1. CONSTITUTION OF CENTRE OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE
The Officers shall comprise of Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. The Committee shall comprise of six members, a Rally Secretary and a Social Secretary.
2. TENURE OF OFFICE
All Officers and Members of the Centre Committee shall be elected to serve for a period of one year.
The Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall be eligible for election for three consecutive years, although eligible to seek election in a different capacity.
The three year restriction does not apply to the Secretary or Treasurer nor to other Members of the Committee who will be eligible for election at each Annual General Meeting.
In the event that there are insufficient nominees to form a full Committee, then a Centre member may be nominated after the Annual General meeting and co-opted onto the Committee.
3. QUORUM FOR CENTRE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
A Quorum shall consist of at least 50% of the Officers, Members and / or co-opted members of the Committee called to a meeting.
4. ADMINISTRATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
a. Votes shall be recorded for the vacancies for the particular Office and / or Committee membership as follows:
Officers: Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary
Committee: Six members, Rally Secretary, Social Secretary
b. Upon receipt of nomination papers, the Secretary shall compile and maintain a list of nominees for display at rallies up to the day of the Annual General Meeting.
c. The following procedure shall be adopted with regard to the issue, collection and counting of ballot papers at the Annual General Meeting:
The Secretary shall arrange from amongst subscribing members who are not nominees for office nor tellers involved in the counting procedure, up to four members to issue ballot papers.
Ballot papers shall be issued only to Members, Family Members and Joint Members of the Buckinghamshire Centre, upon their details being on the Club provided nominal roll.
No proxy votes permitted.
The Secretary shall arrange for Tellers to be appointed, preferably from another Centre, otherwise from amongst subscribing members who are not nominees for office.
The duties of the appointed Tellers shall be:
Collection of ballot papers
Verification of validity of ballot papers
Count of votes recorded on valid ballot papers
All tellers shall satisfy themselves on the accuracy of procedure and results
The Chief Teller shall advise the Chairman of the result of all ballots, who in turn will announce the result. A copy of the result of all ballots should be given to the Secretary prior to the destruction of all ballot papers.
The Chief Teller shall destroy all ballot papers as soon as possible after the announcement of the election results.
To notify the Centre Members of the auditor approved by the Caravan & Motorhome Club.
5. CENTRE ANNUAL ACCOUNTS
A copy of the Annual Accounts of the Centre shall be issued to all registered Centre Members attending the Annual General Meeting, or from the Treasurer upon receipt of a stamped addressed envelope.
6. RALLIES AND EVENTS
a. The Centre Committee reserves the right to refuse admission to any event or rally organised by the Buckinghamshire Centre to any member or to request any member to retire from any such event or rally.
b. Any member who has been found guilty of misconduct by the Centre Committee has the right of appeal to that body. Such appeal to be made in writing to the Secretary.
c. The Rally Officer or his appointed Deputy is responsible to the Centre Committee for all matters appertaining to the running and conduct at the rally. In the event of a member breaking these rules, the Rally Officer or his appointed deputy are authorised to request such member to remove his caravan and / or person from the site, having sought the advice of Centre Officers and / or Committee members present at the rally or event. In the absence of Centre Officers and / or Committee members, the incident shall be reported to the Centre Committee as soon as possible.
d. Every member must report to the Rally Officer on arrival at the site with his caravan before pitching and must be prepared to substantiate his identity by producing his or her Membership card if requested to do so by the Rally Officer or his appointed deputy. Each caravan and towing vehicle must be placed on the pitch indicated by the Rally Officer or his appointed deputy.
e. Any site or part of a site on which a rally is held shall be for the exclusive use of the Members of the Buckinghamshire Centre, their friends and visiting Members of the Caravan & Motorhome Club. The attendance at the site and / or payment of any fees shall be an acceptance of all parties of these rules. Friends and Centre Members and visiting Centre Members taking part in any entertainment organised at a rally or event shall be liable for any fees involved, the payment of which shall be the responsibility of the Centre Member or visiting Centre Member concerned. Permission shall be obtained from the Rally Officer or his appointed Deputy for friends to be included in any such entertainment.
f. The speed limit on the rally field shall be five miles per hour which shall be strictly enforced. Only fully licensed drivers shall be allowed to drive vehicles on the rally site and in no circumstances shall driving lessons be permitted.
g. All dogs must be kept strictly under control and on a lead when on a rally site; they must be exercised away from the caravans.
h. The erection of tents, other than toilet tents, is not allowed on rally sites except by permission of the Rally Officer or his appointed Deputy.
i. Unless otherwise stated, rallies will commence at 4pm on a Friday and close at 6pm on Sunday or at the discretion of the Rally Officer or his appointed Deputy.
j. Only members attending and sleeping on the rally may participate in any official competition being held (e.g. fishing, golf, boules, caravan handling).
k. Adverse weather conditions—at the discretion of a Committee Officer, A YELLOW FLAG will be flown from the flagpole to indicate restrictions of vehicle movement on the rally field. Emergency movement may be permitted after consultation with the Chairman or his Deputy.
l. In unforeseen circumstances, it may be necessary to change the venue of a rally at short notice and if there is an increase in fees, this will be passed onto the ralliers attending the rally.
7. PLAQUES
A Member will be entitled to a Fellowship Plaque as follows:
Bronze Award - having attended at least 10 rallies
Silver Award - having attended at least 15 rallies
Gold Award - having attended at least 20 rallies.
The period being counted from 1 October to 30 September each year. Only rallies and events run by the Buckinghamshire Centre and attendance at the National Rally count towards these awards. Rallies where the duration is greater than one weekend will count as attendance for each Saturday of the rally.
A Buckinghamshire Centre Member who attends a rally of the Buckinghamshire Centre for the first time shall be entitled to a special “First Rally” plaque.
A “Site Finder” plaque shall be awarded to any Buckinghamshire Centre Member who procures a site not previously used by the Centre once it has been used for the first time in recognition of their contribution to rallying. This does not apply to the Rally Secretary.
Centenary plaques - Members are entitled to a special commemorative plaque when they have attended 100, 200, 300 etc Caravan & Motorhome Club Rallies including holiday rallies). An application for a Centenary Plaque should be made to the Secretary.
8. CENTRE TROPHIES
The Centre trophies shall remain the property of the Centre at all times and shall be returned to the Secretary by the current holder not later than 30 days prior to the Annual General Meeting in each year. Suitable insurance will be arranged by the Centre. Mementoes will be presented to all winners each year.
9. GENERAL
a. These by-laws are supplementary to the obligation which all members undertake on joining the Caravan & Motorhome Club and which include the observance of the Caravan Code and the Country Code, but in the event of any variance these by-laws shall apply.
b. These by-laws may be amended only at an Annual General Meeting or at a Special General meeting convened for that purpose. Thirty five days notice in either case of the intended amendments having been given to the Secretary.
c. Not less than 21 days clear notice of meetings shall be given to Members by letter addressed to their last known address. The notice shall state the date, time and place of the meeting and the principle business to be transacted. The Members referred to in this paragraph shall be those who have registered with the Centre.
d. A Special General Meeting of the Centre shall be called by the Secretary at any time:
On the instructions of the Committee of the Centre
At the request in writing signed by no fewer than 25 registered Members of the Centre, such request setting out clearly the purpose for which the Meeting is being called, providing that 14 days clear notice be given to other registered Members.
End of By-laws