Minutes of the East Grinstead & District Quarterly Meeting

Held at Coleman’s Hatch on Saturday, 9 June 2018

The meeting commenced at 6:10 pm.

The Chairman, Kate Wills, welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked: the Rector, Rev Julie Sear, for taking the service; Barry Tilston for playing the organ; Ros Cowsill, Roger Cowsill and Lynda Johnson for preparing and serving a delicious tea.

1.         Apologies for Absence

These were received from: Richard Dyson, Milica Reardon (Assistant Secretary), Jonathan Large, Betty Green, Iain Davey, David Tomsett, Trevor Crowhurst, Ian Henderson, Helen Goldstraw and Oli Watson.

2.         Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting on 13 January 2018 at Balcombe

            Having been circulated prior to the Meeting, the Minutes were taken as read.   

3.        Matters Arising (not covered by the Agenda)

           Patrick Wills (Secretary) said that at the AGM it had been decided to raise the Guild Subscription from £3 to £5 per year.  This would take effect in 2019.

              An Informal Dinner took place at the George & Dragon, Speldhurst, on 10 January 2018.

4.          Election of New Members

              Christopher Westwood (Hartfield) was proposed by Ros Cowsill and seconded by Mike Bullett. All were in favour of Christopher’s election.

5.         Outing on 14 July 2018

           Andrew Brock gave details of the outing which he had arranged with help from Jonathan Large (Ray’s son). The towers to be visited are: Basingstoke (St Michael); Basingstoke (All Saints); Sherborne St John; Monk Sherborne; and Bramley.  There would then be tea at Cross House (adjacent to Bramley Church), by kind invitation of Mrs Becky Kirby.  The Secretary said that he would put details of the outing on the Guild website. 

6.         Update of 2018-2019 Meeting Programme

           The Secretary said that the remainder of the programme up to February 2019 would be as printed on the fixture cards.  However, the venue for the 2019 AGM (Crawley) remained provisional, and Cudham had not yet been approached for the evening meeting on 13 April 2019.

7.        Central Council of Church Bell Ringers report

           The Guild’s Central Council Representative (Kate Wills) gave a short report on the Council meeting held at the University of Lancaster on the 27 and 28 May 2018.  She said that the proposed changes to the Rules of the Council had been adopted, with 85% of members voting in favour, and that the new rules would enable more agile decision making and be more compliant with the current guidelines from the Charities Commission.  Kate went on to say that probably the most significant rule change for the Guild was the abolition of the “Triennium” concept (where Council officers and representatives are elected for a three-year period), and she gave notice that she would not be standing for re-election as Guild Representative.  It will therefore be necessary to elect a new Guild Representative at the AGM on 9 March 2019.  The next meeting of the Council will be held on 7 September 2019, in London.  Other significant changes were that levels of Guild membership would be monitored annually, rather than triennially (so that if membership fell below 50 we would lose our seat on the Council, and we would then need a membership of at least 75 to re-qualify), and that anyone (regardless of whether they are a member of the Council) can volunteer for one of the Council’s Work Groups (but would not be able to vote at Council meetings).

8.        Guild Clothing

           Kate Wills reported that to date she had received orders for only 7 garments.  She has therefore extended the deadline for orders by a couple of weeks.

9.       General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

           Kate Wills thanked those members of the Guild who had responded “yes” to her email sent out seeking their consent to remain on the Guild mailing list.

           Kate is carrying out a “information audit” of members’ data that is being held by members of the Committee.  Once this has been done, her task will then be to prepare a Privacy Statement which will be put up on the Guild website.   It is important that the Guild is GDPR compliant.

10       Any other Business

           Robin Grant said that he was one ringer short for a wedding at Horley on Friday 15 June, and asked for a volunteer.

           Alan Baldock said that although he had not attended many Guild meetings recently, he still regarded Coleman’s Hatch as the “home” of the Guild.  He said that it had been customary in the past for all Guild AGMs to be held at Coleman’s Hatch, and that he and Christine (his wife) were elected here 57 years ago.

The meeting was informed that ringing could continue until 8 pm.

The meeting closed at 6.40 pm.