1.
Governing Document
Hertford and Hitchin Area Meeting and its property shall be
administered and managed in accordance with the provisions in this governing
document. Further guidance is contained in the Book of Christian Discipline of
the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.
2. Name
The name of
the charitable body constituted by this document is Hertford and Hitchin Area
Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (abbreviated as Hertford
and Hitchin Area Meeting), referred to below as the Area Meeting.
3. Object
The object of
the Area Meeting is the furtherance of the general religious and charitable
purposes of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain in the area
of the Area Meeting and beyond.
4. Administration
Subject to
the matters set out below the property of the Area Meeting shall be
administered in accordance with this governing document by the trustees
constituted by Clause 13.
5.
Application of Income and Property
Within the
Area Meeting, income and property are used to further the Area Meeting’s object
by work such as:
i)
strengthening the
life and witness of Quaker meetings both in the area of the Area
Meeting and beyond;
ii)
spreading the
message of Quakers and interpreting and developing the thought and practice of
the Religious Society;
iii)
undertaking Quaker
service for the relief of suffering at home and abroad;
iv)
funding the
concerns that Quaker meetings in the area of the Area Meeting or beyond have
adopted or agreed to support;
v)
providing for the
pastoral care of individual members and Attenders including assistance to those
in need and for education;
vi)
maintaining and
developing Quaker meeting houses as places for public worship and from which to
carry our witness into the world;
vii)
administering and
maintaining the organisation of the Area Meeting and contributing to the
support of Britain Yearly Meeting.
6.
Dissolution
If at a
meeting of the Area Meeting the members decide that it is necessary or
advisable to dissolve the Area Meeting or to amalgamate with another Area
Meeting and this is agreed by Meeting for Sufferings, the trustees shall have
the power to realise any assets held by or on behalf of the Area Meeting. Any
assets remaining after the satisfaction of any proper debts and liabilities
shall, with the agreement of Meeting for Sufferings, be given or transferred to
another Area Meeting, to Britain Yearly Meeting, or to some other charitable
institution or institutions having objects similar to that of the Area Meeting,
and failing that for such other charitable purpose as Britain Yearly Meeting
shall direct.
7.
Amendments
i)
Amendments to this
governing document shall be agreed by the Area Meeting in session and recorded
by minute of the Area Meeting.
ii)
No amendment may be made that affects the object of the Area Meeting
(Clause 3) or the benefits to trustees (Clause 16) without the prior written
consent of the Charity Commission, nor may the charitable status of the Area
Meeting be affected.
8.
Membership
i)
The membership of
anyone in the Area Meeting begins when a record to this effect is made in the
minutes of the Area Meeting.
ii)
The Area Meeting
shall maintain an official register of members and shall appoint a suitable
member to have care of it. No alteration shall be made to the register save in
accordance with decisions minuted by the Area Meeting.
9.
Termination of Membership
i)
The membership of
anyone shall cease when a record to this effect is made in the minutes of the
Area Meeting.
ii)
If a member is
dissatisfied with a final decision of the Area Meeting affecting her or him,
the member may appeal in writing against the decision in accordance with
Britain Yearly Meeting’s appeals process.
10.
Meetings for Church Affairs
Meetings for church affairs, in which the Religious Society conducts
its business, are meetings for worship based on silence, carrying the
expectation that God’s guidance can be discerned if members are truly listening
together and to each other. The unity that is sought depends on the
willingness of all to seek the truth in each other’s utterances. There is no
voting in the meetings, because the Religious Society believes that this would
emphasise the divisions between differing views and inhibit the process of
seeking to know the right way forward, the will of God as expressed in the
sense of the meeting.
The clerk of the meeting bears the final responsibility for preparing
the business, conducting the meeting and drafting the minutes of the meeting.
Minutes are drafted by the clerk during the course of the meeting, but the final
decision about whether the minute represents the sense of the meeting is the
responsibility of the meeting itself, not of the clerk.
i)
The Area Meeting
shall meet at such frequency, times and places as the meeting itself shall
direct. The clerk may arrange for a special Area Meeting to be held if
necessary.
ii)
The sessions of
the Area Meeting are open to all members of the Area Meeting.
iii)
The business and
activities of the Area Meeting shall at all times be conducted in accordance
with the provisions of the Book of Christian Discipline.
iv)
It shall be the
duty of the Area Meeting in session to appoint an auditor or independent
examiner of the Area Meeting accounts.
11.
