Constitution

CONSTITUTION OF THE THAMES VALLEY ORIENTEERING CLUB

  1. The Club shall be called “The Thames Valley Orienteering Club”.
  2. The object of the Club shall be to promote orienteering (as defined in the Rules of the British Orienteering Federation from time to time in force) especially in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
  3. Membership of the Club shall be open to all interested in orienteering. Membership shall be refused or revoked only with the approval of a properly called meeting of the Club, before which the person whose membership is in question must be informed of the complaints made against him and at which he must be given the opportunity to answer the complaint and only if the meeting is of the opinion that such person would bring orienteering into disrepute or harm the interest of the Club.
  4. The Officers of the Club shall be the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. They shall be elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. The maximum term for the Chair is 3 years.  The Chair may stand for further term(s), but only with a different Chair elected in between.
  5. Meetings of the club shall be held as often as is necessary for the efficient management of the affairs of the Club, and not less than four times a year. A quorum shall consist of either three officers of the Club or five members of the Club. Such meetings may be held for any business or purpose of the Club, save those specified in Paragraphs 10(A) and 11(A).
  6. The Officers of the Club shall be responsible for the management of the affairs of the Club between meetings. Any Office falling vacant between Annual General Meetings may be filled pending the next Annual General Meeting by a person appointed by the remaining Officers.
  7. Membership subscriptions shall be due on 1st January in each year. A member who has not renewed his subscription by 15th February, shall lose the benefits of membership until his subscription is received.
  8. The Treasurer of the Club shall cause proper books of account to be kept in respect of firstly, all sums of money received and expended by the Club and the matters in respect of which such receipts and expenditure take place and secondly, the assets and liabilities of the Club. The books of account shall always be open to inspection of the members. The account shall be balanced on 31st August in each year and audited before the next Annual General Meeting.
  9. The account of the Club shall be maintained in such Bank as the Treasurer shall from time to time think fit. There shall be three signatories on the account. These will normally be the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. If one of these posts is vacant, any other officer of the Club may be named as a signatory, until such time as the vacant post is filled. Any cheque drawn on the bank account shall be signed by any two of these signatories.
  10. A General Meeting of the Club shall be held in every November (or at such other time as the Officers shall think fit) to transact the following business:-
    1. To consider and if approved. to adopt a statement of the Club’s accounts for the year ending on the previous 31st August.
    2. To consider and if approved to adopt any alteration to the Constitution of the Club that has been proposed to the Secretary in writing not less than one month before the date of the meeting. Such alteration must be specified in the Notice Convening the meeting.
    3. To elect the officers.
    4. To approve arrangements for auditing the Club’s accounts for the current year.
    5. To deal with any special matter any of the Officers desire to bring before the members and to receive suggestions from the members for consideration by any of the Officers.
  11. A Special General Meeting may be convened at any time by the officers and shall be convened within twenty one days from the receipt by the Chairman of a Request in writing signed by not less than one quarter of the members specifying the object of the meeting for any of the following purposes:-
    1. To consider and if approved, to adopt any alteration to the Constitution of the Club that is specified in the request or in the Notice convening the meeting.
    2. To remove any Officer or Officers from Office and to fill any vacancy or vacancies caused thereby.
    3. To deal with any special matter which the Officers may desire to place before the members, or which the members requiring the meeting may desire to place before the Club.
  12. Notice shall be given to all members of the time and place of all meetings of the Club, and shall be given at such time beforehand and contain such information as to the business to be transacted there as shall seem reasonable to the secretary, provided that the length of notice for the meetings described in Clauses 10 and 11 shall be not less than ten days.
  13. At meetings of the officers and of the Club, the Chairman of the Club or in his absence the Vice-Chairman or in the absence of both of them, such Chairman as shall be elected shall preside. A simple majority of those present shall be sufficient to carry any resolution put before any meeting, and in the event of an equality of votes, the person presiding at that meeting shall have a casting or additional vote.
  14. Club meetings may appoint other persons to be responsible for specified aspects of the Club’s business but no such appointment shall make such persons Officers of the Club.
  15. If at any General Meeting of the Club, a resolution be passed calling for the dissolution of the Club, the Secretary shall immediately convene a Special General Meeting to be held not less than one month thereafter to discuss and vote on the resolution. If at that Special General Meeting, the resolution is carried by at least two-thirds of the Members present at the meeting, the Officers shall thereupon, or at such date as shall have been specified in the resolution, proceed to realise the assets of the Club and discharge all debts and liabilities of the Club. After discharging all debts and liabilities of the Club, the remaining assets shall not be paid or distributed amongst the Members of the Club. All such surplus will be transferred without deduction to the body or bodies responsible for managing orienteering in the Thames Valley region. If there are one or more successor clubs in the Thames Valley region then the surplus will be distributed equitably among them. In the absence of one or more successor clubs, any surplus will be transferred to the British Orienteering Federation (BOF). If the proposed changes to make BOF a federation of four national bodies are implemented, any surplus will be transferred to the English National body.
  16. Categories of membership of the club and subscriptions for each category of membership for the following year are to be fixed at a meeting of the club prior to any deadline for notification to British Orienteering.
  17. TVOC agrees to adopt the up to date British Orienteering Policies, Procedures, Rules and Regulations as published on the British Orienteering website.
  18. All individuals involved in orienteering through TVOC, in any capacity, are deemed to have assented to and abide by and adhere to the British Orienteering Policies, Procedures, Rules and Regulations as published on the British Orienteering website.
  19. Both TVOC and its members agree to abide by the final outcome of any disciplinary and appeal proceedings.

25th November 2000.

  • Updated following changes agreed at AGM 24th November 2012
  • Updated following changes agreed at AGM 3rd December 2016
  • Updated following changes agreed at AGM 17th November 2018