Missed an action item: If I'm not mistaken, Elaine has agreed to organize quarterly quarter-peal days at Advent in 2019.
(Apologies for the delay in posting; I was working on a show for the several nights after the meeting, and then was waiting for some followup on some questions that delayed until after Thanksgiving.)
# Advent Guild Meeting
14 November, 2018
Austin called the meeting to order (7:30-ish, but I forgot to write down the exact time).
Attending:
- Austin Paul
- Danielle Morse
- Julia Hurwitz
- Bryn Reinstadler
- Margaret Pan
- Greg Cermak
- Josh Burson
- Ricky Morse
- Laura Dickerson
- Cally Perry
- Elaine Hansen
## 2017 Minutes
Josh read the 2017 minutes to remind everyone of what we discussed last year.
## Officer reports
### Tower Captain (Austin Paul)
There was ringing last year, and we have new learners.
### Ringing Master (Ed Futcher)
Ed wasn't present, and there was no real report.
### Steeple-keeper (Josh Burson)
Josh had a report, which he has also sent to list (and which I have attached here), but here is a summary:
- the bells are ok in general
- several ropes have been spliced or moved
- 4 new ropes were purchased, and used to replace the 1, 4, 6, and 2
- the ringing chamber is being cleaned slowly, but is still in progress
- Josh is working on improving the lighting in the bell chamber
- some items from "new business" below were discussed at this point
### Secretary (Ricky Morse)
There were minutes taken last year (see above), and cards were sent out. There may still be cards left, but we may need to purchase (and sign) more (this will be looked into after Thanksgiving).
### Treasurer (Greg Cermak)
We have $1378 in checking, $2092 in savings, for $3470 in total. Greg discovered $300 in the box, of which he took $250 to be deposited, and left $50 for the petty cash.
Greg wasn't sure where the funding for the new ropes came from, but it is thought that Ed got the church to pay for them.
Greg raised the question of whether we should still collect dues. Various people had different opinions, but nobody was particularly outspoken about it, and we decided to push the decision off for a year until after the AGM next year.
Laura asked what kind of bank account we had (and Ricky asked which bank). We have a small business account with TD Bank, which means that things are free if we have more than $1500 on deposit. Greg did not know offhand if there were a maximum number of checks that could be written per month without having to pay a fee.
The previous discussion was partially aimed at the issue of paying for the AGM (Annual Guild Meeting; for the North American Guild). Bryn, who is leading the committee arranging the 2019 AGM in Boston noted that there is actually a separate budget for the AGM, and that although there is probably not going to be a separate account (due to the amount of effort that would be needed to create one), we are not expecting to use Advent Guild (or MIT Guild) funds to pay for it.
*UPDATE*: I emailed Greg to double-check the figures, and apparently there was more in the cash box than I wrote down. He also has redistributed the funds, so the correct figures are: $50 still in cash box, $297 taken and deposited, and then funds were redistributed so that it is $1790.47 in checking and $1977.17 in savings. This is a total of $3767.64.
### Clapper Correspondent (Laura Dickerson)
Laura reports that she has written four reports for the clapper, and that Josh also wrote some auxiliary reports about particular outings which were well received.
## New members
We proposed the following people for membership in the guild:
- Bryn Reinstadler
- Kat Whimsy!
- Shantel Blakely
- Phoebe House
All were voted into the guild.
Adin Kreiger-Benson was considered for membership, but the decision was postponed until he is more regularly in Boston (and hopefully attending…).
Greg reminded people that (at least for this year), members should pay dues of $10.
## New business
### Church infrastructure
(This discussion actually occurred during Josh's steeple-keeper report)
Josh noted that the stairs to the bell tower need repair, and the roof is leaking (seemingly worse than it has been it the past). This is complicated because apparently the rector is leaving shortly, and until a new one is selected, it may be difficult to get the property committee to spend money (or maybe easier? it can be difficult to determine).
*ACTION*: We decided to ask Ed to remind the church about the stairs and roof, and ask if they can be repaired; both now, and then again a reasonable time after the new rector has been installed.
