WOODBRIDGE CRUISING CLUB RULES 2023 – 2024
NAME & OBJECT
1. The name of the Club is ‘Woodbridge Cruising Club’ and the burgee of the Club shall be red with a gold Anglo-Saxon ship associated with Sutton Hoo.
2. The object of the Club is to promote and facilitate the sport of boating, cruising and associated activities.
MEMBERSHIP
3. Any person whether or not the owner of a yacht or boat who is keen and interested in boating and associated social activities is eligible for membership.
3.a) The Deben Rowing Club (DRC) may be affiliated to the Woodbridge Cruising Club (WCC) on terms agreed by the WCC Committee.
3.b) RYA Training membership category will be granted without subscription to anyone taking part in, and having paid in full, the non-member course fee for multi-day on-site training provided by the Club. This membership will commence after full payment and expire in March of the same year. No voting rights or access to the members area of the website will be granted under this membership. The requirement for Committee approval shall not apply to this membership category.
4. The Club on the recommendation of the Committee may in general meeting elect honorary members.
5. Membership application shall be made via the Club website and on receipt of the application the Membership Secretary shall invite the applicant(s) to visit the Club (or, if a visit is not practical, to have an online or telephone conversation with the Membership Secretary). On conclusion of the visit (or conversation) the applicant’s details shall be circulated to the Committee for approval. If a majority is in favour the application shall be approved. The application shall be proposed by the Membership Secretary and seconded by any other member. A list of members shall be kept in the Clubhouse.
6. Members duly proposed and seconded other than Honorary Members may be elected at any time by email ballot decided by a simple majority of the committee.
7. Any member desirous of retiring from the Club shall notify his or her intention to the Membership Secretary on or before the 21st December otherwise the member shall be liable for the next year’s subscription.
8.a) Any member on joining the Club by implication undertakes to comply with these Rules and any refusal or neglect to do so or any conduct which in the opinion of the Committee is unworthy of a member or otherwise injurious to the interests of the Club shall render the member liable to expulsion by the Committee provided that before expelling the member the Committee shall call upon the member for an explanation of his or her conduct and shall give the member the opportunity of defending himself or herself. The vote on a resolution for expulsion shall be by ballot and the resolution shall only be carried if not less than three quarters of the members of the Committee present vote in favour of the resolution.
8.b) Membership of the Club and acceptance of these rules by the member shall be deemed to constitute consent to the holding of relevant personal data for the purpose of the Data Protection Acts.
8.c) The Club shall maintain a Visitors’ Book which is to be signed by all visitors upon arrival. The Member introducing a visitor shall be responsible for ensuring they observe the current rules and bye-laws of the Club throughout their time on the premises and are made aware of the health and safety guidelines. No visitor shall be permitted to make use of Club facilities in this way on more than six occasions in any calendar year.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
9.a) The annual subscription payable on election and the 1st January in each year, and any joining fee, shall be determined by the Committee from time to time and recommended to the Club at a general meeting and shall differentiate between six classes of membership, i.e. Family Member, Single Member, Veteran Member, Overseas Member, Associated Member and Junior Member, defined as follows:-
A) A Family Member shall include the member, the spouse/partner of the member and all their children up to the eighteenth birthday and they shall be entitled to the full amenities of the Club.
B) A Single Member shall alone be entitled to the full or any amenities of the Club.
C) A Veteran Member is a member aged over 65 who has been a member of the Club for a continuous period of 25 years. Veteran members may be either Single Veteran Members or Family Veteran Members
D) An Overseas Member shall have no residence or place of business within the UK but shall be entitled to fly the club burgee and to all other club amenities but shall not have voting rights. An overseas member may apply for full membership at any time without formality.
E) An Associated Membership may be granted at the invitation of the committee to an existing member who for example by reason of age and/or infirmity is unable to take full part in club activities, but wishes to continue to receive On Watch. An Associated Member shall not have voting rights.
F) A Junior Member shall be a single member as defined in (B) above who has not passed his or her eighteenth birthday.
