The Amersham Pensioners Association

Transcription

1 Proposed amended CONSTITUTION Going Forward 2017 ISSUE 9 This is an amended version of the original Constitution to enable the Association to continue without regular organised social events and the need for annual subscriptions and was adopted at an AGM/EGM on the... Day of NAME The name of the Association shall be the The Amersham Pensioners Association and is hereinafter referred to as the Association or TAPA. The official contact address for the Association will be that of the Secretary. The two previous branches of TAPA are now considered as one since geographical location is now irrelevant. 2. COMPANY 2.1 References to The Company shall be taken as referring to GE Healthcare. This is the legal successor of and shall include The Radiochemical Centre, Amersham International plc, Nycomed Amersham plc and includes within its Group, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Limited and their subsidiary companies. 2.2 GE Healthcare incorporates many locations in the World but TAPA relates only to those locations which were formerly Amersham plc in the UK. These are: The Grove Centre at Amersham, The Maynard Centre at Cardiff, The Gloucester and Pollards Wood Laboratories Sites, the Chalfont Head Office plus any other associated sites of Amersham plc. Eligibility for membership for GE retirees is confined to ex-employees at these locations. 3. PURPOSE The purpose of the Association is to provide for members and their guests the means of social interaction and communication primarily via the internet by providing a website and structure such that members are able to arrange social gatherings if they so wish but primarily to maintain the camaraderie and heritage of our previous employment and subsequent retirement. 4. MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION RATES 4.1 Membership is open to any individual who is over the age of 50 and has retired or is semi-retired, is receiving a full or partial pension or has a deferred pension and who has worked for The Radiochemical Centre, Amersham International or a related company (on ex-amersham/ge sites in the UK) for a minimum of one year. 4.2 All members have full voting rights and are eligible to become committee members. Secretary: Page 1 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017

2 4.3 Any uncertainty as to whether an applicant qualifies for Membership shall be at the discretion of the Committee. 4.4 Membership of TAPA is free to all eligible ex-employees. While the Association has sufficient funds there will be no subscriptions required from members. 5. MANAGEMENT 5.1 There shall be an honorary President of the Association and optionally one or more Vice Presidents. They shall be nominated by the Committee and shall be appointed by a majority of the members. 5.2 The Committee shall consist of a minimum of three Officers (the Key Officers ): Chairman Secretary Treasurer 5.3 In addition, it may be desirable to elect/appoint the following additional Committee Members: Membership Co-ordinator Editorial Coordinator The Amersham e-link Webmaster 5.4 Should the Committee be unable to persuade TAPA membership to put forward nominees for at least the three Key Officer positions, then the membership must consider the future of TAPA. A period of six months after the e-agm is permitted to allow for further consultation in an attempt to recruit the minimum of three Key Officers. 5.5 In the absence of appropriate nominations, as stated in section 5.7 below, the Committee is empowered to co-opt TAPA members who are willing to fill the other posts, or to assign the additional duties of the other posts to one of the existing Committee members, with their agreement. A Webmaster requires technical expertise, so an individual with the appropriate knowledge will be encouraged to accept this appointment. 5.6 The Committee shall have power to co-opt any person to assist in any activity of the Association. Co-opted members of the Committee would only participate in Committee Meetings if there is a specific need for them to do so and at the invitation of the Committee. 5.7 The Officers of the Committee shall be elected by an e-ballot of the membership and ratified at an e-annual General Meeting. Officers must stand for re-election every second year after election. To stand for election, a member must be proposed and seconded by two other members and must agree to his or her name being put forward for election. Nominations for election must be lodged via the Secretary: Page 2 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017

3 website with the Secretary at least 2 weeks before the commencement of the e- AGM. 5.8 Cheques drawn on the TAPA Account shall be signed by two nominated Officers of the Committee. 5.9 No member shall enter into any financial commitment on the part of the Association without the prior agreement of the Committee Full minutes of Committee Meetings will record all those that take part, all resolutions and their outcome. All minutes shall be approved at the following meeting The decisions of the Committee are to be agreed by a majority and in the case of a tie the Chairman has the casting vote There shall be a quorum when at least three members take part in any Committee Meeting There shall be a quorum when at least 15 Members take part in any e-annual General Meeting The Committee may call an e-extraordinary General Meeting on six weeks notice At least 30 members may call an e-extraordinary General Meeting by submitting a request in writing or an to the Secretary stating the business to be considered Every notice of an Extraordinary General Meeting must include a written agenda posted on the website and in an to each member There shall be a quorum when at least 30 members take part in any e- Extraordinary General Meeting. 6. ACCOUNTS The Association shall keep such accounting records, prepare such Annual Accounts and arrange such independent examination or auditing as shall be proper, reasonable and sufficient to show and explain the transactions of the Association. The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping full and accurate accounting records recording all income and expenditure of the Association for each financial year (1 st January to 31 st December). A copy of the Annual Financial Statement duly examined or audited or which has been submitted to the Examiners or Auditors, will be prepared by the Treasurer for presentation at the e-annual General Meeting and for the e-ballot. Secretary: Page 3 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017

