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| The Constitution of Hereford Bridge Club |
1. NAME
The Club shall be called Hereford Bridge Club.
2. OBJECTIVES
2.1 The Club shall promote the playing of Duplicate Contract Bridge and provide facilities for its
members to enjoy a friendly and supportive environment.
2.2 Club funds shall be utilised in the best interests of all its members.
3. HEADQUARTERS
The headquarters of the Club shall be situated at Saxon Hall, Hoarwithy Road, Hereford HR2
6HE or such premises decided, in an emergency by the Committee, or at a General Meeting of
the Club
4. AFFILIATIONS
The Club will be affiliated to the Herefordshire Bridge Association and to the English Bridge
Union.
5. MEMBERSHIP
5.1 Any bridge player wishing to become a member of the Club shall apply for membership by
completing and forwarding to the Secretary such form as may be prescribed by the
Committee.
5.2 All membership application forms received by the Secretary shall be displayed in a prominent
place at the headquarters of the Club for a period covering three club meetings.
5.3 Any member wishing to object to an application for membership should notify the Secretary
in writing.
5.4 After the expiry of the period mentioned above, the Officers of the Club shall as soon as
convenient, consider the application for membership, taking into account any objections
notified to the Secretary, and if necessary call a full Committee meeting. The applicant shall
be promptly notified of the acceptance or otherwise of the application.
5.5 In declining an application the Committee may give a reason but shall not be obliged to do
so.
5.6 In considering applications for membership the Committee shall have regard to the playing
facilities available, and may from time to time decide that the Club shall be closed to new
applications for membership for such period as it may decide.
6. OFFICERS
6.1 The Officers of the Club shall be the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.
6.2 No member of the Club shall simultaneously hold the office of more than one Officer of the
Club.
6.3 Each of the Officers of the Club shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Club,
and shall retire annually at the ensuing Annual General Meeting, but shall be eligible for reelection
6.4 In the event of a vacancy arising during the year in the office of any Officer of the Club, the
Committee shall choose one of their number or co-opt from the membership, to fill such
vacancy until the ensuing Annual General Meeting.
7. COMMITTEE
7.1 The Committee of the Club shall consist of the Officers of the Club, together with a minimum
of three to a maximum of six other members of the Club, who shall be elected at the Annual
General Meeting of the Club, and shall retire annually at the ensuing Annual General
Meeting, but shall be eligible for re-election.
7.2 Normally the Committee will appoint from itself or the membership: Club Captain, Chief
Tournament Director, Official Scorer and ‘Find a Partner’ contacts.
7.3 The Committee may from time to time co-opt further members of the Club to serve on the
Committee until the ensuing Annual General Meeting, whether to fill a vacancy arising, or as
additional members, except that the total number of members of the Committee (including
Officers) shall at no time exceed ten.
7.4 A quorum at meetings of the Committee shall be four members of the Committee, including
at least one of the Officers.
7.5 The Committee may from time to time appoint Sub-committees to undertake on its behalf
such aspects of the administration of the Club as it shall think fit, and members of such Subcommittees
may include members of the Club who are not members of the Committee.
7.6 Proceedings of the Committee and of any Sub-committees shall be regulated in such manner
as the Committee may from time to time decide.
7.7 The Committee shall be required to report to each Annual/Special General Meeting
concerning the affairs of the Club since the previous General Meeting.
8. MANAGEMENT
8.1 The affairs of the Club shall be managed by the Committee and the Committee shall have
power to determine any issue arising in connection with the affairs of the Club, which is not
specifically provided for in this Constitution.
8.2 The Committee may from time to time formulate and publish such rules as it thinks expedient
for the efficient and harmonious running of the Club (but in the case of any conflict between
such rules and this Constitution, the Constitution shall prevail).
8.3 Any issue of policy determined by the Committee, or any rules published by the Committee,
may be varied by a resolution of members at a General Meeting of the Club provided that
such resolution is not in conflict with this Constitution and is not retrospective in application.
