Constitution

River Kelvin Angling Association

Constitution

1. Name – The name of the Association shall be the “The River Kelvin Angling Association”.

2. Objects – The objects of the association shall be to promote the sport of angling and in particular to maintain, protect, improve, and develop the River Kelvin from its confluence with the River Clyde to its head waters and all of its tributaries and associated waters as a facility for the members of the association for fishing, and to restore the river and improve biodiversity for the benefit of the public.

3. Membership

a) Founder members shall be those individuals who attend the Inaugural Meeting at which this constitution is approved and who complete the Application Form and pay the Annual Subscription after mentioned. They shall thereafter become Ordinary Members.

b) Ordinary Members shall be those individuals who have paid the annual subscription after mentioned to the Association.

c) Senior Members shall be those individuals who have attained 65 years of age on or before 31st of March in any year.

d) Junior Members shall be those individuals who have not attained 16 years of age on or before 31st March in any year.

Senior and Junior Members shall pay such reduced annual subscriptions as the General Committee may decide from time to time. Junior Members shall not be entitled to be Office Bearers or General Committee Members nor shall they have the right to vote at any Meetings of the Association.

4. Subscription

The Annual Subscription to the Association for Ordinary Members shall be such sum as may be proposed by the General Committee and approved at any General Meeting of the Association for the year commencing on the date agreed at the meeting. Subscriptions shall be payable to the Treasurer on or before the 31st day of March in each year for the financial year then current, which shall run from the 1st day of December to the 30th day of November in the year following. After the 31st of March all applications will be treated as new members.

5. Membership Applications

Every application for Ordinary, Senior or Junior membership shall be submitted on an Application Form in a prescribed form containing the signature and the name and address of the. Such application shall either be granted or refused by the General Committee. In the event of refusal, the General Committee shall not be bound to assign any reason for such refusal. The Secretary shall inform each applicant of the decision of the General Committee and, in the case of a person who is elected on payment of his Entrance Fee and Annual Subscription the Treasurer shall issue to such person a Membership Card containing his name and address. Membership Cards or other permits issued by the Association conferring title to fish shall not be transferable and shall be produced on being so requested to a Committee Member or to any Officer of the Association appointed by the General Committee.

6. Entrance fee

Each Ordinary Member or Senior Member on admittance to membership shall pay an entrance Fee of such sum as may be proposed by the General Committee and approved at any Annual General Meeting of the Association. For the year to 30th November 1992, there shall be no Entrance Fee. A junior Member who has been a member for at least two years shall  not be required to pay an Entrance Fee on becoming an Ordinary Member.

7. Subscription Arrears

Any member who has failed to pay his Annual Subscription by the 31st March in any year shall be held to be in arrears and shall not be entitled to any of the privileges of membership of the Association until such arrears of subscription are paid. After the 31st of March any remaining memberships will be offered to those on the waiting list, or put on general sale.

8. Office Bearers

The Office Bearers of the Association shall be a Chairman, Vice Chairman, a Secretary, a Treasurer (both of which last mentioned offices may be held by the one and same person) a nominee of the Friends of the River Kelvin, two nominees of Angling Clubs or Associations which have a connection with or interest in the River Kelvin, it’s tributaries and associated waters, and a General Committee of not more than 6 persons. In the event of more than two nominees from such Angling Clubs or Association the General Committee shall select two nominees having due regard to their suitability. It shall be competent to the General Committee to co-opt other persons to the General Committee who shall be members only until the Annual General Meeting next following.

9. Election of Office Bearers

The Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the Secretary and the Treasurer shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Association by a majority of the votes of the members present at the meeting and entitled to vote. They shall hold office for two years and shall be eligible for re-election.

10. Ordinary Members of Committee

The Members of the General Committee shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Association by a majority of the votes of the members present at the meeting and entitled to vote. Ordinary members will serve for 2 years and be eligible for re-election. In the event of a casual vacancy among the Office Bearers or General Committee, the General Committee shall have the power to fill the vacancy for the remainder of that year and the member so co-opted shall be eligible for re-election at the next Annual General Meeting.

