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Constitution |
| 1. | THE NAME | ||
| That the name of the club be the PLYMOUTH CAVING GROUP hereinafter referred to as "the club." | |||
| 2. | THE AIMS OF THE CLUB | ||
| The aims of the club shall be the sports of caving, potholing, mining exploration, the furthering of scientific knowledge in connection therewith and the furthering of cave conservation. | |||
| 3. | THE COMMITTEE | ||
| a) | The honorary offices of the club shall be Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. | ||
| b) | The remainder of the committee shall consist of up to seven members. These may fill the posts of Tackle Warden, Librarian and Recorder, Editor, Meet Secretary, Membership Secretary or any other post, which maybe appointed by an Annual General Meeting, or by the committee. | ||
| c) | The committee shall retire annually, but the members shall be eligible for re-election. | ||
| d) | All members of the committee, on being elected, shall be a member and have been so for at least three months previously. | ||
| e) | In the event of a vacancy arising, the committee shall have the power to co-opt a club member to fill it. | ||
| f) | The full committee may be deemed quorate when four of its members are present. | ||
| g) | The committee shall have the power to convene advisory sub-committees for specific purposes. | ||
| 4. | SHORT COMMITTEE | ||
| a) | In the event of insufficient demand for a full committee, a short committee may be elected from the candidates available at an Annual General Meeting. | ||
| b) | A short committee shall be deemed quorate when the Chairman and half its members are present. | ||
| c) | A short committee shall have the equivalent powers to that of a full committee. | ||
| 5. | THE PRESIDENT | ||
| a) | The post of President shall be held by a member who has a keen and active interest in club matters | ||
| b) | The President may carry out the job of one of the ordinary committee posts, without being on the committee. | ||
| c) | The President may not carry out the job of one of the honorary offices. | ||
| d) | The President shall not be entitled to vote. | ||
| e) | The President is entitled to one vote in any referendum held within the club. | ||
| f) | The President can, if requested, take the chair at any committee meeting or A.G.M. or E.G.M. but is NOT entitled to vote. | ||
| g) | The President has the power to veto* | ||
| h) | The post of President shall be elected annually at an A.G.M. | ||
| * (Veto is the constitutional right of the President to reject legislative enactment, suspending but not necessary preventing completion of that measure.) | |||
| 6. | COMMITTEE MEETINGS | ||
| a) | Committee meetings shall be held at least once every ten weeks at a time, date and place to be declared by the committee. | ||
| b) | Only committee members may vote at a committee meeting. | ||
| c) | Committee decisions shall be made by a simple majority vote. | ||
| d) | Should the voting on any subject be indecisive then the chairman shall have the casting vote. | ||
| e) | In the absence of the pre-elected chairman, the members may elect a temporary chairman from amongst themselves. | ||
| f) | Committee members shall receive seven days notice in writing, for committee meetings. | ||
| g) | Ordinary members may attend but may only speak with the permission of the chair. | ||
| h) | Should the committee deem it necessary, the committee may hold a closed meeting. | ||
| 7. | ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING | ||
| a) | An Annual General Meeting, for the transaction of club business and the election of officers shall be held before the end of February of each year, at a time, date and place to be declared by the committee. | ||
| b) | All club members shall receive at least 28 days notice of the meeting together with, in writing, a copy of the agenda. A copy of the balance sheet of the club’s monies will be presented at the start of the meeting. | ||
| c) | A recorder will be nominated at the start of the meeting to record an accurate account. | ||
| d) | Any members wishing any motion to be brought forward at the A.G.M. shall send the text of the motion together with the names of a proposer and seconder to the secretary six weeks before the date of the A.G.M, so that it may be included in the agenda. | ||
| e) | Voting at an A.G.M. shall be by paid up members who shall have been so for at least 3 months previously. | ||
| f) | The honorary committee members shall be elected by a majority show of hands, each candidate being named for a specific post. | ||
| g) | The ordinary committee members shall be elected by a simple vote, each member having a majority vote. | ||
| h) | A record shell be kept of who proposed, and who seconded, each candidate, and the number of votes each receives. | ||
| 8. | EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING | ||
| a) | An Extraordinary general meeting of the club shall be convened by the Hon. Secretary within thirty days of receiving a written demand to do so. | ||
| b) | Such a demand will be signed by ten club members and shall contain resolutions to be put forward, together with the names of proposers and seconders. | ||
| c) | The Hon. Secretary shall give club member's Twenty Eight days notice of such a meeting together with an agenda. | ||
| 9. | MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS | ||
| a) | There shall be five classes of membership. | ||
