Minutes of the East Grinstead & District Quarterly Meeting

Held at Balcombe on Saturday, 13 January 2018

The meeting commenced at 5.48 pm.

The Chair was taken by Mike Bullett in the absence of David Threlfall who was on holiday.   Mike thanked the PCC of St Mary Balcombe for the use of their church and the bells.  He also thanked those who had provided tea.

1.          Apologies for Absence

These were received from: David Threlfall, Linda Johnson, Gail Terry, David Tomsett, Ruth Goodsir, Adrian Grant, John Verity and Helen Goldstraw.

2.          Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting on 9 September 2017 at Caterham St John

              Kate Wills read out the Minutes.  

              Re Item 3 – Julie McDonald should read Julie McDonnell.

3.          Matters Arising (not covered by the Agenda)

              Julie McDonnell has now raised over £7m.

              Kate Wills has now obtained costings for the proposed Guild clothing order, and she proposes providing a brochure to members at or before the AGM.

4.          Election of New Members

              None.

5.          The Guild Website

              Patrick Wills reported that the website had experienced over 5000 visits, but it was not clear how many of these were from “web        crawlers”.   The annual cost of hosting for the website and maintaining the domain name is now £100, which is effectively two thirds of each member’s subscription.

              Milica Reardon suggested utilising a free website from Webley, although the downside of this is the occasional adverts.

              Sheila Marsh suggested increasing the members’ subscriptions, as she considered the current level to be cheap.  It was agreed that the subscription level would be discussed at the committee meeting at the end of January 2018. 

              Patrick Wills indicated that tower donations cost a further £150 per annum approximately.

              Mike Bullett confirmed that the subscriptions currently generate £150 per annum, so the Guild Funds are in deficit.

              Mike wished to record that the Guild website is very good, and that Patrick Wills should be thanked for his work on this.

6.          Possible informal dinner – Saturday 10 February

              Patrick explained that the Guild was due to have visited Newick for a ringing meeting on 10 February, but that tower had since informed him that evening ringing was not permitted.   

Patrick therefore suggested that we perhaps find a centrally located pub for an informal dinner instead.   He referred to the Brambletye at Forest Row that had been the venue for a dinner three years ago, although the layout was somewhat odd.  

Mike Bullett suggested the George & Dragon at Speldhurst, where there is an upstairs function room.  He agreed to make enquiries of the pub regarding availability and cost. 

Patrick indicated he would be happy to arrange an alternative tower if preferred.  A show of hands revealed a majority preferred an informal dinner (only one member voted for a ringing meeting, and five members abstained).

The Star at Lingfield, and the Bent Arms at Lindfield were also suggested venues.

The Committee would discuss this further at the meeting at the end of January.

7.         Suggested Meeting Programme for 2018 – 2019

              Patrick Wills had circulated a suggested programme which would be discussed at the committee meeting at the end of January.  However, he would appreciate feedback from members about the proposed towers at this stage.  He had selected those towers that the Guild had visited most rarely.

              A comment was made that Cudham were “interesting”, the tower was compact and the bells were not easy.

              There was a query as to whether Dorking actually came within the Guild area.   

              Patrick confirmed that Seal, Seal Chart, and Waldron had not been included in the original Guild map, but now were.   

8           Any other Business

              None.

The meeting was informed that ringing could continue for one hour after the meeting had ended.

The meeting closed at 6.14 pm.