The
National Correspondence Chess Club Constitution
Affiliated
to the British Federation of Correspondence Chess
(Formerly
known as The British Postal Chess Federatio
n)
1. Name:
The Club shall be called the ‘National Correspondence Chess Club’.
2. Objects:
a) To promote the practice of Correspondence Chess in
Great Britain; with a special emphasis on friendship between participants.
b) To organize tournaments and matches using all methods
of play.
c) To provide opportunities for correspondence chess
players to meet by the organisation of social activities and over-the-board
chess events.
3. Governing
Body:
a) Subject to section 9 of this Constitution, the affairs
of the club shall be managed by a Committee comprising of a Chairman; Secretary;
Treasurer; Editor of ‘En Passant’; Continuous Tournament Controller;
Continuous Tournament Pairings Secretary; Continuous Tournament Recorder; and a
Social Secretary. A member may hold more than one office, but not more than one
vote.
b) The Committee shall be empowered to co-opt additional
non-voting members.
c) The Committee posts specified in section 3a shall be
subject to annual election by postal ballot of all members, except for the
Chairman, who shall be elected by the voting members of the Committee.
4. Membership:
a) Membership of the club shall be open to every chess
player whose application is acceptable to the Committee.
b) At the discretion of the Committee, recruitment may be
encouraged by the offer of a free trial period, not exceeding one year. Such
members shall be offered all the rights and benefits of full membership, but
shall be under no obligation to re-join at the end of the trial period.
c) Applications for life membership may be accepted at
the discretion of the Committee.
d) Honorary membership may be granted to any chess player
at the discretion of the Committee. Such Membership may be for either one year
or life. The class of honorary membership shall be specified at the time of
being granted.
e) Membership of the NCCC carries the following
obligations: -
1) To maintain the traditional friendly atmosphere that has been
associated with the club since its foundation.
2) To write a letter of good cheer at least once during the course of a
game, to ones opponent.
3) To preserve for reference all NCCC rules, the appropriate playing
rules.
4) To share fairly in the provision of window envelopes and make good the
wear and tear on Score sheets during the course of a game.
f) The Committee shall have the power to terminate the
membership of any member whose continued membership is considered by the
Committee not to be in the interests of the club. The Committee shall give any
such member an opportunity to make written representation to the Committee
before reaching a final decision.
5.
Subscriptions:
a) A subscription of an amount determined by the
Committee shall be paid by each member (Except honorary and life members) on
September the 1st each year.
b) The Committee shall have the power to fix a reduced
subscription for members who are less than 18 years old or more than 65 years
old.
c) The initial subscription payable by new members
joining the club during the year shall be assessed on a monthly pro-rata basis
to August 31st.
d) Any member who fails to renew his/her subscription
within two months of September 1st shall be removed from the
membership list.
e) The subscription for life membership shall be
determined by the Committee.
6. Club Funds:
a) Cheques and postal orders in respect of subscription,
donations, tournament entry fees, etc. shall be made payable to the “National
Correspondence Chess Club” crossed “A/C Payee” and sent to the Treasurer.
b) The financial year shall be from January 1st to
31st December.
c) The Treasurer shall prepare a statement of accounts at
the end of the financial year.
7. General
Meetings:
a) The Annual General Meeting shall be held each year in
May.
b) The AGM shall elect an Auditor (Who shall not be a
member of the Committee); a Returning Officer and a President.
c) The AGM may discuss all matters concerning the
organisation and administration of the club which have been included in the
agenda.
d) Motions for inclusion in the agenda for the AGM shall
be received by the Secretary not later than March 25th.
e) The Quorum for a general meeting shall be four
members.
8. Election of
the Committee:
a) Nominations for the posts specified in section 3a
shall be invited in ‘En Passant’.
b) A nomination shall consist of the signature of the
proposer, and seconder, and a statement by the proposer that, if elected, he/she
will be willing to serve. Candidate, proposer and seconder must be all fully
paid up Members.
c) Members of the Committee willing to continue in office
will automatically be placed on the ballot paper.
d) In the event of a contested election, ballot papers
will be sent out with the September ‘En Passant’, together with manifestoes
(If written by the candidates) to a maximum length of 300 words each.
e) Ballot papers shall be sent to the returning officer,
who shall be responsible for counting the votes cast for each candidate and
notifying the Chairman, Secretary, and Editor of ‘En Passant’ of the results
by October 15th.
f) In the event of a tied vote the Chairman shall cast a
vote for one of the candidates.
g) Successful candidates shall take up office as soon as
possible and not later than January 1st following their election. The
retiring Committee member shall inform his successor fully as to the duties of
the office.
h) In the event of an elected member of the Committee
resigning during the year, his replacement shall be co-opted by the Committee
until the next election. Such a member shall then seek election by being
nominated as specified in section 8b.
i) In the event of a co-opted member not being readily
available to replace a Committee member who has resigned, then another Committee
member may take over at the discretion of the Chairman until the next election.
9. Policy
Motions:
a) Any member of the NCCC may call for a postal ballot of
all members by submitting a motion to the Secretary.
b) Such a motion must bear the signatures of the proposer
and four seconders.
c) Ballot papers shall be prepared by the returning
officer and sent out to all members within two months of receipt of a motion,
together with manifestoes to a maximum length of 300 words.
d) For each motion, it shall be the responsibility of the
Returning Officer to ensure that the case against is fairly put, either by
soliciting a volunteer or writing the case himself.
e) The Returning Officer shall fix a date by which all
ballot papers shall be received, which shall not be less than ten days, nor more
than three weeks, after the date of dispatch of the ballot papers and
manifestoes. The Returning Officer shall notify the result to the Chairman,
Secretary and Editor of ‘En Passant’ within one week of the date fixed for
receipt of the ballot papers.
f) Results of any such vote shall be binding on the
Committee.
g) No decision on the dissolution of the club, or its
amalgamation with any other organisation shall be valid unless supported by at
least 90 per cent of the votes cast in a postal ballot of all members.
10. Official
Journal:
a) The Official Journal of the NCCC shall be called ‘En
Passant’ and shall be issued free to all members.
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