Constitution

1. Name: 

The name of the Society shall be the Pentagon Local History Society

2. Aims:

The Society's aims are:

• to encourage and develop an interest in local history by making it accessible to the community of Elston and other surrounding villages,

• to promote and foster a general appreciation of history for its own sake.

3. Membership:

• Membership of the Society shall be all the members of the Pentagon Local History Society.

• The Society shall not refuse an application for membership on the grounds of race, place of origin, sex, sexual orientation, caste, religion, or political views or on any other grounds that it may deem discriminatory in the future.

• However, the Society may expel any member for behaviour likely to bring the Society into disrepute.

• All members shall have full voting rights at the Society’s Annual General Meetings.

4. The General Body:

The General Body shall comprise all members of the Society. It will have full voting rights in the election of a Committee at the Annual General  Meeting. If any member of the General Body has any concern pertaining to the functioning of the Society or constitutional amendments, the issue should be put forward to the Secretary in writing. The Secretary will discuss the issue in a meeting of the Committee, within a reasonable time.

5. The Committee:

• The Committee shall be elected by the General Body during the Society’s Annual General Meeting. 

• The General Body shall also appoint the following principal office holders:

The Chairman :

• shall chair meetings and events,

• shall have responsibility for the direction and general oversight of the Society’s activities.

The Secretary :

• shall maintain the Society’s official correspondence,

• shall maintain the minutes of General Meetings, those of the meetings of the Committee, and any other documents that the Society may ask him/her to maintain.

The Treasurer :

• is responsible for maintaining the accounts of the Society, liaison with the Society's bank, the issue of all cheques, and queries regarding the financial state of the Society,

• shall be a signatory along with any two members of the Committee for monetary transactions.

Other Office Holders :

There shall be two other signatories apart from the Treasurer, who shall be members of the Committee. The cheques shall be signed by any two of the three signatories.

6. Meetings of the Society :

• The Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held in April.

• All other General Meetings shall be held monthly on the fourth Wednesday in each month.

7. Elections :

• Members of Committee and the Treasurer shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and, if vacancies arise in mid-year, at a General Meeting.

• Nominations for these positions shall be submitted to the Chair either at the commencement of the election meeting or during it.

8. Amendments to this Constitution:

Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by any member of the General Body, and must be submitted to the Secretary in writing. This Constitution may be amended only at an Annual General Meeting, or a General Meeting specially called for that purpose. No vote on a constitutional amendment shall be valid unless at least one quarter of the Society's members are present at the meeting.

9. Cessation of activities

• If the Society ceases all activities it will be the responsibility of theTreasurer to ensure that, after all liabilities have been settled, any surplus funds are passed to the Trustees of Elston Village Hall to use for the benefit of the community.

Signed : Alan David Rabjohn
          Chairman

Dated: 16th December 2006