Clidive Branch No.410 of the British Sub-Aqua Club
Constitution
1. SCOPE
These Bye laws shall regulate the structure, administration and activities of a branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club to be known as Clidive 410 Branch (hereinafter “the Branch”).
2. OBJECTS
The aims and objects of the Branch shall be to provide for its members facilities, opportunity, and training for diving in accordance with the standards of the British Sub-Aqua Club, together with related social activities.
3. CLUBHOUSE
The Committee shall maintain a clubhouse or appoint another meeting place for the convenience of members.
4. MEMBERSHIP
4.1 There shall be three classes of member:
a. Full Diving Member, who may be any person 12 years of age of over.
b. Social Member, who may be of any age but shall not be entitled to take part either in snorkelling activities or in any activity which involves the use of a breathing set.
c. Honorary Member, who may be any person invited by the Committee, in their absolute discretion, to become such a member.
4.2 An applicant for membership of the Branch shall apply to the Committee, and upon acceptance of their application and payment of the appropriate Branch and National Headquarters subscriptions shall be a member of the class for which they have applied and are eligible. The Committee may delegate to such members of the Branch as it may see fit the responsibility for entertaining and accepting applications for membership.
4.3 A member shall retain their membership until they have resigned or is deemed to have resigned in accordance with this paragraph or Bye-law 15. If payment of the Branch or National Headquarters subscriptions, if any, in respect of any period is 30 days or more overdue, a member shall be deemed to have resigned.
5. MANAGEMENT
5.1 The Branch shall be managed by a Committee elected at each Annual General Meeting of the Branch which shall comprise four officers, who shall serve ex officio, and two other members, one of who shall be the club’s equipment officer.
5.2 The four Branch Officers shall be the Chair, the Diving Officer, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The duties of the Officers shall be as set out in the following Bye-laws.
5.3 The committee shall hold and administer for the benefit of the membership all funds, equipment, and property owned by the Branch.
6. THE CHAIR
The Chair shall be the chief executive officer of the Branch. They shall take the chair at all meetings of the Branch and of the Committee at which they are present, and subject to the provisions of these Rules their decision on matters of procedure shall be final.
7. THE DIVING OFFICER
The Branch’s Diving Officer derives their authority in training and diving matters from the National Diving Officer of the British Sub-Aqua Club. They shall have responsibility for the training and diving activities of the Branch and for the safe conduct thereof, and they shall ensure that the said activities are carried on in accordance with such practices and procedures as may be recommended from time to time by the National Diving Officer or pursuant to their authorisation. The Diving Officer may delegate training duties to a Training Officer, who shall be responsible to them for the performance thereof. The Diving Officer’s decision in respect of their responsibilities shall be final in the Branch, subject only to such guidelines consistent with this Bye-law as may be established from time to time by the Committee.
8. THE SECRETARY
The Secretary shall maintain the Branch records and shall record the meetings of the Committee, General Meetings of the Branch, and such other meetings as the Chair may request. They shall be primarily responsible for the Branch’s communications with third parties, and shall keep the Officers, the Committee and/or the Branch, as may be appropriate, informed of matters coming to their attention which pertain to Branch activities.
9. THE TREASURER
The Treasurer shall be responsible for dealing with all monies received or paid on behalf of the Branch, shall make any investment of Branch funds approved by the Committee, shall keep records and proper books of account of all financial transactions conducted in the Branch’s name, and shall prepare for consideration by the Committee a statement of income and expenditure and a balance sheet to the 30 September of each year which they shall cause to be audited by the Branch auditors for submission to the Annual General Meeting. They shall arrange for all Branch funds and securities to be kept on deposit with a bank or banks approved by the Committee and shall maintain a current account or accounts on which cheques or other orders may be signed by any two Officers in respect of any sum of £2,000 or over or by the Treasurer alone in respect of smaller sums. With the approval of the Committee, the Treasurer may open one or more other current accounts.
10. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
10.1 The Annual General Meeting of the Branch shall be held before 15 December of each year. Notice of the meeting and the agenda thereof shall be sent by post or otherwise transmitted to all paid-up members 2 weeks before the meeting.
10.2 The notice shall identify those members of the Committee who are standing again and shall request nominations for Officers and the Committee in large. Committee members standing again shall be deemed to have been nominated by the Committee.
10.3 To be valid, nominations not deemed to have been made by the Committee must be
(a) either delivered to the Secretary in writing at least fourteen (14) days before the meeting, or proposed from the floor at the meeting, (b) seconded, and (c) endorsed by the Nominee to the effect that they are willing to accept the position if they are elected.