Constituent Meetings
i)
The Area Meeting
includes all constituent local meetings contained within its area.
ii)
Arrangements for
the establishment, running or dissolution of such constituent meetings shall be
in accordance with the Book of Christian Discipline.
12.
Appointments
i)
The Area
Meeting shall appoint persons to carry out the functions of a clerk, assistant
clerk, treasurer, registering officer and nominations committee who shall be
members of the Religious Society.
ii)
The appointments shall be made for a fixed term, generally not more than
three years. Only in exceptional circumstances shall an appointee remain
continuously in post for more than six years.
13.
Trustees
i)
The Area Meeting
shall appoint Friends, normally from its own membership, to act as a body of
trustees ordinarily containing not fewer than five or more than fifteen persons.
ii)
The trustees
shall, so far as practicable, include the Area Meeting treasurer and members of
each meeting contained within the Area Meeting, but not the clerk of the Area
Meeting, nor any employee of the Area Meeting.
iii)
One trustee, but
not the Area Meeting treasurer, shall be appointed by the Area Meeting in
session to act as clerk to the trustees.
iv)
The appointments
shall be reviewed at intervals not exceeding three years. A trustee can be
reappointed on no more than two occasions to give an unbroken term of service
as a trustee of the Area Meeting not exceeding nine years. That person cannot
then be reappointed as a trustee of that Area Meeting until three years have
elapsed after the end of the last period of service in that capacity.
14. Eligibility,
disqualification and removal of Trustees
A member who
is appointed to act as a trustee may hold office until he or she
i)
notifies to the
clerk of the Area Meeting a wish to be released from service as a trustee;
ii)
ceases to be a
member of the Religious Society;
iii)
is determined by
the Area Meeting to no longer be a fit or suitable person to carry out the
duties of a trustee;
iv)
is believed by the
Area Meeting to have become incapable by reason of mental disorder, illness or
injury of managing and administering his or her own affairs;
v)
comes to the end
of his or her term of service.
Removal of a
trustee under the terms of (iii) or (iv) above shall require a decision of the
Area Meeting. An individual trustee may make an appeal against such a decision
in accordance with Britain Yearly Meeting’s appeal process.
Members of
the Religious Society who are legally ineligible to act or who are disqualified
from acting as trustees shall not be able so to act nor continue so to act.
Release of a
trustee from office shall be recorded by minute of the Area Meeting.
15
Powers of Trustees
The Trustees
shall have the following powers, in exercise of which they shall at all times
be guided by the Book of Christian Discipline of the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers) in Britain:
i)
To raise funds from contributions; from legacies; from grants and other
sources outside the Area Meeting; from investments and the use of assets; and
from the sale of goods or services provided in furtherance of the Area
Meeting’s object;
ii)
To buy, lease or
acquire property, and to sell, grant a lease or dispose of property, subject to
the terms of Clause 17 (vii) below;
iii)
To borrow money
and to give security for loans (but only in accordance with the restrictions
imposed by the Charities Act 1993 as amended from time to time);
iv)
To set aside income as a reserve;
v)
To make investments in accordance with legal constraints and the ethical
testimonies of the Religious Society;
vi)
To co-operate with
other charities or to enter into partnerships;
vii)
To establish or
support trusts or institutions formed for charitable purposes within the Area
Meeting’s object;
viii)
To employ staff;
ix)
To pay pensions;
x)
To obtain and pay
for goods and services;
xi)
To reimburse
reasonable expenses, including those of the trustees, incurred when acting on
behalf of the Area Meeting.
xii)
To open and
operate bank accounts;
xiii)
To effect
insurance;
xiv)
To insure
themselves against the costs of a successful defence to a criminal prosecution
brought against them as charity trustees or against personal liability incurred
in respect of any act or omission which is or is alleged to be in breach of
trust or breach of duty;
xv)
To delegate their
powers or functions as set out in Clause 18, below;
xvi)
To establish
committees or working groups for carrying out agreed programmes of work;
xvii)
To authorise any
of the Area Meeting’s constituent meetings or committees to open a bank account
and to appoint signatories; such action to be recorded by minute of the
constituent meeting or committee and reported without delay to the trustees;
xviii)
To do any other
lawful thing that is necessary or desirable for the achievement of the object
of the Area Meeting.
16.
