National Council for the Divorced, Separated & Widowed
Annual General Meeting
2015
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Contents
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NCDSW AGM General Information
a) Date and Venue
b) Registration
c) Vote Collection
d) Lunch Arrangements
e) 2015 AGM Standing Orders Committee
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Agenda
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Appendix A. Annual General Meeting Standing Orders
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Appendix B. Reports and Accounts
a) Chairman
b) Secretary
c) Treasurer
d) Accounts
e) Publicity
f) NCDSW Members Support Fund
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National Council for the Divorced, Separated & Widowed
Annual General Meeting
2015
General Information
Date and Venue
Saturday March 21st 2015
The Spa,
Bridlington
Commencing 11.00am Prompt
Registration
Doors open 10.00am for registration
Admittance only by NEC invitation or on production of your
valid NCDSW membership card.
Votes Collection
Doors open 10.00am until 10.45am for Votes Collection
NO votes will be issued to Branches without production of the
appropriate Votes Collection Form. This form is issued to the
branch on payment of their due affiliation fees.
Affiliation Fees will be accepted up to 14 days before the date
of the meeting. After this date no affiliation fees will be
accepted and no votes will be issued. Deadline Saturday 7th
March.
Breaks
The Chairman will announce at a convenient time, if required, a
45minute break for lunch
Committee
The 2015 AGM Standing Orders Committee consists of the
following:
Avril Greenaway – Elected
Garrie Mercer – Elected
Malcolm Gray – NEC Representative
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National Council for the Divorced, Separated & Widowed
Annual General Meeting
2015
Agenda
The meeting will commence at 11.00am prompt
1.
Welcome
2.
Chairperson to open the meeting
3.
Apologies for Absence
4.
1 minutes silence for all NCDSW members who have passed away during
the year
5.
Presidents Address
6.
Appointment of scrutineers
7.
Minutes of the 2014 Annual General Meeting
This is a straight majority hand vote.
a)
Corrections to the Minutes
b)
Agreement of the Minutes
c)
Matters Arising from the minutes
8.
Adoption of Reports and Accounts (see appendix B)
These are all straight majority hand votes.
a)
Chairman
b)
Secretary
c)
Treasurer
d)
Accounts
e)
Publicity
f)
Members Support Fund
9.
Adoption of the AGM Standing Orders (see appendix A)
This is a straight majority hand vote.
10.
To consider the resolution submitted as follows: Please note that the current version of the Constitution should be used when
considering these proposals (Version 11.0 dated 22/03/2014)
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10A Section B12, Annual General Meeting - subsection b.v
This is a constitutional proposal and requires a two-thirds majority to be carried.
Please use voting slip 10A.
Proposed by Martin Benson, National Chair & Willenhall Branch member
Seconded by Shawn Marsh, Dudley Branch member
Delete Subsection b.v which states ‘The appointment of a Representative to the
NCDS Trust’.
So that Section B12 subsection b) reads:
b) The business to be transacted at the Annual General Meeting of the Branch shall
include:
i) The adoption of annual reports and statements of account.
ii) The appointment of an auditor.
iii) The election of officers.
iv) The election of other members of the committee.
11.
NCDSW Members Support Fund Meeting
12.
Discussion on the future direction of NCDSW
This part of the AGM has been allocated to you the members of NCDSW to
decide on the future direction of the NCDSW
It is for the members to question the NEC committee about achievements during
2014/2015 and also to suggest what it should be doing for the next 12 months
2015/2016. Whoever is elected to the NEC for 2015 will have a set of goals
created from this discussion.
Achievements and non achievements can be discussed at a similar juncture at the
next AGM (2016).
This allows total participation by all attending members in the running of
NCDSW. It also identifies members who are keen to be involved and potential
future committee/sub-committee members.
13.
Election of Chairman
14.
Election of Vice-Chairman
15.
Election of Secretary
16.
Election of Treasurer
17.
Election of Publicity Officer
18.
Election of National Executive Committee (up to 5 members)
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18.
Election of Standing Orders Committee (2 members))
19.
Election of Honorary Vice-Presidents
None proposed
20.
Appointment of Auditors(s)
21.
Date and Venue of the 2016 Annual General Meeting
At
Bridlington
On
TBA, 2016
Venue
The Spa,
Bridlington
22.
General Discussion
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Appendix A.
NCDSW AGM STANDING ORDERS
Chair to be addressed standing
A member of a meeting desiring to speak must rise in his/her place and address
himself/herself to the chair; and no interruption of his/her speech is permissible,
except upon a question of order suddenly arising.
Chairman's call to speak
When two or more members rise to speak, the Chairman calls upon the member
whom, on rising, is first observed by the Chairman.
Motions to be in writing
All motions must be submitted in writing and in accordance with the Constitution.
Motions submitted by an individual must be seconded.
Speech to be directed to the question
Each member who rises to speak must confine his/her speech to the motion being
discussed or to a question of order.
No second speech
No member may speak twice to a question, except in explanation or reply. A member
who has spoken may be heard again to clear up a misunderstanding in regard to some
material part of his/her speech, but he/she is not to introduce new matter or to
interrupt a member who is speaking.
