Dear Members,

I would like to remind you about the Special General Meeting, which will be held at the upstairs room, Duke of York pub, Harrowby Street, London at 21.00 this Wednesday, 10 August.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss some proposed changes to the Club Rules.  The original proposed changes are advertised on the Club News section of the website, but it is likely that there will be other amendments proposed on the evening.

I would like to briefly explain the Committee's reasoning for wanting to change the Rules.  We have identified two separate, but related, issues that have affected the running of the Committee this year.  These are:

1. That Ordinary Committee Members are elected to the committee, and are then appointed to jobs in consultation with the Honorary Officers.  This year, although we had nine members elected to the committee, we could not agree on their roles. This had led to some functions not been adequately covered through the year.  To remedy this, we are prosposing a change to the rules so that Ordinary Members are elected to specific roles.  I have received a comment from a member that we need to address some elements of the electoral system (for example, in what order the elections will take place) and it is likely that this issue will form part of the amendments

    

2. The second issue is that the Club is now so large (not just in terms of membership, but in terms of what we try and achieve) that it is incredibly difficult for 12 people to govern effectively.  To remedy this, it is intended to change the rules so that up to 15 people can be appointed to the committee – 3 Honorary Officers and up to 12 Ordinary members (who will be elected to specific roles if the changes described above are accepted).  I would stress the "up to 12" part of the previous sentence.  At the moment, the Committee is discussing what roles we think we definitely need – should this be fewer than 15 posts, then that is the amount of posts that will be up for election at the AGM.  I expect this work to be completed within the next week, and will advise you of any additional roles (this will need an amendment to the Club Bylaws).

I hope this email helps set out the reasons for the SGM more clearly, and I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to attend.  I would also like to give you some advance notice that AGM will be held on 21 September at 20.00 at the Victory Services Club.

Regards,

John.

John Culinane
Club Chairman