- Guild Secretary
- Bell Restoration Officer (BRO)
- Public Relations Officer
- Membership Secretary
- Central Council Rep.
- Tower Captain
- Webmaster
Guild Secretary – Role Description
Guild Rule 12.2 states that “The Guild Secretary shall keep minutes of all General and Standing Committee meetings and conduct all secretarial work of the Guild as required or as directed by the Standing Committee and shall report to the Standing Committee and the Annual General Meeting”.
The other specific duties of the Guild Secretary are (a) to deal with requests for Long Service Certificates (Rule 14) and (b) to report to the AGM the names of those elected as Non Resident Life Members (Rule 9.2). There are also other tasks which by custom and practice fall to the Guild Secretary.
Guild Meetings
The Guild has an Annual General Meeting each May, and the Standing Committee usually meets on three occasions each year (recently in June/July, November and March). For reach meeting the Secretary has to (1) arrange a venue (if none has already been offered), (2) liaise with the host tower over the practical arrangements for the meeting, (3) arrange or cause to be arranged ringing before and after the AGM, (4) ask members of the Standing Committee to notify any matters which they wish to have included on the agenda of each of its meetings, (5) send the agenda out at least 28 days (AGM) or 14 days (Standing Committee) before the date of the meeting (see Rule 5.2), and cause that agenda to be placed on the Guild website, (6) take the minutes of the meeting, (7) circulate them in draft to the President and Treasurer for comment and correction and then (8) place a final version of the minutes on the Guild website (and circulate a final version of the Standing Committee minutes to its members).
Long Service Certificates
I hold a stock of these. The greatest difficulty is in getting the Bishop to sign them as Patron – I have found this easy as I sit on a number of Diocesan Committees and so see him fairly frequently. I am happy to continue to ask him to sign a batch as and when necessary if this would help. It is also necessary to get the President to sign them – dependent upon the geographical relationship of Secretary and President it might be sensible to get the President too to sign a batch. And don’t forget that you as Secretary also have to sign them as well as completing the name and adding in the number of years’ service as a ringer. Once all necessary signatures have been obtained and other details have been completed I laminate the Certificates (so that they do not quickly become dog-eared or torn) and recommend this as a course of future action. I then post them to the recipients or to those who have requested them. A record of Certificates awarded has to be kept for reporting to the AGM – again, I have a template.
Non Resident Life Members
We usually have a few of these each year, mainly those who have ring a peal for the Guild. Again, a list of these has to be kept for reporting to the AGM.
Guild Items for Sale
Requests for Guild Badges come in from time to time, although not as many as in the past. I hold a stock. The current retail price is £2.00 per badge. At some point in the not too distant future the Committee will have to decide whether we tie up quite lot of capital in ordering a new stock of these badges, or just decide not to continue with this item.
I also hold some car windscreen stickers at a price of £1.00 each. We usually sell a small number of these each year.
Miscellaneous AGM-related tasks
In no particular order…
(a) You will need to produce some spare copies of the Agenda, of the previous meeting’s minutes, of the Guild accounts (in liaison with the Guild Treasurer) and (rarely) of any special items which those present at the meeting will need to be able to see.
(b) Between meetings you will need to keep and update a list of Guild members of whose deaths you become aware or are notified – this is read out at the start of each AGM.
(c) You will need to make a list of apologies of absence from the meeting.
(d) You will become the custodian of the Guild Bell which is used at the start and end of each AGM.
Other duties
(a) You will need to respond to requests for information from the Secretary of the Central Council – this will include notifying her each year of the number of members we have and also of the names and addresses of our Guild’s Central Council Representatives.
(b) The Guild Secretary receives a variety of contacts each year on a wide range of subjects. Where appropriate these can be referred to another officer of member.
And finally
All this sounds much more onerous than it actually is. The AGM venue is frequently decided by the previous meeting and it is likely to be at a tower where we have “friends in court”. The Standing Committee has for many years met at the Lychgate Room at Kenwyn. I hold templates for the AGM and Standing Committee agendas and for other matters as well, and there is little need to reinvent any wheels unless it is desired that this should happen.
If, having read this summary, you need any clarification or help, please get in touch with me and I’d be very happy to chat all this over. If you then decide to seek election as Secretary I shall remain available for help and advice…but only if you ask me, as I am determined not to be a back-seat driver. And I’d wish you as much happiness in this post as I have had throughout my time doing the job.
Robert J Perry
Guild Secretary
August 2019
Bell Restoration Officer – Role description
1 Be the point of contact for towers interested in applying for a grant for work required on the bell installation.
2 Arrange a meeting with a representative at the tower to discuss the proposed work and on occasions give advice within your level of competence. Advise on the requirements of the Bell Restoration Fund e.g. the number of quotes needed from bellhangers, for the work that needs carrying out.
