Society of Sherwood Youths Rules (2020)


1. The Society shall be called the Society of Sherwood Youths.

2. The object of the Society shall be the promotion of change ringing.

3. The Society shall consist of an unlimited number of life members and honorary members.

4. There shall be a committee consisting of the Master, the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Steward ("The Officers"). The Officers shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting in each year, provided that if any office fall vacant otherwise than by retirement at the annual general meeting, the Society may in general meeting fill the vacancy thus arising, by election.

5. The retiring officers in any year and any former officers shall be eligible for re-election.

6. The subscription payable by any person becoming a life member shall be such sum as the Society shall have decided at the last annual general meeting to be the "appropriate amount".

7. There shall be payable by each life member attending at any practice or meeting of the Society, on the occasion of such attendance, such sum by way of steeplage as the Society shall have decided at the last annual general meeting to be the "appropriate amount".

8. There shall be payable by each life member ringing in any peal accredited to the Society on the occasion of the ringing of the peal such sum by way of a peal fee as the Society shall have decided at the last general meeting to be the "appropriate amount".

9. A person may be elected to life membership of the Society by the Society in general meeting by a simple majority of those members present if his election is proposed by one member and seconded by another, to both of whom he must be personally known, or, on the occasion of a peal attempt, in the manner prescribed by Schedule I to these rules.

10. The Society may at any annual general meeting elect as an honorary member any person who has rendered exceptional service to the Society.

11. A member may only resign from the Society and an officer may only resign his office by giving notice in writing to the Secretary or by announcing his resignation to the Society in general meeting.

12. A member may be expelled from the Society if not less than two-thirds of those members present and voting at a general meeting vote for his expulsion; provided that before any member is expelled the Secretary shall give him not less than seven days notice in writing to attend the meeting at which his expulsion is to be considered and shall at the same time inform him in writing of the complaints made against him; and provided also that a member whose expulsion is being considered shall be given an opportunity to address the meeting in his defence.

13. An annual general meeting of the Society shall be held in each year to transact the following business:

i) To receive, and if approved, to adopt a statement of the Society's accounts to the end of the current year;

ii) To elect the Master, Secretary, Treasurer and Steward;

iii) To appoint an auditor or auditors;

iv) To fix the "appropriate amount" payable in respect of life membership steeplage and peal fees;

v) To deal with any other matters which any member may wish to bring before the Society.


Notice convening the annual general meeting shall be given by publication in the 'Ringing World' not more than one month before the date of the meeting; but if the giving of such notice in the 'Ringing World' as aforesaid shall in the opinion of the committee prove impracticable notice shall be given in such manner as the committee shall think fit.

14. A general meeting of the Society may be convened:
a) by the committee on the occasion of any practice held by the Society at the Church of St. Mary in the City of Nottingham; no notice convening such a meeting shall be necessary.

or

b) at any time by the committee; Notice convening such a meeting shall be given by publication in the 'Ringing World' not more than one month before the date fixed for the meeting; but if the giving of such notice in the 'Ringing World' as aforesaid shall in the opinion of the committee prove impracticable notice shall be given in such manner as the committee shall think fit.


15. The Committee:
i) Shall cause a record to be made of the activities of the Society;
ii) May authorise expenditure of the Society's money
iii) Shall have control of the Society's property
iv) May decide upon the place and time of any practice or ringing meeting of the Society

v) Shall determine (subject to any provision of these rules) the functions to be performed by each officer, save that, where he is available to do so, the Master shall preside at all ringing meetings and practices of the Society

vi) May take any action in relation to the activities of the Society which does not conflict with anything in these rules.

Provided that the committee shall cause any action that it may have taken under the powers conferred on it by this paragraph to be made known to the next general meeting of the Society and the Society may in that or any subsequent general meeting approve, amend or redress such action.

16. The Conductor of a peal rung by members of the Society and intended to be accredited to the Society shall within four weeks after the peal:

i) Submit the details thereof for publication in the 'Ringing World'
ii) Inform the Secretary of the details thereof
iii) Send to the Secretary the amount of the peal fees payable by the ringers thereof under Rule 8 of these rules
iv) Send to the Secretary the amount of any life subscriptions payable in accordance with Rule 6 of these rules by any person elected on the occasion of the peal under the provisions of Rule 9 and Schedule 1 of these rules

17. These rules may be altered either

(a) at an annual general meeting of the Society, or
(b) at any general meeting of the Society where at least one month’s notice has been given to all members,

in each case subject to the quorum and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of those members present.

18. At any general meeting of the Society or meeting of the committee the Master shall preside if he is available to do so, but if he is not so available any officer may be elected to preside by a majority of members present; at any such meeting the person presiding shall have a casting or additional vote in the event of an equality of votes.

19. At meetings of the committee the quorum shall be two, and at general meetings of the Society the quorum shall be nine which must include at least two officers.

20. The provisions of Schedule II to these rules shall apply for the purpose of bringing into effect these rules.

21. The Society shall adhere to a child protection policy as detailed in Schedule III

(These rules are as amended, adopted and minuted at the AGM held at Beeston on 01 Feb 2020)

SCHEDULE I


1. Any person may be elected a life member of the Society immediately after ringing a peal with not less than the 'appropriate number' of members of the Society; such a person may be so elected only by the unanimous vote of those persons ringing in the peal who (disregarding the effect of this schedule) were already members of the Society before the ringing of the peal commenced; such a person may only be elected as foresaid if the said peal is to be accredited to the Society.

2. The "appropriate number" in paragraph 1 of this schedule is the number appearing in the right hand column below opposite the number in the left hand column which represents the number of bells rung in the peal:


TOWER BELLS

 5     4
 6     5
 8     6
10     8
12     9


HANDBELLS


 6     2
 8     3
10     3
12     4


3. Any person elected under the provisions of paragraph 1 of this schedule shall be deemed for the purposes of the peal immediately after which he was elected to have been a life member of the Society before the ringing of the peal began.



SCHEDULE II


At the time when these rules come into effect those persons who, immediately before that time were life members, honorary members or officers of the Society shall be life members, honorary members or officers of the Society, as the case may be.


SCHEDULE III


Children will only be permitted to attend meetings in the presence of their parent or legal guardian, or in the presence of an adult nominated in writing by their parent or legal guardian.

Appropriate amounts

At the Annual General Meeting of 4th February 2017 the following were agreed:

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