9.b) Any member who has not paid the current year’s subscription by the 1st day of February shall be requested in the name of the Committee to pay the same within fourteen days and if the subscription is not paid by the last day of February the member’s name may be removed from the list of members by the Committee. A member’s name so removed may be restored at the discretion of the Committee.
9.c) No member shall in any year be entitled to exercise any rights or privileges of membership until his or her subscription for that year and all arrears (if any) have been paid.
9.d) A member elected after the 1st of October in any year who shall have paid the subscription for that year shall not be required to pay any subscription for the following year.
9.e) A Family, Single or Associated Member may at the discretion of the Committee pay ten years membership fees in advance at a rate determined by the Committee.
COMMITTEE
10. The Honorary Officers of the Club shall be a Commodore, a Vice Commodore, two Rear Commodores (the Flag Officers), a Secretary and a Treasurer and must be members of the Club. Any of the Honorary officers roles may be filled by two people on a shared basis
11. The Committee of the Club shall consist of the honorary officers and not fewer than four and not more than ten other members of the Club.
12. Any casual vacancy on the Committee of elected or co-opted members, including the offices of Secretary and Treasurer, but excluding Flag Officers arising between Annual General Meetings may be filled by the Committee co-opting a member to the Committee. A vacancy for a flag office may only be filled by an elected member of the committee. If necessary the independent financial examiner may be replaced between Annual General Meetings. The Committee may also co-opt up to three additional members provided that the Committee numbers comply with rule 11.
13.a) The Committee shall manage all the affairs of the Club including the purchase for the Club and the supply by the Club of intoxicating liquor and the fixing of the permitted hours for the supply and consumption thereof and shall have power to do everything necessary for that purchase. The Committee may permit the bar to be open to the public on an annual open day.
13.b) No transaction involving freehold or leasehold land, or major new undertaking shall be authorised by the Committee without the prior outline consent by a General Meeting of the members which may in exceptional circumstances be called within the prescribed period of notice.
14. The quorum of the Committee shall be five.
15. Not less than three days notice written or oral shall be given by the Secretary to members of the Committee of every meeting but in an emergency at the discretion of the Commodore and Secretary additional meetings may be called on not less than 24 hours notice.
16. Decisions of meetings of the Committee shall be made by a simple majority subject to Rule 8a above and in the event of equality of voting the Commodore or the acting chairman of the meeting shall have a casting vote. If any Honorary Officer role is filled on a shared basis that role shall have only one vote on any matter.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
17. An Annual General Meeting shall be held as far as practical on some day in the month of November to be fixed by the Commodore, and no more than fifteen months shall elapse without an Annual General Meeting.
18. The business of the Annual General Meeting shall be:-
18.a) To receive the Commodore’s and officers’ reports of the activities of the Club during the preceding year.
18.b) To receive and consider the accounts of the Club for the preceding year together with the report from the independent financial examiner and the Treasurer’s report on the accounts and the Treasurer’s report on the financial position of the Club.
18.c) To elect honorary officers and other members of the committee. Honorary officers shall hold office until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting. A Commodore or Vice Commodore may hold the same flag office for no more than two consecutive years and Rear Commodores for no more than three consecutive years. Committee members who do not hold honorary office shall be elected for a period of two years (after which they shall be eligible for re-election). Any member co-opted to the Committee as in rule 12 shall retire at the following AGM and shall be eligible for election. No candidate for election to any office shall be proposed unless the name of such candidates and the name of the proposer shall be sent to the honorary secretary no later than the 1st October.
18.d) To elect an independent financial examiner for the coming year.
18.e) To consider any proposal made and seconded by members of which notice in writing shall have been received by the Secretary no later than the 1 October.
AN EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
19. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened at any time upon either a resolution of the Committee or a requisition by members setting out the resolution(s) to be proposed thereat; the requisition must be signed by either 30 members or one tenth of the members and served on the Secretary by personal delivery or by recorded delivery post. If the Secretary does not give notice of the meeting pursuant to the requisition on or before the expiry of 14 days from the service of the requisition any one or more of the requisitionists on behalf of the others may give notice of the meeting and the resolutions to be proposed.
