Constitution

of the

North Wilts RAYNET Group

 

1 Name

The name of the Association is The North Wilts RAYNET Group there in after called "The Group".

 

2 The Object

The Group's objects ("the objects") are to relieve distress and suffering resulting from emergencies and disasters by supporting the Radio Amateur's Emergency Network and by providing communication services of benefit to the community for use during or in anticipation of (but not limited to such emergencies and disasters) or in efforts to prevent or mitigate the effects of them and to assist in rescuing those affected or in danger of being affected by them.

 

3. Powers

In furtherance of the foregoing objects but not further or otherwise the Group shall have the following powers:-

a) To co-operate with and provide assistance to other organizations, to Government, Local Authority, Police, Fire and other public or voluntary services, bodies, institutions, authorities or agencies (whether local, regional, national or international) when they are engaged or when contemplating engagement in activities consistent with the above objective.

b) To provide, retain, co-ordinate and maintain emergency communications by radio, telephone, telex or other systems and to co-operate with other persons and organizations or any international, central, local or other public authority similarly occupied.

c) To purchase, take on lease or in exchange hire or otherwise acquire and hold any real or personal estate of any kind necessary or convenient for the purposes of or in connection with the Group's business or any branch or department thereof and (subject to such consents as may be required by law) sell, lease or otherwise dispose of or mortgage any such real or personal estate.

d) To erect, construct, lay down, enlarge, alter and maintain factories, buildings, works, plants and machinery necessary or convenient for the Group's business and to contribute to or subsidise the erection, construction and maintenance of any of the same.

e) To borrow or raise or secure payment of money for the purpose of or in connection with the object of the Group on such terms (with necessary consents) and such security as may be thought fit and whether by creation and issue of debenture or debenture stock or otherwise.

lf) To co-operate sub-contract or enter into any arrangements of any kind with any of the organisations or bodies named or referred to in the preamble to this clause or any central, local or other public authority or any other body or person whenever it appears to the Group that such co-operation or agreement as aforesaid is likely to assist, promote or make more effective any work of the Group and may in like manner co-ordinate the activities of the Group with those of any such authority or person.

g) To foster and undertake research into any aspects of the objects of the Group and its work and to disseminate the results of any such research.

h) To accept subscriptions, donations, devises, bequests and to issue appeals, hold public meetings and take such other steps as may be required for the purposes of procuring contributions to the funds of the Group in the shape of donations, subscriptions or otherwise provided that the Group shall not undertake any permanent trading activities in raising finds for its charitable objects.

i) To take and accept any gifts of money, property or other assets, whether subject to any special trust or not, for any of the purposes of the Group.

j) To draw, make, accept, endorse, execute and issue promissory notes, bills, cheques and other instruments and operate banking accounts.

k) To invest the money of the Group not immediately required for its purposes in or upon such stocks, funds, securities or other investments in any part of the world whether involving liability or not as the Group shall in its absolute discretion think fit.

l) To make any donations in cash or assets or establish or support aid in the establishment or support of or contribute or lend money with or without security to or for any charitable institution, corporation, fund, trusts for purposes having or including purposes similar to the object of the Group.

m) To cause to be written and printed or otherwise reproduced and circulated, gratuitously or otherwise, periodicals, magazines, books, leaflets or other documents or films, recorded tapes or any appropriate media.

n) To cause to be produced and made available such materials, equipment, tools, clothing, supplies and other items as will assist the Group's officers, servants, voluntary workers or members to further the objects of the Group.

o) To hold exhibitions, meetings, lectures, classes, seminars and courses either alone or with others.

p) To establish and maintain an information network comprising books, journals, and other publications, films and other audio-visual materials, television and radio programmes and other audio materials, computerised data and a directory of persons and other resources available for the promotion of the object of the Company.

q) To undertake and execute charitable trusts.

r) To insure and arrange insurance cover for and to indemnify its officers, servants and voluntary workers and those of its members from and against all such risks incurred in the course of the performance of their duties as may be thought fit.

s) To amalgamate with any company, institution, society or association which shall be charitable at law and have objects altogether or mainly similar to those of the Group and prohibit the payment of dividend or profit to and the distribution of any of their assets amongst their members at least to the same extent as such payments or distributions are prohibited in the case of members of the Group by the constitution.

t) To pay out of the funds of the Group any proper costs, charges and expenses of and incidental to the formation and registration of the Group.

u) To do all such other lawful and charitable things as will further the objects of the Group.

