The Amersham Society is a Registered Charity No 276870. The description of its activities as well as the full text of the governing document are listed below. For more details including accounts please refer to the Register of Charities on the Charity Commission’s website.
The Charity’s ACTIVITIES are defined as follows:
Environmental, conservation and heritage concerns of Amersham Old Town and its historic environs to promote:
– the town’s prosperity and vigour by guarding its character and amenities by monitoring planning and the environment;
– community spirit by organising lectures, visits, newsletters and a website;
– interest in and the study of local history, including through support of Amersham Museum.
The full text of the Charity’s GOVERNING DOCUMENT is published below:
The Amersham Society
CONSTITUTION AND RULES
Revised October 2021 *1 Title
The Society shall be called ‘The Amersham Society’.
2 Objects
(a) To preserve and improve the character and amenities of the Old Town of Amersham.
(b) To promote standards of architecture, conservation, planning, design, maintenance and use of buildings and infrastructure compatible with the character and quality of life in and/or affecting the old town of Amersham.
(c) To organise lectures for the enlightenment of members and to encourage general support of the Society.
3 Membership
Ordinary membership shall be open to any person upon application. Honorary membership may be conferred at the discretion of the Committee.
4 President and Vice-Presidents
A President and Vice-Presidents may be elected at a General Meeting of the Society for such periods as may be decided at the meeting.
5 Officers
The officers of the Society shall consist of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer. These Officers will normally be the Trustees of the charity.
6 Management
The management of the Society shall be vested in an executive committee, (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’) comprising the Officers of the Society with not more than eight further elected members, all of whom shall retire annually but shall be eligible for re-election.
The Committee shall be empowered to co-opt additional members to the Committee at their discretion and to fill any vacancies which may occur during the year. They may also delegate to sub-committees particular items of business as may be deemed expedient, but in doing so shall circumscribe their powers, always providing that all acts and proceedings of such sub-committees are reported back to the Committee.
7 Elections
Nominations for Officers and members of the Committee must be submitted to the Honorary Secretary in writing not less than seven days prior to the Annual General Meeting. Where the number of candidates for office exceeds the number required, a ballot shall be conducted amongst the members present at the meeting.
8 Subscriptions
Any change to the annual subscription, payable on the 1st January each year, shall be agreed by the members at an Annual General Meeting. Subscriptions for new members joining the Society in the last quarter of any year shall be deemed to cover that quarter and the whole of the succeeding year.
9 Cessation of Membership
(a) Membership shall cease on death, resignation or forfeiture.
(b) Forfeiture of membership shall, without prejudice to re-instatement at the discretion of the Committee, be automatic if the subscription of any member for any year shall remain unpaid by 30 June.
(c) The Committee may propose as an item of business at an Annual General Meeting or at a Special General Meeting that a member shall cease to be a member of the Society. The member shall be entitled to attend the meeting, to hear the reasons for his or her proposed removal and to address the other members. If the majority of members present at the meeting decides that the membership shall cease, the name of the former member shall be removed from the list of current members and the current year’s subscription of the former member shall be refunded.
10 Meetings
The Committee shall meet at least six times a year and at such other times as may, in the opinion of the Chair (or, in his absence, of the Vice-Chair) become necessary.
At Committee meetings over 50% of the Committee members, of whom two shall be Officers, shall form a quorum.
An Annual General Meeting, of which at least fourteen days’ written notice shall be given to all members, shall be held in October to receive the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, for the election of Officers and Committee and, if required by law and/or the Charity Commission, an Independent Examiner of the Accounts, and for any other business at the discretion of the Chair.
Special General Meetings may be convened at the discretion of the Committee, or by the Honorary Secretary within 21 days after the receipt in writing of a requisition stating the business to be transacted thereat and signed by not fewer than twenty members of the Society. No business other than that specified shall be undertaken at such meetings.
At all General Meetings fifteen paid-up members shall form a quorum.
No member shall be entitled to vote at a General Meeting unless his or her annual subscription has been paid for that year.
Voting at all General Meetings shall be by a show of hands, but if in the opinion of the Chair of the meeting a ballot is desirable, this method of voting shall be undertaken.
In cases of equality of voting at any meeting, the Chair shall have the right to exercise a casting vote.
11 Dissolution
A special resolution may be proposed to a General Meeting to wind up the affairs of the Society. Any such resolution must be submitted to the Honorary Secretary in writing at least one month before the meeting at which it is to be proposed and shall not be passed unless carried by at least three-quarters of the members present at the meeting.
In the event of such a resolution being passed, the assets of the Society, shall be realised and after all liabilities of the Society have been discharged the balance shall be donated to such registered charity or charities, having similar objects to the Society, as the meeting may by a majority vote decide.
12 Amendment
No new rule shall be made and no existing rule shall be altered or rescinded except at an Annual General Meeting or at a Special General Meeting convened for that purpose. One month’s notice in writing shall be sent to the Honorary Secretary of any such proposed alteration. No alterations shall be made to the objects clause, dissolution clause or this clause without first obtaining the consent of the Charity Commissioners and no alteration shall be made which would cause the Society to cease to be a charity at law.
13 General
(a) Every member of the Society shall be bound by these Rules and by any amendment to, or alteration of, such Rules.
(b) The Committee shall be empowered to settle all matters not provided for in these Rules.
*) Adopted at the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 27 October 2021 at 8.00pm on Zoom. The proposed changes were circulated to all members in the September 2021 Newsletter.
To download a printable copy of the constitution please click here.