THE GUILDFORD SOCIETY
SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
November 2011
David Bunting, who has so ably led the group for the past five years, was, regrettably, forced in August to resign as Chairman, due to the pressure of other responsibilities. He has been a tower of strength and has added immense value to the Society through his energetic leadership and dedication. Ralph Hill has taken over as Acting Chairman for one year, or until a more permanent replacement is appointed.
The group now has eight members who have given much time, thought and energy to the work of the Society in a wide range of activities. Members have benefited from the provision of information exchange and the regular meetings held throughout the year.
I am happy to report that the website (www.guildfordsociety.org.uk ) is being used more and more as a vehicle for keeping up to date with the activities of the Society, be they Heritage, Planning, or Transport issues. We are now averaging about 80 hits per day.
Email is an increasingly useful means of keeping members and associated organisations up to date with society activities. We now have 211 email addresses on our contacts list covering about half of our total membership. This probably includes most of our active members. Reference to scheduled events is particularly important as changes from the published programme are sometimes inevitable. This was the case when the book launch advertised for 7th April was deferred until the 2nd June to precede the Architecture lecture. If you are on email, and have not received reminders of events, please ensure that we have your address (send it to guildsoc@hotmail.com ).
Mailing is a costly exercise, but is undertaken three times a year, once with the AGM papers and twice to send you the newsletter the content of which has wide appeal with substantial articles on local features.
We are delighted to have appointed a publicity officer, who has achieved notable success in promoting the Society’s activities in the local press. The recent meeting on Localism was announced on the front page of the Surrey Advertiser and articles about various meetings have been featured.
The events programme was well received by members, judging by attendance and feedback. We were indebted to The Horsham Society for hosting our successful visit to the town. Thanks are also due to Michael Jeffrey for arranging the mystery trip to Greyfriars House and Vineyard on the Hog’s Back, to Pat Grayburn for the Sculpture walk and to Professor Stephen Baker for a talk and conducted tour of Surrey Sports Park (both at the University of Surrey).
The annual joint meeting at and with the Guildford Institute was an extremely popular event with Helen Chapman Davies talking on the History of Guildford Park. This is the second time this meeting has reached the maximum capacity of 60, resulting in a number of our members being unable to attend. For next year’s meeting half the seats will be reserved for our members, but any not taken up by the closing date will be released to the Institute, so please get your bid in on time!
We are now finalising the programme of events for 2012 of which members will receive some details with this newsletter. We hope to include an exhibition of “Glimpses of Guildford” by Boris Fijalkowski, talks on stone masonry and the preservation of ancient buildings and a visit to St Albans, as well as our popular annuals - the mystery visit, the Design Awards Ceremony and the Architecture Lecture.
To finish off 2011 we have the annual Christmas Social at St Nicolas’ Hall on Wednesday 14th December at 7.30pm. We look forward to being entertained by The Guilford Barbershop Singers, with mulled wine and mince pies.
The group meets every other month to plan and deliver the programme of events. We would welcome more helpers – so please consider joining the Social and Communications Group or volunteering to assist on an ad hoc basis.
Membership Report 2010-11
As at 1st November 2011
|
Life membership single |
57 |
|
Life membership joint |
39 |
|
Single membership (annual standing order payment @ £10.00) |
89 |
|
Joint membership (annual standing order payment @ £18.00) |
97 |
|
Single membership (annual cheque/cash payment @ £10.00) |
61 |
|
Joint membership (annual cheque/cash payment @ £18.00) |
25 |
|
|
|
|
Including the Life memberships, the total above is |
368 |
|
Doubling up the joint memberships indicates a total membership of |
528 |
Ralph Hill
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Please send them to: social@guildfordsociety.org.uk by clicking this link.
(November 2011)