Rules of Society

RULES OF THE RATHMICHAEL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

NAME

1. The Society shall be called the Rathmichael Historical Society.

OBJECTS

2. To promote an interest in, and study of, history, local history and archaeology.

OFFICERS

3. The Society shall have a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and an Editor /Webmaster, to be elected annually from amongst the members who have previously serve d on the Committee. In the event of a vacancy arising amongst the officers, the Committee shall have power, at its discretion, to appoint an eligible member to fill the vacancy who shall hold off ice until the next AGM.

COMMITTEE

4. The affairs of the Society shall be managed by a Committee consisting of the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Editor/Webmaster and four ordinary members, all of whom shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting, save that one ordinary member shall not be eligible for re-election, being the one with seniority of service unless another member shall have volunteered to step down. No member shall be eligible to propose or second a candidate for the Committee unless he or she has been a member for not less than three years.

5. The President of the Society shall not be eligible for re-election for a fourth consecutive year, and any former President of the Society who has served an aggregate of three years shall be ex-officio a member of the Committee unless he or she shall choose to resign from the Committee.

6. Four members of the Committee shall form a quorum.

7. The Committee shall meet when and where necessary to perform its duties, and in the absence of the President, shall elect a Chairman to preside at its meetings.

8. The Committee may co-opt any member or members of the Society who shall act as members of the Committee or a subcommittee until the purpose for which they were co-opted has been terminated, or until the next Annual General Meeting, whichever shall first occur.

SUBCOMMITTEES

9. The Committee shall have power to appoint subcommittees for any purpose associated with the objects of the society.

GENERAL MEETINGS

10. The Committee shall have power to call General Meetings of the Society.

11. A General Meeting of the Society shall be held annually in the month of January for the purpose of receiving the Secretary’s report, a Statement of Accounts for the year ending 31st December preceding, election of Officers and Committee for the ensuing year and transacting the general business of the Society.

12. Twenty-one days’ notice shall be given of General Meetings including the Annual General Meeting.

13. Motions for a General Meeting, including the Annual General Meeting, must be submitted in writing to the Secretary at least seven days before the meeting. The words “in writing” include electronic modes of communication including e-mail.

14. A quorum for General Meetings, including the Annual General Meeting, shall be twenty members and only paid up members shall have the right to vote.

MEMBERSHIP

15. The election of new members of the Society shall be in the hands of the Committee and candidates for membership must be proposed and seconded by members. No member shall be eligible to propose or second a candidate for membership unless he or she has been a member for not less than three years

16. There shall be three categories of membership, namely individual, family and student. Family membership shall apply where two or more people share a single address for the purpose of circulation of the Society’s notices. This category of membership shall entitle a maximum of two persons to vote. Eligibility for student membership shall be at the discretion of the Committee, but will normally be open to any person in full time education.

17. The Committee shall have the power to elect as honorary members persons of distinction in subjects allied to the objects of the Society. Any former President of the Society who has served an aggregate of three years shall be an honorary member of the Society.

18. The Committee shall have power to terminate the membership of any member who, at any time has brought the name of the Society into disrepute or who has jeopardised the aims of the Society. Before a decision to terminate a membership shall be made the member shall be invited to appear before the Committee having been given a minimum of twenty-one days’ notice of the substance of the complaint and the Committee’s decision shall be conveyed to the member within seven days following such appearance or, should the member choose not to appear, within seven days of the expiration of the twenty-one-day period of notice. A decision to terminate a membership shall come into effect twenty-one days after notice decision has been sent to the member concerned unless within that period the member gives notice in writing to the Committee of his or her intention to appeal the decision to a General Meeting of the Society. Such an appeal may, at the discretion of the Committee, come before the Annual General Meeting or a General Meeting specially convened for the purpose. The decision of such a meeting shall be by an absolute majority of two thirds of the paid-up members present and voting.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

19. The amount of the annual subscription payable by members shall be a sum decided upon, from time to time, by an Annual General Meeting, or a General Meeting called for the purpose, and shall become due on 1st January. Any new member joining on or after 1st July shall be offered the option of paying the subscription for that year or one and a half times the subscription to cover that year and the ensuing year. Anyone whose subscription is not received by 31st December following the due date shall cease to be a member.

20. The Committee shall have discretionary power to levy a supplement on the membership subscription of any member not resident in the State to cover any additional expenses incurred in circulating information.

ALTERATION OF RULES

21. A rule shall not be altered, nor a new one adopted, without the sanction of an absolute majority of two thirds of the members present and voting at the Annual General Meeting or a General Meeting specially convened for the purpose.

DISSOLUTION

22. In the event of the dissolution of the Society the officers for the time being shall hold the assets of the Society in trust and shall deposit them with one or more organisations with similar aims to those of the Society.

Adopted as the new Rules of the Society at the A.G.M. on 8th January 1992. Rule 3 amended at the A.G.M. on 12th January 1994 by the addition of the final sentence. Rules 3 and 4 amended at the A.G.M. on 4th January 2017 by changing the position of Editor to Editor/Webmaster

At the AGM on 5th January 2022, Rule 13 was amended by adding the last sentence and in Rule 19, the words “time to tune” were corrected to “time to time”.