8.4 In the event of such variation being made, the policy or rules (as the case may be) shall not be further varied by the Committee in a manner inconsistent with the resolution.
9. GENERAL MEETINGS
9.1 An Annual General Meeting of the Club shall normally be held annually in May, but not later
than four months from the end of the financial year.
9.2 A Special General Meeting of the Club shall be convened by the Committee if a request for
such a meeting, signed by at least ten members of the Club, is delivered to the Secretary
stating the reason for the meeting. Such meeting shall take place within one month of the
receipt of such request.
9.3 A Special General Meeting of the Club may be convened by the Committee on its own
initiative at any time.
9.4 All General Meetings of the Club shall be held at the headquarters of the Club unless
circumstances arise which render this impracticable.
9.5 The Chairman, if present, shall chair all General Meetings of the Club, and in his/her absence
another member of the Committee shall chair the meeting.
9.6 Notice of all General Meetings of the Club shall be given to all members of the Club no later
than two weeks prior to the date fixed for the meeting.
9.7 Any member may propose a motion to be discussed at a General Meeting provided that
written notice of the proposed motion is delivered to the Secretary no later than one week
prior to the date fixed for the meeting.
9.8 The Chairman of the meeting may permit discussion of other business at a General Meeting if
he/she thinks fit.
9.9 A quorum at General Meetings of the Club shall be twenty members present in person.
9.10 If fifteen minutes after the time fixed for a General Meeting of the Club no quorum shall be
present, the meeting shall be adjourned to a new date (of which the like notice shall be given
to members as was required to be given for the meeting which has been adjourned), and in
the case of a General Meeting which has been adjourned due to the lack of a quorum (but not
of a meeting adjourned for any other reason) such number of members as are actually present
at the adjourned meeting shall constitute a quorum.
9.11 Voting at General Meetings of the Club shall be by a show of hands or by ballot, at the
discretion of the Chairman of the meeting. In the event of parity of voting, the Chairman of
the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
10. NOTICES
10.1 Notices of any Special General Meeting of the Club and of an Annual General Meeting shall
be given to members by hand, or by post to the last address of each member notified to the
Secretary.
10.2 Notices of any other matters to be brought to the attention of members shall be made by
displaying a notice in a prominent position at the headquarters of the Club
11. NOMINATIONS.
11.1 Nominations for the post of Officer or Committee member will be in writing, signed by a
Proposer and a Seconder, both of whom shall be members of the Club, and also by the person
nominated.
11.2 Nominations must reach the Secretary no later than one week prior to the General Meeting.
12. SUBSCRIPTIONS and FEES
12.1 Each member of the Club shall pay an annual subscription, due on 1st October, the basic
amount of which for the time being shall be decided at the Annual General Meeting of the
Club. Members who have not paid their subscription for the current year by 30th November
may be considered to have ceased to be members of the Club.
12.2 Each member of the Club, and each guest and visitor, shall pay table money on each occasion when he/she plays at the Club, the basic amount of which for the time being shall be decided at the Annual General Meeting of the Club.
12.3 The Committee may determine variations of subscription and table money for members,
guests and visitors in different circumstances, and may waive subscriptions or table money in
the event of hardship or for any other good cause.
12.4 The Committee may determine from time to time the amount of fees to be charged for use of the equipment of the Club, or for any other purpose for which it is of the opinion that fees
ought to be charged.
13. ACCOUNTS
13.1 The Treasurer shall prepare accounts in respect of the financial affairs of the Club for each
year ending on 30th April, and these shall be presented to the next Annual General Meeting
of the Club for approval.
13.2 The accounts shall be subject to independent audit.
14. GUESTS and VISITORS
14.1 Any member may invite a guest to play at open meetings of the Club at any time, but in the
event of the playing facilities being inadequate to accommodate all those who wish to play,
priority shall be given to members.
14.2 Visitors may be permitted to play at open meetings of the Club at any time, but in the event
of the playing facilities being inadequate to accommodate all those who wish to play, priority
shall be given to members and the guests of members.
