Council and its work

You may well wonder what the Guild's council does at and in between meetings.
Hopefully, I'll be able to fill you in on some of the important blanks, and get you to help in the process.
Council currently meets quarterly and we discuss a variety of issues at our meetings from accepting new members, to discussing competitions, sponsorship, finances and events.
My predecessor as chairman, Roger Abbott, set up a sub-committee structure where council members were allocated a specific topic to consider between meetings.
These sub-committees fell into abeyance latterly, but have been resurrected again in the hope they can look at some of the more mundane issues that are discussed by council and spearhead new initiatives to secure the long term survival of the Guild.
We now have five sub-committees under the headings of communications, membership, awards/events/sponsorship, regional and executive.
Communications is under the chairmanship of Peter Hill and includes Peter Ryder, Liz Snaith and Adrian Bell.
It is looking at everything possible under that heading, including eAlerts, eBulletins and the way we communicate with non-members and how we might encourage them to join.
Membership is chaired by Lindy Margach, the membership secretary, and includes Tim Price, Theresa Eveson and David Steers.
It is looking at one specific issue which causes the Guild considerable problems, that of granting a member retired status. To me, retired means someone who has stopped working. There are, however, some within the membership who believe that retired status should be given to them when they retire from full-time work, but who then continue to work in part-time. I am certainly of the opinion that retired should mean retired and I've asked the sub-committee to look at the issue and come back with a report so that we can consider possibly changing the Guild's rules at the next annual meeting to tighten up what I feel is a loophole.
Awards, events and sponsorship is chaired by Roger Abbott and includes Nick Bond, Ray Vale and Howard Venters. It does just exactly what you would expect in looking after awards, events and sponsorship. Among issues it is looking at is the possibility of resurrecting the Stuart Seaton Award for regional newspaper coverage of agricultural matters.
Regional is chaired by me and includes Liz Snaith, Alison Lea and Doreen Forsyth. With regional groups in the Midlands and Scotland now in operation, we are looking at expanding into other areas. The initiative for this really has to come from the members themselves though as there is no point in council foisting initiatives on the regions if they don't want them.
The final sub-committee is the executive. That is chaired by me and includes vice-chairman Nick Bond, Don Gomery and Tim Price.
All that council does is aimed at the membership. I sometimes feel we, however, sit in isolation.
That's why you – the members – have such an important role to play here.
Do you have any burning issues you want discussed? Are you willing to set up a regional group? Do you have an idea for an event or an award? Do you know of any potential sponsors for the Guild's work? Should we hold functions in London, or should we look elsewhere? Who would you like to hear speak at Guild events?
These are all questions that you can help council answer.
I look forward very much to hearing from you all on what you like the Guild to do for you. It is, after all, your organisation.
Please let me know by either clicking the comment button below, or sending me an e-mail to joe.watson@mac.com
Many thanks