10.4 The Officers and other members of the Committee shall be elected at the meeting by ballot. If a nominee stands unopposed, they shall be deemed to have been so elected.
10.5 The notice of the meeting shall also include the text of any motion proposed by the Committee. Any member may propose amendments to such motion and may make any further motion for consideration at the meeting.
10.6 Upon motion made by the Committee, the meeting may vote to appoint a President for the ensuring year. If a President is appointed, they shall be ex officio a non-voting member of the Committee.
10.7 At least ten per cent (10%) of the Branch’s membership entitled to vote at the meeting shall be required for a quorum, but a quorum once formed shall not be lost despite the departure from the meeting of any member or members.
10.8 The right to vote at the meeting shall be restricted to subscription paying members whose current subscriptions are fully paid.
11. SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
11.1 Any General Meeting of the Branch other than the Annual General Meeting shall be known as a Special General Meeting.
11.2 The Committee may call a Special General Meeting at any time upon giving not less than fourteen (14) days written notice thereof to all paid-up members. The notice shall state the reasons for the meeting and shall include the text of any motion proposed for consideration thereat. Amendments to such motion may be proposed at the meeting.
11.3 The Committee shall call a Special General Meeting upon receipt of a request to do so signed by not less than one third of paid-up members, provided that the request states the reason therefor and contains the text of at least one motion proposed for considerations thereat. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply with regard to convocation and conduct of the meeting.
11.4 The business of a Special General Meeting shall be that for which it was called and no other.
11.5 The provisions of Bye-laws 10.5 shall apply to Special General Meetings.
12. VOTING
12.1 Subject to the provisions of Bye-law 10.4 and 17.2 and of the next succeeding paragraph, voting on any given motion at a General Meeting shall be by show of hands or by ballot, as the Chair may decide, and motions shall be carried by the affirmative votes of a simple majority of voting members present.
12.3 Except as provided in Bye-laws 17 and 18, the Committee may put any motion to the voting membership at any time by postal ballot. Voting papers for such ballot shall be sent to all paid-up members not less than fourteen (14) days before the date on which the votes are to be counted. A motion put to postal ballot shall only be carried by a majority of affirmative votes cast by not less than 10% of the members of the Branch entitled to vote at General Meetings.
13. COMMITTEE
13.1 The committee shall take office upon election and shall hold office until their successors have been elected.
13.2 At its first meeting, the Committee shall appoint one of their members Vice-Chairman.
13.3 The Committee shall have the power to fill any vacancy among the Officers of the Branch or among the rest of the Committee’s membership which occurs during their term of office, and any person newly appointed to the Committee to fill such vacancy shall become a full voting member thereof. The Committee shall also have the power to co-opt up to eight non-voting members.
13.4 The Committee shall determine any question as to the interpretation of these Bye-laws and of any regulations made here under and may rule in connection with any situation not otherwise proved for herein. In the latter event, such ruling shall only remain in effect until the next General Meeting of the Branch its continued validity shall depend upon ratification at that meeting.
13.5 The Committee shall normally meet every one-to-two months.
13.6 A simple majority of voting Committee members then serving shall form a quorum for a meeting; provided, however, that no quorum shall be formed without the presence of either the Chair, the Vice-Chair, or the Secretary. A quorum once formed shall not be lost even though as a result of the departure of a member during meeting the number of voting members falls below the number required to open the meeting.
13.7 No resolution may be adopted by the Committee unless (a) it has the affirmative votes of a simple majority of those members present and entitled to vote, and (b) the number of such votes is a least equal to a simple majority of the number of members required to open the meeting at which the resolution is proposed.
13.8 No member shall be entitled to vote on a matter in which their interest differs from that of the Branch as a whole, and they shall withdraw from any meeting during the period of discussion of such interest.
13.9 Any Officer and the Vice-Chairman shall each have the power to require the Secretary to call a meeting of the Committee at any time.
14. BRANCH ACTIVITIES
14.1 At the discretion of the Diving Officer, Branch diving and open-water training activities shall be open to members of other Branches and to guests.
14.2 Subject to such regulations as may be established from time to time by the Committee, any Branch member and, with the prior approval of the official in charge of the session, any visitor from another Branch or any guest may use the training pool for training, testing equipment, swimming with basic equipment, and free swimming. No-one shall use any equipment other than basic equipment without the prior approval of the official in charge of the session.
