Category: Meeting

On Saturday 20th Feb 11 branch members, one new recruit, and a couple of hangers on attended the branch AGM at Caversfield.

The church was a little cold, but (I hope, talking as the host) the welcome was warm. We started with 30 minutes ringing before the service where we rang plain hunt, Grandsire Doubles and a touch of Plain Bob Doubles.

Given our number was small we all sat in the chancel which, together with 3 gas heaters, made it a little warmer as Penny Wood led our service.

The meeting took around an hour (minutes to follow) with all branch officers being re-elected and 8 new members being elected (from Islip, Kirtlington and Stratton Audley). We then headed for the Bure Farm pub in Bicester for warmth and a lovely lunch.

Our next branch practice is scheduled for Kirtlington next Monday, but as the floor work has been delayed we will likely have to move it to another tower – keep a watchful eye on your emails (and the website event list) for an update shortly.

Anthony Cole

Our branch AGM this year will be in Caversfield. Please note: park in the lane to Home Farm (opposite side of the road from the church, and slightly further out of Bicester, on the Banbury Road – see the Caversfield page for more details).

The format of the meeting will be as follows:

10:30am Ringing
11:00am Service
11:30am Meeting
12:30pm Lunch at the Bure Farm pub, Banbury Road, Bicester OX26 3HA

Papers for the meeting:

• AGM-notice-and-agenda-2016
• AGM Minutes 2015
• Secretary’s Report
• Ringing Master’s Report 2016
• Webmasters Report 2016
• Guild Representative’s Report 2016
• Discussion Topic 2016
• 2016 bell fund flyer
• Treasurers Report 2016

Kathryn Grant

On Saturday 21st February 10 branch members (from Launton, Bicester, Islip and Charlton on Otmoor), 2 new recruits (also from Bicester) and 2 Guild representatives met at Launton for the Branch AGM. Ringing started at 10:30am with call changes. More call changes followed as I went to prepare for the service – thanks to those who continued running the ringing.

We held a half hour service led by the Rev Becky Mathew and then held our meeting in the church. All officers were re-elected and 3 new members (Samuel Cole, Nicholas Thomas and Amanda Harris, all of Bicester) were elected. Reports were presented (most reports were made available prior to the meeting on the branch website).

As well as a number of guild dates, a few dates of note were mentioned:

• Fri 13th March – trip to Leigh End mini ring in Wheatley – contact Anthony if you wish to come along
• Sat 18th April – branch outing to Bedford area – exact route to be published when all towers booked.
• Sat 5th Sept – Branch BBQ and Striking Competition

Full minutes of the meeting will be made available in due course.

Following the meeting an excellent lunch was enjoyed by many of us in the Black Bull, Launton.

Next branch event will be the Branch Practice in Islip on Tues 3rd March – hopefully see lots of you there.

Our branch AGM is on the morning of Saturday 21st February in Launton, followed by a pub lunch. The timings for the meeting are as follows:

• 10.30am Ringing
• 11am Service
• 11.30 am Meeting – see agenda below
• 12.30pm Lunch at the Black Bull – all welcome – 52 West End, Launton, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX26 5DG

It would be nice to see at least one representative from each of the 14 towers in the branch with members (more than one per tower would be even better :D). It would be nice to see some of our new recruits too.

Papers:

• AGM Minutes 22-Feb-2014
• AGM notice and agenda 2015
• Guild Report 2014 – Secretary’s report
• Treasurers Report 2015 (year 2014)
• Guild Representatives Report 2015
• Ringing masters report 2015
• Webmasters report 2015
• Black Bull Lunch menu

On Saturday 22nd November the Bicester played host to the Guild Committee Meeting. The meeting was preceded with some ringing for those who were attending the meeting (there was some ringing on the 10 (plain hunt on 9) and the highlight for the Bicester tower captain was a touch of Stedman Triples which he had not tried for many years). The meeting was held in St Edburg’s church hall where around 50 guild members attended a (fairly short) meeting to disseminate information from all the sub-committees and to decide on some proposals (such as the Guild subs for 2015 – kept at £8 per person) and the announcement of the results of the 10 bell striking competition held earlier in the day at Long Crendon. This meeting is also an opportunity for branch secretaries to collect the autumn issue of Odd Bob (so be on the look out for Kathryn weighed down with large quantities of paperwork at the next few branch events!). A buffet tea was provided by the Bicester ringers with donated cakes from the Islip ringers – a feast with a surprising number of leftovers – the Banana Bread was a lovely treat at the Bicester practice on Monday night, and I am still eating leftover sandwiches!

The branch AGM for 2014 was held at Weston on the green on the evening of Sat 22nd February. We started with ringing and with the help from some visiting ringers who had heard of our meeting we successfully rang Weston on the green place Doubles, completing my AGM Challenge! We then rang plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and finished with a short touch of Plain Bob Doubles before ringing down.

The service followed ably led by Penny once again – we really must get you to try ringing Penny!!

The branch meeting was held in the church with 13 people present (11 branch members from 7 branch towers, our Guild Steward Colin, and Penny). 5 ringers (2 moving from other guild towers, and 3 new to the guild) were made members of the branch which is good to see as our number has been dwindling in recent years. We have also had a slight change around of branch officers due to one officer moving out of the branch – see the contacts page for details of the new officers. Full minutes of the meeting will be published when we have them.

We then relocated to The Chequers for a lovely pub meal and a chat. A lovely evening with good friends – what could be better?

Next branch event is the branch practice at Islip on Tues 4th March – hopefully see some of you then.

Here is a challenge to anyone who fancies one.. as our AGM is at Weston on the green, the challenge is for enough ringers to learn Weston On The Green Place Doubles (see file below) so we can ring it at the AGM 🙂 Email anthony@coledale.co.uk if you think you can manage a plain course and intend to be at the AGM 😀

Our Branch AGM is on Saturday 22nd February 2014 at Weston on the Green (from 6pm). Copies of last years AGM minutes and the agenda for this year’s meeting are below:

A sample menu for The Chequers is now available – see Chequers example menu. You can order your meal on the night – however, if you can let Kathryn know if you plan to attend that will help with reserving space in the pub.

The Annual General Meeting of the Bicester Branch of the ODG will be held on Sat 23rd Feb in Ludgershall. This year we will be having an evening meeting followed by supper at the Bull & Butcher. We would like to encourage at least one member from each tower to attend so that each towers opinions can be represented in the way the branch is run. The plan is:

Ringing	6pm
Service	6:30pm
Meeting	7pm
Supper at the Bull & Butcher	7:45pm