11. Powers of the Association

In addition to all other powers competent to the Association it shall be empowered:-

a)            to buy or lease or otherwise acquire the right of fishing for migratory and non-migratory fish within the River Kelvin, it’s tributaries and associated waters.

b)            To grant licenses to such individuals or bodies corporate or incorporate to manage on behalf of the Association such parts of the River Kelvin, its tributaries and associated waters on such terms and conditions as the General Committee may think fit.

c)            To appoint such Fishery Superintendants or other Officers as it may think fit, to prescribe the duties of all such persons and to remove such persons and appoint other persons in their stead.

d)            To make Rules and Regulations for the operation of the Fishery and including power to fix close and open seasons and fair methods of fishing.

e)            To carry out such works as the General Committee shall deem to be in the interest of the Fishery, and

f)             To acquire by any legal method ova and/or fry and to distribute them within the Association’s water with the objective of replenishing the stock of migratory fish.

12. Bank Account

The Association shall maintain a Bank Account or Accounts with a Bank having its Chief Office in Scotland which shall be operated on by the signatures of two members of the General Committee appointed by the General Committee. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to supervise operation of the Bank Account(s).

13. Assets of the Association

All Dispositions, Leases or Contracts shall be taken in name of the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary for the time being of the Association as Trustees on behalf of the Association.

14. General Committee

The General Committee shall conduct the whole general business of the Association and shall exercise the fullest powers in regard to its management and the disposal or investment of its funds but the General Committee shall have power to bind the members only in matters consistent with the objects of the Association. At any General Committee Meeting, a quorum shall be six members personally present. The Chairman of the Association shall be Chairman of the General Committee, whom failing the Vice Chairman shall be Chairman, whom also failing the members of the General Committee present shall elect a Chairman. Where in any matter before any General Committee Meeting for decision, the General Committee fail to agree, the decision of the General Committee shall be by a majority of the votes of the members present at a meeting. In the case of equality of votes, the Chairman for the time being shall have a casting as well as a deliberative vote. The General Committee shall not have power to borrow in the name of the Association, pledge or grant security over its assets except with the prior consent of a majority of those present at an Annual General or Special Meeting.

15. Secretary

The Secretary shall keep Minutes of all meetings and shall conduct the whole general correspondence of the Association. He shall also prepare and submit to the General Committee for approval an Annual Report which after approval by the General Committee shall be issued to all members at or prior to the Annual General Meeting with appended thereto an abstract of the Accounts of the Association.

16. Treasurer

The Treasurer shall receive all subscriptions and donations to the Association and shall issue all Membership Cards to members and all permits available to the public unless otherwise authorised by the General Committee. The Treasurer shall cause regular and proper Books of Account to be kept and shall have the same made-up to the 30th November in each year. The treasurer’s accounts shall be audited by an Auditor appointed by the General Committee and an abstract of the Treasurer’s accounts with the Auditor’s Report thereon shall be produced at each Annual General Meeting for approval by the members.

17. Meetings

a) The Secretary shall call such meetings of the General Committee as may be required from time to time.

b) The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held in Glasgow not later than 31st March in each year and after not less than seven days notice of the meeting shall have been given by circular to every member of the Association at his last known address.

c) Special General Meetings shall be held on the requisition of the General Committee or on the requisition of ten or more members of the Association to the Secretary in writing. Such notice shall specify the purpose of the Special General Meeting and only such item or items as have been specified in the notice of requisition shall be put to such meeting.

18. Annual General & Special General Meetings

At any Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting of the Association only those members present and qualified may vote and the voting shall be conducted in such manner as the Chairman may consider most convenient. The Chairman, in the event of an equality of votes, shall have a casting as well as deliberative vote. A quorum shall be fifty members personally present.

19. Suspension & Cancellation of Membership

The General Committee shall have power to suspend or cancel the membership of any member who shall be deemed to have committed an offence against the Fishery Laws or Bye-Laws of the Association in force from time to time. In the event of membership suspension or cancelation the association member will be given an opportunity to make representation on his own behalf to the general committee. Any such suspension or cancellation shall be intimated in writing by the Secretary to the offending member who shall thereupon immediately forfeit all rights of membership. A request to make representation must be made within 2 weeks of the point where the notification letter was received.

21. Constitution

The Constitution of the Association shall not be amended except at either an Annual or Special General Meeting for which prior notice of the purpose has been given and shall only be altered by a majority of two-thirds of those present and voting at such meeting.

22. Dissolution

An Annual or Special General Meeting shall be entitled to resolve that the Association be dissolved but only by a majority of two-thirds of those present and voting. In the event of such motion for dissolution being passed the funds and assets of the Association shall be applied (a) in meeting the liabilities of the Association, and (b) for such other purposes for the benefit of the sport of angling in Scotland as such meeting shall resolve.