Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers East Berks & South Bucks Branch Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Burnham on Saturday 25 April 2015 The Chairman, John Davidge, opened the meeting at 5.15pm. The meeting was attended by 23 members representing 12 towers, and 3 visitors. The Chairman welcomed Hilarie Rogers and James Champion, Guild Master and Secretary. 1. Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from Sheila Bruce, Ken Darvill, Marcia Dieppe, Graham Firman, Jacqueline and Martha Hazell, Josie Martin, Barbara Oldham and Maryanne Roach. 2. Minutes of the HYM held at Clewer on 11 October 2014 These had been circulated prior to the meeting. They were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman. 3. Matters Arising There were no matters arising. 4. Obituaries The Chairman announced the death in the last year of Neil Belson, Peter Badcock, Geoffrey Cooper and Stan Darmon. Condensed versions of their obituaries follow. Neil Belson. Cliff Blundell spoke to the memory of Neil, who had been steeplekeeper at Burnham for 50 years. He learnt to ring at Nettlebed, where he was an estate worker and developed many practical skills. He enlisted in the army during the second World War and first came to Burnham for convalescence after a motor cycle accident. After returning to Nettlebed at the end of the war he used to visit Burnham quite frequently with other young ringers and married Freda, a Burnham ringer. He moved back to Burnham and served as steeplekeeper there as well as looking after the clock and making and fitting Hastings stays. He also worked on the bells at Hitcham and Farnham Royal. He was a reliable tenor ringer when covering to Triples and his practical skills in tower maintenance will be much missed. Peter Badcock. Fred Reynolds spoke to Peter’s memory. Peter moved from Chalfont St Peter to Chesham about 40 years ago. He was a loyal Sunday service ringer and although not a great peal ringer he took part in an all-Chesham ringers peal 25 years ago. His later ringing activities were curtailed by tinnitus, although he was able to continue singing with the church choir. Appropriately, an all-Chesham band rang a quarter peal on the day of his funeral. Geoffrey Cooper. Celia Thomas and the Secretary spoke to the memory of Geoffrey. He was a very conscientious tower captain at Fulmer, dispensing helpful advice to novices. Unfortunately his essential work in maintaining the bells and clock will be difficult to continue in the face of dwindling numbers of ringers at the tower. He had a very distinguished career in the RAF as a fighter pilot serving in the Middle East and Malaya, and also was an excellent aerobatic pilot. In the 1970’s he served in the Ministry of Defence, rising to the rank of Air Commodore. Stan Darmon. Jan Galloway and Robert Newton spoke to the memory of Stan, who had been a ringer at Amersham before moving to Cheshire several years ago. He was a past Master and former Central Council member for the Cambridge University Guild. He rang about 100 peals in all on both tower and hand bells, and represented the EBSB in the W W Worthington trophy competition in 1979 and 1981. He was ringing master at Amersham and chairman of the Bells Restoration Committee which managed the augmentation of the bells from six to eight. He was also Branch Chairman for 5 – 6 years. A period of silence was observed in memory of these former members. 5. Annual accounts The Branch accounts had been previously circulated by the Treasurer, John Dieppe. The finances were in a healthy state, with an excess of income over expenditure of over £960. £2000 has been transferred to the Central Board of Finance. Acceptance of the accounts was proposed by the Treasurer and seconded by Jan Galloway, and carried nem con. 6. Officers’ reports Ringing Master. Katharine Firman referred to her report, copies of which were circulated. There had been good support for practices and training events, and the idea of holding Branch rather than advanced practices at 12-bell towers, and of having a special method at an 8-bell surprise practice, were particularly successful. The social side of ringing had also been encouraged. High Wycombe ringers were successful last year in both the Guild 6-bell and 8-bell striking competitions, and a Branch band were placed third in the Guild 10-bell competition. John Dieppe proposed a vote of thanks to Katharine, who was relinquishing the post of Ringing Master. Secretary. Peter Mackie reported that the Branch had 292 ringing members, 3 life and 8 honorary members at the end of 2014. These figures were slightly lower than in 2013 but there were several candidates for election to membership. Our Branch has the greatest number of members of all the Branches in the Guild, despite having only the third highest number of towers. He requested that articles and other material for Odd Bob or the Branch Newsletter should be sent to him. He also mentioned that the closing date for the first round of the 2015 Lorna Newton competition was imminent. Training. Further to the Ringing Master’s report, the Chairman mentioned that the novices’ practices were popular; some would be designated ‘training practices’ to reflect a slightly higher level of expertise. The bell handling and listening skills workshop had been well attended and likely to be repeated next year, and another raising and lowering in peal special practice was scheduled for later in 2015. A ‘teaching to teach’ course is available but might be subsumed into an ITTS framework. 