New membership system
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Published: Saturday, 14 January 2023 21:01
From January 2023, SCACR will be using a new system to manage memberships, including proposing new members and renewal of existing members. This system will automate many processes that were previously done manually, which took up a lot of our volunteers’ valuable time. Additionally, the old email system was rapidly approaching end-of-life, so urgently needed replacing.
The reasons for adopting new systems and processes are:
- to reduce the administrative burden on our volunteer officers, so that more of their limited time can be spent serving you, our members, and less on thankless but necessary bureaucracy (which will also make it easier to find volunteers to support the work of the Association);
- to automate payment reconciliation for card payments;
- to improve our communication channels to you, our members, so that you get more timely notification of ringing events that may interest you;
- to ensure that the Association is compliant with data protection regulations (GDPR) - the Association would be liable to a large fine if these regulations were breached.
How do I renew my membership using the new system?
All members will receive a personal email (or postal letter, for those without email - only 5% of members), explaining how to renew their membership and pay subs through the new system. Every member must complete their own individual renewal form. "Yellow forms" for membership renewals will not be sent to tower correspondents. (Tower information (e.g. practice and service ringing times) will be requested separately.)
NOTE: the renewal letters/emails will be sent in a phased distribution, the last group of invitations were sent on 31 January 2023.
Members with an email address will receive a link to the secure online membership system (Membermojo), through which they must review their personal details, select communications options (e.g. news and updates by District), and pay their subscription. Junior members should use their parent/guardian's email address.
To sign-in, enter your email address and then check your inbox for the sign-in details. Members can make secure payments with their credit / debit card, or Apple Pay or Google Pay from a phone. These payments are handled by a secure, commercial online payment system (Stripe). This significantly reduces the onerous administrative burden on our volunteer officers, compared to the previous procedure. Members who do not have a credit / debit card may pay offline (BACS / cheque), or another member may pay online on their behalf. Note that offline payments (bank transfer / cheque) create an administrative burden for our volunteers whose time could be spent more productively in directly supporting ringing.
For members who don’t have email or a computer / smartphone, the Membership Secretary will post a paper renewal form to their home address, and update the records on their behalf. Tower Correspondents will continue to have a duty to cascade District / Association communications to these members.
How do I propose a new ringer for Association membership?
New members can join at any time during the year (not at a meeting). New members should apply for membership via the online system, and provide contact details of their proposer and seconder. For the few people who do not have access to a computer or smartphone, a paper membership form can be completed and posted to the Membership Secretary.
As previously, new members must be proposed and seconded by current, adult ringing members of the Association.
More details about membership and joining the Association can be found here.
Q&A about the new membership system.
Death of Chris Fynes (Petworth ringer)
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Published: Wednesday, 11 January 2023 12:00
It is with great sadness I have to report the death of Chris Fynes of Petworth after a long battle with cancer. Chris learned to ring in Middlesex before moving to Sussex in the mid 60s ringing at Lodsworth and Petworth. He took a break from ringing in the mid 1970s before coming back in more recent years ringing at Petworth, Chichester and becoming a regular in George Francis’ Bell Meadow quarter peal band. Chris was an accomplished ringer but the bare figures showing that he rang 45 peals in total with 16 being for the Sussex Association do not do justice to his earlier exploits in the Stanwell area. In only his second peal he rang 2-3 before going on the ring a total of 15 double-handed peals including one of 98 doubles methods and several of spliced surprise minor. He also conducted all of those peals. He only conducted one peal for the Sussex Association, 43 spliced surprise minor at Lodsworth and, yes, he rang two bells! The interesting thing is that despite his undoubted ability to ring two bells he never rang a hand-bell peal – maybe that was too easy for him!
Many association members will not have known Chris but his picture of Petworth church on the front of the current SCACR annual report is a testament to his artistic abilities. Whilst I have kept this summary of his ringing activities brief there were other interests in his life. I remember chatting with him in a pub after a Westbourne practice about his collection of musical boxes, how he restored them and the editorship of the regular newsletter for a national society of like-minded people. His funeral will be on Friday 27 January 2023 at 2:30pm in St Mary’s Church, Petworth. Ringing arrangements will be announced later.
Gareth Higgs (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