4 Accurate accounting records of all income and expenditure of all events shall be kept for each financial year. These shall be inspected and signed off by nominated examiners and sent to the Treasurer for each financial year. 7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING An e-annual General Meeting shall normally be completed within five months of the end of each financial year. It will be conducted over a period of 8 weeks. During the first 4 weeks, members will be able to participate in an on-line debate of the motions that have been submitted. All contributions to this debate shall be visible to any member wishing to participate. This will be followed by a 4 week period in which members may vote on the motions, via an e-ballot. One month s notice will be given to all members, of the commencement of the e-agm period. Notice of the motions to be decided will be made available to members prior to the start of the e- AGM period. Any member wishing to discuss any item of business or propose any resolution must give the Secretary at least two weeks advance notice before the start of the e- AGM period, to enable the item to be included in the Agenda of the meeting and to permit an e-ballot of the membership to take place. 8. DISSOLUTION A resolution to dissolve the Association may be proposed for consideration at any e-annual General Meeting or by convening an e-extraordinary Meeting. Any surplus funds after the Treasurer has settled the payment of any proper debts and liabilities shall be donated to a charity or charities which shall be nominated at the e-agm or e-egm where the resolution to dissolve the association is passed. 9. INDEMNITY It is a condition of membership that all members accept responsibility and risk for themselves and any guests, however related, in any participation of events organised by the Association or anyone acting on its behalf and that they waive any right of claim against any official or any other person acting on behalf of the Association. 10. DATA PROTECTION The committee shall comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 in respect of members details. The committee shall ensure that there are sufficient guarantees in respect of technical and organisational security measures in place to keep members' personal information protected. The Committee shall not make disclosure of members details, without their authorisation, to external organisations. Members details may be disclosed or Secretary: Page 4 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017

5 communicated within the Committee in written or electronic format. They shall not be supplied to anyone unauthorised, in any other form whatsoever, nor for any form of gain. A retiring Committee Member shall be required to state to the Committee that all personal details of members have been deleted from his/her computer and paper records permanently destroyed or sent back to the Committee. When using for communications to members, it will not be permissible to show to each member all the addresses to which the communication has been sent unless prior consent has been obtained from each addressee and in specific circumstances only. The names and contact details of all members shall be held in electronic format under the control of the Membership Coordinator. The Membership Coordinator is responsible for keeping the information up to date. Members should communicate any changes in their details to the Membership Coordinator as soon as possible to avoid mis-direction of communications from the Association. The Master Copy of the data will be held on the Membership Coordinator's computer with back-up copies on appropriate storage devices, the location of which will be known only by the officers of the Committee. There shall also be a paper copy of the current version held by the officers of the Committee and a pdf version held securely in DropBox or other suitable Cloud-based storage system.. Whenever the information is re-issued it shall be version-numbered so as to avoid confusion and any paper copies of the previous versions shall be permanently destroyed. 11. ALTERATION TO THE CONSTITUTION The Committee shall have the power to recommend changes to, or replacement of, the constitution which will be put to a ballot of the membership and ratified at an e- AGM. The Committee shall supply copies of the Constitution to all Association Members on request and also publish it on the website in a password protected area. 12. DECISIONS AND BALLOTING / VOTING PROCEDURE All decisions upon Motions shall be made from the results of a ballot of members. All members are eligible to vote. Any member may propose a motion by giving the Secretary at least two week s notice before the commencement of the e-agm. e-voting forms shall be available on the website during each e-agm. These should be completed accordingly and include the name of the member and then submitted to the secretary. The total number of votes will be declared after the e-agm Secretary: Page 5 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017

6 This amended Constitution was adopted by the Members of The Amersham Pensioners Association at the Annual General Meeting/Extraordinary General Meeting on the aforementioned date. Signed (Outgoing Chairman):.. Secretary: Page 6 of 6 Version 9.0 April 2017