[Cambridge-youths] Fwd: Report from the bells working party + agenda

[Ms George Unsworth]

Dear Barbara,

Quite apart from being in awe of anyone whose ambitions involve ringing 
the 11th at GSM(!) I'm very pleased that you've joined in the debate.

You mention the issue of fundraising so it might be worth making a few 
further points here.  I have already discussed the possibility that a 
single donor may not emerge with Peter Agar, the head of Cambridge 
University Development Office, but he very quickly recognised quite how 
powerful the pull of a project such as this could be.  He immediately 
asked if it would be possible for photos/videos of donors to be taken 
either during the casting process or at installation and seemed quite 
confident that it ought to be one of their easier projects to fund.

The University is currently half way to its target of £1bn for 2009. 
The cost of installing a new ring of bells is unlikely to exceed £350k 
so is a relatively small donation in those terms.  BUT
-	I have made it absolutely clear that it is for the ringers to decide 
on Monday if they want to take this further and that if the answer is 
'no' then the project will be withdrawn.
-	That even if the vote on Monday is to go ahead, the congregation 
(through the PCC and Property Committee) may not wish to back the idea
-	That even then we'll still be subject to the usual Faculty processes!

Speaking personally (without my working party hat on) my feeling is that 
this is something that we will be faced with at some point in the near 
future (though predicting when is like gazing into a crystal ball) and 
that we cannot expect the congregation to dip its hands into its pockets 
as there are so many other demands on that resource.  The timing of the 
800th (plus all the extra publicity that we could engender through the 
press, strengthening the ties between GSM's bells and the University 
etc) is such that we would have to have some very good reasons NOT to 
try to make it work.

Best wishes,
George


> Dear Sue,
> 
> I hope you don't mind me responding, since I am not one of the Youths.
> 
> Thank you to the working party for a very interesting and informative report.
> I have to say that, until I read the report, I hadn't realised that the bells
> were that bad! Really, of the bells I ring, the 6th is the only one that I
> find hard to manage. (All my other mistakes are entirely my own fault!)
> 
> In fact, I quite like the challenge of bells I find hard to ring, because that
> makes it clear where improvements in my bell handling are needed. One of my
> ambitions is to be good enough to ring the 11th, so I personally shall be
> rather disappointed if you take it away. I should have thought that this point
> applies at, least a little, to everybody: you don't want to make the bells here
> so easy to ring that everyone gets out of practice on awkward bells.
> 
> On a practical point: if you do decide to proceed with getting new bells,
> funded by the University, perhaps you should consider what you will do if
> the University decides to pay only part of the cost?
> 
> Best wishes,
> Barbara Le Gallez
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 
> Sue Binns wrote:
> 
> Dear All,
> Herewith the bells report - please try to attend the EGM on 14th @ 8.00 p.m.
> If not, please ensure any queries you have are addressed beforehand and reported to the meeting in
> your absence.
> The working party would welcome any questions at any time.
>  
> Agenda: 1. Bells 
>              2. Health and Safety update/information
>  
> Best wishes,
> Sue
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Ms George Unsworth
Manager, West Road Concert Hall
11 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DP
01223 335184 / www.westroad.org