CONSTITUTION

MEMBERSHIP RULES

1.Membership shall be open to anyone on payment of an annual subscription. There shall only be six classes of membership of  The Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (otherwise titled  the AWGB ). The classes shall be Full, Family, Junior Member (free if under 19 on January 1st of the membership year) , Overseas, Corporate and Honorary.

2.Honorary membership either for a fixed term or for life shall be granted at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

3.All paid up members shall have the opportunity of entering into all the activities of the Association, to attend Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings, to vote upon constitutional and other matters and to be nominated for election to serve on the Executive Committee of the Association.

4.Membership entails the acceptance of responsibility for maintaining the good name of the Association at all times and an interest in furthering the aims of the Association.

5.Members shall be entitled to use the Name of the Association  and such entitlement shall cease upon cessation of membership of the Association. No member shall be entitled to use the AWGB logo for any purpose.

6.Resignations from the Association shall be given by notice in writing after fulfilling all obligations to it. Defaulting on annual fee following one reminder shall also constitute resignation.

7.Resignations from the Association shall be interpreted at all times as resignation from any Affiliated Branch concerned.

BRANCH RULES

1.Any Woodturning Group may become an Affiliated Branch by constitutionally requiring that all its Members shall be Members of the AWGB

2.All Affiliated Branches shall incorporate into their Constitution the clause  Branch rules  as laid down from time to time by the Executive Committee of the AWGB shall apply in full to this Branch of the AWGB .

3.All affiliated Branches will be entitled to use the AWGB logo in their publicity.

4.Each Affiliated Branch will be allocated to a region determined by the Executive Committee of the AWGB.

5.Affiliated Branches will elect four members, one from each region, to serve on the Executive Committee for a period of two years. Two of these members will retire by rotation each year.

6.For the two regions whose turn it is to vote the Executive Committee will invite each Affiliated Branch to nominate one of its members to stand for Regional Representative to the Executive Committee. The nomination can be by ballot of all its members or a nomination by the branch committee.

7.The nominations will be sent to the Branch Co-ordinator 13 weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting. All Affiliated Branches, within a region shall  then be invited by means of a postal ballot, to vote for a Regional Representative, for that region, to serve on the Executive Committee.

8.Ballot papers must be returned to the Branch Co-ordinator at least one week prior to the Annual General Meeting. The results of the ballot will be announced at the Annual General Meeting

9.Each Affiliated Branch shall be invited to send a representative to an Annual Branch Meeting to be held at an appropriate time and to be chaired by a member of the Executive Committee

10.Affiliated Branches may choose to collect a combined annual subscription to cover both the Branch and AWGB subscriptions. Branches choosing to undertake this shall receive an AWGB discount to be set annually through the AGM, per membership per full year.

ASSOCIATED CLUBS

1.Other woodturning groups, not having 100% AWBG membership, may become associated to the AWGB by paying a fee to be set by the Executive Committee.

2.Associated clubs will be entitled to use the AWGB logo in their publicity

3.The AWGB will include all Associated Clubs in all of its publicity and on its internet web site.

4.Associated Clubs will receive five copies of Revolutions at each issue and will receive other communications sent to Affiliated branches at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

MANAGMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION AND THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

1.The affairs of The Association shall be managed by an Executive Committee.

2.The ExecutivEe Committee shall include Four Officers being an Honorary Chairman, Vice Chairman, an Honorary Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer plus six members.

3.The Chairman shall be elected annually by the Members of the Association through the Annual General Meeting.  No one shall serve in this position for more than four years.

4.The Vice Chairman shall be elected by the Members of The Association through the Annual General Meeting for a period of Two Years. This position will normally be considered to be the Chairman elect.

5.The Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer shall each be elected annually by the Members of The Association through the Annual General Meeting for a one year term of office and shall be eligible for re-election for additional terms.

6.Four of the six members of the Executive Committee shall be appointed under the procedures set out in  BRANCH RULES for a period of two years. Two of these Members shall retire each year and shall be eligible for re-election for additional terms.

7.Two of the Six Members of the Executive Committee shall be elected by the Members of the Association through the Annual General Meeting for a period of two years. One of these Members shall retire by rotation each year and shall be eligible for re-election.

8.The Executive Committee shall have the power to co-opt AWGB Members from outside its number to undertake specific tasks or duties for a period deemed necessary.