14.3 If a member damages or loses Branch equipment the Committee may charge that member the cost of repairing or replacing the article. The Committee may similarly charge a member who damages or loses private property in connection with Branch activities.
14.4 Any child or vulnerable adult who participates in branch activities shall be accompanied by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult at all times.
14.5 When carrying out branch activities, members shall follow BSAC’s Welfare of the Vulnerable policy.
15. DISCIPLINE
15.1 Temporary suspension from participation:
(a) In order to ensure the safety and good name of the Branch and its members, the person in charge of a Branch activity may suspend, at their discretion and for the duration of the activity, any member who misconducts themselves. Any such suspension shall be reported as soon as possible to the Chair or the Secretary and shall be discussed at the next meeting of the committee.
(b) The committee shall first discuss the incident without the presence of the member in question and then they shall invite them to join the discussion and express their view of the matter.
15.2 Suspension and loss of membership:
(a) The committee shall have the power by a two-thirds majority of all the serving voting members to suspend the membership of any member of the Branch. Suspension of the membership of any Officer or other Committee member shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the next succeeding sub-clause. A decision to suspend so taken shall be immediately communicated to the member concerned, and their membership shall therefore be suspended. A suspended member shall be entitled to demand a hearing at the next regular meeting of the committee during which the reason for their suspension shall be made fully known and they shall be given the opportunity to answer fully the charges against them. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the member shall leave the meeting and the Committee shall vote again on the suspension. If the motion is not carried by the requisite two thirds majority, the suspension shall thereupon be lifted and the member shall be informed accordingly. If the motion is carried again by the said majority, the member shall be so informed, and they shall thereupon be deemed to have resigned their membership of the Branch. The member affected shall have the right to appeal against the decision of the committee to the next General Meeting of the Branch. In that regard, they shall, for the purposes of rules 10.5 and 11.3, have the rights of a paid up member.
(b) Suspension of the membership of an officer or other Committee member shall only be voted upon at a meeting the agenda of which (a) has been posted or distributed to all Committee members at least one week prior to the meeting and (b) explicitly refers to the motion of the suspension. If the person charged attends the meeting, they shall be entitled to hear and respond to the charges against them. When the Chair of the meeting is satisfied that the matter has been adequately and fairly discussed, the person charged shall leave the meeting, and a vote shall be taken. If the proposal to suspend is carried by the requisite two-thirds majority, the person charged shall be deemed to have resigned their membership in the Branch, and they shall have the right of appeal provided for in the preceding paragraph. If the person charged does not attend the meeting, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply.
16. SUBSCRIPTIONS
16.1 People joining or rejoining the branch shall pay the appropriate National Headquarters subscription plus the branch subscription.
16.2 Branch membership subscriptions shall be in such amount , shall be payable on such dates, and shall be subject to such terms and conditions as may be determined from time to time by the committee.
17. DISSOLUTION
17.1 The Branch may not be dissolved except pursuant to a vote taken at a General Meeting; provided, however that dissolution may be put to a vote at an Annual General Meeting only if it appears on the agenda provided for in Bye-law 10.1.
17.2 A proposal to dissolve the Branch shall be subject to ballot, and in order to be carried it must receive the affirmative votes of two-thirds of the voting members of the Branch who are present at the meeting.
17.3 If dissolution of the Branch is voted in accordance with the preceding provisions of the Bye-law, the Committee shall proceed without delay to realise the property of the Branch and to discharge the Branch’s outstanding liabilities. Any net assets thereafter remaining shall be distributed to such recipient or recipients and in such fashion as the Meeting shall have decided.
18. AMENDMENT
18.1 These Bye-laws may only be amended in general Meetings in accordance with the affirmative votes of a majority of three quarters of those voting members of the Branch who are present at the meeting.
18.2 Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in these Bye-laws, no amendment may be made to this Bye-law or to Bye-laws 2, 7, 17 or 19 unless prior to the meeting at which such amendment is proposed an Officer or the Chief Executive of the BSAC shall have notified the Branch in writing of the BSAC’s approval of the subject and text thereof.
19. BSAC RULES
These Bye-laws are made in compliance with Rule 4 of the Rules of the BSAC, shall be subject to the provisions and requirements of that Rule, and shall only be valid to the extent that they are not in conflict with the said provisions and requirements or with those of the Articles of Association of the BSAC.
CLIDIVE DIVING POLICY
This policy is maintained by the Diving Officer using their authority and in support of their responsibilities established under Article 7 of the Clidive Constitution.
