Northern Branch AGM, 28th January 2012

Unfortunately we arrived too late for the service and the dedication of the Nan and Ted Colley Peal Board. Fortunately Joy Lord has written a short piece and submitted some pictures.

Ringing at Caistor

"A Peal board was dedicated at the Northern Branches AGM Service at Caistor on Sat 28th January. It was attended by members of several branches and some guild officials. The service was conducted by Rev Ian Robinson, vicar of Caistor, who gave an interesting and thought provoking address.

At the end of the service the Peal Board was dedicated in memory of Ted and Nan Colley who had given so much of their lives to the art of bellringing, as well as service to the guild. The Peal Board was donated by the Northern Branch and made by David Prescott, who along with his family was present at the service, together with Nan and Ted's son Stephen Colley and his family." - Joy Lord

The Peal Board in front of the Altar
A close up of the Peal Board

We arrived just at the start of the tea, which was a buffet, in the Methodist Church Hall

The meeting was started promptly at 5:00pm by the President, Revd. Elaine Turner. She presented David Prescott who was thanked for his efforts in making the Peal Board. David used to ring with Ted Colley.

There were then some acknowledgements of the visitors from several other branches and condolences were offered to the West Lindsey Branch on the recent death of Bryan Kitson.

The minutes of the last meeting had already been circulated, so were not read out. Apart from some minor corrections the minutes were accepted as a true record. There were no matters arising.

The members having their tea

The Ringing Master (Matthew Jeffery) gave his report. There had been a few practices where attendance had not been particularly good. However the Cathedral Evensong ringing in August had been well attended as had the ringing tour. All four teams who rung in the branch 6 bell competition were able to compete in the finals. Matthew commented that the branch had not done very well in the Guild 8 bell striking competition at Barton-on-Humber. One of the main events of the year had been the National Youth Striking Competition with 2 teams entered from the Lincoln Guild. Two Northern Branch youngsters (Danny Young and George Thompson) had rung for the Lincolnshire Poachers team, which came 4th overall. The Hewitt Shield was presented to St. Mary, Claxby. Matthew finished by thanking the President (Elaine Turner) who is retiring

The Treasurer (Roger Lord) gave his report. There is a worrying trend of declining membership. It is down 6% on last year. Roger urged members to gift aid their donations where possible. Income is also down, mainly due to declining membership, but also due to payouts for the Ted and Nan Colley Peal Board and donations towards the National Youth Striking Competition. However the Belfry Repair Fund has done very well this year. Roger thanked David Hibbert for examining the accounts.

The Guild Committee Branch rep (Joy Lord) gave her report. The Guild has a new Secretary (Sandra Underwood). The Guild Reports secretary (Trevor Hardcastle) is retiring this year, so a replacement will need to be nominated before the AGM in April. The Guild is keeping the membership fees the same this year. The Guild raffle raised nearly £900. There will be another National Youth Striking Competition on the 30th June in Birmingham. The ITTS courses are ongoing and working very well. Sandra Underwood (Guild Secretary) was invited to speak briefly on the matter of CRB application for Child Protection. The Guild AGM in April will be of the same format as previous years. It is intended to have a Guild event on 5th June for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, probably at Wragby as this is a reasonably central point. Individual branches would organise a "tour" to converge on this central point where there would be a big celebration. The Guild 6 bell competition is on the 8th September. There seems to be a lot of feeling that the 6 bell needs to be reviewed and improved. The Guild 8 bell will be held on the back 8 at Surfleet on 20th October.

The meeting then turned to the Election of Officers. The President (Revd. Elaine Turner) was standing down. She briefly outlined what she believed was the role of a branch president. This was

Roger Lord thanked Elaine and proposed Linda Bromfield as president. She had served as Guild Treasurer for 9 years, was school governor, a devout Christian and a regular worshipper at Barton. There were no other nominees. Linda was elected by 21 votes and 5 abstentions. The other officers remained largely unchanged as indicated below.

President: Linda Bromfield
Ringing Master: Matthew Jeffery
Asst. Ringing Master: Andrew Lord
Secretary: Lorraine Jeffery
Treasurer: Roger Lord
Newsletter Editor: Joy Lord
Guild Committee Rep: Joy Lord
Accounts Examiner: David Hibbert

There was no one to take the post of Guild Fundraising Rep, so it was agreed that the committee would co-opt someone in due course. The 3 branch committee representatives had stood down this year for work and health reasons. The junior rep had stood down because he had left to go to university. 3 new committee members were elected, these being Colin Disney (Tealby), Neil Mangan (Grimsby) and Alex Hibbert as the Junior Member. He is the brother of the retiring Junior Member, James Hibbert.

The rest of the meeting proceeded swiftly. Three new members were elected, at least one being a Junior Member. The Bell Repair Fund is doing quite well with a healthy balance. The programme of events had been circulated previously and one or two key events were highlighted to the members

Under Any Other Business, Jim Sutherland (Central) pointed out that the Wragby simulator is currently out of action, although the practices are still taking place there. George Thompson spoke briefly about the young ringers who took part in the National Youth Striking Competition. Joy Lord asked that it be minuted that they were very proud of the kids who went down to London and rang.

The Presentation to Elaine Turner

Matthew Jeffery gave a vote of thanks to Ian Robinson for taking the service, Roger Lord for playing the organ and the ladies for doing the tea. He then presented Elaine Turner with some flowers.

The meeting closed with The Grace.


Jonathan Clark (webmaster) / Joy Lord (Northern Branch)