20. The business which may be conducted at an Extraordinary General Meeting may be any one or more of:-
a) Removing all or any of the officers, other Committee members or the auditor of the Club and filling the vacancies thereby caused.
b) Altering these Rules.
c) Dissolving the Club.
d) Considering any substantial matter too urgent to await an AGM.
PROCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL & EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
21. Not less than 14 days prior notice in writing setting out the resolutions to be proposed at the meetings shall be sent to every member at his last known address.
22. Resolutions at an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting shall be passed by a simple majority of the votes entitled to be cast by members present at the meeting; each member, including the spouse (but not the children) of a family member shall have one vote on every resolution. In the event of equality of voting at an Annual General Meeting, the Commodore or chairman presiding at that Meeting shall have a second or casting vote but there shall be no second or casting vote at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
TRUSTEES
23. The Committee shall have power to appoint no fewer than two and no more than four trustees who shall hold office until death, resignation or removal from office by a resolution of members of the Committee.
24. There shall be vested in the trustees as custodians all the property of the Club other than cash which shall be under the control of the Honorary Treasurer.
25. The trustees may deal with the property so vested in them by way of sale, mortgage, charge, lease or otherwise as directed by the Committee. Such directions shall be given by a resolution of the members of the Committee passed by a majority of the members present at a duly convened meeting of the Committee and when so passed shall be in favour of a purchaser, mortgagee, chargee, lessee or grantee and shall be binding on all members of the Club. A certificate purporting to be signed by the Honorary Secretary for the time being of the Club shall in favour of the said persons be conclusive evidence that a direction complying in all respects with the above provisions of this rule was duly given to the trustees.
ACCOUNTS INCOME AND PROPERTY
26. The financial year of the Club shall end on the 31 August in every year to which day the accounts shall be balanced and drawn.
27. As soon as practical after the end of the financial year there shall be prepared a statement of the assets and liabilities of the Club at the end of the financial year and a statement of the income and expenditure during that year which statements shall have an independent financial examination not less than 28 days before the annual general meeting.
28. All monies received by the Club shall be paid into an account in the name of the Club at bankers or licensed deposit takers appointed by the Committee and cheques and other instruments drawn on and directions to the said bankers or deposit takers shall be signed by no fewer than two officers.
29A. No action involving expenditure in the name or on behalf of the Club shall be taken and no undertakings which would commit the Club to expenditure or other liability shall be made without the prior authority of a resolution of the Committee.
29B. The Club shall be a non-profit making body: all surplus income or gains shall be reinvested in the Club; no assets may be distributed to members or third parties.
30. The Committee may raise and borrow money at interest or otherwise and secure repayment with interest (if any) by mortgage, charge, lien, deposit or pledge of real or personal property and may give directions to facilitate this to the trustees.
INDEMNITY
31. The trustees and members of the Committee shall not be liable (otherwise than as members) for any loss suffered by the Club as a result of the discharge of their respective duties on its behalf, except such loss arises from their respective wilful default and they shall be entitled to an indemnity out of the assets of the Club for all expenses and other liabilities incurred by them in the devolving of their respective duties.
DISSOLUTION
32. The Club may be dissolved by resolution passed under Rule 20 (c).
33. The dissolution shall take effect from the day when the resolution is passed and the Committee shall be responsible for winding up the assets and liabilities of the Club.
34. If any property remains after the discharge of all debt and liabilities of the Club it shall be distributed to such fund for the benefit of the boating community at large as the Committee may direct.
RULE CHANGES
At the AGM of 11 November 2023 it was agreed that:
• Rule 3 be amended to introduce a new category of RYA training membership.
• The club would appoint an Independent Financial Examiner, rather than an Auditor. Rules 12, 18, 20 and 27 have been amended to reflect this change.