Mayfield bridge Club Rules

Rules

The Club, named as the Mayfield Duplicate Bridge Club, was formed as a Members Club at an Inaugural General meeting held on 4 January 1984, when these rules were adopted. Subsequent amendments have been incorporated as ratified at General Meetings held in accordance with Rules 3, 6, and 7 below.
The object of the Club is to provide facilities for the playing of Duplicate Bridge in accordance with the rules of the EBU.
The Annual General Meeting of the Club shall be held as soon as possible after 31 March and not later than 30 June each year (beginning in 1985), to receive reports, to elect Officers, Committee and other officials as required, to receive the audited accounts and to deal with other matters on the Agenda.
The Officers of the Club shall be a Chairman, an Hon Treasurer and an Hon Secretary and shall hold office from one AGM to the next AGM. They may offer themselves for re-election.
The business of the Club shall be conducted by the Working Committee of the 3 Officers and 8 other members, duly elected at an AGM. Nominations, duly proposed and seconded, must be received by the Secretary at least one week before the AGM. This Committee shall have entire control of the Club and shall, at its discretion, deal with any matter pertaining to the object of the Club and not provided for in these rules. Members of the Committee may offer themselves for re-election at an AGM. The Committee shall have rights of co-option.
Alterations to these rules must be made by a General Meeting of the Club. Notice of any proposed alteration must be given in writing to the Hon Secretary 4 weeks before a General Meeting and the alteration must be included in the notice convening the General Meeting. Notices regarding General Meetings shall be deemed as given to members if posted on the Club Notice Board 3 weeks beforehand.
The Working Committee will meet at least once a quarter and will make an annual report through the Chairman at the AGM. It may call a Special General Meeting of the members. A petition signed by ten (10) or more members to call a Special General Meeting must be executed within 6 weeks of receipt by the Hon Secretary.
The Annual Subscription, table money and other charges shall be fixed by the Committee. The Treasurer is authorised to open an account at a Bank and to pay in and pay out monies on behalf of the Club. Cheques shall have 2 signatories, the mandated signatories being the Chairman, the Hon Secretary, the Hon Treasurer and one other Committee Member. The first accounts of the Club shall be made up for the 15 month period 1 January 1984 to 31 March 1985; thereafter accounts shall be made up for one year to each subsequent 31 March. These accounts, which shall be presented by the Hon Treasurer at Annual General Meetings, shall be audited by a member of the Club who is not a member of the Committee and who shall be appointed at an Annual General Meeting.
Membership subscriptions shall be due on 1 April each year. If a subscription has not been paid by 1 July, membership will deemed to have lapsed and the defaulter will need to rejoin by application as a new member as per Rule 10 following. This rule will be strictly adhered to and only in very exceptional circumstances will the Committee use their discretion to waive it. New members who are accepted after 1 July in any year shall pay a subscription pro rata to cover each quarter of the year after the date of application and acceptance by the Committee. The Committee shall be empowered to charge a full subscription if it is felt that a member is delaying payment in order to pay a quarterly subscription instead of a full one.
Only paid up members of the Club as at the immediately preceding year end (31 March) shall be entitled to attend and vote at the Annual or any Special General meeting of the Club. Members of the Mayfield Bridge Club on 31 March 1984 shall be entitled to be Members of the Mayfield Duplicate Bridge Club. Subsequently membership must be proposed by two existing members and be accepted by a majority vote of the Working Committee. Provisional membership may be given to an applicant by a Sub-Committee constituted for this purpose, but full membership must be accepted by the Working Committee.
Visitors may play at the Club, subject to Committee approval, and shall pay a visitors fee. A visitor may not attend more than 4 Tuesdays per year.
Should the conduct of any member in the opinion of the Working Committee be injurious to the interests of the Club or if a complaint about a member's conduct is made to the Committee, the matter shall be dealt with in accordance with Appendix A attached.
Decisions by the Working Committee and by the AGM shall be by majority vote. If there is a tie, the Chairman will be entitled to cast a second vote to split the tie. If the Chairman is absent, he shall nominate a member of the Working Committee to take the chair and to exercise all rights of the Chairman at the Meeting. If the Chairman is unable, or fails to nominate a Deputy, the Committee or General Meeting shall elect a Chairman, who will have full rights of the Chair.
The Club shall be entitled to hold property.
If the Club is dissolved without any successor, the net assets (after meeting all debts) shall be converted to cash and any surplus funds shall be divided on a pro rata basis according to length of membership amongst all members of at least three years standing at the time of dissolution.

Appendix A
Conduct of Members

If a complaint is made to the Committee about the conduct of a member of the Club, the Committee may investigate the complaint, and shall do so if a written compalint is received signed by at least three members of the Club.
On investigating such a complaint, the Committee shall give the member about whose conduct the complaint has been made an opportunity to be heard,
If, on investigating such a complaint, the Committee considers that the member has behaved unacceptably, or so as to cause injury to the interests of the Club, they may reprimand the member, suspend the member from the privileges of membership for such period as it may think fit, or expel the members from the Club.
The Committee shall forthwith notify the member of any decision made on investigating the compalint, and may publicise by displaying a notice at the headquarters of the Club.
Any appeal against a decision to reprimand, suspend or expel a member shall be to a General Meeting of the Club.
Notice of such an appeal must be in writing and delvered to the Secretary within two weeks of the notification to the member of the decision of the Committee.
If an appeal is made, the decision of the Committee shall not be implemented until the appeal has been determined.
On the appeal being heard, the General Meeting shall have the power to overrule the decision of the Committee, or uphold it, in which event the sanction imposed by the Committee may be confirmed or varied (to any sanction that the the Committee is empowered to impose, or to none).
Nothing in this Appendix precludes the Committee from referring a matter of conduct to the Conduct Committee of the Surrey County Bridge Association, or to the Laws and Ethics Committee of the English Bridge Union, if it considers it appropriate to do so.