FOUNDED 1973
CONSTITUTION, RULES and CODE of ETHICS
1 CONSTITUTION
1.1
Name The Club shall be called the East Anglian Staffordshire Bull
Terrier Club.
1.2
Objects The object of the Club shall be to promote the interests
of and interest in Staffordshire Bull Terriers in East Anglia and the
surrounding areas.
1.3
Officers and Organisation
a The
Members shall elect a President who shall preside for a period of 3 years and
may attend committee meetings by right of office
b Members
may offer to those persons who have given outstanding service to the Club the
position of Honorary Life Vice-President.
c The Officers
of the Club shall be the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer who
shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee shall be composed of 10 Members elected at the Annual
General Meeting in the following way: The three longest serving Members shall
offer themselves for re-election. If
there is an equality of service on the Committee, the Committee shall ballot
itself to offer up to three vacancies for re-election at the Annual General
Meeting at a Committee Meeting prior to the Annual General Meeting. Officers or
Committee Members who do not attend five consecutive meetings or events, or
seven meetings or events within one year, and are unable to offer an acceptable
reason, shall be deemed to have resigned and may be replaced by a co-opted
Member as laid down in the following paragraphs. The Committee shall have the
power to co-opt any Member to fill a vacancy or to fulfill any special
needs. Such co-opted Members shall
serve until the next Annual General Meeting only. A Member co-opted to fulfill
a special need on the Committee shall not have any voting rights. A Member co-opted
to fulfill a mid-term Officer or Committee vacancy shall have full voting
rights.
d A nominee must have been a fully paid-up
Member of the Club for at least one year in order to be elected to the
Committee. A nominee must have been a Committee Member for not less than two
years in order to be elected an Officer of the Club. The Committee may waive
these time limits where it co-opts a person to fulfill a special need.
e Nominees, proposers and seconders should
normally be present at the Annual General Meeting. The names of the Officers and Committee Members seeking
re-election must be submitted to the membership in writing, together with an
indication of their willingness to stand for re-election. Where a serving
Officer or Committee Member is prevented from attending the Annual General
Meeting for reasons which are acceptable to the Annual General Meeting s/he may
be re-elected in his/her absence.
1.4 Registration with the Kennel Club
The
Club shall register with the Kennel Club as a Breed Society and shall not join
any federation of societies or clubs. The Officers acknowledge that during the
month of January each year the Maintenance of Title fee shall be forwarded to
the Kennel Club by the Secretary for the continuance of registration and that
by 31 July each year other returns, as stipulated in Kennel Club Regulations
for the Registration and Maintenance of Title of Societies and Municipal
Authorities, shall be forwarded to the Kennel Club. The Officers also
acknowledge their duty to inform the Kennel Club of any change of Secretary of
the Club which may occur during the course of the year.
2
MEMBERSHIP
2.1 Election of Members The first Members of the Club shall be the Founder Members (as defined
in the Kennel Club document H paragraph 1 (b)) and proposed for membership by
one Member and seconded by another provided that there is a two thirds majority
in favour. Each Member shall be
entitled to one vote upon acceptance of his/her application by the
Committee. ‘Junior Membership’ shall be open to all between the ages of
ten and sixteen providing the young person is nominated by a parent or
guardian. There shall be no fee. Where parents or guardians are not Members
of the Club, individual membership of each child shall be at the discretion of
the Committee. A Junior Member may become a full Member on reaching the age of
16. However, to enjoy voting rights as
a full Member, Junior Members must submit a completed application form
accompanied by the current full membership fee.
2.2 Subscription The annual subscription
shall be fixed by the Committee and shall be payable to the Honorary Treasurer
by 1 January each year. No Member whose
subscription is unpaid shall be entitled to any of the privileges of membership
and if any Member shall fail to pay the annual subscription by 1 March the
Committee shall have the power to erase his/her name from the List of Members.
The Club shall make a List of Members and their addresses available for
inspection if so requested by the Members of the Club or by the Kennel Club.