Trustees not to be personally interested
i)
Subject to the
provisions of sub-clause (ii) of this clause, and subject to sub-clause 15
(xiv), no trustee shall acquire any interest in property belonging to the Area
Meeting (otherwise than as a trustee) or receive remuneration or be interested
(otherwise than as a trustee) in any contract entered into by the trustees.
ii)
Any trustee for
the time being, who possesses specialist skills or knowledge, may charge and be
paid reasonable fees for business done by her or him or by her or his firm when
instructed by the other trustees to act on behalf of the Area Meeting, provided
that at no time shall a majority of the trustees benefit under this provision,
and that a trustee shall withdraw from any meeting at which her or his own
instruction or remuneration, or that of her or his firm, is under discussion.
17.
Meetings and proceedings of the trustees
i)
Trustees shall
conduct their meetings according to the Quaker business method as described in
the Book of Christian Discipline.
ii)
The trustees shall
hold at least two meetings each year. A special meeting of the trustees may be
called at any time by the clerk to the trustees or by any two trustees upon not
less than four days’ notice being given to the other trustees of the matters to
be discussed. This period of notice may be waived with the consent of all
trustees.
iii)
If the clerk to the
trustees is absent from any meeting, the trustees present shall choose one of
their number to be clerk at that meeting before
any business is transacted.
iv)
An effective
working strength of the trustee body, normally represented by at least one
third of the trustees for the time being, plus one, but not less than three in
total, should be present for decisions to be made in right ordering.
v)
Minutes are to be
made in the meeting and accepted and signed in accordance with Quaker business
method as set out in the Book of
Christian Discipline. The trustees shall keep minutes of the proceedings at
meetings of the trustees and of any sub-committee.
vi)
The trustees may
from time to time make and alter arrangements for the conduct of their
business, the summoning and conduct of their meetings and the custody of
documents. No rule may be made which is inconsistent with this governing
document.
vii)
The trustees shall
report to the Area Meeting at least once a year. They shall also refer to the
Area Meeting in session any major decisions such as those involving the
acquisition, disposal or major alteration of land or buildings.
18. Power
of Trustees to delegate
i)
The trustees may
delegate any of their powers or functions to a committee including two or more
trustees but the terms of any such delegation must be recorded by minute.
ii)
The trustees may
impose conditions when delegating, including the conditions that:
a) the relevant powers are to be exercised exclusively by the committee to
which they are delegated;
b) no expenditure may be incurred except in accordance with a budget previously
agreed with the trustees.
iii)
The trustees may
revoke or alter a delegation.
iv)
All acts and
proceedings of any such committee must be fully and promptly reported to the
trustees.
19.
Annual Report and Accounts
i)
The trustees shall
ensure that an annual report and statement of accounts for the Area Meeting
(including the meetings it contains) is prepared in compliance with current
charities legislation.
ii)
The report and
statement of accounts must be presented to the Area Meeting in session for
consideration and acceptance, not later than eight months after the end of the
financial year.
iii)
The trustees shall
submit an appropriate annual return to the Charity Commission in compliance
with current legislation.
20.
Income and Expenditure
i)
The money of the
Area Meeting shall be safeguarded by depositing it with an authorised deposit
taker. The account or accounts shall be held in the name of the Area Meeting
or in the name of any of the meetings or committees contained within the Area
Meeting and not in the name of any individual.
ii)
The funds
belonging to the Area Meeting shall be applied only in furthering the object of
the Area Meeting as defined in Clause 3, above.
21. Property
and investments
i)
Ordinarily the
trustees shall cause the title of all real property and investments held by or
in trust for the Area Meeting to be held in the name of Friends Trusts Limited
as custodian trustee.
ii)
If the trustees
decide to use a separate nominee to hold investments, they must apply to the
Charity Commission for an Order discharging Friends Trusts Limited from its
custodian trusteeship and vesting all land in Friends Trusts Limited as the
nominee while granting it the same level of protection as it would enjoy under
the provisions of Section 4(2) of the Public Trustee Act 1906, as if it were
acting as custodian trustee.
iii)
It is the
responsibility of trustees to insure all property, including buildings and
contents, for replacement values which shall be reviewed regularly. It is also
the trustees’ responsibility to maintain in force all appropriate liability
insurances, including employer’s, occupier’s and public liability.
Signed: ………………………………
Clerk of Hertford and Hitchin Area Meeting
and one of the following:
……………………………….
Assistant Clerk of Hertford and Hitchin Area Meeting
………………………………..
Clerk of Trustees of Hertford and Hitchin Area Meeting
…………………………………
Treasurer of Hertford and Hitchin Area Meeting