Rules of the Lincoln Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers

Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules

Superseded Guild Rules

(as published in the Annual Report for 2010. For the current Guild Rules, click here.)

Name and Object
1. The name of the Guild shall be "The Lincoln Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers."
2. The objects of the Guild are
  1. to encourage the recognition of ringers as church workers
  2. to promote the ringing of bells for worship and on other suitable occasions.
  3. to promote the care and restoration of bells
  4. to recruit and train ringers
  5. to promote and advance change ringing
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Membership
The Guild shall be composed of Ringing, Non-Resident Life, Associate and Honorary Life Members.
1. Any ringer residing within the Diocese shall be eligible for election as a Ringing Member of the Guild. A Ringing Member shall pay an Annual Subscription, the value of which shall be set at the previous Annual General Meeting of the Guild. The subscription rate for Ringing Members under the age of 16 or in full time education may be set at a lesser amount than that for adults. Subscriptions shall be due on the first of January each year and a proportion, being not more than half, shall be paid into the Guild Bell Repair Fund. Any member whose subscription for the current year remains unpaid on December 31st shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the Guild. Such a ringer wishing to rejoin the Guild must submit to re-election, such re-election to be subject to confirmation at a Branch meeting.
2. Any competent change-ringer who is not resident in the Diocese of Lincoln may be elected as a Non-Resident Life Member of the Guild on payment of a fee agreed each year by the Guild Committee. A Non-resident Life Member shall have no voting rights and shall not be eligible for election to any office.
3. Any Ringing Member of the Guild who ceases to reside within the Diocese may apply for election as a Non-Resident Life Member of the Guild without any further subscription provided that the Ringing Member shall have paid annual subscriptions for not less than three years.
4. The election of Non-Resident Life Members shall be ratified at the Annual General Meeting of the Guild.
5. Any person, subject to the approval of the Branch concerned, may be elected as an Associate Member of the Guild and shall pay a minimum annual subscription of not less than half the current subscription rate for Ringing Members. Associate Members shall have no vote at meetings of the Guild.
6. Honorary Life Membership.
  1. Honorary Life Membership of the Guild may be conferred on a Ringing or Associate Member who has given outstanding service to the aims and objectives of the Guild. Election shall be by ballot at the Annual General Meeting and shall require the agreement of four fifths of the members present.
  2. All nominations for Honorary Life Membership shall be sent to the Guild Honorary Secretary, signed by two officers of the Branch concerned, in time for consideration by the Guild Committee at their meeting on the second Saturday in February. If agreed, such nominations shall then appear on the agenda paper for the AGM.
  3. No further subscription shall be required from elected Honorary Life Members and they shall retain their existing voting rights.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Officers and Committee
1. The Bishop of Lincoln shall be Patron (ex-officio).
2. The Officers of the Guild shall consist of a President, a Master, an Hon. Treasurer, an Hon. Secretary, an Hon. Peal Secretary, an Hon. Librarian, an Hon. Report Secretary, and an Hon Training Co-ordinator all of whom shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting.
3. The Presidents of each of the six Branches shall be ex-officio Vice-Presidents of the Diocesan Guild.
4. The Committee shall consist of the Officers mentioned in 3b) above, the elected Branch Representatives, the Branch Hon. Secretaries, the Guild's Representatives on the Central Council and the Trustees of the Guild Bell Repair Fund. The Guild Committee will recommend appointment of a Webmaster, who will be a member of the Committee, for ratification at the Annual General Meeting each year.
5. All elected officers and members of the Committee shall hold office for one year and remain in office until their successors are appointed.
6. Any office falling vacant shall be filled by the Committee. Any other vacancy in the Committee shall be filled by the Branch whose representative has ceased to hold office as soon as conveniently may be. Any person appointed under this sub-section shall hold office for the same period his predecessor would have done.
7. At Committee Meetings nine shall form a quorum.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Branches
1. For administrative purposes there shall be six Branches to be known as:- �Central�, �Eastern�, �Elloe Deaneries�, �Northern�, �Southern�, �West Lindsey�
2. Each Branch shall, at its Annual General Meeting, elect Branch Officers as follows:- President, Ringing Master, Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer and a representative on the Guild Committee.
3. Each Branch shall have the management of its own local affairs in all matters save and except where otherwise provided for in the Rules, or when they affect the principles or general well-being of the Guild, in which case the General Committee of the Guild shall have the power to intervene.
4. In the case where the Branch does not agree with the finding of the General Committee, the final decision shall lie with the next Annual General Meeting of the Guild or with the Special General Meeting called for that purpose.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Central Council Membership
