New Year Message from Guild HQ

The New Year message has been published from Guild HQ, so I am posting it here to allow members to read the contents:

New Year News Briefing

for

Branch Members

AGM – Bookings are excellent for Cheltenham on 5^th/6^th April. However, there are still places available on the new workshop by Gill Riordan (Japanese-style Pocket Book). There is still space on all the talks and entertainment – ‘Pearl Buttons’, ‘Tudor Tales’ and ‘A Woman of all Seasons’. The evening entertainment includes the Silver Shadows Band on Friday and the Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir on Saturday.

Annual Accounts – The full set of accounts and Report by Trustees will be posted on the current Guild website by 10^th January latest. The Guild Head Office accounts show a small surplus for 2012 and the debt to Unity Bank has now been paid in full. A summary set of accounts and précis of the Trustees’ Report will be in the January issue of Contact and in the Branch Pages on the Intranet.

Big Stitch – The 1-day ‘Big Stitch’ event at the Ashmolean Museum was, by any measure, a huge success. We would like to repeat it, this time in a North of England and/or Scottish venue. To do this we need a partner museum or stately home that would welcome such an event and the c.2000 extra visitors it may attract. If members have any venues in mind please send the contact details to me. Thank you.

Beryl Dean Gallery at Embroiderers’ Guild House – The exhibition of items from the Collection has now been up for 18 months. The main items will now return to our on-site store and a new exhibition will be available from 10^th April and will continue for at least a year. The exhibition is usually open from 9.30am to 5pm on Monday to Friday although the Gallery is also used for meetings and workshops. Members are welcome to ‘drop in’ but they may wish to contact us in advance.

Branch Promotional Cards – The first print run has been exhausted. Based on feedback (thank you) we made some changes to the next print run – available now. The cards are designed to help you interest people in the branch and invite them along to a meeting. Many branches have ordered 100 or more of these promotional cards. One branch ordered 700 promotional cards!

Contact – The January issue will be sent out to each member’s home address in the last week of the month. Members who have requested the E-Book version will receive an email link. We will only be able to send Contact to members who have registered on the database and renewed their subscription. We would appreciate it if Branch Treasurers could remind any members who may not have renewed their Guild membership to do so.

Branch Meetings – As promised, we have been looking at ways to help branches deal with the increasing costs of speakers. The first of these initiatives will be ready by the end of January. All initiatives can be adopted by branches at any time to suit their programmes and forward planning.

Finest Stitches, Splendid Stitches and other exhibitions involving items from the Collection - Important diary dates...

• AGM 5^th/6^th April (Finest Stitches)
• Glasgow Caledonian University 9^th May to 20^th June (Finest Stitches plus World’s Longest Embroidery)
• Macclesfield Silk Mill 10^th August to 6^th October (Final content to be agreed)
• Grantham Museum 15^th October – 4^th February 2014 (Finest stitches plus World’s Longest Embroidery)
• Bucks County Museum 9^th March to 6^th July (Exhibition of items selected by the Museum Curator and EG Collection Manager)

Loan Repayments – The loan from Unity bank has now been discharged. We are now in a position to repay the balance of 60% of outstanding loan amounts to branches and regions. A claims form is being sent to Branch Treasurers this month.

Membership Renewals/Payments to EGH – Our thanks to all who have renewed their Guild subscription for 2012/13.

Postcards – The broad consensus across the Guild is for this magnificent collection of images to remain together and to continue to be exhibited. They will all be on display at Embroiderers’ Guild House from 21^st January to 22^nd March, in Glasgow Caledonian University from 9^th May to 20^th June and in Grantham Museum from 15^th October to 4^th February 2014. Other dates will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. In addition, we have plans to extend the life of the ‘postcards’ by adding countries to cover all nations recognised by the United Nations - details to follow. Each postcard will be photographed in February and DVD recordings will be available to members and branches in March – again, details to follow shortly.

Website – The new Guild website is, at last, being prepared. The initial content on the new site will go ‘live’ in January. When ready, the new site will load in place of the old. At that point access to the members’ area will require their new Guild Membership Number and PIN.

YE 40^th Anniversary 2014 – We are planning to mark 40 years of Young Embroiderers with national and regional events. Members may have ideas they wish us to incorporate or know of people (possibly past YEs) they would like us to involve.

Wishing all members a very Happy New Year with our thanks for your continued support,

Terry Murphy