Over to you…….late May 2016

It was such a pleasure to see so many of you at the Guild AGM on S aturday. I was particularly pleased that for some of you it was your first visit to an AGM. We were well-served with open towers, excellent tower stewards, and plenty to occupy us at Faringdon.
The lunch was delicious and efficiently served to such a large number – and the Songs of Praise rounded off the day nicely. And of course the business was attended to. Many thanks to everyone in the Vale of White Horse Branch for having the vision for the day, and making it work.

New Guild Officers

At the AGM, James Champion stood down after 4 years as General Secretary and Angela Darvill was elected to the post. In due course her details will be on the Guild website, and I am sure you will all give her the support she needs as she finds her way through the various tasks involved.

Bobbie May was elected as Public Relations Officer – a post she held some years ago, and which she has helped with in the intervening years, writing reports of our activities for the Ringing World and website.

Bobbie stepped down as one of our Central Council Representatives and we elected Graham John in her place.

Guild Festival, 9th July

A poster should have reached each tower with details of the ringing and service. Do encourage your members to come – it is a wonderful opportunity to worship together and to ring Oxford bells.

With best wishes for an enjoyable summer,
Hilarie

I would particularly like to draw the attention of your members to the following Guild events:

Guild Festival, Saturday 9th July

A poster is on its way to each tower with details of the ringing and service. Do encourage your members to come – it is a wonderful opportunity to worship together and to ring Oxford bells.

Guild AGM, Saturday 21st May

The timetable for this has been circulated – there is something for everyone! Please come to the AGM itself, agenda and papers should be out around mid April.

Ringing Day, Bank Holiday Monday 2nd May

Look out for the detailed itinerary – towers in the Newbury Branch open for the day.

 

Please also ask any of your members with the relevant skills to consider the following:

Guild Library

Help is needed to trial some digitisation of items in the Guild Library. If you can help, please contact Doug Beaumont, the Librarian, librarian@odg.org.uk, other contact details on the website.

Officer Vacancies

All posts become vacant at the Guild AGM. We know that one of our representatives on the Central Council does not wish to stand again and I am sure any of the current representatives would be happy to have a chat about what it entails.

We also have a vacancy for Public Relations Officer, to promote ringing within the guild and beyond, including press releases. Do try and identify any of your ringers who may have these skills they can offer.

With best wishes for a Happy Easter,
Hilarie

This comes with my best wishes for a Happy Christmas, and some joyful ringing.

Ringing World Survey

Many of you will already have taken some action concerning this. If not, may I encourage you to consider the request below.

“The Board of The Ringing World Ltd thinks it essential to have a full, informed consultation with as many ringers as possible, subscribers and non-subscribers, over several possible ways to a sustainable future for the business by means of a survey. There is an on-line version and a paper version. The on-line version is accessible at: Ringing World Survey  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/therwsurvey. The paper version can be downloaded here  http://ringingworld.co.uk/images/pdf/RW_Survey_final.pdf. You are welcome to use whichever version you find most convenient; we would prefer you to use the on-line version if you can as this makes assessment of the results and detailed analysis much easier for us. If you have difficulties in filling in the survey, please email survey@ringingworld.co.uk.

It has not been possible, in the interests of keeping the cost of the paper version down, to have much space for the few free text answers. You may enclose an extra sheet with any further comments or email the above survey address. It is a comprehensive survey so the option is given for answering only certain key questions, though we hope that most responders will answer them all.

Please encourage as many ringers as possible to respond. In particular could those who receive copies for a tower encourage your band to make individual responses. For those who are not familiar with The Ringing World or need a reminder, we have provided a free PDF version of a recent edition which you can access here http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/files/5437.pdf.

The survey will close at the end of January.

Nigel Orchard, Chairman, The Ringing World”

Our Guild is one of the largest in the country and it would be excellent if we could submit plenty of feedback.

With best wishes,
Hilarie

Over to you…….late August 2015

I hope you have all enjoyed a good summer. Here are just a couple of things to consider:

Young Ringers’ Practices

The band which rang in the Ringing World National Youth Competition in July was a credit to the Guild, to their towers and to themselves. They scored A- and were joint second in the method ringing section. It was a real pleasure to hear them ring.

We are planning to continue the monthly practices on the 4^th Sunday of the month, at different locations around the Guild. The focus will be on triples and major.

We hope that some new faces will be ready to join those who came to the practices last year.

 Message to Branch Officers and Tower Captains – please let me know, either now or over time, of any young ringers who can ring triples (depending on numbers, we may be able to include some who are presently plain hunting on 7) and who are able to commit to this with all the other things that young people do (not least school work!).

Ringing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

I would just like to echo the message sent out by the Guild Secretary about the fact that, around 5.30 pm on Wednesday 9 September, the Queen will become the longest-reigning British monarch in history. Although Her Majesty has asked that no fuss be made of this event it is still an excellent reason to ring, and to publicise the reason for the ringing.

Your branch

I have visited each branch now but that won’t stop me visiting again! I do enjoy going out to other towers and joining in with your ringing. Do let me know of anything special that is happening in your area.

With best wishes,

Hilarie

Guild Additional Meeting 4th July, Benson

I would just like to send a personal request to add to the formal notice that James Champion, Guild Secretary, has sent to towers concerning the Guild Additional Meeting on 4th July, called because there were not enough members present for us to transact any business at the scheduled AGM on 16th May.

Please consider coming to Benson (details on the Guild website), to support those who are standing as officers, and let James know if you are coming. secretary@odg.org.uk.

As you can imagine, the senior officers have received many suggestions for the way forward as a result of the low attendance at Cowley. We will of course look at what can be done in future. The Guild AGM takes place in a different branch each year so to balance the years when it is a long way away, there will be years when the distance to travel is not great.

The Guild offers many things to its members, and this meeting, together with future AGMs, is your chance to give something back by attending and supporting the officers.

I look forward to seeing those of you who can make it on 4th July.

With best wishes,
Hilarie