Guild Festival and Annual General Meeting.
Saturday 23 June 2007.

This year's festival and AGM was hosted by the North East branch and based at the home of the Guild at Huntsham. Considering the early start, the eucharist service was well attended, the church being almost full. The Bishop of Crediton lead the service which was very enjoyable.

Following this, we moved on to the main business for the day. Eating. Oh, and the AGM. No sooner had the breakfast baguettes with tea & coffee arrived and they were gone, obviously nobody had eaten breakfast before leaving home! The Troyte Hall was quickly filling up as people began to take their seats for the AGM. A total of 67 signed the attendance register - a huge improvement on attendance of recent years - and the President Lester Yeo lead us quickly through the many items of business.

Retiring Guild Secretary Wendy Campbell was presented with flowers and a framed watercolour of Exeter Cathedral in appreciation of 11 years of hard and dedicated work. She was also elected to be Guild Master for the coming year. The two novice ringers from St Mark's, Exeter, collected the John Longridge Trophy for taking part in the winning band in the novice competition.

(Click photos to enlarge)

Other items on the agenda included the election of officers (most re-elected except for Secretary (currently vacant), Librarian (Les Boyce), Quarter peal sec (Tim bayton) & Report Sec (John Foster)), and the creation of a new officer - "Master-elect". The idea here is to give a years notice to the incoming Master. Russell Chamberlain was proposed and elected to this position. A new design of Guild affiliation certificate was shown to all present and accepted that this would be sent to all towers on receipt of tower affiliation fees.

Next was lunch. More food! An excellent spread of meats and salad and a bar serving real beer make this a treat. The puddings were super!

Afternoon ringing took place at various towers. My spy on the ground when to Bampton which received a steady trickle of ringers. Ringing included rounds and call changes, plain bob and grandsire doubles.

Then it was back to Huntsham for, yes you guessed it, more refreshments. Plenty of cups of tea on offer with lots of chatting. The bells at Huntsham was still going strong and those drinking tea enjoyed listening to the ringing.

Lynne Hughes writes:
"Thirteen young ringers came, including four from Somerset, ranging in age from ten to sixteen. Call changes and methods were rung, each peal or touch containing as many of the youths as possible; the calling also being done by them in many cases. Those who stayed longest got the most ringing! Handbells made a brief appearance at the end.

Thank you to parents etc who transported young ringers to Huntsham, and helped with the ringing. Also a particular thanks to Cathy Civill and Don Roberts who agreed well in advance to help, ensuring there was enough help right to the end."

The evening entertainment was a BBQ. Sheila Schofield and helpers erected two gazebos in the grounds of Troyte Hall in case of wet weather, but the rain held off for the evening. Many villagers joined in the fun too, and some even waited until 10pm to watch the fireworks coming from the celebrations of a local wedding!

Huge thanks must go to the North East Branch for all the arrangements and making it all work, particularly Mike Hatchett for the organisation, Pat Hatchett and helpers for all the food, and Leslie Boyce and the rest of the committee for bringing it all together.

The 2008 Festival and AGM will take place in the Exeter Branch, probably at Crediton, on Saturday 21 June. See you there.

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Guild Festival and AGM.
Saturday 23 June 2007 at Huntsham.

Programme for the day (also available as a PDF).

Download directions (pdf)

0900 - Ringing for service by NE Branch members
0930 - Festival Eucharist. Preacher: Rt Revd Bob Evens, Bishop of Crediton
1030 - Breakfast baguettes and coffee

1100 - GUILD ANNUAL MEETING in the Troyte Community Hall

1300 - Buffet lunch in the Troyte Hall (with bar!)

1400 - 'Ringing for Kids' at Huntsham

Ringing tour with quiz:
1415 - Uplowman (6 bells, ST013155)
1445 - Burlescombe (6 bells, ST075166)
1500 - Halberton (6 bells, ST005128)
1515 - Tiverton St Peter (8 bells, SS954128)
1530 - Tiverton St Paul (6 bells, SS951125)
1600 - Bampton (6 bells, SS956222
1630 - Huntsham (with refreshments) (8 bells, ST001204)

Tower fees: 50p per tower.

1800 - Social evening at Troyte Hall including BBQ, bar and skittles. Cask beer and real cider available.

TICKETS

All day inc b/fast, lunch, bbq and tower fees	£15
Morning ticket inc b/fast & lunch	£8
Afternoon ticket inc towers & bbq	£8
(Accompanied ringing children free; non ringing children half price)

 

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