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Minutes of the 77th Annual General Meeting of the Southern Branch of the Norwich Diocesan Association of Ringers held at Great Ellingham on 20th November 2011

Twenty six ringers met at 5.30pm for the meeting at Great Ellingham. Prior to the meeting members and friends had rung a variety of methods ranging from Plain Bob Doubles to Norwich Surprise. The tower captain, Jeremy Warren, lead us in prayers, readings and worship for Christ the King as well as a couple of stirring hymns. The Ringers in the Shelrock Benefice provided an excellent tea, including a warming soup which was very welcome on a cold misty November day.

The meeting took place in the South Aisle. Cath Mills took the chair.

  1.      The Chairman thanked the members at Shelrock for their warm welcome, Gudrun for playing the organ, Jeremy for leading the worship with his two young acolytes, and the ringers for the excellent tea.

  2.       Twenty six members were present representing eleven towers, with two unattached members and two visitors from the Northern Branch. Apologies were received from Ray and Jeanette Finch, Gordon Larkins, Mandy Davison, Monica Churchill, Gordon and Lindy Ellis, Tony Baines, Paul Norris, Nicola Baxter, Una Carr, and Julie Wren.

  3.      No deaths have been reported since the last meeting.

  4.      The minutes of the last meeting were signed as a correct record. p Norman Groves, s Ted Curson

  5.       Matters Arising.

    1. The ringing master, Betty Baines, noted that the training morning before the dinner had not happened, as there had been no-one who expressed an interest.

    2.       Betty Baines reported that The Paul Cattermole Fund launch had exceeded expectations. The open day raised £800, and the fund was currently up to at least £7000. Ted Curson congratulated all the organisers on a wonderful afternoon at Wymondham Abbey, a sentiment heartily endorsed by the meeting.

    3. After some discussion it was decided that the Surprise practice for 22nd November at New Buckenham would go ahead, eight people having agreed to attend. It was decided that the Surprise practices would be suspended for the winter, to be resumed next March, when Anita Piper would take on the job of collecting responses by email to ensure that there were enough ringers going to be present to make a meeting worthwhile.

  6.      The Standing Committee report had been tabled. Michael Hodgkinson drew our attention to the request by the Bishop of Norwich for as much ringing as possible to honour the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June next year. There will be an item on the February Agenda asking towers for their availability for this. Also the dates for Association events in 2012 were noted.

  7.       New members. Jeremy Jones was elected to Pulham Market tower p Brian Carr s Dan Durrant. Delia Golding and Angela Packer were elected as unattached members p Betty Baines s Kath Gorrod.

  8.       The annual report from the Southern Branch was tabled and agreed, though there were still a couple of items for the secretary to add – the report on the AGM  and the Carol Service at Wilby. The chairman thanked Gale Hodgkinson, Betty Baines and the committee for their help during the year. She indicated that because of other commitments she was not seeking re-election for 2012.

  9.      Election of Officers and Committee for 2012:

    1.        Chairman: David Hillier p Michael Hodgkinson, s Brian Carr. Michael spoke of David’s commitment to the Southern Branch, his regular attendance at meetings and practices, and his willingness to be involved in all branch activities.

    2.       Secretary: Gale Hodgkinson p Brian Carr s Norman Groves

    3.        Ringing Master: Betty Baines p Anita Piper s Ted Curson

    4.       Southern Branch Technical Adviser: Tony Baines p Dan Durrant s Michael Hodgkinson

    5.       Education Officer: Michael Hodgkinson p Betty Baines s Christine Hales. Michael pointed out that he was not able to attend any of the meetings. Betty spoke of his considerable work in training and education across the branch and felt that this was much more important than being able to attend meetings. She undertook to keep him informed about decisions made at the meetings.

    6.      Standing Committee representatives: Anita Wilson and Michael Hodgkinson p Ted Curson, s David Hillier

    7.      Branch Committee: Brian Carr, Christine Hales, Grant Pilcher were returned unopposed. It was recognised by the meeting that we are very short of representation from the Eastern end of the branch. Brooke members stated that they were very happy to help in any practical way that they could but would prefer not to be on the committee. It was suggested that the committee could co-opt during the year if a suitable member came forward.

  10.   The programme of events for the year was drafted and left to the committee to finalise at their January meeting.

    1.       Southern Branch AGM November 17th 2012; an invitation was accepted from Bunwell.

    2.      Quarterlies: February 18th , an invitation was accepted from Pulham Market for an afternoon meeting; May 19th, an invitation was accepted from Winfarthing and Shelfanger for an afternoon and evening meeting; August 18th, an invitation was accepted from Brooke for an evening meeting.

    3.    Practice meetings would be arranged by invitation throughout the year, usually on the third Saturday. An invitation for January 21st was accepted from Scole for an afternoon practice. Betty Baines suggested that this should be two hours and alternate between Surprise and Plain methods as there was not going to be a Surprise Practice in January.

    4.      The Association AGM is in the Southern Branch in 2012. Woodton church has been booked for the service with the tea and meeting in the village hall. Ditchingham is provisionally booked for the evening Striking Competition. The Ringing Master will arrange a couple of early towers for people to visit on the way to Woodton.
    5.       Discussion followed about the merits of Coach outings, Mini outings, Rambles and Dinners. It was left to the committee to arrange such events as they were able at intervals during the year. Gale Hodgkinson suggested that it would be worth trying a lunch instead of a dinner as this would not be so expensive. Members were asked to feed back ideas to committee members before the January meeting.

    6.      Jeremy Warren said that next year he would like to arrange a Carol Service at Quidenham. The date would need to be one agreed by the singers, probably Friday 14th rather that 21st December 2012

  11.   The next event is the Carol Service at Wilby 7.30pm on Friday 16th December, with an excellent choir in a beautifully atmospheric church. The next meeting will be at Pulham Market on 18th February.

  12.   Other business:

    1.       Christine Hales reminded people that gift aid forms went to the general treasurer, not to her.

    2.      Dawn Pullan promoted the tea towels £4 in aid of their bell restoration project.

    3.       Elisabeth Spry offered tickets for the Long Stratton Christmas Concert on Sunday 4th December at 7pm, £5 in aid of their tower project.

    4.    A suggestion was made that the report should include the email addresses of the tower correspondents where possible. Gale Hodgkinson agreed to pass this on to the Report editor.

  13.     The meeting closed at 6.25pm.