeting had commenced. Following two minor amendments to spellings in the Minutes they were adopted on the proposal of Patrick Wills and seconded by Sheila Marsh.

3. Matters arising from the Minutes

It was noted that the Guild library was currently at David Threlfall’s house. Roger and Rosalind Cowsill said they would arrange to collect it and store it until a permanent home was found for it.

4. Chairman’s Report for 2017

As David Threlfall had been ill at the time of the Guild Committee meeting in January, the Chairman’s report had been compiled by the Committee. The report was adopted by those present on the proposal of Roger Cowsill, seconded by Hugo Tracey. 

The President expressed his thanks for all the work David had done for the Guild since his election in March 2013. He also thanked Patrick Wills for all the work he did (especially in relation to the Guild website); and went on to thank the local ringers for welcoming the Guild to Edenbridge, Stephen Mitchell for taking the service, Paul Isom for playing the organ, and all those who had been involved in preparing tea.

5. Statement of Accounts for 2017

In presenting the Accounts, Mike Bullet drew members’ attention to the following points: the deficit for the year was due to the subsidy of £200 for the Guild’s 90^thAnniversary dinner; membership subscriptions remained at much the same level as the previous year; income from teas was reduced. As to the future: costs of hosting the website (currently £90) were likely to increase slightly; donations to towers would remain at a similar level; there would be no subsidy for the dinner this year; the Balance Sheet remains relatively healthy. Mike proposed adoption of the Accounts, David Finch seconded and all were in favour.

6. Election of new members

Philippa Nelson (Lingfield) was proposed by Sheila Marsh and seconded by Ros Cowsill; Richard Dyson (Edenbridge) was proposed by Mike Bullett and seconded by Sheila Marsh; Jonathan Large (Bramley, Hampshire) was proposed by Ray Large and seconded by Hugo Tracey; Emma Tamkin (Speldhurst) was proposed by Eric Roughley and seconded by Mike Bullett; Andrew Wickenden (Cowden) was proposed by Hugo Tracey and seconded by Sheila Marsh. All were duly elected, and those present welcomed by the President.

7. Election of Officers for 2017-2018

The President: Ray Large agreed to continue in this post. Andrew Brock proposed him, seconded by Kate Wills, and he was duly elected.

Vice-Presidents: Andrew Brock, Robin Grant, Roger Cowsill, and Rosalind Cowsill all agreed to continue. They were proposed by Kate Wills, seconded by Mike Bullett, and duly elected.

Chairman: Kate Wills was proposed by Mike Bullett and seconded by Roger Cowsill, and duly elected. The President then handed the chair to Kate Wills.

Ringing Master: Robin Grant agreed to continue.

Treasurer: Mike Bullett agreed to continue.

Secretary: Patrick Wills agreed to continue on the basis that he could delegate some tea-making duties at business meetings. Ros Cowsill and Mike Bullett agreed to help with this.

Assistant Secretary: Milica Reardon (Proposed by Mike Bullett, seconded by Sheila Marsh).

Committee Members: Iain Davey and Sheila Marsh agreed to continue. David Finch was proposed by Mike Bullett and seconded by Helen Goldstraw.

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

The returning officers were proposed en-bloc by Hugo Tracey and seconded by Margaret Funnell. All were in favour of the elections.

8. Annual Subscriptions

     Mike Bullett said that with membership at the current level of around 50, the annual income of £150 was less than annual expenditure. He recommended that subscriptions should be set at a level such that income exceeded expenditure, and proposed an increase in the subscription from £3 per year to £5 per year, effective from 2019. He said that it was 15 years since subscriptions had been increased, and that if inflation was taken into account, subscriptions would now be at around £7 per year. David Finch seconded the proposal, which was passed on a show of hands. Robin Grant asked for it to be recorded that he had abstained from the vote.

9.    Programme of Meetings for 2018 – 2019

Patrick Wills drew members’ attention to the fixture cards that had been circulated prior to tea.  He pointed out a few amendments that had been made since the suggested programme considered at the Quarterly Meeting at Balcombe in January. He said that some towers had yet to be confirmed.

Andrew Brock gave details of the outing to the Basingstoke area on 14 July. Jonathan Large (Ray’s son) was helping to arrange the outing. Andrew agreed to send final details of the outing to Patrick for publication on the Guild’s website.

Helen Goldstraw enquired whether the bells at Outwood and Burstow would be half-muffled for the meeting on 10 November (the eve of Armistice Day). Patrick Wills was unable to confirm.

It was agreed that the Guild Committee would arrange the proposed informal dinner on 9 February 2019

10.  Guild Clothing

       Comment was made that, with regard to the latest clothing order, T-shirts had come up too small, and polo shirts too large.

11.  Any other business

  11.1Mike Bullett spoke about the Rope Fund accounts. Members are not being asked to approve these because there is no requirement to do so: the Fund Trustees have already approved the accounts. He confirmed the Fund income for last year was £204, and the Fund’s assets were £1,570. The last grant had been to Bletchingley. Mike will give Patrick Wills at PDF of the Fund accounts to be posted on the Guild website.

  11.2  Kate Wills commented that she had made progress regarding compliance with GDPR, and the meeting was content to leave this to her.

The meeting closed at 7.02 pm

It was announced that ringing would continue until 8.00 pm