4 Membership

a) Full membership of the Group shall be open only to current members of the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network aged over 18 years who are interested in furthering the work of the Group and who have paid the annual subscription, if any, as laid down from time to time by the Committee defined below.

b)     i) Associate membership of the Group shall be open to persons aged  14 - 17 years.

ii) Applicants for membership under the age of 18 shall provide written consent of their parent or guardian.

     iii) Associate members cannot have voting rights

c) The Committee defined below have the right to approve or reject any application to join the Group. Upon acceptance the Group Controller defined below shall cause the application for membership to be registered with and in such manner as required by the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network.

d) The Group Controller must cause any renewal of the membership to the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network which he has received, to be registered with the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network provided that the member of the Group:

i) is not in arrears with any subscriptions

ii) has taken part in any of the Group's activities during the preceding 12 months unless prior agreement has been reached with the Group Controller as defined below.

e) The Group Management Committee defined below shall have the right for just and substantial reason to terminate the membership of any individual provided that the member concerned shall have the right to be heard by the Group Management Committee before a final decision is made.

f) A member may at any time resign from the group by giving written notice to the Group and discharging all his obligations including the return of all Group property to the Group.

5 Officers

a) The administrative functions of the Group shall be performed by its officers. These shall comprise:

1) the Chairman of the Group who shall preside at all meetings at which he/she is present. This member shall hold the post of Group Controller.

2) the Secretary who shall be responsible for:

i) keeping the minutes of all meetings of the Group.

ii) ensuring that all correspondence is correctly handled.

iii) maintaining a register of all the Group's equipment.

3) the Treasurer who shall be responsible for:

i) keeping proper account of the finances of the Group.

ii) advising the Committee on all financial matters.

iii) preparing the accounts for audit and presenting them at the Annual General Meeting.

b) Only members of the Group may be officers. The positions of Secretary or Treasurer may be held by another officer of the Group, provided that no individual shall hold more than two posts.

c) An officer upon ceasing to hold office for any reason shall pass all documentation associated with the post to his/her successor or to the Secretary or Chairman.

6 Group Management Committee

a) The Group's affairs shall be administered by a Management Committee. Only members of the Group may be members of this Committee. Six individuals shall form this Committee.

b) The officers mentioned above shall be members of this Management Committee.

c) The Group Controller may appoint an existing Committee member to be the Membership Officer. The Controller, or if one has been appointed, the Membership Officer, shall be responsible for liaising with the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network in all matters relating to the registration of the Group's members with the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network.

d) The Management Committee members shall each have one vote at Committee meetings.

e) The Management Committee shall have the power to co-opt from the membership of the Group. Co-opted members shall not have any voting rights on the Committee.

f) The quorum for Management Committee meetings shall be three.

g) In the absence of a quorum, business may be dealt with but any decisions taken only become valid after ratification at the next meeting at which a quorum is present.

h) All Management Committee members shall serve until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Group.

i) Any Committee member may resign by giving written notice to the Chairman or Secretary of the Group.

7 Annual General Meetings

a) An Annual General Meeting shall be held within 15 months of the previous Annual General Meeting or formation of the Group. At least 21 days notice shall be given to each member in writing.

b) The quorum for the meeting shall be one half of the membership of the Group or 8 members which ever is the smaller.

c) The business shall include :

i) minutes of the last Annual General Meeting and of any Extraordinary General Meetings held since the immediately preceding Annual General Meeting.

ii) Chairman's report.

iii) Treasurer's report.

iv) consideration of the audited statement of the accounts for the last financial year.

v) election of officers and other Management Committee members, if any.

vi) appointment of an appropriately qualified auditor or auditors for the next financial year.

vii) transactions of such other matters as may from time to time be necessary.

d) Nominations for the Committee members may be made only by current members of the Group and will only be valid if confirmed by the nominee at the meeting or previously in writing.

e) Any defect discovered in the appointment of a Committee member shall not invalidate any acts carried out by that individual prior to the discovery.