| 1) Full membership for those aged 16 or over. | |||
| 2) Subsided membership for those who are attending full time education at a school, college or university, or on low income at the discretion of the committee. | |||
| 3) Family membership. | |||
| 4) Temporary membership for a period of no longer than 15 days at a cost that covers administrative charges only. The only benefit of temporary membership to be Public Liability insurance, equipment rental and access to travel insurance. | |||
| b) | Subscriptions become due at the end of the clubs financial year, December 31st (except temporary membership.) | ||
| c) |
Membership fees for each financial year will be set provisionally by a committee meeting prior to the start of each financial year and will be confirmed by the Annual General Meeting. |
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| d) | New members i.e. those not re-joining, pay their subs to the nearest quarter of the year in which they join. | ||
| 10. | DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE | ||
| a) | The committee shall have the right to discipline any club member guilty of conduct, which the committee considers detrimental to the club and its aims. After hearing all the evidence warranting such an action and providing that two thirds of the committee present agree by a secret ballot to such a course, a decision will be announced. | ||
| a. | On the first discipline, the individual will receive a formal recorded verbal warning. | ||
| b. | On the second discipline, a formal written warning will be issued. | ||
| c. | On receiving a third and final discipline, that member will be formally asked to leave the club. | ||
| d. | If the member is found guilty of gross misconduct, then that member will be expelled immediately from the club. | ||
| b) | The member in question must have the opportunity of presenting his/her case for continued membership, either in person or in writing, or by a representative. If the committee decide that expulsion is warranted they should ask the member to resign before taking such action. | ||
| 11. | FINANCE AND PROPERTY | ||
| a) | The committee shall be responsible for the purchase, maintenance and control of club property. All club tackle should be checked at three monthly intervals. An Annual examination under the direction of the Tackle Warden should be carried out in the presence of the two other committee members and a written report presented to the committee. | ||
| b) | The clubs financial year shall be from January 1st to December 31st. | ||
| c) | The club monies shall be deposited with an agreed Building Society or Bank. The account shall be jointly operated by the honorary committee officers. The signature of any two of these should be sufficient to effect a withdrawal. | ||
| 12. | CLUB MEETS | ||
| a) | At least four club meets are to be held each year. It is the responsibility of the committee to promote the running of such meets and to ensure all members are notified of such meets, | ||
| b) | Visitor and Guest may attend club trips providing they are suitably covered by insurance, either by the clubs temporary membership, or insurance by others. | ||
| c) | Visitors and guests should be accompanied by full members. | ||
| 13. | PUBLICATIONS | ||
| a) | Meet reports, exploration accounts etc. shall be the responsibility of the Librarian and Recorder, who shall keep appropriate files for reference. | ||
| b) | A record of individuals attending trips will be kept for insurance purposes. | ||
| c) | Club members shall receive notification in writing, in the newsletter of all the clubs general activities. | ||
| d) |
To these ends the committee and especially the secretary, editor and librarian and recorder shall hold themselves responsible to publish the club newsletter and journal appropriately, at least at six monthly intervals. |
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| e) | The committee may reserve the right to distribute exchange copies of the clubs' newsletter as it sees fit. | ||
| 14. | NOTICE OF MEETINGS | ||
| All notices of meetings and other circulation from club to members maybe distributed in electronic form, but the committee must ensure that such circulation is provided in writing to those members unable or unwilling to receive it in electronic form. | |||
| 15. | CAVE RESCUE | ||
| a) | The club will hold itself available for cave and mine rescue from any part of Devon and Cornwall. | ||
| b) | The elected Rescue Warden's, shall be available to be co-opted onto the committee of Devon Cave Rescue Organisation or such other body as is responsible for cave rescue in Devon and Cornwall. They will represent the club on such a body. | ||
| 15. | LIBILITY | ||
| a) | The ruling of the committee shall be final on any matter not provided for in the club constitution and rules. The committee may create bylaws for the running of the club at committee meetings. | ||
| b) | Neither the club nor its members, collectively or as individuals may be held responsible for any injury, fatal or otherwise, to any person, member or non-members, on any club meet. A disclaimer to this effect shall be signed by every member or non-member over eighteen years of age, or by his or her legal guardian if the person is under eighteen years of age. | ||
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This is the 2006 version of the Plymouth Caving Group Constitution Added 22-1-07 BP |