Right of reply
A reply is allowed to the mover of a substantive motion. After the mover has
commenced his/her reply no other member shall speak to the question.
Matter of order arising
Upon a matter of order suddenly arising any member may speak if he/she does so
immediately and commences by the statement that he rises to order. The member who
is addressing the meeting must thereupon resume his/her seat and so also must the
member who rose to order when he/she has concluded his/her appeal to the chair.
Question fully put
No member may speak to any question after the vote has agreed to be taken.
No amendment allowed
No amendment may be allowed to be moved to any question.
Withdrawal of motions
Motions may be withdrawn, leave being granted without any negative voice, before
the question on the motion has been fully put.
Authority of the Chairman
When the Chairman rises any member then speaking must resume his/her seat and all
must remain silent in order that the Chairman's words may be heard without
interruption.
Interruption
If any member interrupts another whilst addressing the meeting, or uses abrasive or
profane language or causes disturbance at the meeting and refuses to obey the
Chairman when called to order, he/she shall be named by the Chairman. He/she shall
thereupon be expelled from the room and shall not be allowed to enter again until an
apology satisfactory to the meeting is given. No member shall leave the meeting
before its conclusion without the permission of the Chairman.
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Voting
All motions on the agenda and all elections shall be decided by a ballot vote. The
Chairman shall ensure that sufficient tellers or scrutineers are appointed at the start of
the meeting and they alone shall be responsible for the handling and counting of ballot
papers. The Chairman shall declare the result of the vote to the meeting in accordance
with the terms and conditions of the Constitution. A recount shall be taken if there is a
call from the floor for a recount. All reports shall be circulated with the agenda and no
new matter shall be introduced at the meeting. The voting for reports shall be by a
show of hands. Immediately following a Council AGM the ballot papers will be
lodged with the Senior Vice-Presidents.
Suspension of Standing Orders
Any one or more of the rules prescribed in the Standing Orders may be suspended at
any Annual General Meeting of NCDSW provided that three-fourths of the members
at the meeting present and voting, by a show of hands shall so decide.
Entry to National Annual General Meeting
Entry to a National Annual General Meeting shall be by production of a recognised
NCDSW membership card or by NEC invitation only.
Annual General Meeting
The NEC has the power to organise the date and venue of National Annual General
Meetings two years in advance.
Time limit
A limit of 3 minutes is put on any one person speaking on any proposal.
General discussion
Half an hour is left aside at the end of the meeting for general discussion.
Non-Smoking
The Annual General Meeting of the Council shall be non-smoking.
Updated at the National Annual General Meeting 22 March 2014
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Appendix B.
Reports and Accounts
a)
Chairman
b)
Secretary – No Report Received
c)
Treasurer
d)
Accounts
e)
Publicity – No Report Received
f)
NCDSW Members Support Fund – See item 11 on this Agenda
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a)
NCDSW National AGM 2015
Chair Report
Over the last year, your NEC has worked very hard for the benefit of all members.
Mally, as National Secretary, continued to be the lynch pin around whom we all
operated; her hard work, commitment to NCDSW members & tolerance of the
Chair’s little idiosyncrasies has been well above the call of duty.
As Vice Chair, Tony has been very supportive while continuing to co-produce a very
popular & professional newsletter. More editions will be forthcoming over the next
few months & contributions are welcome from all of you. He has also revamped our
website.
As your Treasurer, David continues to guard the Members’ money tirelessly & is
always looking for ways to reduce our expenditure as well as helping us to look for
ways to provide support for our members.
Ken Rourke as Publicity Officer has had a good year despite trying circumstances. He
has been trying to publicise NCDSW with a minimal budget & has done exceptionally
well in those circumstances.
Shawn Marsh & Tony Buckley have kept in regular contact with all of the nonRegional Branches, with support from the rest of the Team, especially Janice & Bill,
& have brought their concerns to the NEC for discussion.
Malcolm’s contributions to our meetings were always very welcome & to the point.
Thank you all for your hard work over the past year.
Sadly the hard work & commitment shown by the Members of the NEC that you
elected to their positions at the 2014 AGM, has not always been appreciated. We all
give freely of our time & I regret to say that I know of more than one occasion when
the efforts made by the NEC have been rebuffed in a less than polite manner. There
have been times when the NEC has received criticism for “interfering” & also been
criticised for “doing nothing”. Damned if we do & damned if we don’t!
At this, the 2015 AGM, you will have an opportunity to tell the NEC what it is you, as
members, expect from us. This discussion will take place before the elections so that
any members of the current NEC can understand what is expected from them before
they choose to accept any nomination for the coming year.
The NEC is there to help & support ALL Members, Branches & Regions; as an
example the Members’ Support Fund was set up to help & support Members & their
families during difficult times & will continue to do so in the years ahead. The Fund
has not been called upon for much this last year but it is there. If any member has a
concern please do not hesitate to contact us; we are here to help.
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However, if you as members have any concerns or questions at all please feel free to
contact us to discuss matters.