2.3 Expulsion of Members Any
Member who shall be suspended under Kennel Club Rule A42j(4) and/or any Member
whose dog(s) is/are disqualified under Kennel Club Rule A42j(8) shall ipso
facto cease to be a Member of the Society for the duration of the suspension
and/or disqualification. If the conduct of any Member shall, in the
opinion of the Committee of the Club, be injurious or likely to be injurious to
the character or interests of the Club, the Committee of the Club may, at a
Meeting the notice convening which includes as an object the consideration of
the conduct of the Member, determine that a Special General Meeting of the Club
shall be called for the purpose of passing a resolution to expel him/her.
Notice of the Special General Meeting shall be sent by recorded delivery to the
accused Member giving particulars of the complaint and advising the place, date
and hour of the Meeting that s/he may attend and offer an explanation. If at that Meeting a resolution to expel is passed
by a two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting, his/her name shall
forthwith be erased from the List of Members and s/he shall thereupon cease for
all purposes to be a Member of the Club except that s/he may, within two
calendar months from the date of the Meeting, appeal to the Kennel Club upon
and subject to such conditions as the Kennel Club may impose.
3 MANAGEMENT
3.1 Meetings The affairs of the Club
shall be managed by the officers and the Committee which shall meet as often as
they shall deem necessary provided that this is not less than twice in each
year. A quorum shall consist of five
Members including one Officer. The
Chairman shall have the casting vote.
3.2 Annual General Meeting The
financial year of the Club shall end on 31 December and within three months
thereafter the Honorary Secretary shall convene the Annual General Meeting of
which notice shall be sent to Members twenty-eight days prior to the meeting
and the Agenda shall be:
a to receive the Secretary’s report;
b to receive the Treasurer’s report and
approve the accounts;
c to elect Officers, Committee Members and
Auditors;
d to consider any proposal or resolution which
the Honorary Secretary has been given for inclusion on the agenda by 24 January
in writing;
e to consider any emergency resolution
accepted at the discretion of the Chairman.
3.3
Special General Meeting A Special General Meeting shall be
convened by the Honorary Secretary within thirty days of the receipt of a
written application which has been signed by not less that twelve Members and
which sets out in full the resolution to be considered by the meeting. Members shall be given fourteen days notice
for a Special General Meeting. A
minimum of 12 of the signatories shall be in attendance at the meeting.
3.4 Rules The rules of the Club shall not be
altered except by a resolution which shall have been approved at the Annual
General Meeting by not less that two-thirds of the Members present and voting
and by the Kennel Club.
3.5 Disputes The Kennel Club shall
arbitrate in the event of any dispute referred to it by the Committee.
3.6 Accounts The Honorary Treasurer with
the approval of the Committee shall make appropriate arrangements for banking
and for the maintenance of books and accounts. A Bank Account shall be opened in the name of the Club into
which the revenue of the Club shall be paid.
Withdrawals from the Club’s account shall be signed by the Treasurer and
one of three nominated Members of the Committee. The audited accounts of the
Club shall be submitted to and approved by the Annual General Meeting each
year. Two Trustees shall be appointed from the membership at the Annual General
Meeting to audit the Club’s accounts annually.
Certification of the accounts must be carried out by one qualified
accountant or by two unqualified individuals with accountancy experience.
3.7 Club Property Club property shall be vested in the Committee. In the event of the Club being wound up the
Committee shall dispose of such property in accordance with a scheme which
shall have been approved by a general meeting.
Cups and other donations are accepted on the understanding that they are
outright gifts and become the property of the Club. Only Members of the
Club may compete for cups and trophies; where a dog is owned in partnership,
all partners must be Members of the Club.
3.8 Judging List
The Club shall produce a List of Judges each year which shall be
submitted to the Kennel Club as part of the Club’s Annual Returns. A person need not be a Member of the Club in
order to be included on the List.
THE EAST ANGLIAN STAFFORDSHIRE
BULL TERRIER CLUB
GENERAL CODE OF ETHICS
All
members of the The East Anglian Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club undertake to
abide by its general Code of Ethics.
Club members: