July Notes
Branch Notices July 2014
Good evening
everyone and we hope you enjoy the summer party. The following notices update
you on a number of issues. Please contact any committee member tonight, or at
any time if you want to discuss anything further.
Twenty Five Years. We are proud to say that Mary Smith
has been a member (and a previous chair) of this branch for 25 years. Congratulations
and thank you for all the work you have done and the help and advice you
continue to provide.
Septembers meeting Heather will Chair as Bernadette is
in Africa (and very excited about it). I am sad however to be missing the guild
folios which should be a fantastic meeting. Come along to see beautiful work
and be inspired and bring cameras and sketch books if you want to record
inspirations. Next summer’s competition is inspired by the folios.
Membership renewal is happening in September and
October. Forms will be available at those meetings. The national guild is
raising the fee by £3. A document, explaining the challenges they face and
their rationale for the future has been circulated to all members so that you
can be fully informed. Those of us who went to the Regional Day heard the chief
executive speak and were impressed by what he had to say. The guild does face
real challenges nationally. For example sales of Stitch have dropped
considerably (along with magazines generally) and this is a major part of their
income. In order to slightly reduce the burden on local members the branch has
decided that we will reduce our local fee by £1 this year, thus limiting the
increase to members, so that the new rate will be £43
Cocomad: many thanks to all those who helped
with making items and helping on the day. We had a lovely day and further
publicised our meetings. Several children and adults stayed to stitch. Your
work is now being enjoyed by lots of people who bought things, or who bought
raffle tickets. We are able to make the reduction in local fees because we have
been doing well raising money, via things like the Cocomad festival and through
the raffle, We really need as much support as possible with branch activities,
so please when volunteers are asked
for or if you are asked to stich something think about whether you can help.
Just a small contribution from lots of people makes all the difference.
Cocomad
pictures are on the blog Please use the blog to keep in touch over the summer A
guide to accessing it has been produced a few copies of which are available at
this meeting, but the document will also be emailed out to everyone.
If at any
time you come across a possible speaker
for a branch meeting please let one of the committee know, with full contact
details especially email if possible.
If you can
please work on your Tolkien pieces
over the summer. We have had several lovely pieces of work already but lots of
us haven’t got around to it yet (me included)
The DVD library is up and running. They
will be £1 to borrow for a month, or this summer for 2 months so a bargain this
time around. They are now available at the side of the meeting on a first come
first served basis.
We would
like to have an additional Committee
member so please if you are interested speak to an existing member. Existing
members will be standing again, but may revise some roles.
Sadly as
many of you know Clare Wilkins husband Tom died recently. Clare was with him
and able to share precious time during his illness. For those of you who never
met Tom he was a lovely man, who made up funny poems and always had a friendly
word for others. We are holding a collection in his memory at the end of the
meeting. Proceeds will go to the British Heart Foundation and Action on Hearing
Loss. I know Clare will be grateful for any donation you are able to make.
The Embroiderers’ Guild has
been invited to become a lead contributor along with Fine Cell and the RSN in
the creation of an embroidered version of the entire MAGNA CARTA Wikipedia page
on the web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta
- ‘Expressions of Interest’
should be sent to Annie Franz by email only… afranz@embroiderersguild.com by 22nd
August 2014 latest. We appreciate completely that many branches will
have ceased meeting for the summer break so we can only ask that you do
your best to pass on this email to those who may be interested.
- ‘Expressions of Interest’
need only be brief… Name, Membership Number, Region, credentials and an
image of a recent piece of work. Type - Magna Carta – Your Name –
Membership Number - Your Region in the subject line of your email to
Annie Franz.
- The names of members who
express an interest will go into a draw to be conducted wc 25th
August 2014.
Copies of
the email are on the side for more details.
Workshops Please see Margaret Richards tonight
and sign up for an interest in the September mini workshops. She will email you
with details once they are firmed up. Places also available for Greta Fitchett
in November please sign up.
Finally we
hope you all have a wonderful summer and please, if you can, come to the
celebration of stitch at Birmingham
Library on August 2nd. Please if you can sign up with Anne Haigh
today to come for some of the time. She will email you ( or call if no email)
as soon as we know what Library have agreed to in more detail.
Bernadette
Wilkinson on behalf of the committee
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