### Cleaning
Danielle wants to have a tower cleaning day, possibly combining with Josh's belfry cleaning project.
*ACTION*: Josh is going to organize a day in December to do a tower cleaning. Danielle or Josh will organize another tower cleaning day next summer before the AGM.
### Quarter peals
Austin noted that we had fallen short of having quarter-peal days at the Advent this last year, and requested that we have some more. However, having just organized the Grandsire date touch and the striking content, he asked for someone else to organize it.
*ACTION*: Danielle volunteered to organize a quarter-peal afternoon in December (once Josh offered to organize the cleaning day).
### Doorbell
Danielle brought up the inconsistant nature of the doorbell, and asked if it could be fixed somehow.
*ACTION*: Cally volunteered to try and find out what the various options would be.
### New books
Austin thought that the "Coleman" books (found online at <http://www.ringingbooks.co.uk>) were really fun to read in the Smith tower, and suggested that we should get a set for the Advent tower. There was some discussion about whether we should get all five (including the history book), or just the four about technique, but the general agreement of the room was that we might as well get all five. There was some discussion about trying to find secondhand copies (Julia offered to use her librarian powers to try and find them), but we eventually decided to get them from the website.
*ACTION*: Austin will order them from the website, and then get reimbursed. The expected cost is around $100-$150.
### Decoration
Josh asked if he could put a nice version of the ringers prayer (in the Latin version) up. Nobody objected, and several of the ringers who were present when Don Morrison rang in Boston demonstrated that they still knew much of the prayer by heart.
*ACTION*: Josh will put up a copy of the ringer's prayer (found, I think, in the one-per-learner book? or maybe the follow-on book?).
### Dues
The question of whether we should collect dues was also raised in this section, mostly to recapitulate the decision made during Greg's report. The decision was that we would collect dues this year, and raise the question again at the next meeting, after the AGM.
*ACTION*: At the next Guild meeting, fall 2019, we will discuss again whether we will collect dues.
### Rope fees
Austin raised the issue that we are not collecting rope fees for peals and quarter peals, and that (in the interest of the ropes, in case we need to pay to replace them) we probably should be collecting them.
I believe that the fees are $5/rope for a peal, and $1.25/rope for a quarter peal.
*ACTION*: Conductors are asked to remind people to pay rope fees into the petty cash box.
### Ringing World peal and quarter-peal printing fees
Laura brought up the question about the "donation" required (or requested; there was some dissent about how required they are) to get notices printed in the Ringing World. At some point in the past, Laura used some of the MIT Guild money to set up a fund that she has been using to pay for these notices (if people told her about submissions), but that is either almost gone, or entirely gone, and she wants to know what should be done to replenish it.
There was discussion about looking at how many peals and quarter-peals were submitted by the Advent Guild (as opposed to the MIT Guild) over the past several years, to try and come up with a budget.
There was no final decision made, nor action item created.
## AGM 2019 in Boston
We volunteered to hold the North American Guild's 2019 Annual Guild Meeting in Boston. Bryn is leading a separate group to organize this. There is a website in development, and there seems to be sufficient staff. The next meeting of this group will be on a Wednesday, so that more tower ringers can attend, but the date of that Wednesday is yet to be decided.
The date of the AGM will be 22-25 August 2019. (Thursday through Sunday.)
## New officers
New officers were elected.
- Austin Paul agreed to continue as Tower Captain.
- Ed Futcher had already agreed to continue as Ringing Master, but Elaine Hansen will look into arranging some quarter-peals as Ed is going to be in town less often.
- Josh Burson agreed to continue as Steeple-keeper, although if someone is interested in becoming an apprentice Steeple-keeper, he would not say no…
- Ricky Morse, for his sins, agreed to be secretary for another year.
- Ed Futcher had agreed to continue as Church Liaison.
- Laura Dickerson agreed to continue as Clapper Correspondent.
- Bryn Reinstadler was elected to take over from Greg Cermak as Treasurer. Bryn and Greg will set up a meeting to transfer access to the accounts.
## Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned, which is good, because otherwise we'd still be in it, and that would be problematic…
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