1. The Guild shall be affiliated to the Central Council of Church Bellringers and shall abide by its Rules and Regulations.
2. The Guild's representatives on the Central Council shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting before the first meeting of each Council, except when the time between the above meetings does not allow for the required notice of the election being given to the Hon. Secretary of the Council. When this occurs they shall be elected at a previous meeting of the Guild.
3. If more than the required number of representatives are nominated, the election shall be by ballot of the members present. Each ballot paper must be marked for the required number of representatives.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Finance
1. Each Branch Treasurer shall be responsible for the collection of subscriptions from the Honorary and Ringing Members within the Branch. He shall also collect subscriptions from Non-Resident Members elected at Branch meetings, these to be forwarded to the Guild Treasurer.
2. The Treasurer shall levy from the Branches sums in proportion to their membership to cover the following items of expenditure:-
  1. Expenses of Guild Meetings
  2. The cost of printing the Annual Report
  3. Postages, stationery and incidental expenditure
  4. The fees due to the Central Council of Church Bellringers
  5. The expenses of the representatives on the Central Council
  6. The cost of advertisements in "The Ringing World".
  7. Any additional sum to maintain a Guild Fund as decided by the Guild Committee
3. Any expenditure not provided for in 6b) shall require authorisation by the Guild Committee before payment from Guild Funds.
4. A Guild Bell Repair Fund shall be maintained under the control of the Guild Committee who shall be authorised to receive monies on behalf of the Fund. Administration of the Fund shall be as laid down in the special rules of the Fund.
5. Two inspectors of accounts (who shall not be members of the Guild Committee) shall be appointed at the Annual General Meeting to audit the accounts of the Guild Funds.
6. The Guild Committee, subject to the provisions of 6g), will present a recommendation for all subscription rates and fees annually to the Annual General Meeting of the Guild. The new subscription rates and fees will be agreed annually at this meeting and will operate from the first of January of the following calendar year. The proportion of subscriptions paid into the Bell Repair Fund shall be set annually by the Guild Committee. The subscriptions of Honorary and Ringing Members elected in or after October each year shall also cover the whole of the next calendar year.
7. The amount of the peal booking fee shall be only that required to meet the estimated cost of printing the peals in the Annual Report and shall be reviewed from year to year to take into account any surplus or deficit resulting to the General Fund from transactions in this respect in earlier years.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Peals
1. All peals credited to the Guild shall conform in every respect with the decisions for peals enacted by the Central Council of Church Bellringers.
2. Any person ringing in a peal accredited to the Guild must be an elected Resident or Non-Resident Member, and in any peal rung for the Guild outside the Diocese of Lincoln, at least half the band must be Resident, or former Resident, members of the Guild.
3. Each conductor of a peal rung for the Guild shall forward as soon as possible to the Hon. Peal Secretary a peal booking fee according to the current rate per person. The total sum of money collected during the year shall, as soon as possible after the end of each calendar year, be paid by the Hon. Peal Secretary to the Guild Treasurer.
4. The conductor of peals other than those on four, five or six bells shall forward to the Peal Secretary as soon as possible the composition or a reference in a current ringing publication. The Peal Secretary is empowered to request any other composition at his discretion.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Meetings
1. The Annual General Meeting of the Guild shall normally be held at Lincoln on the last Saturday in April. A half-yearly meeting may be held in September at the discretion of the Guild Committee. If considered necessary, or at the request of any Branch, the Guild Committee may call a Special General Meeting.
2. Fourteen days notice of the date and place of a General Meeting, and the business to be discussed, shall be given by notice in the "Ringing World" and by notification to Branch Secretaries, who shall notify their respective towers.
3. At all meetings of the Guild the Chairman shall be:-
  1. The President
  2. The Master of the Guild
  3. The President or Chairman of the Branch in which the meeting is being held or in the absence of these officers, a Chairman elected by the meeting.
4. The Master shall have control of the ringing at all Guild meetings, or he shall nominate an efficient member as deputy.
Top Name and Objects Membership Officers and Committee Central Council Membership
Branches Finance Peals Meetings Alterations to Rules
Alterations to these rules
1. No alteration of these rules may be made except at a General Meeting (i.e. Annual, Half-yearly or Special) of the Guild and must be passed by a two-thirds majority of those members present.
2. Fourteen days notice of such Meeting and proposed alteration must be given by notice in "The Ringing World" and by notification to Branch Secretaries.
3. Proposed alterations of Rules must appear upon the agenda of the meeting at which such proposals are to be made.

The Lincoln Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers

Superseded Guild Rules