Constitution

THE FRIENDS OF ST MARY MAGDALENE, BOVENEY

CONSTITUTION

TITLE AND MEMBERSHIP

The association will be called ‘The Friends of St Mary Magdalene, Boveney’ and the members of the association, in that capacity, will be so denominated.  The criteria and procedures for the admission of new members will be as determined by existing members from time to time.

OBJECTIVES

• To support and assist the Friends of Friendless Churches, who are the leaseholders of the Church -
• To help preserve and maintain the Church in a sound, clean and usable state,
• So far as is possible, to provide for the perpetual preservation andmaintenance of the Church,
• To preserve and enhance the spiritual atmosphere of the Church, and its architectural and historical integrity,
• To propagate local interest in, and understanding of, the Church and the community it served for so long,
• To encourage research into the history of the Church and its community.
• To ensure that the current “Procedures for use of our Churches” issued by the Friends of Friendless Churches are applied at all times.
• The objectives may be changed by an affirmative vote of 75% of the Friends, notice of the proposal having been given at the previous meeting.

OFFICERS

There will be a Chairman and a Secretary, each elected for a renewable one year term.

The duties of the Chairman will include

being the principal representative of the Friends in dealings with external bodies

chairing meetings of the Friends

having overall responsibility for the activities of the Association

reporting annually to the Friends on those activities.

liaising with the Friends of Friendless Churches

The duties of the Secretary will include

assisting the Chairman generally

dealing with correspondence and preparing papers for meetings etc

keeping records of meetings and ensuring the safe custody of all the records of the transactions of the Friends

keeping proper accounts of the assets, liabilities and financial transactions of the Friends

preparing accounts for annual presentation by the Chairman.

FINANCE

There will be a membership fee to be set annually by the Friends.

Money owned by the Friends will be held on an account with a recognised deposit taking organisation in the name of the Friends.

Disbursements of any amount of money owned by the Friends must be authorised, and cheques signed, by both the Chairman and Secretary.

The Secretary will report, at each meeting of the Friends, on all financial transactions since the last meeting.

MEETINGS

There will be at least two meetings of the Friends in each calendar year, not more than nine months elapsing between meetings.

One of the meetings will be the annual general meeting, at which officers will be elected and reports received. This will normally be as near as may be convenient to the feast-day of St Mary Magdalene (22^nd July).

The date of each meeting will be agreed at the previous meeting.

The Secretary will strive to ensure that all papers for meetings are in the hands of Friends at least one week before the meeting by post or by email.

Extraordinary meetings will be convened on the request of any three Friends.

Whenever possible, meetings will be held in the Church.

WINDING UP

Should it become necessary to dissolve the Association, any funds remaining in its hands will be paid over to the Friends of Friendless Churches, or, failing that, to another organisation dedicated to preserving old churches in this area.

REVIEW

This constitution will be reviewed at three-yearly intervals.

Signed: Bill Dax (Chairman)

24th April 2013