Central Branch AGM, 14th January 2012

It was a beautiful cold clear day as I parked up outside St. Deny's Sleaford. It was just after 3:00pm and I could hear the bells being rung up.

There were already a fair number of people waiting to ring and it was uncharacteristically warm for a ringing chamber. After a brief delay to check that the tenor had gone up properly we started on some varied ringing, ranging from Rounds to Spliced Surprise Major.

Ringing at St. Deny's
Ringing at St. Deny's

Just before 4:30pm we made our way down to the church and sat in the choir stalls for the service, led by the Reverend Julie Timings. The organ was played enthusiastically by the resident organist.

After the service we left the church and made our way round the corner to the church hall for a meal which was a stew accompanied by fresh bread with cake to follow, not to mention lots of tea and coffee.

Tea in the Church Hall

After tea the meeting began with a welcome by the President Sylvia Taylor. There was then a minutes silence in memory of central branch members who had passed away in the previous year.

After the apologies for absence the meeting started in earnest with the previous AGM's minutes being approved, along with reports by the Secretary, Treasurer and the Fund Raising Representative.

The meeting now turned to the election of officers. The main points of interest here were that Mrs. Dot Mason was standing down as Secretary, although she was willing to continue her role as Treasurer and Mr. Mick Stracey was standing down as the Branch Ringing Master.

Mrs. Fiona Dawson was elected as the new Secretary and Mr. Richard Spencer was elected as the new Ringing Master. All other officers remained the same apart from the Committee members. The new list officers is therefore as follows.

President: Sylvia Taylor
Treasurer: Dot Mason
Secretary: Fiona Dawson
Ringing Master: Richard Spencer
Safeguarding Officer: Jonathan Clark
Guild Fund Raising Rep: Christine Jackson
Guild Committee Rep: Margaret Parker
Committee members: Mick Stracey, John Nicholson, Sandra Underwood & Paul Jackman
Account Examiners: Alan Haines & John Carr

A total of 6 new members were then elected to the guild, some of these being young ringers.

The retiring Ringing Master gave his report and then the events list for 2012 was discussed, the main controvesy being the 6 bell striking competition. This provoked a great deal of discussion as there has been difficulty in the past getting sufficient teams to enter. None the less it was felt that the striking competition still has a lot of merit and should continue.

It was also proposed that there being such excellent opportunities this year for ringing 1/4 peals, namely the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games, that a dedicated 1/4 peal month would be unnecessary.

Margaret Parker read her report on the Guild Committee meeting and after a couple of minor items of AOB, the President declared the meeting concluded.

After having cleared the hall, the members reassembled in the ringing room for more ringing until 9:00pm

All in all a very successful meeting with a reasonable attendance. Many thanks to the Sleaford Ringers and all the others who worked hard to make it an enjoyable evening.

Jonathan Clark (webmaster)