We are still, sadly, losing members from NCDSW. This is only to be expected as we
fulfil our function to help Divorced, Separated & Widowed people rebuild their
shattered lives & move on. And, of course, as we all get older!
I still hear comments that we have lost the friendship that forms the basis of our
Organisation; yet, when I attend Branch nights, Region Dances & National
Weekends, I only see rooms full of people that I think of as friends.
Part of my vision for the future of NCDSW is to emphasise the friendship that is such
an inherent part of our Organisation, as that friendship is what we offer to prospective
new members more than anything else & it is that friendship that will help to grow
our wonderful Organisation.
In Friendship
Martin Benson
Chair
NCDSW
a, i) Vice Chair Report
Good morning everyone. Over the past 12 months the NEC has tried to make some
changes which I for one believe are positive and only good for the organisation with
your help and cooperation I believe we have a chance of keeping this organisation
running for a few more years to come, if however we continue to squabble and battle
with each other, and if one club starts to attack another club because some members
of the committee don't agree with other members of another committee, if after
stepping down or being voted off the committee we devote our time to trying to bring
down the club then I believe all is lost and this organisation will be lucky to carry on
for another five years, this organisation has gone on for almost 50 years if we want it
to go on for more than another five years we have to change our attitude we have to
work with each other not fight with each other. We have to stop treating the NEC with
contempt after all the NEC is elected by you to help guide clubs and regions you may
not all agree with your decisions or our ideas but we are trying, and we hopefully deal
with problems to the majority's satisfaction, also from a positive approach the NEC is
trying to promote the organisation to the best of its ability with the limited funds that
we have available.
Some of you may know we had some security issues on our website these have been
addressed and I have redesigned the website hopefully it is easier to navigate and
perhaps a little more user-friendly and modern and although we do get the occasional
problem however I believe the money we have saved over the last couple of years
while we have done our own website perhaps in the region of £2000 outweighs the
odd Hick up.
I edited the last issue of the newsletter and I believe it is a big improvement on the
first of our new style newsletters however we still have some way to go and just like
in the past without articles and photos from you there cannot be a newsletter, so
please send in your articles and photos. At the last National AGM you asked us to
change the format of the newsletter from the photo album to having a little more
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information you also asked as to reduce its physical size we have done both and like I
said it is not yet perfect but we have reduced the cost by approximately half.
Please let's work together not against each other to make this organisation bigger and
better.
Tony Elsdon
National Vice Chair
c) Treasurer’s Report
Good morning to everyone.
Welcome to this year’s AGM.
It is with great sadness that I open this year’s report.
The recent passing of John Rush (J.R) has left a great void, not only in the Yorkshire
Region but in the organisation as a whole. His contribution as the editor of the
newsletter was invaluable.
Now John would be the first to admit that he rubbed a few people up the wrong way
but he stood by his convictions and the things he did were for the good of his Region
and the organisation.
I’ve had many a run to Scunthorpe to help him out on his computer.
Most of the times the problems were soon sorted but we would have a few hours
drinking coffee and putting the world to right and then before I started back he would
insist he took me for a meal.
I send my condolences to the Yorkshire Region for losing a stalwart chair and also to
his partner Val.
When I have my first Jack Daniels, John’s favourite tipple, I’ll raise my glass and say
here’s to you John.
Most years I don’t have a lot to say before presenting the accounts etc., but this year
I’m going to break the habit. To say I have been disappointed this year is an
understatement.
In these times of declining membership and branches closing I feel the NEC meetings
should be more about progressing ideas to strengthen the organisation but it seems
that on too many occasions we are sorting out squabbles in branches when I believe
the Regions could try and sort it out before having to escalate to a full blown appeals
procedure at NEC level.
To be honest a lot of pettiness is creeping into the organisation, remember that the
positions we all take on are to benefit the members and we should be tolerant and
mindful of all the members’ views even if at times they aren’t completely the same as
ours.
Now onto the accounts, you all have a copy of the balance sheets, any questions
please ask.
The main NCDSW account is healthy, though the on the income side the reduced
income on affiliation reflects the reducing membership and the branch closures.
On the expenditure side, there has been a more cost effective newsletter which should
show substantial savings.
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The support fund has a good balance, there has not been many awards even though it
has been well publicised. I know that there has been some feelings that the money is
just sitting there and it could be put to other use but to be honest we can’t make
people ask for help. It might be that no one needs any assistance; however it is always
there when hardship falls on members.
Lastly we come to the Insurance. In previous years the NEC has subsidised the
insurance and in real terms the premium without subsidy would have been close on
£70.00. As mentioned we now have a more cost effective newsletter and with some
other savings, this has given us the chance to help out Branches and Regions more.
The renewal notice will have now been received by the Branches & Regions and the
premium this year is £30.00
I would like to say how much I have enjoyed working with all the NEC members this
year.
I hope we have a pleasant and fruitful AGM
I would like to thank Avril for auditing the books,
I have enjoyed doing the job as Treasurer and would readily take on the role again if
elected.
Finally I would like wish the newly elected NEC all the best for the forthcoming year.
Dave Hamilton
National Treasurer
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d) Accounts
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