14.3 The Committee may from time to time place a limit on the number of occasions on which a
non-member (whether a guest or visitor) may play at the Club without being required to apply
for membership.
14.4 If such a limit is for the time being in force, a non-member who has applied for membership
shall (subject to available playing facilities) be permitted to play at the Club until his/her
application for membership has been considered, even if the limit imposed by the Committee
is thereby exceeded.
15. CONDUCT
15.1 In the event of a written complaint being made to the Committee about the conduct of a
member of the Club, the Committee shall promptly investigate the complaint.
15.2 On investigating such a complaint the Committee shall give the member about whose conduct the complaint has been made, an opportunity to be heard.
15.3 If on investigating such a complaint, the Committee is of the opinion that the member has
behaved in such a manner as to cause injury to the interests of the Club, then the Committee
may verbally or in writing reprimand the member, suspend the member from the privileges of
membership for such a period as it may think fit or expel the member from the Club.
15.4 The Committee shall forthwith notify the member of any decision made on the investigation of a complaint about his/her conduct and may, if it thinks fit, publicise the decision by displaying
a notice at the headquarters of the Club.
15.5 An appeal shall lie to a General Meeting of the Club against any decision to reprimand,
suspend or expel a member of the Club following the investigation of a complaint about his/her
conduct.
15.6 Notice of such an appeal must be in writing and delivered to the Secretary within two weeks of the notification to the member of the decision of the Committee.
15.7 In the event of an appeal being made against it, the decision of the Committee shall not be put into effect until the appeal has been determined.
15.8 On the appeal being heard by a General Meeting of the Club, the General Meeting shall have power to overrule the conclusion of the Committee, or to uphold it, in which event the sanction imposed by the Committee may be confirmed or varied (to any sanction which the Committee was empowered to impose, or to none).
15.9 Nothing in this Constitution shall preclude the Committee from referring a matter of conduct to the Conduct Committee of the Herefordshire Bridge Association, or to the Laws & Ethics
Committee of the English Bridge Union, if it considers it appropriate to do so.
16. ALTERATIONS to the CONSTITUTION
16.1 No alterations shall be made to this Constitution except at a General Meeting of the Club.
16.2 In order for a resolution to alter this Constitution to have effect, at least two-thirds of the votes cast on the resolution must be in favour.
17. DATA PROTECTION
17.1 The data held on all members is name, address and telephone number. EBU number and rank attained, e.g. Advanced Master, may be included and any individual member may inspect
his/her details.
17.2 Full data is held by the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer for the communication of Club
business and the collection of Club, County and EBU subscriptions and, where appropriate,
this data is passed on to the County Treasurer (and thence to the EBU).
17.3 Name and telephone number are held by the Official Scorer and ‘Find a Partner’ contact/s
when permission has been previously obtained. E-mail addresses may similarly be included.
17.4 Hereford Bridge Club will not pass this data to any person or organisation not directly
concerned with the Objectives of the Club (para 2).
18. WINDING UP
18.1 In order for a resolution that the Club shall be wound up to have effect, at least two-thirds of the votes cast on the resolution must be in favour and in addition, the number of votes cast in
favour of the resolution must exceed one-half of the number of members of the Club entitled to
attend and vote at the General Meeting at which the resolution is put.
18.2 If a resolution that the Club shall be wound up is effectively passed, the Committee shall be
responsible for winding up the affairs of the Club and, unless the winding up has been initiated
with a view to amalgamating the Club with some other club (in which case any surplus assets
and funds may be transferred to such other club), any surplus assets and funds shall be
transferred to such of the organisations mentioned in clause 18.3 as may be specified in the
resolution initiating the winding up and, if no such organisation is so specified, to such of those
organisations as the Committee may think fit.
18.3 The organisations referred to in clause 18.2 are: The English Bridge Union, The Herefordshire Bridge Association and any registered or recognised charitable body.
Amended 04/12/2007
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