MIT Ringers' Guild Minutes

MIT Guild of Change Ringers:
Minutes of the Guild Meeting, 8:00 PM, May 14, 2018, MIT Building 5

I. Reading of the minutes of the previous guild meeting (Josh, Joseph)

II. Election of Officers

President: Conner Kummerlowe, MIT

Treasurer: Vicky Lee, MIT (subject to MIT approval; alt.: Pravi Samaratunga)

"Coggeshall" (Deputy Treasurer, etc.): Laura Dickerson (subject to her agreement)

Ringing Master: Joseph Gurkan

Steeple Keeper: Richard Morse

Assistant S. K.: Jeff Del Papa

Secretary: Margaret Pan, MIT Research Scientist

Church Liaison: Ed Futcher

Handbell Keeper: Bryn Reinstadler

(The elections involved some necessary explanation of the rules surrounding the election of the various officers, and their respective responsibilities. I think that it might be good to have someone - the secretary? - give a brief overview of these points at the start of meetings, for the benefit of any new members.)

Items of Business:

III. Funding and Monetary Matters

- Previous proposal to determine whether we have money in an MIT account: postponed until we have more active student members

- Funding of major expenses: Ed reports that Christ Church (ON) is willing in principle to pay for any reasonable expense, provided that we submit a budget that includes said expenses. He and Laura are working on creating a budget.

- Fees: 1. Given the above, the consensus of the meeting was that charging annual Guild dues was not necessary. 2. Ed suggested, however, that we might charge a small fee ($5/rope) for visiting peal bands, and a nominal (and optional) sum for quarter peals. No definite decision was made on this point [but it seems like a good idea].

- Fees: Austin suggested that, this being the case, ringers ought to feel free to actually accept fees from wedding ringing, etc. Generally agreed.

- Resolved, that we should request a statement of the amount currently in the petty cash from the Coggeshall.

- Reimbursement of Elaine Hansen for expenses sustained at the 1995 NAGCR AGM: We verified that we reimbursed the initial sum of $1000, as resolved at the previous guild meeting; but we didn’t actually get around to asking her for an accounting of the rest.

IV. Old North renovations

Christ Church (ON) is launching a major campaign to restore parts of the church to their state in 1775. We should probably figure out whether and how this will affect us.

Ed has been and will continue to be in touch with the church about this matter.

V. Review of the Guild Constitution

The version of the constitution that we currently have posted online is out of date.

Joseph located a copy of a more recent update; he, Bryn, Josh, and anyone else interested in assisting will review it over the summer and ensure that it is in accord with MIT requirements and accurately reflects our current practices.

VI. Tours

Despite the change in practice times to 11:15-1:15, there is still some concern that tours have been coming up at the wrong moments or coming out of the tower late and so cutting in to practice time. Ed (or someone?) has already contacted the Historic Site with these concerns; we resolved to monitor the situation.

VII. Hosting the AGM of the North American Guild

- Veterans of previous Boston AGMs made a number of suggestions on things that would need to be done and problems to avoid: e.g., line up volunteers in advance, work out a detailed budget before posting prices, figure out logistics for meals, pick a good date, coordinate with Hingham (and possible Groton and Orleans).

- Several younger members felt that they needed a better sense of what running an AGM would entail in practice.

- Ed agreed to draw up a rough draft agenda for an AGM and send it to the list for comment and further discussion.

- We’d also need to figure out if we’re going to do a ringing course beforehand, as has become common. Ed pointed out that it’s unlikely that we could get enough ringing time from the churches.

[One idea for consideration: could we ask the Community of Jesus if THEY would be willing to host a ringing course before the AGM? Would that work, even assuming they agreed?]

- If we want to host, we’ll need to ask someone attending this year’s AGM (in September) to volunteer us. Ed, Laura and perhaps others plan to attend.

VIII. Other events, etc.

(Discussed – briefly – earlier in the meeting)

- Submitting necessary paperwork for registration as a MIT Student Activity group: due May 23, if memory serves. I understand that our outgoing treasurer has this in hand?

- MIT Midway (Student activities fair): Spring. (We actually forgot to discuss this one, but I believe Cally, Elaine, Bryn, and Kat attended, and recruited a large number of prospective MIT students interested in ringing. So: yay, them!

- MIT Midway: Fall: We should find out when this is happening and put it on our calendars…

- Handbell weekend (September). Ed is organizing this, with some assistance from Cally, Elaine, and perhaps others. The rest of us should put it on our calendars and figure out if we can attend/help.

Business being concluded, the meeting was adjourned sine die. I would tentatively suggest that unless we need to hold an extra meeting for any reason, the next meeting be held on May 4^th or 6^th 2019, location t.b.d.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to be officers or otherwise help organize things, and especially to Ed, who turns out to have been organizing a LOT of things!

In attendance:

Josh, Ed, Joseph, Elaine, Phoebe, Julia, Vicky, Austin, Cally, Bryn, Todd.

Note: pretty much anything in italics is editorial, and may reflect the opinions of the guy taking the minutes, rather than the opinion of the Guild as a whole.