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SHEPWAY FRIENDS OF THE EARTH - CONSTITUTION

NAME AND OBJECTS

1. The name of the Group shall be Shepway Friends of the Earth.

2. The Group’s area is defined as being the administrative district of Shepway

.3. The Group shall operate within the terms of the Licence of Agreement, agreed by the Group and Friends of the Earth Ltd. All members shall be given a copy of the Licence.

4. The aims of the Group are:-
a. To promote awareness of environmental issues nationally and locally.
b. To apply pressure as necessary to bring about change.

MEMBERSHIP AMENDMENT

ORIGINAL OBJECTS 5 to 8 HAVE BEEN SCRAPPED. ( just for your information we have left them tabulated below for your perusal)

AND REPLACED BY :

MEMBERSHIP

5) Membership of the Group is open to any person supporting the aims of the Group

Too much valuable and negative time was being spent by the membership secretary keeping records, sending out reminders etc. We feel that it not appropriate to demand money for membership.

OUR SLOGAN IS: We don't want your money - we want your support

DELETED OBJECTS:

5. Membership of the Group is open to any person supporting the aims of the Group, who pays a subscription fee as shall be determined by the Annual General Meeting of the Group.

6. Subscriptions shall be paid on admission to Membership and subsequently on the 1st day of January in each year.

7. Any Member whose subscription is more than six months in arrears may be deemed no longer to be a Member.

8. Only fully paid up Local Group Members can participate in the election of Officers to the Local Group and vote at Meetings of the Group

.MEETINGS AND OFFICERS

6. The Group shall have at least six Meetings a year, to be known as General Meetings. Members shall be notified of all General Meetings at least one month in advance.

7. The Group shall elect a Steering Group, to collectively perform the functions of a Co-ordinator. It shall have a minimum of three Officers. The roles of the Officers shall be decided by the Group but shall include a Secretary and a Treasurer. The minimum age at which a person can act as an Officer of the Group is sixteen.

8. All official communications and other publicity materials issued by the Group shall be signed by a Signatory authorised by the Steering Group. The nominated Officer must have attained the age of 18 years.

9. Group policy shall be formulated by Members of the Steering Group at Meetings of the Steering Group - which any General Members may attend but not vote at.

10. The Steering Group meetings shall have a quorum of three. If that quorum is not met, there can be no Meeting.

11. Decisions of the Steering Group shall be reported to all Members. They may be discussed and, if necessary, amended at General Meetings - except that no amendment shall be permitted in respect of any expenditure by then incurred or financial liability by then accepted.

12. A record of all decisions taken at Meetings shall be kept by an appointed Officer.

13. The addresses and telephone numbers of the appointed Officers shall be given to Friends of the Earth Ltd., along with any public contact address.

14. The Secretary shall act as the first point of contact with Friends of the Earth Ltd. and the general public.

15. The Treasurer shall be responsible for presenting the accounts of the Group to the AGM. The Treasurer shall also be responsible for producing a draft set of accounts for any meeting, if requested to do so by a majority decision if a General Meeting, at one month’s notice.

16. The Group shall have one Building Society account, in the name specified above. The Secretary, Treasurer and one other person nominated by the Group, shall be signatories to the account. Two signatures shall be required for any monies drawn on the account.

17. The Group shall hold an AGM every year and re-elect Office Holders every year.

RESIGNATIONS AND TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

18. If any Officer wishes to resign, the Officer shall inform the Steering Group in writing. If the Secretary wishes to resign, he/she shall inform all other Officers in writing and announce this at the next General Meeting and in any mailing made before such a Meeting. Election of a new Officer may take place at that, or any other, General Meeting. The appointment must subsequently be confirmed by a majority vote at the next AGM.

19. The Group has the right and responsibility to suspend or expel a Member who has contravened the licence agreement with Friends of the Earth Ltd., or brought the name of the Local Group into disrepute, or been deemed to work against the aims of the Group. Such a decision can only be made at a General Meeting of the Group, after at least one month’s notice has been given to all Members.

20. Each Member has the right and responsibility to call the attention of Friends of the Earth Ltd. to any of the Group’s activities which, in his/her view, contravene the licence agreement, provided that he/she has the written support of at least two other Members of the Group.

TERMINATION

21. The Group may be wound up by a vote at an Annual General Meeting, or by an Extraordinary General Meeting called for that purpose. Notice of intention to wind up the Group must be sent to all Members and Friends of the Earth Ltd., at least one month prior to the Meeting. Upon termination, surplus funds shall be donated to Friends of the Earth Ltd.