The Guild website provides a host of information and guidelines. Some specific items are highlighted below but it is worth browsing the site regularly to stay up to date.
Here is a link to the central council website. Members may find it helpful to view the site regularly.
Read the Guild rules (pdf, from the guild website) via this link.
The ODG wants to make the way it keeps membership records, and the way it communicates with all of its members, more efficient.
Currently there are several sets of data about membership – there's the information created when a member is elected; there's the information collected each year when subscriptions are paid; and there's the information published in the Annual Report. We want to try and streamline these systems and get one process to cover all these aspects.
The system we have chosen to do this is commercial, professional software called Membermojo. It's UK based software and is already used by several other Guilds. The most basic record for each member is simply the member's name and email address. All other information is optional but will include obvious stuff like tower, Branch, official position (if any), etc. The crucial point is that we have not collected email addresses in the past, but now we need them in order to implement a modern membership system. Each Branch is being asked to provide a list of ringers' names and email addresses, so please co-operate with your Branch officers to compile your Branch list. If you don't have an email address of your own, you will need to ask someone you know well, perhaps your tower captain, to act for you in this respect.
There are other advantages to Membermojo. It will ensure we comply with GDPR. Your data will be held on a secure server administered by Membermojo, rather than on PC's held by, for instance, the Branch Secretaries. You will be able to opt out of receiving emails you don’t want. On the other hand you will get Branch and Guild news (if you opt in) more reliably, more directly.
The aim is to get the database information collected and set up over the next year. The details of how you will pay your subscription will then be evaluated, in consultation with branches, but for now the current system will continue.
Meanwhile, once we have a complete set of email addresses, the system will be tested and trialled, and tweaked so that it works for us all.
The guild circulated three related documents in May 2024 (copies can be requested from the branch or guild secretary):
The ODG has a GDPR statement on the website that is referenced in the Membermojo documents: ODG GDPR statement.
Current guild guidelines can be found on the Guild website's Safeguarding page.
The Guild web site's Officers page provides details of all the Guild Officers.
Odd Bob is the newsletter of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers and the latest edition is always available from the guild website (opens in a new window).
Please note that the Towers and Belfries Committee exists to offer help & advice to towers. Only recently did we discover a tower that was struggling with maintenance but completely unaware!
The following link takes you to our page on the ODG website: Towers and Belfries Sub-Committee - Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers (odg.org.uk).
Page last updated: 26th May 2024.