1. Name
The name of the group shall be Parish Pickers
2. Aims
The aims of Parish Pickers will be:
To engender public support for a litter picking campaign in Copythorne Parish and to expand that campaign to cover the New Forest District Council area.
To organise volunteers for litter picking events, and to negotiate with public authorities in order to arrange for the most efficient disposal of the litter collected.
To raise and administer funds for a litter picking campaign.
3. Membership
Membership is open to anyone who:
Supports the aims of Parish Pickers
Membership will begin as soon as the membership form has been received.
A list of all members will be kept by the membership secretary.
Ceasing to be a member
Members may resign at any time in writing to the secretary.
Any offensive behaviour, including racist, sexist or inflammatory remarks, will not be permitted. Anyone behaving in an offensive way or breaking the equal opportunities policy may be asked not to attend further meetings or to resign from the group if an apology is not given or the behaviour is repeated. The individual concerned shall have the right to be heard by the management committee, accompanied by a friend, before a final decision is made.
4. Equal Opportunities
Parish Pickers will not discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sexuality, disability, religious or political belief, marital status or age.
5. Privacy Policy
Members personal details, addresses and e-mail addresses will only be used to communicate with the membership and will not be passed to any third party for any reason. No member may use any information gained through their membership for any purpose beyond the aims of Parish Pickers (See 2 above).
6. Officers and committee
The business of the group will be carried out by a Committee elected at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee will meet as necessary and not less than four times a year.
The Committee will consist of 3 members, and be composed of 3 officers, A Chairman, A Secretary and a Treasurer. Up to 2 additional members may be co-opted onto the committee at the discretion of the committee.
The officers’ roles are as follows:
Chair, who shall chair both general and committee meetings
Secretary, who shall be responsible for the taking of minutes and the distribution of all papers and who shall be responsible for keeping records of members
Treasurer who shall be responsible for maintaining accounts
In the event of an officer standing down during the year a replacement will be elected by the next General Meeting of members.
Any committee member not attending a meeting without apology for three months will be contacted by the committee and asked if they wish to resign.
The Committee meetings will be open to any member of Parish Pickers wishing to attend, who may speak but not vote.
7. Meetings
7.1. Annual General Meetings
An Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held within fifteen months of the previous AGM.
All members will be notified in writing at least 3 weeks before the date of the meeting, giving the venue, date and time.
Nominations for the committee may be made to the Secretary before the meeting, or at the meeting.
The quorum for the AGM will be 3 members..
At the AGM:-
The Committee will present a report of the work of Parish Pickers over the year.
The Committee will present the accounts of Parish Pickers for the previous year.
The Officers and Committee for the next year will be elected.
Any proposals given to the Secretary at least 7 days in advance of the meeting will be discussed.
7.2 Special General Meetings
The Secretary will call a Special General Meeting at the request of the majority of the committee or at least eight other members giving a written request to the Chair or Secretary stating the reason for their request.
The meeting will take place within twenty-one days of the request.
All members will be given two weeks notice of such a meeting, giving the venue, date, time and agenda, and notice may be by telephone, email or post.
The quorum for the Special General Meeting will be 3 members.
8. Rules of Procedure for meetings
All questions that arise at any meeting will be discussed openly and the meeting will seek to find general agreement that everyone present can agree to.
If a consensus cannot be reached a vote will be taken and a decision will be made by a simple majority of members present. If the number of votes cast on each side are equal, the chair of the meeting shall have an additional casting vote.
9. Finances
An account will be maintained on behalf of the Parish Pickers Community Group at a bank agreed by the committee. Two cheque signatories will be nominated by the Committee (one to be the Treasurer). Both of these must sign every cheque. The signatories must not be related nor members of the same household.
Records of income and expenditure will be maintained by the Treasurer and a financial statement given to each meeting.
All money raised by or on behalf of Parish Pickers is only to be used to further the aims of the group, as specified in item 2 of this constitution.
10. Amendments to the Constitution
Amendments to the constitution may only be made at the Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting.
Any proposal to amend the constitution must be given to the Secretary in writing. The proposal must then be circulated with the notice of meeting.
Any proposal to amend the constitution will require a two thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote.
11. Dissolution
If a meeting, by simple majority, decides that it is necessary to close down the group it may call a Special General Meeting to do so. The sole business of this meeting will be to dissolve the group.
If it is agreed to dissolve the group all remaining money and other assets, once outstanding debts have been paid, will be donated to a local charitable organisation. The organisation to be agreed at the meeting which agrees the dissolution.
This constitution was agreed at the Inaugural General Meeting of Parish Pickers on 03 October 2019.