9.The Executive Committee shall meet at intervals determined by the business of The Association, but not less than three times a year.  Meetings shall be convened by the Hon. Secretary in consultation with the Chairman although a meeting shall be convened at any time on the demand of three or more Executive Committee members.

10.The Chairman shall exercise a casting vote if any voting at an Executive Committee meeting shall otherwise be equal.

11.If the Chairman, or Vice Chairman, of The Association be not present at a meeting then the Executive Committee shall elect their own Chairman from among their number for that meeting.

12.A Quorum of the Executive Committee shall be five Members to include two officers.

13.Executive Committee members who do not attend committee meetings on three consecutive occasions shall, at the discretion of the Executive Committee, be deemed to have retired from the Executive Committee.

14.The Executive Committee shall have the power to appoint sub-committees to act on its behalf.  The Chairman of each sub-committee shall be a member or a co-opted member of the Executive Committee.

15.The Executive Committee shall have the power to hold and maintain such Bank Accounts, Building Society Accounts and other Savings Accounts as are deemed necessary for the business of The Association. All such accounts shall be in the name of the Association.

16.Cheques of The Association shall only be drawn on the signature s of the Hon. Treasurer and one other from two nominated Executive Committee Members.

17.The Hon. Treasurer shall arrange for annual accounts to be put to the Annual General Meeting and such accounts shall be prepared by a suitably qualified professional person but not being a member of the AWGB.

18.The Executive Committee shall have the power to appoint from outside its number an Executive President to be re-appointed annually.

 MEETINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION

1.An Annual General Meeting shall be called as soon as practical but in any event within four months, after the close of The Association s financial year on the last day of December.

2.The ordinary business to be transacted at each Annual General Meeting shall be:

a.To receive and adopt the Executive Committee Chairman s report.

b.To receive and adopt the Hon. Treasurer s report and annual accounts covering the financial affairs of the previous year.

c.To receive the results of the Postal Ballot for the election of the Officers and other Members of the Executive Committee for the following year.

d.To receive the results of the Postal Ballot of any Motion put by the Hon. Treasurer for any variation in the annual subscriptions.

e.To receive the results of the Postal Ballot of any Motions properly put to the Membership through the rules of the AGM.

f.Any other business that the Executive Committee see fit.

3.An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called by a resolution of the Executive Committee or on the receipt by the Honorary Secretary of the written request of at least 25 members of The Association.  The rules for the holding and conduct of the Annual General Meeting otherwise apply.

4.Only fully paid up members of The Association shall be entitled to attend and vote through the Annual General Meeting.  Members attending shall be required to produce their AWGB membership cards or other acceptable means of identification.

5.Notice of the Time and Date and Place of the Annual General Meeting shall be notified to members ten weeks before the date of the Meeting. The notice shall call for nominations and motions to be submitted to the Hon. Secretary within two weeks.

6.Motions and Proposals for the Annual General Meeting must be submitted in writing to the Hon. Secretary by whatever reasonable date is specified by the Executive Committee.  This shall be not less than eight weeks before the date of the meeting.  Proposals for motions must be signed by the Proposer and a Seconder both of whom must be members of the AWGB.

7.Nominations for the Executive Committee shall be submitted in writing to the Hon. Secretary by whatever reasonable date is specified by the Executive Committee.  Nominations must be signed by the Nominee and a Seconder both of whom must be members of the AWGB.  A 100 word statement written by the nominee explaining why he/she is standing for the Committee must accompany all nominations.

8.All Members entitled to attend the Annual General Meeting, whether they attend the meeting or not, shall be invited to vote by means of a Postal Ballot on all Nominations for the Committee and all Proposals and Motions put to the Meeting.

9.Ballot papers shall be circulated with the Annual General Meeting Agenda and must be returned to the Hon. Secretary by no later than one week before the date of the Annual General Meeting.

10.Nominations, Proposals and Motions put to the Annual General Meeting shall be carried by a simple majority of Postal Ballot votes cast except where material change to the Constitution is proposed.

11.The Constitution of the AWGB may be changed through a motion put to a Members General Meeting.  Such motions shall be put through a postal ballot.  Any motion considered by the Executive Committee to call for a material change in the Constitution shall require a majority of at least two thirds of the votes cast in order to be carried.

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE AWGB

1.If the Executive Committee shall decide that The Association shall be dissolved then the Executive Committee shall by the issue of a notice to all Members of the Association arrange for all debts, liabilities, taxes and other dues to be paid in full.  The assets shall be sold, and any funds remaining shall be paid in equal shares to all paid up members at that time.