8 Extraordinary General Meetings

a) An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened by the direction of the Management Committee, or on requisition to the Secretary stating the business for which the Extraordinary General Meeting is required and signed by not less than one third of the current membership of the Group able to vote at a General Meeting. If the meeting so requisitioned is not convened within two months, the requisitionists may convene such an Extraordinary General Meeting themselves.

b) At least 21 days written notice of all Extraordinary General Meetings shall be given to all members of the Group.

c) The business of the Extraordinary General Meeting shall be that for which it is called and no other.

d) The quorum for the meeting shall be one half of the membership of the Group or 8 members which ever is the smaller.

9 Voting at all Meetings

a) At General Meetings each current member of the Group registered by the Group with the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network shall be entitled to one vote.

b) Questions arising at any meeting shall be determined by a simple majority of those present. Voting by proxy shall not be permitted. Voting shall normally be by show of hands. If a secret ballot is called for, or deemed appropriate by the chairman of the meeting, ballot papers shall only be issued to those present at the meeting.

c) The chairman may vote. In the event of a tie, the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

d) Associate members may not vote at General Meetings.

10 Standing Orders and Rules

The Management Committee shall have the power to adopt and issue Standing Orders and/or Rules for the Group. Such Standing Orders shall come into operation immediately provided that they may be subject to review by the Group at an Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting and shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network.

11 Mandating of Controllers

Unless a motion has been passed at a General Meeting, the Chairman may vote as he/she sees fit at any County/Regional/Island or Zonal General Meetings he/she may be a member of.

12 Finance

a) All monies raised by or on behalf of the Group shall be applied to further the objects of the Group and for no other purpose provided that nothing contained in this Constitution shall prevent the repayments to any member of the Group including any Committee members of reasonable out of pocket expenses.

b) The accounts shall be audited at least once a year by the auditor or auditors appointed at the Annual General Meeting as aforesaid.

c) A banking account shall be opened in the name of the Group with such financial institution as the Management Committee shall decide. The Management Committee shall authorise the Treasurer and up to two other members of the Management Committee to sign cheques on behalf of the Group. All cheques must be signed by at least two of the authorised signatories.

13 Subscriptions

A subscription may be levied amongst the members of the Group. The amount of the subscription, if any, and the due date shall be determined from time to time by the Management Committee. The Management Committee shall have the power to waive or reduce subscriptions either generally or specifically as they see fit.

14 Trust Property

The title to all real or personal property which may be acquired by or on behalf of the Group shall be vested in such number of individual persons (not necessarily being members of the Committee) as the Group shall determine from time to time at an Extraordinary or Annual General Meeting.

15 Alterations to the Constitution

Any alterations to the constitution shall receive the assent of at least one half of the full membership of the Group and voting at a General Meeting called especially for the purpose. Provided that notice of such alteration shall have been received by the Secretary in writing not less than 28 clear days before the meeting at which the alteration is to be proposed. At least 21 days' clear notice in writing of such a meeting, setting forth the terms of the alteration, shall be sent by the Secretary to each member of the Group provided that not alteration shall be made which would have the effect of causing the Group to cease to be a charity at law or would be inconsistent with the provisions of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network.

16 Dissolution

a) The decision to wind-up the Group may only be taken at an Extraordinary General Meeting. In the event of there not being a quorum within 30 minutes of the time stated for the start of the Extraordinary Meeting, the Officers shall have the power to wind-up the Group.

b) In the event of the decision to wind up the Group, the Officers shall have the power to dispose of any assets held on behalf of the Group.

c) Any assets remaining after the satisfaction of any proper debts and liabilities shall be given or transferred to such other charitable institution or institutions having objects similar to those of the Group as the Officers may determine.

17 Notices

a) A notice may be served by any member of the Management Committee acting on behalf of the Group on any member personally or by sending is through the post in a prepaid letter addressed to such member at the address registered with the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network, and any letter so sent shall be deemed to have been received within 5 days of posting.

b) The accidental omission to give notice of a meeting to or the non-receipt of notice of a meeting by a person entitled to receive notice shall not invalidate the proceedings at that meeting.

c) If a member is present at a meeting, it shall be deemed that proper notice has been received by that individual.

18 Interpretation

For the interpretation of this Constitution, the Interpretation Act 1978, shall apply as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.