3 Once quotes have been obtained and a bellhanger chosen, send out a Grant Application Form or advise this can be downloaded from the website. Explain the process further e.g. that the Guild Standing Committee will need to approve a grant, the size of grant available depending on current Guild guidelines, that Grants are payable to the PCC on completion of the work subject to them being signed off by the BRO and Standing Committee.
4 Present the project and quote to the Standing Committee, and act as ongoing liaison between the church and the standing committee. Keep clear records in a timely manner of the progress of the application and of the job.
5 Perform a final inspection once the work has been completed to advise the Standing Committee or Executive officers that the work has been satisfactorily completed so the Treasurer can make payment of the grant to the church’s PCC.
6 Be aware at all times that you are acting as the Guild’s representative.
Guild Public Relations Officer – Role Description
1. Hold the pro@tdgr.org.uk email address for the purposes of contact by TDGR members and external bodies,
2. (As currently constituted) Be a member of the standing committee and attend those meetings (presently 3 a year),
3. Issue press releases as appropriate to advertise or inform the public of ringing events
4. Periodically monitor media eg. Facebook, Twitter, The Ringing World, Bellboard, local press and the Truro Diocesan web site,
- Liaise with the web master/admins as necessary
- Liaise with the president and secretary as necessary
- Promote Guild events eg. the Carol service
Rule 12.6 “The Public Relations Officer (PRO) shall promote the image of the Guild and ringers generally amongst the public, the church and all Ringers.”
The above is not exhaustive and the post holder may develop the post to best represent the needs of the Guild and ringing at the time.
6/19
Membership Secretary – Role description
- Send out Annual Tower Return forms to every tower secretary/contact.
- Compile and maintain lists of members (including separate designations for Junior, Non resident life etc.) with individual contact details when authorised. This list is to be compiled from tower returns from tower secretaries (either online or by post) and Performance Secretary for Non Resident Life members.
- Receiving membership payments (including Life members) and paying them into the Guild bank account, supplying details to Hon Treasurer.* and Performance Sec. on request. Receiving information from Hon. Treasurer as to direct payments into the Guild in respect of subscriptions.
- Verifying membership lists with details of membership subscriptions.
- Attending to discrepancies between information reported on website/report and details received/subscriptions paid. Reporting to the Guild Committee accordingly.
- Collating a list of non-renewal of subscriptions and reporting accordingly.
- Complying with Data Protection legislation.
- Prepare an annual report for the period to 31st December each year.
21/11/2018
Central Council Representative – Role Description
To attend meetings of the Council and as appropriate take part in its debates and discussions
To serve on Council committees and workgroups as relevant to an individual’s skills and particular interests
To report to the Guild on Council meetings and initiatives
To keep the Council advised of any matters which the Guild wishes to bring to its attention
Tower Captain – Suggested Role Description
Current Safeguarding guidelines from CCCBR and the Church of England clearly state that Tower Captains should have a job description.
Although there is no specified Job Description and it will be the local PCC and Incumbent who may wish to develop their own, the Central Council of Bellringers have produced a suggested format which includes details about training in Safeguarding and the need for DBS checks.
As these recommendations have been changing frequently over the last 10 years, we include a link to the CCCBR website to avoid missing new recommendations. (Please notify admins via the footer if the link is not working).
CCCBR Suggested Job Description
Webmaster – Role Description
As a technical position this is a post appointed by the Standing Committee
Oversight of the general functioning of the website and hosting environment, responsible to the Standing Committee.
Update, using the staging facility, the WordPress App, the Plugins and Themes within the financial boundaries set by the Standing Committee. Alert the Standing Committee of any problem with the site related to hosting, software or any malicious
problem.
Set up user roles, usernames and passwords for new officers, tower contacts and admins following AGMs and at the time of new appointments. Remove access from those who leave their role for whatever reason.
Help with document availability prior to AGMs and Standing Committee meetings, and updating the archive
following these meetings. Update information following AGMs and Standing Committee meetings.
Help any members who are having difficulty logging in to the site.
Help any Officer or Tower Contact with access or editing, whether by teaching, supplying help files, or adding content on their behalf. Occasional formatting and simple editing of content. Advise the responsible person, if content becomes out of date.
Responsible for and working with the Guild Secretary w.r.t. the Home page and Calendar.
Oversight of the Email facility: – Resetting passwords on succession of Officers and assisting when problems arise. Setting up new email accounts as necessary.
Oversight of the TDGR YouTube Channel and Google account. Can involve editing video, uploading content, embedding code in the website.
Management of the bulk email account and occasional moderating as required.
Authority to remove any inappropriate content or post, including but not limited to; purely inaccurate, GDPR non compliant, Illegal or defamatory, against the rules of the Guild, or merely out of date.
Responding in conjunction with other admins, to any messages sent to the admin@tdgr.org.uk email
address.
Training/helping other personnel e.g. admins. Facilitator of successor to the role.