7. Election of members The following were nominated for membership of the Branch. Amersham Thomas Haslam Alex Poole Sarah Roberts Clewer Lesley Cross Hambleden Pippa Savory High Wycombe Tom Davies* Hughenden Yvonne Cook Clifford Davies* Lane End Gwen Taylor Marlow Tina Ruff* Old Windsor Conner Wignall Stoke Poges Jane Thornley Winkfield Sarah Buchannan Lynn Funnell Paul Nott* Wooburn Frank Awuah Ruth Snodgrass* *Re-election The election of these members was proposed by John Dieppe, seconded by Jan Galloway and carried nem con. Thomas Haslam and Jane Thornley were present at the meeting and received their certificates of Guild membership from the Chairman. 8. Election of officers for 2014/15 The following officers were elected or re-elected: Chairman Ringing Master Deputy Ringing Master Secretary Treasurer Newsletter Editor Webmaster Independent Examiner Branch Representatives on Guild General Cttee John Davidge Ken Darvill Jan Galloway Peter Mackie John Dieppe Patricia Newton Graham Firman Stan Barlow John Davidge Josie Martin Jan Galloway Proposed by John Dieppe Peter Mackie John Davidge John Dieppe Robert Newton Peter Mackie Jan Galloway John Dieppe Patricia Newton John Davidge John Davidge Seconded by Peter Mackie Jan Galloway John Dieppe John Davidge Jan Galloway John Dieppe Peter Mackie David Cornwall Robert Newton Peter Mackie David Cornwall The Chairman thanked Mandy Salter, who was standing down as Newsletter Editor, for all her work. 9. Guild activities Hilarie Rogers, Guild Master, encouraged Branch participation at the Guild General Committee meetings. She also mentioned the forthcoming Guild AGM, details of which were on the Guild website. 10. Report of Fundraising Committee Derek Fowles circulated his report. The Committee had donated £1500 to the Bell Fund from profits from the Fund Raising Stall and £500 from the 100 Club. Successful stalls had been run at the Ringing Road Show, Guild and Branch events, and various non-ringing-related venues during the year. Volunteers for the Committee would be welcome. 11. Any other business Cliff Blundell drew attention to a forthcoming event, including the Charmborough mini ring, in Burnham Park on 11 July (1 pm – 5 pm) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Burnham handbells and the 65th anniversary of the tower bells. Visitors with previous experience in handling mini rings would be particularly welcome, but all ringers were encouraged to attend. Information about ringing activities at other towers could also be displayed at this event. The Secretary asked that details about ringing for special events (e.g. anniversaries of VE day, signing of Magna Carta) be sent to him for inclusion in Odd Bob and the Branch Newsletter. Robert Newton referred to the unsatisfactory situation in 2014 when there was only one entry for the Branch 6-bell striking competition. This resulted in the sole entrant (High Wycombe) going forward to the Guild 6-bell competition. The fact that there was no Branch contest led to difficulties in applying the rule which states that the winning band is ineligible for the Lorna Newton competition the following year. Robert suggested that no band should be excluded from the Lorna Newton competition if the Branch 6-bell competition does not take place. After discussion it was agreed that the names of the six ringers who would have rung in the Branch 6-bell competition should be sent to the Secretary and would not be eligible to take part in the next year’s Lorna Newton competition, but other ringers from that tower would not be excluded. Towers would be reminded that they can enter more than one team to the Lorna Newton competition if they wish. It was agreed that the Committee should consider changing the date of the Branch 6-bell competition in future years, in the hope that more teams would enter. In response to a request from a member, the link to the Guild website containing details of the tower list for the Open Day would be recirculated via the email group. The Chairman closed the meeting at 6.20 pm. Peter H Mackie Hon Sec, EBSB April 2015
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