Old Blandfordians Cricket Club

OLD BLANDFORDIANS CRICKET CLUB

CONSTITUTION & RULES

Status of Old Blandfordians Cricket Club

The club shall be known as “Old Blandfordians Cricket Club or OBCC”.  The club has no legal status and is a voluntary organisation that is run by a Management Committee on behalf of its membership.  The membership elects this Committee on an annual basis at the AGM. 

Objectives

To play and promote cricket for its members of all ages and abilities in accordance with the rules and spirit of the game as laid down by the cricket authorities.

Affiliations 

The Club will be affiliated to the Dorset Cricket League and the Dorset Cricket Association (DCA).  The Club shall pay a subscription to each of these bodies to secure membership benefits and will honour its obligations accordingly.

Financial Year

The Club’s year runs from 1st November to 31st October. 

The Management Committee 

OBCC shall be governed in all its respects by a Management Committee.  The OBCC members at the Annual General Meeting of the Club shall elect this Committee.

The Committee shall have the power between Annual General Meetings to co-opt members onto the Committee, to serve in a designated capacity until the subsequent Annual General Meeting.  His/her Committee membership shall be deemed to have ceased at that AGM unless he/she is elected a Committee Member at the AGM for the following year.

The President of the Club may be appointed by the Committee to represent the club with whatever terms of reference the members deem appropriate, typically (but not necessarily) in a figurehead role. The President shall be a member and shall have the right to attend Committee Meetings in an observer, i.e. non-voting status.

The Committee shall meet as often as there is business to transact and, in any event, not less frequently than half yearly. Any Committee Member may call a meeting at any time; in doing so, he/she shall state the purpose for which such a meeting is being called and give no less than seven days notice unless the other Committee Members agree to a shorter period.

Minutes of Committee Meetings shall be posted on the OBCC website, as soon as possible after the Meetings.

The Committee will comprise the following positions: -

Chairman  

Vice Chairman               

Secretary
Treasurer       

Sunday Captain
Saturday Captain

Social Secretary 

and three other Members

The Management of the Club

The elected Committee Members shall manage OBCC’s affairs, including the sporting and non-sporting activities of the club.

Where appropriate, the Committee shall formulate rules, regulations, procedures etc, governing the activities they cover; any such rules and regulations, shall not be at variance with the provisions of this Constitution & Rules and shall require the approval of the Committee prior to implementation. Each Committee Member shall submit to the Committee a Report (written or oral) in respect of his/her area of responsibility as often as he/she and/or the Committee deem appropriate and, in any event, not less frequently than half yearly. The Committee Members shall consider each such Report and its reaction to it shall be recorded in the Committee Meeting minutes.

In the event of voting, all Committee Members (excluding the President) are entitled to one vote each.  In the event that the Committee Members have cast an equal number of votes, the Chairman shall have the casting vote.  In the absence of the Chairman for any meeting an acting Chairman shall be appointed for the duration of that meeting from the Committee Members present (normally the Vice-Chairman). 

The Treasurer will keep an accurate set of Books, which will give a true and fair view of the financial state of the affairs of the club.  The previous year’s accounts will be available to the members for inspection if they apply to the Secretary in writing.

The Members based on the Treasurer’s and Committee’s recommendation shall approve any financial borrowings.

Prior to the AGM the previous year’s accounts will be reviewed by a 3rd party auditor / accountant.  These accounts will then be submitted to the AGM for the Membership’s review and approval.

Five Committee Members are required to form a quorum at any Committee Meeting including the Chairman.

All Committee Members shall retire annually at the AGM but shall be eligible for re-election.

General Meetings

The Annual General Meeting of the Club shall be held not later than the 28th day of February in each year for the submission and approval of written reports including the audited accounts up to the previous 31st day of October, and also for the election of Committee Members for the ensuing year and for the transaction of any business.

An Extraordinary General Meeting shall be convened by the Secretary as soon as possible after the direction of the Committee or of a notice in writing signed by not less than 10 OBCC members specifying the business for which an EGM is to be called.

In either case, the Secretary shall give the members at least 14 days notice in writing of the EGM with the date, starting time, location and agenda for the Meeting.  At all such Meetings, 10 members present in person and eligible to vote shall form a quorum and, unless decided otherwise by the Committee, a simple majority of those present shall suffice for the approval of a motion.

Membership

The members of OBCC shall comprise all such persons who have fully paid the annual subscription for a given year.  The OBCC membership year is from the 1st November to 31st October.  Subscriptions will be set by the Committee and will become due annually on the 1st May or the first game that a member participates.

Categories of Membership  

Membership of OBCC shall be open to men, women and minors and shall be divided into the following categories:

Vice-Presidents

who shall be elected at the AGM after careful nomination from the Committee and shall on election be entitled to the privileges of non-playing membership of OBCC.

Honorary Life Membership

Nomination for which may be notified in writing to the Chairman by any OBCC member, for consideration by the Committee.  The Committee shall report its recommendation at the next Annual General Meeting and the members at that AGM shall accept or reject the nomination(s).

Playing Members

Who shall be eligible to play cricket under the OBCC banner, subject to the approval of the Committee and compliance with the conditions of membership (including the payment of fees) in force at the time.   

Playing Members shall be classified as follows: -

Non Playing Members

Who shall be persons who wish to use the Club’s facilities and pay the appropriate membership fee.

Honorary Membership

Election to which shall be within the power of the Club in its absolute discretion. Any person that the Committee co-opts onto the Committee who is not already a Member shall automatically be elected an Honorary Member. Honorary Membership shall lapse at the end of the financial and membership year but may be renewed by the Committee at its next meeting.

Temporary Members

Who shall be in one of two categories: -

Such members shall not pay a membership fee nor shall enjoy playing rights but shall be bound by the Constitution & Rules of the Club.

All categories of membership other than Temporary shall be entitled to attend an AGM and all classes other than Junior, Honorary and Vice President shall be eligible to vote at an Annual General Meeting.

Membership shall not be transferable.

Application for Membership  

The Committee shall have the absolute right to reject any application. 

Subscriptions

The Committee shall meet no later than the 28th February each year in order to fix the subscriptions for the following season in respect of each category of membership.

All subscriptions shall become due on the 1st May or the first game that a member participates each year. A member shall be deemed to maintain his/her membership if he/she shall not have resigned one month prior to the due date for payment of subscriptions. If, after expiration of two months from the 1st May (or such later date as may have been set), a subscription has not been paid, the Committee may at its discretion, determine such membership as cancelled and the member shall forfeit all right to membership of OBCC. 

Resignation

A Committee Member wishing to resign from OBCC shall submit a written resignation to the Secretary no later than one month prior to the date of the resignation. Any Member leaving the club during any year shall not be entitled to a refund of part or all of the subscription paid, the membership being deemed to have lapsed.  

Expulsion 

The Committee shall have the power to expel any member whose conduct, in its opinion, renders him/her unfit for continued membership of OBCC, and is likely to bring the Club into disrepute or is in flagrant disobedience of the Club’s Constitution & Rules. No member shall be expelled without first having the opportunity of appearing before the Committee to answer any complaints made against him/her.  For this purpose the Chairman or the Secretary shall give the member seven days notice in writing to attend a Committee Meeting called for that purpose, which notice shall contain particulars of any complaints made against him/her. The expulsion of a member shall be upheld by a majority of not less than two thirds of the Committee Members in office at that time but otherwise shall be at the sole discretion of the Chairman & one other Committee Member. The Committee may announce the decision regarding expulsion but shall not be obliged to make public the reasons for its decision.

A member so expelled shall forfeit all right to or claims upon the property of the Club.

Child Protection Policy of OBCC

At every AGM the Club will appoint a Child Protection Officer who will report to the Club Secretary on a day to day basis.  This role must be filled to fulfil OBCC’s obligations & comply with the regulations laid down by the ECB. The full OBCC Child Protection Policy Statement is attached in the link to the left of this page.

The club also adheres to the guidelines as laid out by the ECB – Safe Hands – Welfare of Young People in Cricket Policy.

Trustees  

This Constitution and Rules hereby provides for the appointment of Trustees of some or all of the Club’s assets to ensure that those assets are deployed for the purposes for which they are intended.  The Trustees shall be responsible to the Members for their stewardship.

Where a donor, lender or the Club itself deems it desirable, the Club shall grant stewardship of specified assets to the Trustees. The Trustees shall control the Club’s access to and/or use of the specified assets in any way they deem fit, taking into consideration always the expressed wishes of the donor, lender or the Club.

The Trustees shall number not less than two and not more than four, and not more than one shall be a OBCC Committee Member. Initially, Trustees shall be appointed by the Committee and shall offer themselves for election at the first Annual General Meeting following their appointment.  They will hold office until they resign, are voted out by the members at an Annual General Meeting, or die.  Any vacancy so created may be filled through an appropriate resolution at that or the Annual General Meeting, subject to the composition and number restrictions detailed above.  The Committee shall have the power to appoint a trustee to act on a temporary basis between the creation of a vacancy and the next Annual General Meeting at which the Members shall elect a permanent Trustee.

Amendment of Constitution & Rules

The procedure for an amendment of, or an addition to, this Constitution & Rules shall be as follows:

1. Notice of the proposed change signed either by each Committee Member or by not less than 10 Members having voting rights shall be given in writing to the Chairman or Secretary.
2. The Chairman or Secretary shall thereupon call a Committee Meeting to discuss the change and formulate a Committee view on it.

3. Within 28 days of receiving the proposal, the Chairman shall convene an Extraordinary General Meeting as provided for above, and the Secretary shall send out papers to all Members allowing for a postal vote to those not able to attend the EGM.

4. The change shall be deemed to be passed if approved by a two-thirds majority of the total votes cast.  The Committee or the initiating Members may request the Trustees to oversee the counting of votes.

Notwithstanding the above provision, the Committee shall have the power to amend the Appendices to this Constitution & Rules as an exception to this amendment procedure.  Appendices so amended shall be posted on the clubhouse notice board.

Date

For ease of reference and identification, this version of the OBCC Constitution & Rules is dated 22/02/2009.

Signed: ...................……………               Date: ………….

Chairman, OBCC

Signed: .................…………….                Date: ………….

Secretary, OBCC 

Signed: .................…………….                Date: ………….

Treasurer, OBCC

Version 1.0

22nd February 2009.